Anyone using a wheel and driving from cockpit or wheels view ?
I find the 2 most useful buttons are my left and right look buttons . with instant look set in options its a great way to check other car positions/movement when passing/being passed much better than just using the engine sounds ,also when pressed together (left and right) gives a rearview .
any good driver will tell you its very inportant to know where the closest cars are ,and like in real life mirrors are not perfect.

apart from driving related controls what are your most useful buttons programed to your wheel?

SD.

I have assigned my shift-paddles to look left/right on my wheel. I find the look-buttons so important I even shift the formula cars with my sequential shifter.
But another important button for Turn1 is the view-key. I like to switch to outside-view for turn one when I'm on a public server. Of course this isn't fast, but on BL GP it becomes a whole lot easier to drive securely. After turn one I switch back to the cockpit and go full speed.
Of course, when I know my competitors I can take turn one from the cockpit. But when I can't trust them I better lose one position than leave the wreckage as last one with broken suspension.

Vain

Agreed. Use them. Get used to using them. Check often. Make a difference. Good post SparkyDave.

My MOMO Racing Force buttons are configured for
-left look
-right "
-horn ()
-pit speed limiter
-Tyre info screen (F9)
-Pit info screen (F12)

Latter two by a keystroke macro in the Logitech Profiler

Furthermore, with all but GTRs and single seaters:
Gears up/down - Stick shift
Clutch - left paddle (avoiding auto clutch whenever I can )

Single Seaters & GTRs:
Gears - paddles
Clutch - auto ()

Oh and another thing, if you are doing a specific race and you know you may have to change pit stop settings, you can make a macro for that too. It would mean no need to hassle with the menu manually, all with a single button press. E.g.,

Macro to increase fuel load at pitstop by 15%:
+F12
+right arrow (x3)
+F12

Or, macro to decrease rear tyre pressures by 2 psi:
+F12
+down arrow (x10)
+left arrow (x2)
+down arrow (x2)
+left arrow (x2)
+F12

I've killed the horn and passing lights in favour of more practical actions. I don't use a profile at all, though some racers have had success in button programming and are happy with profiles. Looking left and right should become natural actions, just like they would if you were truly thundering along a race track with an opponent inches from you, fighting for position. Know your position, take advantage of this knowledge. Use your left and right views.

with my dfp i've set up the L+R thumb buttons to look and with my paddles set to toggle the indicators, i find i use those a lot too. it really is the best wheel for LFS if only for it's huge array of buttons

good post, many people are afraid to look about too much 'cos it does mean you might crash, but keep using it and you're spatial awereness will be improved dramatically

I like to use smooth viewing. It's slower but better for my eyes.

I hate GTR/GTL when looking left/right makes you look only 45 degrees. I don't understand what's the f*ucking point to look only 45 degrees. I still can't see what's in the side of me. Luckily LFS has 90-degree look. Some people would prefer 45-degree look so it should be configurable in the future version. Or some kind of 2-step view, in which you could look 45 degrees or 90 degrees, depending on how long you press look buttons.

i have mapped the POV thingy on my DFP to look anywhere i want to.
and all the others buttons have a function, too. for example i have a cycle through the different OSD screens (F9-F10-F11-F12-F12) and the indicators.
oh yes, and the POV's second function (shifted) is cursor-keys and the pedals are the same as the shift stick - clutch... on the floor, third pedal

I also use smooth look because it eliminates UF1000 sized blindspots

I suppose the lower your fov, the larger the blindspots are.

I use left and right look all the time. Especially on Blackwoods long straight.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

I have one button programmed to type "BLUE FLAG!", another set to "BLUE FLAG NOOB!", another does "FFS GBLUE FLAG U STUPID NUBLET!1", and also "OMGWTF BLUE FLAG I'M ONLY HALF A LAP BEHIND YOU GET OUT OF MY WAY!". I also have the horn set to toggle so when I press the button the horn stays on.

LOL thisnameistaken. If you start on the pole, do you automatically start yelling "BLUE FLAG!" to the guy starting in last grid position? hehehe.

I agree with you all, the absolute most important button mapping would be to have the look left/right mapped to the easiest to hit buttons. I use the paddles of my Momo as I don't change to paddle shifting for the GTR/open wheel cars. I just use the gear shifter for shifting. Even though I use the pitspotter mod, I still constantly look left/right. Pitspotter only tells you there's a car there and can be an early warning when you can't yet see him in the left/right view, but you still have to look to see exactly where he is and whether he is going to push you out or you are leaving him enough space. It can take some getting use to for new guys. At first I would loose myself in the forward direction as I looked, thought about what I was seeing, calculated where he was, etc. (ie, it took a while for all the information to connect when looking) but now it is a single quick click, boom and I'm back looking ahead with all the info I need about the guy beside me. It goes from being ackward in the beginning to totally natural and on impulse later on. Please please people use the look left/right function. Most wrecks happen because people don't look.

These two buttons should be used especially when you don't see the car that was behind you just before you started braking, saves a lot of accidents from ever happening.

on the Spanish LFS league most of the people use look buttons, except for n00bs. I don't exactly know why people don't use them, it should be quite natural, this is not an arcade game, and that's why everyone has to have the buttons mapped.

as herki said, it is very useful to make a cycle with a profiler for the Fx screens

just use the top left and top right on my MOMO for left and right, and as you said both together for behind. i would like to think everyone knows this

Is is possible to get the indicators on my steer buttons? And if so, how?

Thx in advance

you can, if you have a program like the logitech profiler, where you can map buttons to keys.

Quote from ChristijaNL :

Is is possible to get the indicators on my steer buttons? And if so, how?

Thx in advance

Google for Joy2key.exe if you don't use a logitech with the profiler.

One Word.....Track_IR

The D-Pad on my logitech works PERFECT for looking left and right. Obviously, left looks left, right looks right, and down looks back Ive also programmed to pit on my wheel, incase i crash and i dont want to wreck everyone else. Can come in handy alot (not saying i crash alot ) I love how many buttons their are on the DFP

Quote from Gunn :

Agreed. Use them. Get used to using them. Check often. Make a difference. Good post SparkyDave.

They sure do. I don't think people use them that often, and that is what causes accidents.

Especially for the fact that the game doesn't have 'Instant Look' on by default, it makes looking to the side very slow for some people, which I think would make their reactions worse for side-by-side racing.

I have used the look left and right buttons so much that I pretty much drive and hold one down at the same time while in a corner, just so I don't hit someone on the inside or outside of me in a corner. Being aware of where the other cars are is a MUST if you want a good race, especially in a corner. But even better for when going side-by-side on a straightaway and you want to outbrake someone for a pass.

I know some people that say they 'locate' people by sound, but that is hardly a successful way to race, and you'd never be aware of your surroundings without looking around. I just hope more people get accustomed to the feature.

Quote from Tweaker :

They sure do. I don't think people use them that often, and that is what causes accidents.

I can't count how many times I've been on the inside of a corner like Aston National T1, looking left at the car beside me with my finger on the horn button, watching the car beside me turn to the apex directly into the side of me.

But it is really cool to be in the FOX with someone passing or you doing the passing and as you/they go by looking at him, clearly seeing his head turned looking at you. That's a good feeling to have knowing the other driver see's you.

Quote :

Especially for the fact that the game doesn't have 'Instant Look' on by default, it makes looking to the side very slow for some people, which I think would make their reactions worse for side-by-side racing.

Definitely instant look. The non-instant look is so slow. I've seen comments lately that some don't use instant look so they can turn their head just enough to see the side mirrors. Useless until the side mirrors show a different image than the rear mirror.

I have the luxury of having the look function mapped to the second joystick on my xbox controller which is great, but even with that I find Kegetys unofficial addon http://koti.mbnet.fi/kegetys/lfs/pitspotter11b.zip invaluable in close racing, and well worth a try

Ik have 4 buttons on my Logitech Wingman...


the ones on top: Left one is Horn, the right one is Pitlimiter
the lower two are left / right view

the ones on the back of the wheel are for up / downshifts

I have 6 buttons on my Logitech Wingman FFGP...


the ones on top: Left one is Pitlimiter, the right one is Horn
the lower two are handbrake / clutch

the one on the back of the wheel are for up / downshifts