Hey Fellow Racers

My new steering wheel arrived today - don't get too excited, it's only a cheap one from amazon...figured a wheel and pedals would be better than the joystick i'm using.

I'll give you my thoughts once i've had a play, as the wheel was under £20!

On another note, a little advise;

...Been racing recently on the Redline servers, and when starting towards the front of the grid on Aston Club I get mullured every time!
Make it through T1 safely and relitively easily holding my position, then on the first half of the S-Bend I get shunted off.

My thoughts are that this is because I take this corner very "warey" (Think that's the right word!) With no one either side I ease off slightly and take the racing line carefully - tyres are still cold!
Then I get other cars flying up and ramming me on the inside!

Now, the question is who is in the right? I thought that as I have the racing line and am infront they shouldn't just drive into me - after all i'm not exactly crawling! Or should I be flying through at full speed with cold tyres and not in full control which would increase the chances of me ruining not just my own race, but others too!

Any thoughts?!

Cheers,

Rob

in my opinion, while it is not right for guys to run you over from behind, you really can't take it easy in the chicane. if you slow down, then everyone behind you is going to have to slow down and cars are going to start stacking up, ruining their races. i understand that you should be aware of the cold tires on the first lap, but i think you just need to take the corner as fast as possible. i don't think its reasonable to think the rest of the field is going to slow down behind you just because you have cold tires.

the thing you have to remember is that this isn't a long race where you need to be patient at the beginning until the race settles down, this is a short sprint race and people are trying to pick up positions as fast as possible.

Quote from UncleBenny :

in my opinion, while it is not right for guys to run you over from behind, you really can't take it easy in the chicane.

Hey UncleBenny,

I wouldn't really call it taking it easy, just being Cautious of my position on the track, the other drivers, the cold tyres etc.

I appretiate your thoughts though, perhaps I should bite the bullet and take the corner as I would with warm tyres and just fight the understeer?

Perhaps i'll be able to control the car better with the new steering wheel which would make car control with cold tyres easier!

Cheers,

Rob

I think you did the right thing, but maybe get some more practice offline with the wheel and driving with cold tires and then get back out there. There's definitely less grip with cold tires but not all that much. Just experiment offline and see what you can get away with so you'll be more prepared for the first lap when you're online again.

Enjoy the wheel!

Good way to practise is to let people past and follow them from safe distance so you get to see the racing line and braking points. It wont get you to top positions but you'll learn much quicker than those who keep crashing out on T1.

Quote from Crommi :

Good way to practise is to let people past and follow them

Hi Crommi,

That's what I have started doing, letting people past after the lights have gone green by either pulling off to the side or running wide into T1 - that way you can can some experience following people, and you get some excellent overtaking opotunities and better battles with the slower drivers at the back of the field.

Cheers,

Rob

Quote from bealesracing :

Hi Crommi,

That's what I have started doing, letting people past after the lights have gone green by either pulling off to the side or running wide into T1

With that said, I'll give you another easier way to do it. When you do as you described, they can leave you in the dust, and you are too far behind to gain any "practice" from following the others. Not just that, but you also will end up in the grass at times, then will be starting out with not just cold tires, but dirty ones as well.

Before the next race starts, go to spectate mode. When you see the countdown to the start, be ready. Wait until you see the grid set and ready to go, then hit "shift-J" for join and you will be put in final position on the start. That way, you don't lose anything letting the others go at green. Instead, you can get a good start and run right behind them to watch and practice.

Hi Rob to answer your original question I think you were probably in the right, it does depends on how much you "let off". But I think most would agree that its the job ot the following driver to pass in a safe way and most experianced drivers will be ready to back off through a chicain, unless they're absolutly sure of who is infront and how they will react.
Of course, Its generally people who run the same combos time and time again who populate the RR servers (IMO) so they are usually running at near WR pace, know each other and will be more bunched up

Great news on getting such a cheap wheel, but for the amount you payed I dont imagine it will be very well constructed and I hope it lasts ok, my tip would be use it very gently

SD.

Quote from mrodgers :

Before the next race starts, go to spectate mode. When you see the countdown to the start, be ready. Wait until you see the grid set and ready to go, then hit "shift-J" for join and you will be put in final position on the start. That way, you don't lose anything letting the others go at green. Instead, you can get a good start and run right behind them to watch and practice.

This is a good piece of advice that I use in a full field ie when the kids have finished school You will have some good battles

Another pointer on AS2 is that in the chicance when you are following another racer you have very little grip and will go wide in the entry to it spoiling your exit, back off a little. One more thing, on cold tires, try and go in a little earlier, the tires natural ability to let go cold will mean that you haven't wrecked.

Sorry if I haven't made much sense, it's still early and I haven't had coffee

I race with the name Adam(uk) on rr2 ... If you see me say hi

Adam

ps Rob - Just taken a look at your website, nice things. I would add that the Americans spent millions of dollars in developing a pen that would write in space ... The russians used a pencil !!!

Quote from SparkyDave :

Great news on getting such a cheap wheel, but for the amount you payed I dont imagine it will be very well constructed and I hope it lasts ok, my tip would be use it very gently

I'm very much one of those people who seek a bargain, and if it breaks just go buy another one! I'm not expected excellent quality, but for the time being while i'm still learning I think it'll be perfect!

I was bidding for a MS Sidewinder wheel on eBay and had it for £5 with about half an hour left - eventually it went for over £20 and I just missed out...Doh!

Quote :

Before the next race starts, go to spectate mode. When you see the countdown to the start, be ready. Wait until you see the grid set and ready to go, then hit "shift-J" for join and you will be put in final position on the start. That way, you don't lose anything letting the others go at green. Instead, you can get a good start and run right behind them to watch and practice.

Ah ha! Many thanks for this excellent tip - will be trying this next time i'm online!

Cheers,

Rob

Hi All,

Sorry for the double post, used the new wheel for the first time tonight and am generally very impressed

TRUST GM-3200 (CLICKY FOR LINKY)

The wheel was under £20 from amazon, including next day delivery. I wasn't expected an amazing little product, and wasn't surprised to find that the wheel was quite light and small.

But hey - This wheel was CHEAP! For the price tag the build quality is brilliant, the wheel is very stable when clamped to a suitable table using the supplied clamp.

The wheel features "Vibration Feedback", esentially the wheel vibrates when you are driving which is no where near as realistic or good as full on forch feedback, however it's a nice little adition to the wheel.

The wheel itself, although small has a nice feel, it's sturdy as previously mentioned, and once setup it drives very well. It does take a little getting used to after the joystick but once i got into the swing of things I found my laptimes dropping, i had much more control under braking and under acceleration out of the corners!

The buttons - the wheel is both PC and PS2 compatible, so plenty of buttons! The gear shift padels are very sturdy and work well!

The pedals - again they are not brilliant, but for the CHEAP price they are excellent! They are not as responsive as an expensive wheel but after getting used to them (They are quite small and the first part of movement on the pedal has no effect) they work very well!

All in all, for £20 delivered I can't say how impressed I am, sure you could get a bargain on eBay for a better wheel...but if your on a budget and can't find a better wheel for cheap then this one is a good choice!

No it's not a DFP, MOMO of G25 - but for the price tag it was never going to be! It's cheap, chearful and most importantly - Fun to use!

On another note it's dropped my lap times already yay!

Cheers,

Rob

Congrats on your purchase. Lots of people pay too little but expect too much, while it seems you got what you expected which is great!

Does the brake pedal offer stiffer resistance? If not you'll probably want to mod it sooner or later. You may also want the brake pedal a little higher than the throttle so you can H&T properly.

Quote from yoyoML :

Does the brake pedal offer stiffer resistance? If not you'll probably want to mod it sooner or later. You may also want the brake pedal a little higher than the throttle so you can H&T properly.

Both the pedals have resistance, however the amount of resistanceis the same on both the pedals, so I may look into modding at some point.

Not sure how I would raise the brake pedal? But then again at the moment H&T isn't brilliant, lol! Most of the time when I try H&T I go straight on at corners!

All in all, i'm very happy! Once day I will get one of the top wheels, but until then i'll be happy racing away with this one!

Rob

really its better to just use 1 foot for each pedal with 2 ped sets Karting style

the only reason to H & T is when you have to take your left foot off the brake to clutch & change gear (3pedals)

With all the logitech FF wheels the way LFS uses the force feedback (when set up correctly) is very very good and gives an excellent feel for the road.
It would be intersting to know if the vibration changes to allow you some "feel" of the front grip levels?

SD.

Quote from SparkyDave :

With all the logitech FF wheels the way LFS uses the force feedback (when set up correctly) is very very good and gives an excellent feel for the road.
It would be intersting to know if the vibration changes to allow you some "feel" of the front grip levels?

Perhaps I need to "tweak" the settings in the options for the vibration feedback then? Currently it just seems to vibrate all the time! I'll have a look next time I play and see what I can do, perhaps I can make it a little better?!

Rob