SimHQ Motorsports Dirt Rally

Racing Simulations
41

Hi peoples. Finally made it to this thread. :slight_smile:

Chipwich is correct as usual. The G27 is the best price/performance even if it is out of production. If no Ebay buy, take a look at the Thrustmaster 150. The nice thing about it is the FFB uses a good mechanism, and if you get the racing bug, it is expandable with other Thrustmaster products like the better pedals. http://www.thrustmaster.com/en_US/products/t150-force-feedback

BTW, SimHQ Motorsports (simhqmotorsports.com, simhqmotorsports.net, scesracing.com, ukcupseries.com) and never SimHQ. Two different companies since I sold SimHQ.com a few years ago. :wink:

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42

Ok, guys, I need your help again:

I want to buy a wheel for Dirt Rally now.

I looked at

  1. Thrustmaster T150RS for around 150€ (which, yes, was my target price originally…)
    OR
  2. a G29 - slightly used - for 244€
    OR
  3. a used G27, with hand shifter it seems for 242€

The main difference between #1 and the others is the price obviously. And the third pedal and shifter-thingie (EDIT actually not sure if that latter one is always included). Still not sure about those 100€ more, if the wheels are worth it.

I am not sure. Would you consider those ~250€ a good price for those Logitech ones?
And - given that they are the same price, both slightly used - which one of #2 or #3 would you pick between only those two, and why?

EDIT:
trending a bit towards the G27, it looks better and has this shifter thing.

EDIT
Some people complain about a “grindy” feel and much noise from the Logitech FFB compared to the TM wheels. Any opinions on that?

43

I have the G27 and Love it. Its a good wheel. Its not a bad price. I want to say I paid $300 for mine about 5 years ago. I still use it to this day with no issues.

I will say this though. Dirt rally only uses about 270 degrees of rotation, Well at least thats where it feels the best. So the logitech momo might be a better choice. You should be able to find on on ebay for under 100 usd. Its a good wheel and could save you some coin,.

44

I have a G25 and I’m pretty happy with it.

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45

I have the TM 300 and FFB is real quiet. I guess the best way to really tell is maybe watch some review videos or others with the wheels you are looking at and well listen for the sounds the wheels are making to see if they are acceptable.

Since they aren’t making the G27’s anymore they seem to be being sold at a premium, if you find one for a good deal then yes, hard to pass up. I haven’t seen any used for less than what they sold for brand new, maybe you’ll have better luck if you’re looking for one.

That depends on what car you are driving.

46

Question:
Can I use that H shifter of the G27 as a sequential shifter as well? By just tapping two gears or something.

47

No. You can not use the h shifter as a sequential. Well I guess you could have 1st as up and 2nd as down shift. The shifter stays in gear so you would have to bring it out of gear after a shift. The 27 does have paddle shifters too

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48

Thanks!

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49

After watching some reviews I think I’ll go for the T150, because of the FFB, less vibration, and the price of 130€
I am not THAT much of a racing fan (haven’t played racing games in years) so I’ll save the money. I read it is upgradeable with other TM products such as shifters and pedals.

50

That’s probably a good call @Aginor, given that it’s not your focus and that the TM wheels get relatively good reviews. You can always upgrade if you get hooked.

51

The G25 shifter can be reconfigured to a sequential one. Not sure if they removed this feature for the G27.

I had two low budget TM wheels before going Logitech mid range. I think its a good idea to start with a more affordable wheel and check if you will dedicate the hours to “earn” an upgrade. What I like about virtual racing is that you improve your own skills and are not just grinding your characters statistics. It’s very similar to flying, imo.

Give me a shout when you’re ready for some rally cross. The tracks are simple to learn and the racing is so much fun. I know three other virtual pilots who are wannabe racers on a just for fun level.

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52

Will do that!
I just ordered the T150, it will arrive in a few days.

And yes, the sequential thingie was removed for the G27 as far as I understood the reviews.

53

Having owned all 3:

G25 shifter could convert to sequential and had lots of buttons. The paddal shifter springs were prone to break.
G27 shifter could not convert to sequential but had all of the buttons. No issues.
G29 shifter can not convert to sequential and has fewer buttons. No issues so far.

However, the G29 wheel has the best feel of the three IMO and supports the PS4 (and PC), if you have that console.

54

Sooo…
my T150 has arrived, I plugged it in, installed the drivers, and jumped straight into DR, which recognized the wheel flawlessly.
I disabled all assists, except the HUD, and gave it a spin. I also only drive in first person (something I have never done before in a racing game, but I want the simulation aspect this time).

…and promptly crashed into the very first corner. And into the second one. And the third one.
I noticed I have to turn the wheel saturation down, 900° may be great for Spintires or a Truck Simulator, but not for racing. At the moment I have it at around 360°, which roughly fits IMO. Perhaps it should even be a bit lower. I also turned down the centering quite a bit because I can’t imagine that a rally car has THAT much force working against you.

After driving a few rallies without destroying my car I started a carreer. Managed to get 4th place in the first season (lowest league I think, it is called “Open”) driving the 60s Mini, then tried again with another car.
I should have tested it in a single event before buying it and starting to drive a championship, because I sucked big time driving it. It was the 70s Opel Kadett. And I somehow managed to ignore that it has RWD. It can do cool drifts, but I had to work hard to get used to it. In the end I managed to get second place in the championship, even winning one Rally (Finland). Fun fact: The rallies in Monaco and Germany somehow felt easier in the Kadett than in the Mini, not quite sure why. Perhaps RWD is better on tarmac?
Now I am in some “Club” it seems (dunny why, but that’s how that difficulty is called), and I used the money to buy myself a Ibiza Kit Car, which is a car that I already know a bit from driving single events with it. I like its behavior, perhaps because it is FWD. So I am driving my third season with that one. Managed to get third and fourth place in the first two events.

Oh, and I tried that rally-cross thing. I suck at it, because nobody tells me how tight the next corner is. I always finish last place, even with the easiest level AI.

Anyway, here are a few questions to the guys who know stuff:

  1. Should I make the saturation and FFB settings in DR or in the TM driver software for some technical reason?
    Because I think I will do it ingame, in case I play more than one game with it, except there is a very good reason not to.
  2. do you have any other hints for me concerning the setup, any DOs and DONTs?
  3. Is there a limit of cars I can own in carreer mode? So like having a garage with limited space, forcing me to sell my upgraded cars?
  4. Is there any reason to choose a certain era or car class? Or can I reach Master level driving a 60s Mini? I noticed the AI guys always drive the same cars as me. And to be honest, the thing is: With the Ibiza I can drive faster than I can hear and interpret the Co-Pilot’s orders, which makes winning hard. In the Mini I can keep up with the speed (keep in mind that the last rally game I played was Colin McRae Rally in 1998, so I will need a bit of time to get used to it).
  5. Also: WTF? There is always at least one driver that is an INSANE amount (minutes) faster than all others. Even with my best driving I almost never reach first place. Second one happened sometimes, but the first one is SO much faster than me.
  6. Any other good “allround” or “beginner” cars from other seasons that you can recommend? Something that doesn’t try too hard to kill its driver. Up until now the reasons for my choices were
  • pick the oldest one that doesn’t look too dangerous (Mini)
  • pick a car my parents owned back in the 70s (Kadett)
  • pick a car from the 90s I drove myself (Ibiza)

EDIT:
Only real gripe so far: I can’t get it to work on my main PC so I am stuck using my notebook. It has the power, no promblem, but the screen is 14.6" so everything is tiny. Maybe I should connect it to the TV…

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55

Nope no limit, it’s like pokemon, gotta catch em all!

You can get to Master is a 60’s Mini, most I talked to didn’t switch cars till after. Just a preference though.

The FFB options are preference as well, I know I had to turn down a lot of stuff at first and then sort of ramp it back up again. At first a lot of stuff I thought was a hinderance turned out to be helpful later on.

Steam workshop has FFB profiles, and also car set ups, good starting point as then you can just make some tweaks here and there to fit your driving style.

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56

Thanks, I’ll look into it.

57

I haven’t progressed in the SP mode very far but I like the Alpine. Beautiful car and nice to drift.

For the co pilot there is an option were you can adjust how early he will call out the corners. I initially tried to drive with HUD off and this totally didn’t work for me because I hade to rely on audio cues only :wink:

58

Thanks!

Next interesting thing: I read about FOV and how it makes racing games harder.
Does that mean my small notebook monitor makes me suck? :smiley:

59

Yes and no. You can adjust FOV. to get the max performance.

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60

I’ll check that out, thanks!

Another question: Does Dirt Rally save the tracks somewhere, or offer the possibility to do so? Kinda like DCSW so I can watch them, or can I even save them as an MP4 (that would be awesome).
I’d like to do a video or two for the L0Lz, or save an especially awesome (like in BAD) try on some event.

EDIT: Also: Does anyone of you know a wheel stand that is cheap and doesn’t suck? I might try playing in another room and the wheel doesn’t fit at the table there.