PC1 bManic's FFB experiment - Thrustmaster TX / T300

UPDATE! I changed Relative Adjust Bleed to 0.3 instead of 0.45 (which could cause some oddities)

UPDATE2!: More and more people with other wheel brands have tried the settings and it's starting to look as if these may work for quite a few wheels. T500 is confirmed as working pretty well, Fanatec GT2/GT3RS v2 also confirmed as working better than defaults and one Fanatec CSW v2 also happy.

UPDATE3!: There seems to be some confusion about Steering Arm Angle and what it is. It is NOT the same as Steering Ratio, which is a VEHICLE SETUP parameter. Arm Angle can be found in the car garage menu, under the Force Feedback Tab (it's the middle tab, between Vehicle and Summary tabs), the last option on the first page is called Arm Angle. This is the one I mean. Everything in this thread is about Force Feedback, not about vehicle setups!

Update4!: Brandon Wright noticed quite a bit of spikes and odd behavior which seems to be related to the Relative Adjust Bleed parameter. It is possible that my value of 0.3 is still too large so if any of you guys are suffering from these spikes then try a lower setting. You can go as low as 0.05 until you lose the benefit of the Relative Adjust processing block.


Hi guys,

So I finally had some time to play the game and I've spent the whole day experimenting with a new way to squeeze the massive FFB dynamic range into a range that our consumer wheels can tolerate while getting as much information as possible from the FFB (meaning: no hard clipping).

I would love it if you Thrustmaster TX and T300 owners would try these settings. NOTE: You must follow these instructions TO THE LETTER or the experience will be different to mine. Feedback that is provided without following every single point to the letter will be useless and thus ignored.

Why? Because the FFB system in pCars is extremely flexible and thus complex. It is also highly dynamic which means that a single tiny tweak of a crucial parameter (like tire force / master scale multiplier, spindle arm angle or the ratio of Fx, Fy, Fz and Mz) will alter the system. Thus, if you want stronger or weaker forces, use your Thrustmaster Control Panel program to control this! Do NOT change the in-game settings to achieve this!

These are my Thrustmaster Control Panel gain settings:

Overall strength of all forces = 75%
Constant = 100%
Periodic = 0%
Spring = 0%
Damper = 0%

Auto-center settings = by the game (recommended)

Step 1)

Set your Thrustmaster Control Panel settings. You can use my settings to start with. These result in fairly heavy forces. A good workout but not impossible to drive with. If you are a masochist, set the strength to 100%. I often drive longer races with the strength set to 60%.

Step 2)

Start Project CARS and reset your wheel then do the wheel calibration again as follows:

a) turn wheel FULLY LEFT AND RIGHT.. all the way! My TX wheel requires me to truly wrestle the wheel to get it 100%, otherwise it stops at 96%.

b) follow the 90 degree rotation to the letter.. this means you set your wheel so that it is physically pointing exactly 90 degrees to either left or right. Do NOT set it so that you get perfectly 900 or 1080 degrees here. Set it so that it is truly pointing 90 degrees to either side. For example, my wheel when set so that it is physically pointing 90 degrees results in a steering rotation of 882 degrees.

c) calibrate your pedals

d) configure your buttons

Step 3)

Make sure your FFB Strength in-game is set to 100/maximum! This is very important! It defaults to 75. Also make sure the FFB damping saturation setting is set to ZERO. It defaults to 25. (you find these options under the CONFIGURATION tab in the controls preferences)

Step 4)

Go into the "calibrate FFB" menu and set the following (parameters not mentioned should be left at default!):

Tire Force = 100

Deadzone Removal Range = 0.03
Deadzone Removal Falloff = 0.02

Relative Adjust Gain = 1.37 (sometimes it shows 137 and leaves the " . " out)
Relative Adjust Bleed = 0.30
Relative Adjust Clamp = 1.33 (sometimes it shows 133 and leaves the " . " out)

Scoop Knee = 0.12
Scoop Reduction = 0.08

Soft Clipping (Half Input) = 0.60
Soft Clipping (Full Output) = 1.79

Step 5)

Individual car setup FFB settings! I've only had time to test 3 cars but from these you can quickly extrapolate and get the general idea. The main idea is to have a Mz heavy setup and to set a good spindle arm angle and then to set a good Master Scale value so that the FFB "pushes" into the Relative Gain and Soft Clipping at proper levels. These usually end up in the 26 to 36 range, depending on how much down force the car produces or how heavy it is. Here are the settings for the 3 cars that tried:

<--- CAR SETUP - FFB TAB - --->

Lykan Hypersport:

Master Scale = 32

Fx = 68
Fy = 36
Fz = 74
Mz = 100

(note!! set all Fx, Fy, Fz, Mz smoothing to zero!!)

Steering Arm Angle = 2200

BMW Z4 GT3:

Master Scale = 28

Fx = 66
Fy = 44
Fz = 82
Mz = 100

(note!! set all Fx, Fy, Fz, Mz smoothing to zero!!)

Steering Arm Angle = 2000

Formula B:

Master Scale = 30

Fx = 68
Fy = 36
Fz = 74
Mz = 100

(note!! set all Fx, Fy, Fz, Mz smoothing to zero!!)

Steering Arm Angle = 2500
----------------------------------------------------------------------

That's it. You are done. Go into the game and enjoy pretty detailed FFB. To appreciate the full range of FFB I highly recommend turning off all driving aids. I'll add more cars to this thread once I have a chance to test some more.

NOTE!: I will NOT be providing FFB .xml files because they do not seem to work as expected. This is a complete system where every individual setting feeds into one another and thus becomes a quite complex thing. The general signal flow is like this (at least it used to be like this right before release):

Tire Force * Master Scale -> Fx, Fy, Fz, Mz -> Spindle Arm Angle -> Relative Gain -> Soft Clipping -> Scoop -> Tighten Center

As I've understood it, Relative Gain and Soft Clipping are non-linear functions and thus quite complex in nature. Even small input variations can cause quite a different feel in the wheel. Because there are two of these functions after one another and they feed an inherently non-linear device (your consumer wheel) you can probably appreciate how quickly things get complicated. You'll easily notice this by simply tweaking the Master Scale of each car or change the Fx, Fy, Fz, Mz relative ratios. Like I said in the beginning of the post, the main point is to squeeze as much "useful" information into the limited dynamic range of our consumer wheels and this means compressing the heck out of it.


You lucky s.o.b's with direct drive wheels can ignore all this and simply set pCars as fully linear and have a ridiculously awesome experience. You may still want to adjust the Fx, Fy, Fz and Mz settings like I have them above but disregard everything else (remove all soft clip and all relative gain and scoop stuff. Heck, I'd even remove tighten center).

Cheers!
bManic
 
Last edited:
@Brandon Wright Hi mate, have you got your periodic turned to zero in the control panel? When Manic said to do this in the op, I was a bit wary as I need it for the older stuff like RF2 but I found you definitely don't need it for PC.

Yep, followed all of it to the T. Only thing I changed was the deadzone removal range up to .06 which added a little weight to the wheel in the turns (which I like). At first I was pretty disappointed with how the FFB felt but now it's feeling pretty nice and I'm pleased. Kinda feels like it takes parts of AC's FFB and R3E's FFB and combines them into one. :thumbsup:
 
Yep, followed all of it to the T. Only thing I changed was the deadzone removal range up to .06 which added a little weight to the wheel in the turns (which I like). At first I was pretty disappointed with how the FFB felt but now it's feeling pretty nice and I'm pleased. Kinda feels like it takes parts of AC's FFB and R3E's FFB and combines them into one. :thumbsup:
I drove the Merc GT3 at Le Mans and it was amazing!!
 
Yep, followed all of it to the T. Only thing I changed was the deadzone removal range up to .06 which added a little weight to the wheel in the turns (which I like). At first I was pretty disappointed with how the FFB felt but now it's feeling pretty nice and I'm pleased. Kinda feels like it takes parts of AC's FFB and R3E's FFB and combines them into one. :thumbsup:
Haven't noticed the periodic stuff, only in PCars you set to 0% or AC and R3E too? Does this do such a difference? I'll have to try this latter.
 
CSR user here, im using bmanics global settings and Jacks files and im pretty happy. Mostly i feel the tires and best of al i feel when im sliding :) Loss of grip feeling is important and these settings combined gave me the most satisfying FFB. I wish i could have this feeling in the other sims aswell now :)
 
This Thread was a big help. It even helped greatly as a Base for my Logitech Wheel. Its still not where AC or Rfactor 2 is, but its now already good enough that i can mostly feel the Car and can drive it more consitent and feel the limit. But the Precision and driving on edge of the limit is still not as easy as on AC.
 
I've got two issues with that suggestion, even though I kind of agree (would be nice to have a list of all cars).

1) I am extremely busy with work (non-related to playing games and sim racing) at this moment and have an apartment which is in full renovation (from the ground up, only basic concrete walls remain)

2) FFB settings are incredibly subjective. My own car specific settings especially. I like Mz heavy forces but I know there are plenty of people who do not. I've entered a few cars as examples that you guys can extrapolate information from if you want to have similar feel to what I like in my game. I am NOT going to start adding every single car in the posts. I will however add more when I find some that need different kinds of settings (like the Karts for instance).. once I have time to play the game again. :(
 
I've got two issues with that suggestion, even though I kind of agree (would be nice to have a list of all cars).

1) I am extremely busy with work (non-related to playing games and sim racing) at this moment and have an apartment which is in full renovation (from the ground up, only basic concrete walls remain)

2) FFB settings are incredibly subjective. My own car specific settings especially. I like Mz heavy forces but I know there are plenty of people who do not. I've entered a few cars as examples that you guys can extrapolate information from if you want to have similar feel to what I like in my game. I am NOT going to start adding every single car in the posts. I will however add more when I find some that need different kinds of settings (like the Karts for instance).. once I have time to play the game again. :(

What kind of tips can you give us about extrapolating setups? Ffb settings in PCars are more dependent of classes (formulas, touring, street) or more bound to the car being FWD, RWD, AWD, MR or RR?
 
I still not sure about pcars ffb. Playing against ac it really lacks.
Wish was more centre road feel.
Do you use any center spring/damper in your Thrustmaster profiler? I use bmanic's FFB settings but the only difference is that I absolutely have to add some "weight" to the wheel by using the damper setting. Somewhere between 2-5%. Doesn't sound like much but I like a heavier wheel and this helps with the center feel.
 
What kind of tips can you give us about extrapolating setups? Ffb settings in PCars are more dependent of classes (formulas, touring, street) or more bound to the car being FWD, RWD, AWD, MR or RR?

Just look at the general division/ratio of my settings. You can quite clearly see I have Mz biased settings. This means that Mz is dominating.

It's usually like this:

Mz = 100

Fx = set to about 70 to 80% of Mz

Fy = set between 30-60% of Mz, depending a lot on the type of tire and the car's steering arm angle. I just set it so that it isn't dominating (which it easily does as it's a lot stronger force than any of the others).

Fz = set to between 60 and 80% of Mz, this depending on the car and it's steering arm.. Fz is kind of in opposite phase to Mz. If you want to try to understand how Fz works on any given car then I suggest highly exaggerating this setting. Set it to 150 and drive over curbs and stuff.. you'll quickly notice how the car suddenly "pulls in the wrong direction".. This gets countered by the other forces. But if you leave Fz out you'll also lose some important detail about the amount of grip you have and you also have a harder time "feeling" correct slip angles through corners.

Experiment. That's the key.. but in general, make sure Mz is the dominating force. That's basically my setups in a nutshell.
 
Just look at the general division/ratio of my settings. You can quite clearly see I have Mz biased settings. This means that Mz is dominating.

It's usually like this:

Mz = 100

Fx = set to about 70 to 80% of Mz

Fy = set between 30-60% of Mz, depending a lot on the type of tire and the car's steering arm angle. I just set it so that it isn't dominating (which it easily does as it's a lot stronger force than any of the others).

Fz = set to between 60 and 80% of Mz, this depending on the car and it's steering arm.. Fz is kind of in opposite phase to Mz. If you want to try to understand how Fz works on any given car then I suggest highly exaggerating this setting. Set it to 150 and drive over curbs and stuff.. you'll quickly notice how the car suddenly "pulls in the wrong direction".. This gets countered by the other forces. But if you leave Fz out you'll also lose some important detail about the amount of grip you have and you also have a harder time "feeling" correct slip angles through corners.

Experiment. That's the key.. but in general, make sure Mz is the dominating force. That's basically my setups in a nutshell.

Thanks a lot @bmanic , this will save a lot of time:). Good luck in your projects!
 
I've encountered a couple questions, this probably isn't the right thread for it but it's related to the T300 and there are many T300 users eyes on this thread, so I figured I'd put them here to see if anyone has encountered the same things.

A) Has anyone experienced the FFB change as you're playing? I did a Clio Cup career event last night, in the first race the FFB felt really good but a smidgen too heavy. After the race I turned the master scale down one notch and started the second race. I only wanted it to be a smidgen lighter, but it was quite a bit lighter and a bit "hollow" feeling. Then I made my pitstop and when I came back out on track suddenly the FFB felt good, just like it did in the first race. Nothing changed other than new tires on the car. Anyone else experience anything similar?

2. I also have a T500 rim that I sometimes use, it has a little larger diameter so it's closer to a real car's wheel. Last night I decided to put it on, did a few warm up laps for the Clio event and the FFB felt lighter than it should and felt a bit limp all around. After 5 or 6 laps I paused, put the T300 rim back on, resumed, and suddenly everything felt great again. All that changed was the rim, I didn't touch any settings or even leave the track (just hit the pause button). I would think that since the base is the same then both rims should feel the same, or is this incorrect?
 

Latest News

What's needed for simracing in 2024?

  • More games, period

  • Better graphics/visuals

  • Advanced physics and handling

  • More cars and tracks

  • AI improvements

  • AI engineering

  • Cross-platform play

  • New game Modes

  • Other, post your idea


Results are only viewable after voting.
Back
Top