The Steam Summer Sale lured me in - rF2 for £11 seemed too good an opportunity to miss. I'm currently using the DX9 build because DX11 needs more optimisation IMHO. (Incidentally, rF2 was a nightmare to install and set up. When will sim manufacturers learn to make things easy for new owners instead of forcing them to spend hours searching the internet for answers and help?)
NOTE: Frustratingly,
the FFB clipping app does not work in the DX11 build. It will probably crash your rF2. It was almost impossible to find a good FFB setting without using the app. (Another reason for using DX9 until DX11 improves). It's a good idea to adjust the in-car FFB for each vehicle and each circuit, especially when trying a mod.
Current Settings
- Wheel: Driving Force GT
- Logitech Global Settings: 100/0/0, Centring Spring 0 (unticked), Rotation 900, Allow game to adjust settings.
- Logitech rF2 Profile Settings: the same.
My method (you may laugh at it!)
- Set Car FFB to 1.00.
- Set Minimum Torque to 0.
- Set Smoothing to 0.
CAR FFB
Drive laps and, using the clipping app, watch out for the bar turning red. This often happens on a high-speed curve when the car is on the edge of grip. Increase/decrease FFB until clipping occurs/stops. Ideally, there should be no clipping but it's OK if there is a flash of red once a lap when running over a very high kerb or a big bump in the track.
Make a note of the FFB level, car and track.
MINIMUM TORQUE
Set minimum torque to 0. (This setting tells the sim what is the minimum level of force your wheel will produce.) Then raise the torque by small amounts until your wheel gently oscillates on the start line when you take your hands off it. When you hold the wheel, you should probably feel nothing or just a faint vibration. (
EDIT: At this point, I like to reduce the Min Torque by 0.5% or 1.0%.) With a bit of luck, your wheel will now feel a little livelier when driving.
Make a note of the Minimum Torque level.
SMOOTHING
Drive some laps and test for clipping. The wheel should feel quite light but responsive. However, especially with lower-end/cheaper wheels, there might be some FFB spiking that produces a "notchy" feel. You might become aware that your wheel is not an expensive, top-of-the line product!
Here's where your personal taste comes in. Smoothing at 0 might be what you like. If not, gradually increase smoothing until the wheel feels less notchy, and more like a wheel driving a car with pneumatic tires, while still retaining enough information to help you feel what is happening to the car. Too much smoothing and you will lose vital FFB information.
Make a note of the smoothing level.
Then check for clipping again - the additional smoothing might allow you to increase slightly the FFB level.
FINALLY...
Keep a record of your final FFB, Torque and Smoothing numbers for the vehicle/track combination. It will save you a lot of time when you return to that combo.
Your figures might be much higher than mine if you have something better than a DFGT.
As an example of what a difference clipping makes, here are my figures for the GT500 Nissan at Mills Outer Loop:
Without the FFB app: Car FFB 1.44, Torque 6%, Smoothing 13 (In other words, I was guessing!)
With the FFB app: Car FFB 0.87, Torque 11%, Smoothing 5
Each car will be different. I had to increase the Howston at Barbagallo to 1.50.
Please note my wheel is old and tired - just like me. These are my opinions, and they may well be wrong. But I hope someone finds this post helpful.
