RD Tech Review | VPG Elemento First Impressions

[CC]

A high price tag doesnt mean the quality is equally high.

I for myself use a Cube controls formula wheel since 2017 and i'm not really happy with the quality it delivers for its hefty price tag.

I feel really pleased with mine I can’t find nothing I would think of changing apart from the faulty cable but ordered a new one.

 

[Black-Holiday]

 

[Sean Armstrong]

I think the steering wheel is perhaps the single most important component of a sim rig.

It's the one thing in your field of view that you are in active contact with 100% of the time.

In my view, it's worth spending an outsized portion of your sim racing budget on at least one really good wheel, and the force feedback system behind it.

It won't make you faster, but it definitely increases your enjoyment, and for that alone it's worth it.

Interesting enough the thing that has made the biggest difference for me is not the wheel. What has made the largest impact is the way my pedals are mounted. I modified my pedal plate on my Obutto so that there are rods holding down the pedal plate to keep the pedals actually planted. Before that modification occasionally my pedals would lift up a bit when braking which caused me to be inconsistent and not have confidence in my braking.

I'm still not fast compared to a lot of these guys out here still rocking cheap wheels but I've become more consistent and I am getting faster with time. The pedals staying put has been so helpful in my case. When I eventually upgrade it will be nicer pedals than my Clubsport V3 pedals. I would love just a bit more feel in the brake pedal more than any other upgrade I would consider. Realistically I doubt this will help me gain more than a few tenths here and there when I do so though.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

As we are talking wheels, stumbled upon this compilation of ACC GT3 wheels on Steam.

Steam Community :: :: GT3 Steering Wheels

Steam Community: Assetto Corsa Competizione. Not sure if something like this exists and i wasted time for nothing, but dump it here anyway. If anyone designs his own steering wheel or just wonders how they all look in one picture. Would be nice

steamcommunity.com

 

[TRASGU]

As I said reasonably competent driver not aliens and if easier for consistent lap times means an overall faster race, so your faster. When I up graded from my G29 individual laps were not much faster but overall race time was faster so I'm faster. But there does become a point of diminishing returns of time gained against expense.

I remember an article written by I believe it was pat simmonds years ago telling how during one testing session one driver was tweaking the setup to no end at every stint because at some corner the car was unstable, so he started to have a suspicion about his setup problems being all just in the driver's head. After one stint, the driver called for another setup change, they told him that they had changed the setup but in reality the crew only had changed his tyres, he went out and beated his best time by 2 tenths and after the stint he said that the balance had been better.

You were faster because the new hardware gives more tactile feedback due to the hardness progression of the braking pedal and more detailed and inmediate ffb in the steering wheel, it hints you to drive smoother and more properly. A hard brake pedal with better force progression is making more difficult for you to lock brakes and makes the pedal release more progressive than a G25 stock pedal that has a very weak linear spring that demands from you a very high amount of muscular memory. It just takes more concentration and effort to hit the right timing and pedal smooth progression, but with proper technique, effort, practice and patience all comes together.

Also, when you test for first time new fancier hardware your subconscious makes you to drive in a way that you normally don't because psicologicaly you are predisposed to find an improvement, but it is not because the hardware is any faster. I always discovered that after months out of simracing I was always setting pb at the tracks, just because in the re-adaptation to be back to speed I was less agressive and overdriving slightly less and being more smooth and precise, driving differently as usual made those pb. If you go back to the old hardware and learn to drive with the same driving inputs the laptimes are going to be pretty close to the same.

With better hardware it is easier to be consistent, but that does not mean that it is impossible to be as consistent with old cheap hardware, it is just harder, needs more effort and concentration. So, no, it isn't faster even at a race distance. All what is needed is practice and effort, fancy gear makes it easier, but not faster if driven properly.

It's the same as what happened with ABS and TC until not that far ago: newbies could be faster and more consistent driving with ABS and TC, but experienced simracers raced with those aids deactivated because the car was simply faster without them activated. Now that is changing, but not so far ago the ABS and TC algorithms in most of the sims were simple slower for a skilled simracer.

At the end of the day the ultimate performance is what shows if a hardware is handicapped or not, aliens use the hardware properly, and aliens have shown that a stock g25 is enough to fight for a iracing world championship against other aliens with fancy gear.

Do I prefer fancy gear?, hell yes!. Do I find fancy gear easier to deal and to drive with?, yes. Do I think that fancy gear is faster?, absolutely not!.

 

[Richard Hessels]

Wow, this wheel has all of you pretty much intrigued.

 

[JohannesK]

Once you have at least a G25, any upgrade besides loadcells is unnecessary looking at the performance. And even that can be overcome if you train hard enough.