What is the maths behind speed sensitive steering?

Péter Bártfai · Nov 5, 2011

Anyone know how exactly speed sensitive steering works? You can set it fine in Richard Burns Rally f.e. where the menu is quite visual, but not in Race where you only have a %.
So if it works like in RBR, until what speed does the steering lock decrease? And I guess then the % means the ammount it is decreased right?

Also the steer ratio speed setting in the .plr file. I know it increases steering lock at low speeds, but how much? By default it starts to take effect under 25m/s (90km/h), but I have no idea what kind of steering lock I have at 0km/h f.e.

The thing is, anywhere you search you find advices to set these to 0. That's fine if you have a 900 degree rotation steering wheel, I would say that too. But if you have a wheel that has less rotation, f.e. mine has 200, I think these settings should be considered as an option to make steering as close to perfect as possible.

BTW I think racing/driving sim developers should make these settings clearer. I think a menu where you can change default steering lock for all cars (or separately for each one if you wish), and a visual type menu we can find in RBR would be perfect.

ufunacaoenn · Nov 5, 2011

I actually don't have big knowledge as the aliens do but I could probably use my karting experience to help out as much as I can.

When I drive my kart I feel that the steering lock is decreasing very quickly at around 12 000 RPM which is around 60km/h (maximum is around 100). The more you accelerate the more the steering lock decreases but you don't feel it that much as the start but slowly you do. When I drive around 85km/h it feels like I have gone from 26 on steering lock (take the Formula Masters car as an example and 240 degrea rotation on your steering wheel) to 14 or even less. The wheel feels heavy and hard to sharp turn.

In Race Series I feel like the steering lock decreases a lot at around 130km/h with the WTCC/STCC cars and it is exacly the same when braking then the steering look increases a lot after that point.

IMO the best way to feel this is at wet weather conditions with slicks as the wheel feels quite light when you are cornering at low speeds and increadebly heavy at high speeds which I find easier to tell at which point the steering lock is decreasing or increasing.

Sorry if my post isn't that helpful.

Péter Bártfai · Nov 5, 2011

I would like to know exact numbers, but thanks anyway

F.e.: In RBR steering lock decreases from 0km/h to a speed you set (I set it to 150km/h), until a point you set (I set it to around 35% of default steering lock). I guess the second one can be set by the speed sensitive steering setting in Race 07, but it doesn't tell you until which point. (100km/h, 150km/h, 200km/h? It doesn't tell you) Or another thing I can imagine is that it starts to lower the steering lock after a certain point, and that the % setting modifies how much does it gets lower / each km/h you increase your speed.

Steer ratio speed on the other hand, if I knew how much does it increase the steering lock when you go at low speeds it would help a lot. Does it change it on a fix %/km/h basis, or just f.e. it is 200% at 0 and the effect stops at speed set in .plr file. (def. 90km/h)

What just popped into my mind: Is there any way to display your current steering lock on screen? Or does Motec show steering lock?

Rupe Wilson · Nov 5, 2011

I always thought it was only used for a controller, i always turn it to 0 with a wheel... Race pro was my experiance with it on my xbox and when i got my ms wheel i found it better to turn it to 0. ...

Péter Bártfai · Nov 5, 2011

Yes, but if I use completely linear steering without speed sensitive steering lock on a wheel like this, that will make my wheel too sensitive (less precise), and the result is that any car is much harder to drive, you do more spinning, you lose control easier if someone bumps you, and your tire wear will be also higher. You can solve this by lowering steering lock. F.e. for my wheel an ideal steering lock for touring cars would be 7.5. But then you can't take sharp corners/can't come out of pits/can't turn back after a spin.

The idea is: After a certain speed you wouldn't need more than that 7.5 degree steering lock (or 100 degree rotation on the wheel), as you would only lose traction with that. But at lower speeds drivers often turn the wheel more than 100 degrees, I guess F1 cars f.e. have 210 degrees in each direction and they use it in hairpins like Grand Hotel in Monaco.
Race 07 I guess has nice options as it basically has 2 speed sensitive steering options (if the one in ingame options work the same like RBR's). So you can set the steering lock to a special value, f.e. 15, which would represent 200 degree rotation on your steering wheel. And then steer ratio speed setting helps you at extremely low speeds (that you don't normally use on track), to have even more steering lock, that you would normally only use to turn back after a spin or get out of the garage in a narrow pitlane.
But it would be nice to know which settings work at what speeds (which we only have control over the interval where steer ratio speed works), and how much they change the steering lock (which we can only control for the ingame speed sensitive steering)

Edit: another option for those who have a steering wheel like this is to use non-linear steering, f.e. 25% sensivity in Race 07. I did use that setting for a while, but it's not really the best thing we can do, as we generally only have half of the rotation range in every corner, more precise control in fast corners and less precise in slow corners. Which is hardly ideal.

Kennett Ylitalo · Nov 5, 2011

I feel that speed sensitive steering decreases the "feel" in high speeds and results in a strange habit of turning. I have momo and there not a lot of turning either. I use Momo,it has 240 degrees so my problem is a little better, but not much. In wtcc i use 12-15 lock but i rarely hit the limit, it' basically 200 degrees of motion that i use. I rely on the scandinavian flick a lot with FWD's to get around tight spots so i can use lower locks. I've always thought that F1 has a little under 320 degrees of motion, my momo won't go that far like in the onboard videos when i've compared it. But back to thepoint, i rather use non-linear steering than speed sensitive but i understand you problem, that last 20 degrees can make a difference.. RBR graph is great, it's WYSIWYG in a sense..