DD users, asking for some help with testing a scenario

I've now seen a similar report once or twice, but a lot of people also stating this is a none issue. I'm at a loss...

I have the Fanatec DD2 and when hitting large curbs, walls, or objects I notice a large spike in the FFB that can potentially cause harm. This is not a gain issue as normal driving can be done easily with one hand and even fingers holding the wheel. The problem is these spikes cause a high & quick force unexpectedly. I also messed with every setting possible and the spikes continue no matter what. Of course reducing the overall gain dampens these spikes but at the same time i lose all other feedback so this is not the answer

For testing I'm been driving around Azure or any track that has tall sausage curbs. Take the vehicle and drive over this or crash at different angles into the wall. Do you experience these high force spikes that are a lot stronger than your normal FFB force when driving normally? I'm not talking about a small spike, i'm talking about a change from 3NM to over 6NM.

I'm on the latest firmware of 431 and wondering if this is related, but Fanatec commented this is not related to their software/firmware.

Here are my settings:
In-game
Profile: Default+
Gain: 60
LFB: 0
FX: 0
Damping: 0-50 (doesn't make a difference)
in-game vehicles: Range between 50-70%

Fanalab settings:
FFB: 40
FFS: Linear
NDP: 15
NFR: 02
NIN: OFF
INT: 03
FEI: 90
FOR: 100 (lowering this allows it to be safer but then i lose all other feedback with it)
SPR: 100
DPR: 0-100 (no difference)


So my question for the community is, am I alone with this issue, or is it common across DD's with stronger forces? I wouldn't expect this to be noticeable on smaller wheelbases as their spikes may feel more normal. I feel like the software is over shooting the gain levels during these scenarios. If you do happen to run the test for me can you please confirm what firmware version your on if your a Fanatec user? As for other brands just want to confirm this is not a general DD issue across the board. I thank you all in advance and would love to hear from the Devs on this topic too as some of the other reports i've shared have not yet been commented on.

 

I'm surprised you say that in game damping doesn't make any difference - makes a huge difference for me. I also don't understand why you have in game Gain at 60 then reduce all in car gain down to between 50 and 70 - doesn't seem any logic behind that.

I have in game gain at 45 and keep the default in car gain at 100 only adjusting up or down outlier cars that are significantly heaver or lighter than the majority. full in game settings are
GAIN 45
LFB 0
FX 45
Damping 45.



For info, think my Fanatec settings are -
FFB: 60
FFS: Linear
NDP: 20
NFR: 0
NIN: 0
INT: 03
FEI: 80
FOR: 100
SPR: 100
DPR: 100

 

I have that issue as well:
Automobilista 2 Force Feedback - Overview & Recommendations

I've tried a few things myself and ended up reducing FFB strength in Truedrive and upping it in game, so I have basically the same driving feel but without those harsh spike. I posted about this in the Beta forums after a suggenstion from Dom:

****

Domagoj Lovric said:
"I see your settings in signature, Simucube and damping 15 is really low for a DD wheel, and on wheel base damping is off, overall that sums to inappropriate damping amount for DD wheel.
I would try the route of slew rate limitation on it, that may help aid this."

I tried your suggestions, here are my findings and a solution/workaround for the issue I'm having.

• Raising Damper in Game works to a certain degree. The jolts are still there and still heavy, but the wheel doesn't go as far, so there won't be any injury. It does however make steering heavier in general and to me it seems like it drowns out a bit of detail at high speed in high downforce cars like the CARTs.
  
  
• Adding Damper in Truedrive just adds a constant force to everything but doesn't actually help against the jolts I described.
  
  
• Combining Damper in game in in TrueDrive has a bit of both effects, but it still feels like I'm loosing some detail, this might however be just my brain not wanting to commit to new settings
  
  
• Slew Rate doesn't really work for this issue. At higher values it doesn't help against the jolts, at low values it does help a bit but also actually makes the whole wheel feel tardy and slow and I like my wheel to be fast and nervous.

Now what I actually did was what I had done some months ago before the Default FFB was smoothed out. I lowered FFB Strength in Truedrive from 60% (=15NM max) to 40% (=10NM max) and at the same time raised in-game gain from 35 to 50 while not changing anything else. This makes the wheel feel almost the same while avoiding the wristbreaking spiking that occurred before. I might want to fine tune a bit to get back to how it was before "perfectly", but that will just be adding or subtracting the odd click of gain or FX.

Maybe you'd still consider looking at the Default+ values, if there is something in there that might influence FFB spiking in situations where a sudden force acts on the side of the wheel like crashing sideways of gripping up while sliding, like you did with landing after airborne between v1.3.0.1 and 1.3.0.5.

****

I don't know if this is of any help to you, but yes, those spike occur and at least for me there was a way to work around them, but I'd like to have them looked at. Maybe something can be figured out by the Dev team.

 

@Gagaryn
Thanks for the info. I will test this out. My settings are based on recommendations by both community members and fanatec themselves...

@Gevatter
Great breakdown. I like the idea of reducing the overall gain at the wheel and turning up the settings in-game to ensure max peak is limited. Will give your suggestions a go as a workaround for now hoping it makes things safer. Hoping if this is in fact an issue, that the devs look into this or allow us a setting to control this.

 

UPDATE:
So I lowered the total gain at the wheel and turned up the gain in-game. This helps, but obviously not the true solution to the spikes as they still happen, just not as dangerous....

What I have noticed though is i was mainly using the GT4 BMW to do my testing and instead I tested with the new DLC cars released this weekend and the spikes seems to be less often. Now whether this is because the suspension is completely different or whatever else i cannot answer, but I did want to share this as a result of the continued testing. So i'm interested to see if others experience this too to know its an overall issue vs a firmware/hardware issue.

Thanks

 

Yes, I get this on my DD1 too, it is quite brutal. I have done nothing though to try and dial it out.

 

Try the Karsten's custom file see if you experience similar issues, we have tuned that one specifically for DD wheels (mainly because we only own those...) and on my DD1 I dont have those problems, using low ingame gain (30-34), medium FX (around 20-30) and FFB at around 55 on the base.

 

Curious, what firmware you on? I tried the rFuktar custom profile, will have to look for the one you mention.

 

rFuktor is the one yes ... I use older FW of DD1 because I dont trust fanatec updates and they havent fixed the DD jolts for more than a year.