Automobilista 2 Force Feedback Overview & Recommendations

With the physics and Force Feedback of Automobilista 2 having reached maturity in V1.4, here is the long-anticipated AMS2 FFB guide covering a summary of its design, explanations about the different FFB profiles & in-game FFB sliders, and recommended settings for some of the most popular wheels on the market.

COMPONENTS OF FFB DESIGN IN AUTOMOBILISTA 2

In real cars, the forces through the steering are composed of several parts, which are thus simulated ( or emulated) in AMS2´s FFB:

1. Centering action, shape, and strength of which depends on vehicle suspension geometry, tire forces, components inertia, (and in case of gyroscopic wheel velocity) – this manifests itself as a 1DOF wheel movement – torque acting on the steering system, resulting in more or less severe rotation to the "right" or "left"
2. Vibration sourced from undampened drivetrain vibrations
3. Vibration due to road surface irregularities
4. Vibration due to tire slip (the rattling that can shake an entire cabin as you slide down a wet road for ex)
5. Inherent damping properties: if you steer a car that´s lifted in the air, that light "viscous“ resistance felt on the wheel is steering inherent "damping"
6. Friction: somewhat similar to damping, the small initial resistance you have to overcome when the vehicle is not in contact with the road is inherent friction in the mechanical system.

Both 5 & 6 (damping and friction) assume a running engine in case of hydraulic power assist. Modern electric assist systems often feature damping-compensation-maps, depending on vehicle velocity/chassis lateral acceleration.

Aside from these which all vehicles and tires will present more or less through the actual steering wheel, there is another distinct part of the driving-feedback equation which doesn´t actually pertain to forces coming through the wheel, such as lateral / longitudinal / vertical acceleration, chassis yawing which feeds the senses through the driver’s own body in real life (the so-called "seat of the pants" feel) - racing sims have to one degree or another translate that via FFB as the one tacticle channel it has to the driver, in order to cue him/her in of what the car is doing; how those real-life dynamics are mixed in with those "cue" effects is essentially what you can configure via FFB settings, and what makes ideal FFB such an inexact and subjective science.


IN GAME PROFILES

AMS2 currently offers two default FFB profiles and one option for a "custom" profile. In all profiles a major part of signal output is steering torque acting around steering (kingpin) axis - how that is composed by other forces is how they may differ from each other.

• DEFAULT profile adds on top of this base steering torque: damping, friction, few sources of vibration with a small amount of chassis "seat of pants“ feedback (mainly yaw)
• DEFAULT+ as per the name, this is the same as the above plus some drop-off from understeer as front tires reach a critical sliding point, and slightly more chassis feedback added to the mix from lateral & longitudinal acceleration for a feel of the car´s weight transfer as load shifts in different stages of a corner. Default+ also features drivetrain vibration / pulses while the vehicle is stationary or moving slowly which directly relates to the vehicle engine configuration ( whether a 2-stroke or 4-stroke engine, how many cylinders it has and at which architecture).
• CUSTOM as shipped with the game is just barebones steering torque acting around steering (kingpin) axis. No road vibration feedback, no damping, no friction - this profile however is editable by a user via the ffb_custom_settings.txt file located in Documents/AMS2/. Please note this is NOT customizing any of the Default profiles above, but rather allowing users to write their own FFB script using LISP-like syntax.

Damping & friction modeling featured in both Default & Default+ profiles is inspired by modern EPAS damping models: it is not just static "viscous“ resistance but rather a complex mix of lateral acceleration, velocity & wheels slip (so damping is reduced to not "muffle" the slippage signal).

It’s important to keep in mind that FFB is still subject to personal taste - what feels great to one user may not be so great for other users; community-made FFB profiles such as the one designed by Karsten Hvidberg, Panos Schoinohoritis Shadak, Peter Stefani, Kuku Madog, Stakanov & others have become quite popular with some users, while many prefer to stick with the game´s Default options; others in turn find their home with one of the other custom profiles available in the community.

We encourage anyone who finds the default profiles to be lacking irrespective of configuration to visit Automobilista 2 Custom Force Feedback - Overview & Recommendations where you´ll find lots of information, files to download and questions to be answered in order for you to get the best experience from AMS2, but also try not become obsessive with the pursuit of a "magical" FFB profile - instead find something that works well enough for you and stick with it so your brain has the chance to adapt to it and “fill” whatever gaps it may still initially perceive.

IN-GAME SLIDERS

• GAIN - This is the overall scaling (strength) of FFB output from game. Independent to device-based Gain / Strength, it scales every aspect of FFB output: steering force, damping, vibration (FX slider);
• LOW FORCE BOOST - this slider amplifies "light forces“, close to zero, gradually rolling off that amplification as force output increases. It's primary intended use is for wheels with low torque output in order to enhance small signals that may be missed otherwise and reduce the lightness / vagueness around the center that those lower end wheels can typically suffer from.. Alternatively, if you run a higher strength base (or even a powerful DD system), but set to run only a fraction of its output capability you may use Low Force Boost in small amounts to bring up the forces around center or these generally "lighter" forces. Keep in mind: neither damping/friction nor vibration part of signal is affected by LFB, it primarily affects base natural steering torque.
  
• FX - controls vertical vibration part of signal, vibration produced by tires on heavy slippage, drivetrain vibration / pulses; it also scales chassis effects (lateral acceleration, yaw, weight transfer) present in Default and Default+
• DAMPING – this is a complex setting that is important to be set right to your wheel, and you will find recommended setting for popular wheels below. Default setting of 50 is a good starting point. Setting it to zero is recommended only for low-torque devices with alot of internal resistance, like G25, DFP and similar. But even some low torque devices with little internal resistance benefit from damping such as the G923.
• MENU SPRING STRENGTH - whether wheel will return to center position when on main menu (this setting is ineffective if on-track session is loaded). If you use this, set to low value on DD wheels (under 10).

VEHICLE-SPECIFIC FFB TUNING IN SETUP SCREEN

In each car setup screen when on track you will find VEHICLE FFB GAIN , which scales the global gain setting up or down specifically for that car.

Code:

resulting_gain = gain x vehicle_gain

Users may map commands to this setting in their wheel, keyboard or button box in order to adjust it while out on track.


RECOMMENDED SETTINGS FOR SOME OF THE MOST POPULAR DEVICES

Common to all devices: Based on inherent mechanical properties of each device, some will benefit having on-device damping, friction, inertia enabled. Some small amount may be beneficial especially for direct drive wheels.

Please keep in mind below are merely the recommended starting point, subject to variations according to personal taste.

• Spoiler: Fanatec Podium DD1 wheelbase

  IN-GAME:
  Gain: 30 - 40
  LFB: 0 - 10
  FX: 10 - 50
  Damping: 50 - 70
  
  ON DEVICE:
  SEN: Auto (Maximum steering angle)
  FFB: 50% (Overall FFB Strength)
  FFS: Peak (Force feedback scaling)
  NDP: 10% (Natural damper) (in case of oversteers wheel is too heavy, increase)
  NFR: 3% (Natural Friction)
  NIN: 5% (Natural inertia)
  INT: 3-4 (Interpolation filter) (if FFB feels too grainy, increase)
  FEI: 100 - 80 (Force effect intensity) (if there are too many jolts, decrease, but don't go too low)
  FOR: 100% (Force effect strength)
  
  SPR & DPR are DirectInput effects. DPR is not used, but if in doubt set to 0%. SPR is used for menu-centering spring (this applies to all devices)
  

• Spoiler: Fanatec CSL DD with BoostKit:

  IN-GAME:
  Gain: 60
  LFB: 7
  FX: 50
  Damping: 50
  
  ON DEVICE:
  SEN: Auto (Maximum steering angle)
  FFB: 100% (Overall FFB Strength)
  FFS: Linear (Force feedback scaling)
  NDP: 22% (Natural damper)
  NFR: 14% (Natural Friction)
  NIN: 10% (Natural inertia)
  INT: 2 - 4 (Interpolation filter)
  FEI: 80 (Force effect intensity) (recommended too have jolts under control with not much numbing)
  FOR: 100% (Force effect strength)
  
  SPR & DPR are DirectInput effects. DPR is not used, but if in doubt set to 0%. SPR is used for menu-centering spring (this applies to all devices)
  
  
  [*]

• Spoiler: Simucube 2 Sport:

  IN_GAME:
  Gain: 40
  LFB: 2
  FX: 50
  Damping: 50
  
  TRUEDRIVE:
  Overall strength: 40 - 60%
  Steering Range: 900
  Bumpstop feel: Soft
  Bumpstop range: 900
  Reconstruction filter: 1
  Torque band width limit: 2200 Hz
  Damping: 8 - 10%
  Friction: 2 - 8%
  Inertia: 0 - 10% depending on your rim
  Static force reduction: 0 - 15% (depending on how much you reduce Overall strength, decrease. Having overall:60, static force reduction: 15 gives good tradeoff between too stiff wheel and surface details)
  Slew rate limit: 0.21 (this one is rather important, will aid in reducing rattles over curbs / sausage curbs)
  Ultra low latency mode: Off.
  Peaking and notch filter : Disabled
  Direct input effect fine tuning:
  Damping: 0%
  Friction: 0%.
  Spring: 0% (this will mean no menu centering spring, but we have noticed: occasionally, sc2 exhibits constant very stiff spring effect, making it near impossible to calibrate)
  
  
  

• Spoiler: Thrustmaster T-GT and similar bases (5-7Nm belt driven)

  IN_GAME:
  Gain: 75
  LFB: 10
  FX: 50
  Damping: 40
  
  

• Spoiler: Logitech G29 & G923 TrueForce

  IN_GAME:
  Gain: 80
  LFB: 50
  FX: 20
  Damping: 10
  

• Spoiler: Logitech G25 & G27

  IN_GAME:
  Gain: 100
  LFB: 60
  FX: 50
  Damping: 0

 

New thread with updated FFB information & recommendations as of V1.4.

 

This topic looks awesome. Keep it up, Reiza!

 

Note on recommended wheel settings: these are subjective settings, as ffb is. There is no one size fits all. If you are able to find a setting that works for you: post in here exact values and device used. We will revise recommended settings into ranges rather then exact values.

Subjective. DD1 makes not much difference/ if any / same way one or the other, CSL DD to me feels nicer with linear mode.

That is what we recommend in the context of ams2 ffb design philosophy - some baseline wheel resistance. If different settings work for you, that is absolutely great, and good thing that you can I have updated the recommended range. Keep in mind it will depend on your other settings, mainly overall Gain, both in game and Strength in truedrive, so:
post your settings pls.

DRI setting doesn't exist on Fanatec DD's. Natural damper is equivalent of negative DRI setting on old Fanatec belt bases. We will be adding more wheelbases.

Repeating myself here, that is great to hear G29 was added next to G923, but I'd be happy to split the two. Post settings you ended up with.