Automobilista 2 Force Feedback - Overview & Recommendations

I agree about the too loose on centre. It is the only aspect of the Default FFB that I would tweak if I could because not only does it "feel" slightly too loose relative to a real vehicle, it is also the source of the occasionally exaggerated oscillation (or pendulum) effects that certain vehicles exhibit when transferring weight (usually side-to-side).

Thanks for sharing your custom file details and AMS 2 settings--since one without the other is useless. My alternate to the Default is also a heavily modified Heavy Messing 2.5 - Smooth, but I use default LFB and FX of 50 each to ensure that I am not overly-distorting things before the custom file has a chance to do its work (e.g., with the scrub issue you mentioned).

If you put your hardware in your signature, it would be even more helpful

 

With the custom file that @JF Gagne and I use, the relative strength of the FFB is quite even across the range of cars if you have your sliders set properly. Still, you can tell that some cars like the GT3 Merc are too heavy. With Default especially, exaggerated differences in FFB weight from car to car is often a sign of too little LFB.

 

I updated my signature.

 

That's another thing I don't quite understand. The latest FFB patch added a damping slider in-game and the Devs say we should be using only the in-game damper and not our wheels' damper settings. I have two damping settings in the Fanatec control panel. Am I really supposed to turn both of those off or just the natural damper? What should my interpolation filter be set to?

I'm literally guessing on all of this and it's not going well

 

I'm not up on Fanatec's current wheel settings but, when there is more than one "Damper" setting in the wheel driver settings, one is applied at the motor (Directly) and the other is applied in software (Based on how the game uses Direct-Input effects).

In racing-sim's, the "Direct-Input" damper effect is generally used for standing-still steering resistance, so should not affect FFB while driving. To test, simply turn that effect on / off and check for changes in steering resistance while the car is stationary (Stopped).

Based on Reiza's description of the new in-game FFB damping, it should offer more variation in per-car steering characteristics. If you prefer that, fine. If not, you can certainly use the direct to motor damping.

I hope that helps a little.

 

The in-game damping is not the same as your fanatec damping, since it holds a good amount of inertia filter too, it feels like. Also, in general the in-game filters have way more information to base the filtering on, so can be much better than any post game filter.
As far as I have felt the AMS2 in-game damping works pretty good, except subjectively I would have preferred it to not use inertia, but that's a matter of taste. It probably also uses "normal" damping, so I would do as the devs suggest & only use this in-game one, at least at first. Even if it was straight up "normal" damping it would still be applied more correctly in the pipeline & not to the full signal, as your fanatec filter does.

 

Will there be a steering lock and ffb setting per car? The current steering lock option works different for some cars and too limited.

 

Any setting to smooth spring in race instead menu? I'm really sweating while trying to turn some cars.

 

The damping slider should be able to help you with that to some degree.
Try 50-100%.

 

Doesn’t it also wash away other forces like road surface, kerbs etc? It is 40% atm btw.

 

It does not wash away small stuff too much. For kerbs you would have to try and see what you're ok with. Imo the steering is the most important part and I would go far to get it how I like it.
Def. Try higher damping than 40%.

 

Hi Do you have telemetry data analysis doucment?

 

I think it's like reading tea leaves.

 

This whole scenario of the in-game damper is fascinating and not well understood yet, I think. My impression was that it was intended for direct-drive wheels to help ensure subtle forces were vivid without overwhelming the user with sharp and too-strong forces overall. For regular wheels, it shouldn't be needed, or would be minimized.

My own experience, with a wheel that often responds differently to the norm, is that any in-game damping diminishes/ruins the FFB. That is tested with your latest SIlver Raw custom file, the other competing Heavy Messing custom file and the Reiza Default. Same results on all three. I will refrain from telling people who have unsatisfactory or dull FFB to turn the Damping to 0, though, because from what I am reading, it is not a simple damper of raw forces.

The other comment I would make is that the Default FFB is both terrific and frustrating. Terrific because the fidelity is outstanding. Frustrating because I have now come to accept that Reiza does not intend it to be realistic. It is purposefully "bent" to provide the most valuable feedback across the range of steering inputs, but by definition that makes it feel somewhat unauthentic compared to the custom files that are going for the most natural, realistic feeling (i.e., you don't have to think about the FFB because it just feels as it should given the car you are driving).

The Default is therefore not better or worse than the best custom files; it is based on a different philosophy. Over time, the newer cars are feeling better with it, so I suspect that car physics and other adjustments will, over time, bring it to a place closer to the AMS feel. Right now, it has more and better feedback of what the car is doing and about the surface conditions, but at the expense of some "naturalness." It may always stay that way, and if so, will still be a viable option if you adjust your brain to accept what it is trying to do.

I'll leave it up to the experts to determine if the transmission of all the subtle forces is ultimately possible without resorting to the weaker SAT forces near the centre that is the trademark of the Default profile.

 

Hey Marc,

As I see it, the dampening is added as a way to counter the pendulum effect. That Reiza spiced it up with a dose of gyro/inertia effect I feel confirms that.
I agree no ffb solution is objectively better than any other, since it's really all about how we each like it on our very varying equipment, but Default def. suffers from the weird pendulum effect on any higher end equipment. Worth noting that most people don't have that high end equipment and might actually prefer Default, since it overly exaggerates the feeling of balance etc. I mean this in a good way, btw. It's good that it feels good on low end hw.

I would like to add that to me the physics now seems like a more important area of concern. Tyres that start sliding(I can see from sliding values in the custom ffb) very very early on seems very wrong. And then there's the bouncy boat stuff. I am pretty sure race cars are not set up on 10m tall suspensions with very soft springs... This affects both the actual driving and the ffb across any Default or custom file.
Really looking forward to that being improved 8)

Best,

-K

 

Glad we agree in general

Raising LFB also tames the pendulum effect. Which is better to use, or is it a combination of LB and Damping? I haven't spent a lot of time playing with the Damping, but it seems to slow the transmission of effects...like the wheel is in cold molasses (a saying we have in Canada) or viscosity is affected versus higher LFB which does not introduce any delay that I can perceive (good, because steering racks are not encase in viscous fluids in real life!!). Damping can feel nice in terms of 100% addressing the pendulum effect with one easy slider setting, but I will need to play with it more to find a better result before I would use it. But I also would never use any on-wheel damping or drift effect for the same reason. Totally distorts the intended FFB on my old Fanatec.

 

Very interesting thread. I am a new(er) user of AMS2. I have a Fanatec DD1 and I am trying to locate good settings for AMS2. I have tried looking in the ~80 pages of this post, but I cannot find them. Perhaps one of you could point me in the right direction? My preference would be settings that are as realistic as possible. Thank you in advance for your help.

 

Reported in main thread complete loss of FFFB continues to happen. This time with Porsche 4.0 Cup car at Silverstone. I had to restart the game to restore FFB.