- You really should be using Christiaan’s Pure FFB. It appears to be the best attempt at improving FFB.
- You probably need a lot of smoothing on direct drive wheels
- See my AccuForce ffb settings in this post
- Alternatively, if you have native telemetry ffb with your wheel (something like AccuForce SimCommander’s Steering Feedback Foundation, iRacing’s irFFB, etc.) then these tend to be ‘cleaner’ ffb signals in my experience.
- TrackIR works:
- Must launch using Steam VR launch mode
- Must use Helmet view
- You can disable the helmet visual so it looks just like Cockpit view
The Problem with iRacing: Where’s the grip?
The following is a post to the iRacing BMW M4 GT4 Members Forum and is reposted here for posterity and to prompt discussion on why exactly grip expression in iRacing is lack whereas other sims have long since solved this.
This car really, really helps earn the name iceRacing and highlights the deficiency in the way iRacing expresses grip.
Let me say, while grip isn’t perfect on other cars, I find the MX-5, Mustang, Skip, and some others tolerable, and I can enjoy them but some cars and tracks the grip is just atrocious on even those cars (Tsukuba, Suzuka, Belle Isle).
But none of these cars/tracks are anywhere near where they need to be compared to rF2, AMS1/2, even old GTR2/GTL/Race07 games, and even the likes of PC2.
The way grip is expressed in iRacing is so, so uninformative and it’s been this way for such a long time, it’s really starting to appear incredible to me that it’s still like this.
Here’s an interesting find: I use an AccuForce and I can choose to use Game FFB or the AF SimCommander’s ffb interpretation of telemetry data (“Steering Force Foundation” (SFF); Similar to what irFFB does). While I find SFF superior, neither expresses grip very well, at all.
^^^ Alarm bells should be going off here — the telemetry data isn’t expressing grip levels with enough clarity? That’s crazy.
I have experienced this since joining the service, many years, and across various tyre models.
Maybe it’s time iRacing looked into this, what with all the pro racers complaining about iRacing tyre model and this ffb/telemetry issue which has never been dealt with.
Cleft Palate Conditions and Saline Nasal Washes for Preventing Frequent Flu-like or Food Poisoning-like Illness and Symptoms
I have a cleft palate condition (~40yo, otherwise healthy) and, until recently, experienced frequent flu-like or food poisoning-like illness symptoms. But, starting January 2019, I adopted daily (or more) saline nasal washes. From that point, until January 2020, I never came down sick.
I have a cleft palate condition (~40yo, otherwise healthy) and, until recently, experienced frequent flu-like or food poisoning-like illness symptoms. By frequent, I mean, at its worst, I was getting extremely sick at least every few months, with the same symptoms, and never actually getting back to 100% in between those periods. But, starting January 2019, I adopted daily (or more) saline nasal washes. From that point, until January 2020, I never came down sick. I had sniffles, runny noses, but nothing at all like what I had been enduring before. I hope this finding helps others who have cleft palate or who are perhaps suffering similar symptoms.
Sims – A Mod(erate) Proposal
The following is a re-post and re-edit of a post on I made on Race Department, some time ago (June 1, 2019), during the pre-release period of Automobilista 2. This followed on the news that AMS2 would likely not be an openly moddable platform (due to using the Project Cars 2 Madness Engine), as opposed to how AMS1 was openly moddable. There, I brainstormed some ideas that I think are still valuable to this day and encouraged devs to get creative and help maintain a healthy modding scene. Here, I clean up the writing and present it, again, to raise awareness and to keep it for posterity.
Sims – A Mod(erate) Proposal
How getting creative and resisting binary thinking
can foster and grow sim racing further and faster
Getting Creative Again
I wish the discussion would go deeper than this simple moddable vs not moddable binary choice. There are options that keep modding on the table.
Reiza was creative when they crowdfunded AMS and very generous up to this day. I have no complaints with them. So why can’t we repeat that magic. Let’s get creative again.
Who is this for?
This is really for the devs, perhaps the publishers, and maybe for other simmers, to encourage us all to support open moddable platforms by showing you their benefits, and showing you the drawbacks and consequences of closed sims. By supporting modding, we help grow a healthy, vibrant sim community that brings more value to users and more reach and profit to devs and publishers.
Why should I care?
Mods unlock vast potential on both the business side and the customer side.
On the business side, the shelf-life and therefore sale-life of your product is extended by a significant amount. Consider Codemaster’s yearly release F1 games which might have a shelf-life of 1-2 years after which it’s not worth supporting anymore and customer goodwill for that particular product has dried up. In contrast, consider Assetto Corsa, an openly moddable sim, with a shelf-life of 5+ years, and showing no signs of stopping, growing customer goodwill, and a continuing healthy sale-life. Furthermore, a longer contented customer may be more willing to pay for first-party DLC.
On the customer side, there is greater content volume, extending the enjoyment life of the game, and content is produced and updated for longer, resolving worries about a game at a deadend. Additionally, customers traditionally not served by modern products (think vintage racing series) now have the possibility and access to options to acquire content that the dev or publisher would never think of producing. Customers also receive a warmer and more active community to get involved with which leads back to more engagement and more enjoyment out of the game.
Ask yourself, are you ok with your sim dying within a few years, having limited content, no support, and no possibility of extensions or addon content? Or would you like to see your sim going from strength to strength 5 years from now? And, in some cases like GTR2 or Grand Prix Legends, going 10 years, even 20 years, still selling, and users still enjoying the game and its community?
The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
Here are just a few ideas I’ve been thinking of that keep sims open to modding…
How to do Family Church at Home
Doing family church at home is easy and simple. There’s very little planning or expertise required, just willing participants. The upside, particularly for children, is they get to see that church is a priority, they see their faith practiced outside the church, and they see a strong example of real-world faith from their parents and their elders. The good news is it’s easy to do family church at home! Keep it short (Yay!). A 20-minute service, all in, will do tremendously more for your family than not having one at all!
In the time of Coronavirus, we’re not sure when we’ll be able to get back to gathering in large numbers. We don’t know how long this will last. In the meantime, traditional church families are most likely not practicing any kind of Sunday morning routine, such as a church service. That’s bad, especially for the children who need to see an example set by the adults of the priority that church and the faith should have.
Here’s how to do family church at home!
Call everybody together at a set time
Call everyone to a space where you can all sit together, like a living room, and where you can all see the leader who will move the service through its steps.
It doesn’t matter if all of this is off-the-cuff. Just do it! The value is in the doing, not in how great you are at doing it.
Follow your church’s pattern
If your church is like mine, you might follow something like this,
- Open with prayer
- Sing a few songs
- Read a small portion of scripture
- Have a prayer time
- Have a sermon time
- Sing a closing song
- Close with prayer
Congrats! You have your family church plan! And isn’t that nifty, it’s a perfect 7-point plan!
It’s totally fine to copy your church’s service. Your church is a ‘little church’ just like each of you is a ‘little Christ’ (as a child who imitates a grown up).
Open with a prayer
Prepare the hearts of those around you to help remind them we are meeting and remembering Christ and that we are trying to do something fun but still serious.
You could also open with a song but be sure to follow quickly with a prayer to prepare your family for a time of church.
Sing a few songs (How?)
Use YouTube, Apple Music, Spotify, or your personal music collection of Christian songs, whether online, or digital, or CDs, or straight from hymn or chorus books!
If someone can play a piano, keyboard, guitar, or other instrument, all the better! Have them lead the songs!
Include musical instruments for adults and children
Involve children by giving them something to bang! It could be a kitchen pot and wooden spoon. Lead them with a pot and spoon yourself and show them how to keep with the beat of the song.
Providing children something to “give” to the service teaches them they, too, can serve and it’s not so scary. It’s also fun for them and broadens their horizons about what church can be!
You should probably take away the instruments when songs are done to avoid children making a racket when attention is needed!
Read a small portion of scripture
Psalms and Proverbs have so many great bite-size pieces of scripture that make them perfect for this time in the service.
You could also ask family members if they have a favourite portion of scripture they’d like read. You can ask them to read it, if they would like, or you can read. If they read, it will help them develop confidence in their public speaking ability.
Having trouble deciding? You can’t go wrong starting at Psalms 1. Just read the whole chapter. That’s it!
Read a brief story with a moral
We are magnetized by new and interesting stories. That’s why your pastor probably peppers his sermons with them. It’ll work the same with your family church.
You can easily find short stories from the bible, think David and Goliath, or the Old Testament Kings who prayed to God when they had no other help. You can also find well-written stories in publications like Our Daily Bread.
Ask members to pray in prayer time
Because it’s a small group, adults and children will feel much more comfortable a note of thanks, or a prayer request, or even praying out loud.
Encourage members to say a little prayer.
The benefit of including everyone will be to give them confidence that they can speak in front of people!
Have a sermon time
An adult, the father preferably or another respected man, but a mother or respecting woman if men are not available, should lead the sermon time.
Here, you can also pick a portion of scripture. Consider New Testament passages, perhaps a story of Jesus’ miracles, or an edifying section from Paul.
You can go anywhere in the bible. Reading a chapter (or two) is all you need to do and then you can pray and that’s it. If you feel a bit more confident and you feel a bit more creative, you might find yourself inserting your thoughts between verses, or asking your family members (especially kids) about what a certain verse means.
Involve them! They’ll be much more attentive if you do!
Sing a closing song
Just your regular church, most likely, you probably end on a song. You can’t go wrong with that. Mankind was designed to respond to music and the bible reminds us God wants to hear ‘a new song’. God is creative and He made us to be creative, too!
Close with a prayer
Closing with a prayer helps bring closure to the service and cement the idea that something proper and concrete was started and was ended, rather than just being a haphazard ‘come if you like’ kind of deal.
That’s it!
You’re probably able and creative enough to just follow your own church’s pattern without needing all this advice.
So, go to it, enjoy, and know that you are setting an example for your family and children that church and faith are a priority even in the real-world and on days not named Sunday!
Personal Background
These ideas came from the example set by my mother and father who would gather us all to the living room on snow days or days when we kids acted up and prevented the family from getting to church.
The lasting impact of the example they set by living their faith in the real-world shows in my life in many ways but also in the simple fact that I published a blog like this.
Thank you, Lord, for parents who set good examples!
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. -John 3:16
YouTube Finds: Pink’s Just Give Me a Reason (Orchestral Wedding Arrangement)
I’ve found a number of videos on YouTube that has struck me as particularly special. Maybe it’s just me but I think they’re unique and deserving highlighting so here they are.
Here’s Pink’s Just Give Me a Reason in an orchestral arrangement,
YouTube Finds: Pachelbel’s Canon in D Major (Piano Duet)
I’ve found a number of videos on YouTube that has struck me as particularly special. Maybe it’s just me but I think they’re unique and deserving highlighting so here they are.
This imperfectly played, imperfectly tuned, and imperfectly recorded rendition of Pachelbel’s Canon in D is perfect.
YouTube Finds: To The Moon – For River (Rock Guitar Arrangement)
I’ve found a number of videos on YouTube that has struck me as particularly special. Maybe it’s just me but I think they’re unique and deserving highlighting so here they are.
Here’s Too The Moon’s For River in a rock guitar arrangement.
Here’s an orchestral version,
Here’s Everything’s Alright, also from To The Moon,
Wondering what To The Moon is? Only the best retro pixelart adventure game you may never have heard of. The story and music is so sublime it’ll take you along for the ride all by itself. Click here to check out the game. Here’s the trailer,
The Quotable Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
The life of discipleship is not hero-worship we’d pay to a good master, but obedience to the Son of God.
Jesus is our end. Knowing that we go the narrow way thru the cross gate to eternal life and the narrowness will make us certain.
The Quotable Ben Hur by Lewis Wallace
As philosophy was taking the place of religion, satire was fast substituting reverence; insomuch that in Latin opinion it was to every speech, even to the little diatribes of conversation, as salt to viands, and aroma to wine.
What children we are, even the wisest! When God walks the earth, his steps are often centuries apart.
Men speak of dreaming as if it were a phenomenon of night and sleep. They should know better. All results achieved by us are self-promised, and all self-promises are made in dreams awake. Dreaming is the relief of labor,the wine that sustains us in act…
Would you hurt a man keenest, strike at his self-love; would you hurt a woman worst, aim at her affections.
We learn to love labor, not for itself, but for the opportunity it furnishes for dreaming, which is the great under-monotone of real life, unheard, unnoticed, because of its constancy. Living is dreaming. Only in the graves are there no dreams.
A man drowning may be saved; not so a man in love.