Tag: RaceDepartment.com

NoGripRacing.com Is Down

Update 2018-07-08: Just wanted to invite all NoGrip fans over to Race Department. It looks like we’re not going to get NoGrip back and many have already moved over to Race Department. Their GTR2 forum is starting to come to life and the RD guys have recently filled out the GTR2 Downloads categories and people have been uploading there so it’s starting to feel more like home. You can always use RD for free and, if you’re so inclined, I feel the service they provide is worth paying for their premium membership. Unlike many other small-time sites like NoGrip, RD has some serious business muscle behind it so, hopefully, it’s not likely to disappear like some of the other small sites like NoGrip. If you’re still looking for another alternative, I recommend the European Endurance Center.

Update 2018-06-13: Sorry, no good news to share, but I did want to re-share the Nogripracing.com gone? thread over on RaceDepartment.com. Looks like more and more nogripgracing.com members and fans have been migrating over there. Don’t forget about the European Endurance Center which is also an excellent resource and alternative site for most of the things you could find on NoGrip. Don’t worry about their somewhat tedious signup process, they’re friendly enough and the site is worth it.

Update 2018-06-04: A user by the name of wibble has posted over at RaceDepartment.com about the the situation indicating the hosting contract has expired but they have a full backup of all the data on the server. I replied with some questions and asked if there were any way we fans and members could help out. It sounds like there is a past due hosting bill situation and, if that’s the case, I am personally willing to contribute to help pay off the bill and get the server hosted elsewhere. Please leave a comment if you’d like to help keep nogripracing.com alive!

Members and fans of nogripracing.com will probably have noticed by now that the site is down. I first noticed the site as down May 30th. If you are the owner, know the owner, or have news of the downtime I’d appreciate hearing what’s going on.

At this point, the downtime has gone on a few days and it’s looking less likely that it will come back, although I’ll be delighted if it does! NoGrip hosts many downloads for many different sims.

You can find alternatives to nogripracing.com at RaceDepartment.com and the European Endurance Center (which also serves general sim racing purposes), eSport-Racing.de (non-English language but you can work your way around). If you know of any others, please leave them in the comments, thank you!

Best of luck to NoGripRacing! I really hope it makes a comeback. The site really served an important niche not really served by anybody else.

If you are the owner or know the owner please let them know that I’d be happy to provide mirror hosting for the site if they’re having issues with hosting.

Secrets of Automobilista

Secrets of Automobilista

Welcome to Secrets of Automobilista where I will be recording my experience, tips, tricks, resources and other helpful information as I get into Automobilista.

Secrets of X is a series of blog posts I started with Secrets of iRacing and which has grown to include Secrets of GTR2, Secrets of Automobilista, and Secrets of rFactor 2. The “secrets” part is a little dramatic but there are quite a few tips and tricks I think new users will find very valuable and interesting.

Update 2017-10-15: Added Getting Started > Essential Content > Mike’s Essentials (SimRacing604).

Update 2017-10-12: Initial publication.

What is Automobilista?

From the game’s website,

AUTOMOBILISTA puts you in the driving seat of an advanced racing simulator to deliver a uniquely diverse motorsports experience!

AUTOMOBILISTA is extensively complemented with one of the most diverse selections or racing vehicles to be found in a racing game: only in AUTOMOBILISTA will you be able to jump from a rental kart to a 800-HP open-wheel race car; from drifting a Rallycross Evo X to jumping ramps in a Supertruck; from mastering the driving basics in a Formula Vee to managing a full 24h race in an endurance prototype; back and forth through time with historical and modern content including a sample from several decades of open-wheel racing…

And here’s a visual taste of the game,

Getting Started

In Secrets of X, I try to focus on the non-obvious or unintuitive so I won’t be covering basics like getting the game, installing it, tweaking graphics or force feedback. You’re probably beyond that yourself so I’ll focus on the hidden and obscure things.

Continue reading “Secrets of Automobilista”

Secrets of rFactor 2

Secrets of rFactor 2

Welcome to Secrets of rFactor 2 where I will be recording my experience, tips, tricks, resources and other helpful information as I get into rFactor 2.

Secrets of X is a series of blog posts I started with Secrets of iRacing and which has grown to include Secrets of GTR2, Secrets of Automobilista, and Secrets of rFactor 2. The “secrets” part is a little dramatic but there are quite a few tips and tricks I think new users will find very valuable and interesting.

Update 2018-07-26: Tip: For in-cockpit FOV adjustments try the Multiview Adjustment tool by pressing CTRL-= while in-car in the pits. Thanks to this post on isrtv.com for highlighting it.

Update 2017-10-12: Initial publication.

What is rFactor 2?

From the Wikipedia article,

rFactor 2 is a computer racing simulator developed by the American independent software firm Image Space Incorporated, released for Windows in 2013. Like its predecessor, rFactor, it is designed to be modified and is used by professional racing teams for driver training and race car development. Much of its source code is derived from rFactor Pro which is also used by professional racers and most of the Formula One teams and NASCAR manufacturers.

And here’s a visual taste of the game,

Getting Started

In Secrets of X, I try to focus on the non-obvious or unintuitive so I won’t be covering basics like getting the game, installing it, tweaking graphics or force feedback. You’re probably beyond that yourself so I’ll focus on the hidden and obscure things.

Continue reading “Secrets of rFactor 2”

How much FFB can you feel in GTR2? 1/1000th of a percent.

[This is a repost of a thread I started on RaceDepartment.com and just wanted to have on my blog, as well.]

Update 2018-01-25: I’m a fan of Simracing Youtuber Jimmy Broadbent and he recently noticed my RaceDepartment post How much FFB can you feel in GTR2? 1/1000 of a percent (also a blog post of mine) and posted a video about his direct drive experience on GTR2 using the force feedback settings I recommended in that post: GTR 2 – How Does It Feel With A Direct Drive Wheel? Check it out, he seems to like it! I’m really happy to help some people get more enjoyment out of this oldie-but-goodie game.

I thought the GTR2 fans would find these results on the precision of GTR2 FFB interesting. For the record, I run a SimXperience Accuforce direct drive wheel. Precision probably wouldn’t be as noticeable on belt/gear wheels.

I’ve been tuning force feedback and recording details on my blog and, in any game where I need to tune value ranges, I find myself doing bi-section searches and testing the result to find what suits me best for a particular FFB parameter.

Here’s my latest testing on this parameter in the UserData PLR file:

FFB steer force grip weight=”0.71696″ // Range 0.0 to 1.0, recommended: 0.4 to 0.9. How much weight is given to tire grip when calculating steering force.

Note 0.71696 is basically 71.696% given the 0.0-1.0 range. GTR2’s PLR files apparently have a precision of up to 5 decimal places or 1/1000th precision thought of as a percentage.

How did I end up at a super specific value like that? Well, here’s the bi-section search it took me to arrive at that value:

FFB steer force grip weight=”0.78000″, 0.785, 0.7875, 0.6875, 0.7875, 0.6875, 0.7375, 0.7125, 0.725, 0.71875, 0.715625, 0.7171875 (better), 0.71640625, 0.716796875, 0.7169921875, 0.71689453125, 0.716943359375, (0.7169189453125+ vs 0.7169677734375++), 0.71695556640625 (*, **, ***)

Yes, at every step I could tell the difference (note the “better” notation, and the “+” and “++” notations). I was choosing what gave me a better feeling of grip level while cornering.

Those last two values were (when rounded) really 71.697% and 71.696%: A 1/1000th precision difference that you could feel in the wheel.

Some might be skeptical, I understand, just be aware this is really only perceptible when you’re going hard like say for fastest lap in a qualifying session. Precision of ffb matters at that point.

Personally, I find it really fascinating to push an old game like GTR2 from 2006 this far and find out it can deliver that kind of fidelity on a modern direct drive wheel.

*Yes, to update those values I have to exit GTR2, edit the PLR, and start GTR2 back up again. A real pain but worth it when you start to feel the car as it was meant to be felt.

**My “bi-section searching” deviates from a strict bi-section search in that sometimes I experiment and try values that aren’t strictly a bi-section the previous two values. I find this can help when I’m frustrated with the feel and need to find my bearings with a bigger jump which I then narrow down again with a regular bi-section search.

***If you’re interested, I’ve attached my PLR so you can see all my modified FFB values. The car was HQ F575 GTC and the track was HQ Brno. I run 60hz vsync.

Credits

Secrets of GTR2

Welcome to Secrets of GTR2 where I will be recording my experience, tips, tricks, resources and other helpful information as I get into GTR2.

Secrets of GTR2

Welcome to Secrets of GTR2 where I will be recording my experience, tips, tricks, resources and other helpful information as I get into GTR2.

Secrets of is a series of blog posts I started with Secrets of iRacing and which has grown to include Secrets of GTR2, Secrets of Race 07, Secrets of Automobilista, and Secrets of rFactor 2. The “secrets” part is a little dramatic but there are quite a few tips and tricks I think new users will find very valuable and interesting.

Update 2019-02-26: MRW Cars: If the cars feel like they’re not turning enough for how much you turn your wheel, trying increasing the Wheel Lock in-game. The default is something like 15deg but I’ve tried 18, 21, 24, and I’m now at 25 and that feels about right. It seems high but I guess pickers can’t be choosers.

Update 2019-02-25 – 3: I’ve recently joined the F1 Classic Forums and I can totally recommend this site as another quality place for getting involved in the GTR2 community.

Update 2019-02-25 – 2: Here’s an XD overlay tweak to the XD.INI file that repositions the Standings Box to top-left, to the right of the native Position dialog. This prevents the Standings Box from getting in the way of the rearview mirror. Here’s the tweak:  StandingsPosX=370 and StandingsPosY=0. To reduce the number of entries in the Standings Box, so it takes up less space, set StandingsPlayersVisible=7. I find this improves the layout and frees up the screen for where you really want to look while you’re racing. Added this info under Modernizing > XD Telemetry Overlay.

Update 2019-02-25: After talking with the MRW Cars author, it appears he set HDC files SteeringFFBMult=3.0 (Default: 1.2) which is why I had to drastically change FFB Steer Force Output Max (See Update 2019-02-21 for details). So, now, instead of modifying Steer Force Output Max away from the previous value, and breaking the FFB experience for every other mod since the previous value worked relatively well across mods, you can use the previous FFB steer force output max=”0.95000″ and, instead, change the MRW Cars HDC files SteeringFFBMult=1.2 to match every other mod. This results in a much better feeling while retaining compatibility across other mods.

Update 2019-02-21 – 2: Cleaned out the Mod Bounty Program. It never really got going and it doesn’t seem to mesh with the mod culture of these old games. That’s actually okay. Modders have integrity and honour and do this on their own time, for free, because of their passion. I can respect that. Thank you, modders!

Update 2019-02-21: I’ve currently tuning FFB for the amazing MRW Car sets (Cup, GT4, GT3 and GT3) and have promising results. For now, set FFB steer force output max=”0.53438″ and that should mostly do it. I feel like I will have to tune Grip Weight but don’t have any numbers for that yet. That said, it still fees very good so far. You can find all the details about how to get the MRW Car Sets on the EEC Forums. You’ll need to register with them but their mods are worth it! I’ll be reviewing the MRW Cars in the Mod Spotlight soon.

Update 2019-02-18: GTR233 and Co. have released both of the amazing GTR2 HQ Mods Collection v9.7 and GTR2 10th Anniversary Patch v9.7 mods! These are absolute must-haves for GTR2 fans. The 10th Anniversary Patch is one of the best and simplest ways to take a vanilla GTR2 install and modernize it all in one easy step. You won’t be disappointed!

Update 2019-02-03: Added Power & Glory 3 to the Table of Mods and Custom FFB Files.

Update 2018-10-14: TrackIR users probably want to set Video options World Movement to 1% (not zero) to stabilize the vertical angle of the cockpit camera to the angle of the car so that when you’re going up or down a steep hill you don’t lose sight of the bonnet of your car looking too far up while going downhill or end up looking at your feet looking too far down going uphill. Zero World Movement is lock-to-horizon, I guess, and to me that doesn’t work for TrackIR users. World Movement greater than 1% causes your cockpit camera to stabilize with the car angle but the “world” (ie. what you see of the car and the track) ends up bouncing around so a high World Movement number isn’t great, either. So 1% seems to minimize ‘world shake’ and stabilize the cockpit camera to help when you’re going up and down hills. Added tip here.

Update 2018-09-28: Certified new HQ Cars with significant grip increase changes. No more of the wheel going super light. The downside is non-direct drive wheels might not convey the grip information that is still there as well as before. A Pre-2018-09-28 download is still available if you don’t like it.

Update 2018-09-28 – 2: Added DTM 2012-2016 Mod to Table of Mods and Custom FFB Files.

Update 2018-09-09: I’ve been working on a significant update to the HQ Cars FFB settings (which should benefit other car sets in the future) involving tuning the ‘light wheel during grip loss’ effect for more realistic behaviour and I’m very pleased with my results so far. In some cases it can feel rFactor2-like(!) such as when regaining grip when going light over high-speed ridges. I even posted about a particular finding over at Race Department with respect to actually feeling very specific front-left whee lockup on heavy braking into left-hand corners (same would apply to right-hand corners, of course). Give this PLR a try if you’re interested. Just copy&paste the FFB lines into your own PLR. Make a backup of your own, of course! :) When I’m satisfied with tuning I’ll update the official HQ Cars FFB settings. Enjoy!

Update 2018-09-02 (2): Added the free Bill’s Process Manager as the primary recommendation for the section Improve Frame Rate by Making GTR2 Use More Cores For Better Performance.

Update 2018-09-02: Check out my new Secrets of Race 07 post –  I’ve recently got back into Race 07 after watching a recent Race Department video and discovering that my GTR2 FFB settings worked really well in Race 07. Beware SimXperience AccuForce owners: Disable Dynamic Oscillation Control – Stationary or the FFB will feel incredibly dull and extremely over-dampened.

Update 2018-08-28: Correction to Field of View instructions. ProjectImmersion.com’s vFOV value is used as-is not a calculation against default value.

Update 2018-06-13: Fixed PLR link for FFB settings for Original Cars under Force Feedback > Shovas Custom FFB Files.

2018-06-08 – 3: Updated Mod Spotlight > EEC GT3 V3 with some potentially helpful notes on how to get started installing it.

Update 2018-06-08 – 2: Added my NVIDIA Inspector customization notes for improved graphics under Getting Started > Modernizing > NVIDIA Inspector Settings.

Update 2018-06-08: I’ve now certified my new FFB settings for DTM Classics cars which are now rebased on the benchmark 2005 FiaGT Mod FFB settings. Check out Force Feedback > Shovas Custom FFB Files for the PLR download.

Update 2018-06-04: There’s an update over on my NoGripRacing.com Is Down post. Check it out for the latest on what happened to NoGripRacing.com and details on how we might be able to help recover the site! PS. There are full backups! Catch? Sounds like unpaid bills to pay before they’re released :(

Update 2018-06-03: I’ve now certified my new FFB settings for HQ Cars which are now rebased on the benchmark 2005 FiaGT Mod FFB settings. Check out Force Feedback > Shovas Custom FFB Files for the PLR download.

Update 2018-05-30: NoGripRacing.com has been down for most of today. Anyone have any news? It would be a crying shame if it were permanently lost – there were so many downloads there and lots of good people. I would be happy to provide some kind of mirror hosting if anybody knows how to get in contact with the owner.

Update 2018-05-25: I’ve now certified my FFB settings for Original Cars. Check out Force Feedback > Shovas Custom FFB Files for the PLR download.

Update 2018-05-21 – 2: I have now certified my FFB PLR for the FiaGT 2005 Mod. Check out Force Feedback > Shovas Custom FFB Files for the PLR download. In my opinion, FiaGT 2005 is currently the best mod available. It doesn’t try to do too much, just provide the FIA GT 2005 season, and that’s how it keeps everything tight and polished and feeling high quality. Give it a try if you haven’t already, it’s well worth it!

Update 2018-05-21: Updated Force Feedback > Shovas Custom FFB Files for FiaGT 2005 Mod. This is now my best feeling FFB + Mod set.

Update 2018-05-13: Added David Littman’s mod bounty to the GTR2 Mod Bounty Program.

Update 2018-03-25: Introducing the GTR2 Mod Bounty Program: A system to match pledgers with modders to improve the game we all love, GTR2. Take a look at the available bounties and consider pledging to see if we can gather some interest in keeping GTR2 alive and kicking!

Update 2018-03-24: Updated Force Feedback > The GTR2 Force Feedback Engineer with advice for FFB adjustments when your wheel goes numb, like it’s clipping, even though you’re not at max FFB strength.

Update 2018-03-23: Correction on Troubleshooting > Graphics driver crash and black screen freeze while driving: This problem seems to have been due to bad files in my GTR2 folder. I started again with a clean, brand new GTR2 installation, and tested with crash-prone cars and tracks and haven’t had a black screen freeze crash again, yet *fingerscrossed*.

Update 2018-03-05: Updated Mod Spotlight > DTM Classics Mod to (1) recommend NOT raising Max Vehicles on tracks to avoid some pit issues, and (2) provided a ‘plain’ championship that allows for custom race durations (in minutes) and avoids repeating tracks. Added Troubleshooting > Graphics driver crash and black screen freeze while driving.

Update 2018-02-16 – 3: Updated Force Feedback > Shovas Custom FFB Files for WSGT Mod cars but unfortunately, due to consistency issues with the cars physics and handling in the mod, FFB could be tuned for one car but not for all. You’d have to tune each car separately which I’m not willing to put the effort into. There are also tire heating/cooling problems with the mod. Sadly, will have to avoid this mod for now.

Update 2018-02-16 – 2: Updated Force Feedback > Shovas Custom FFB Files for EEC GT3 cars bringing it to a Candidate quality level.

Update 2018-02-16: Added Force Feedback > The GTR2 Force Feedback Engineer, inspired by the Project Cars 2 Race Engineer, which is an in-game question and answer car setup tweaking interface, to help narrow down how to tune force feedback in GTR2.

Update 2018-02-15: Added All Cars (Baseline) FFB settings under Force Feedback > Shovas Custom FFB Files for those people who just one one, simple FFB setup and don’t want to find the perfect one or who don’t want to change them in and out. Note, the All Cars (Baseline) FFB settings are simply the Certified HQ Cars FFB settings that I use as a baseline when starting to test any other car set. They just so happen to provide an acceptable FFB experience with most cars. I wouldn’t use it for everything but I can understand if some people prefer to just have one set of FFB settings.

Update 2018-02-11: Updated Force Feedback > Shovas Custom FFB Files for Original Cars bringing it to a Candidate quality level. Also added some methodology info for how I got about tuning FFB.

Update 2018-02-10: Updated Force Feedback > Shovas Custom FFB Files for Japan SGT300 Mod after some further work to get it to above average standard. Some of those Porsches feel really good, especially when you throw out the backend and feel it catch itself :)

Update 2018-02-10: Updated Force Feedback > Shovas Custom FFB Files for Super GT500 2005-2013 Mod and Japan SGT300 Mod after getting these to acceptable standards, although they still need work. Also added grades here to indicate how good the FFB for these cars feel. For example, HQ Cars have Grade A, or very good, FFB feel, EEC3 GT3 have Grade B, or acceptable/still needs work, FFB feel, and DTM Classics Mod has Grade C, or not really acceptable/needs work, FFB feel. I’ve added grades for each car set.

Update 2018-02-09: Noted my latest Field of View parameter, now 40.

Updated 2018-02-07: Updated Force Feedback > Shovas Custom FFB Files for Super GT500 2005-2013 Mod. I really enjoy seeing the FFB come into its own as you narrow in on the tuning. Feeling these cars come to life is an amazing experience. Sight and sound these cars are great and reviving the FFB brings the whole package together in a great experience.

Update 2018-02-30 – 2: Updated Mod Spotlight > EEC GT3 with some WIP thoughts. Added Getting Started > Community link and encourage taking advantage of the websites involved in the GTR2 community.

Update 2018-02-03: Added Force Feedback > Shovas Custom FFB Files including a table of FFB settings organized by Car Sets. Removed Force Feedback > My Personal Force Feedback Settings and Tweaking Notes as it was a little redundant after adding the Shovas Custom FFB Files section.

Update 2018-01-28: Added Mod Spotlight > Japan SGT300 Mod – Super GT GT300 Class Cars, Mod Spotlight > WSGT – World Super GT Mod (I’m impressed!).

Update 2018-01-27 -2: Added Troubleshooting > Crashes Loading Game, Mod Spotlight > Super GT500 2005-2013 Mod, Mod Spotlight > Subaru Impreza Mod, Mod Spotlight > FiaGT 2005 Mod, and minor edits to Mod Spotlight > DTM Classics Mod.

Update 2018-01-27: Added Peripherals > SimXperience AccuForce Direct Drive Wheel and TrackIR Head Tracking sections.

Update 2018-01-25: I’m a fan of Simracing Youtuber Jimmy Broadbent and he recently noticed my RaceDepartment post How much FFB can you feel in GTR2? 1/1000 of a percent (also a blog post of mine) and posted a video about his direct drive experience on GTR2 using the force feedback settings I recommended in that post: GTR 2 – How Does It Feel With A Direct Drive Wheel? Check it out, he seems to like it! I’m really happy to help some people get more enjoyment out of this oldie-but-goodie game.

Update 2018-01-25 – 2: Organized and cleaned up a lot of stuff in Getting Started, Mods and Force Feedback sections. There was a lot of clutter that I tried to weed out to make things more readable.

Update 2018-01-25 – 3: Posted my latest HQ Cars and Tracks “certified” UserData PLR and FFB tuning notes under Force Feedback > My Personal Force Feedback Tweaking Notes.

Update 2017-12-29: Added Known Issues > The Leader’s Advantage AI Bug.

Update 2017-12-08: CORRECTION: Time Acceleration is OKAY. Skipping qualifying sessions is a problem! Relevant notes about Time Acceleration updated.

Update 2017-12-03: Added Racing > How to Manage AI Difficulty in Championships. Added Known Issues > Time Acceleration Results in Unrealistically Fast AI Lap Times and Skipping Qualifying Results in Unrealistically Fast AI Lap Times.

Update 2017-12-02: Updated my latest personal UserData PLR file and my force feedback tuning notes under Force Feedback > My Personal Force Feedback Tweaking Notes. I’ve been experimenting going back to baseline ffb values and trying to reach a more iR/AMS/RF2 feel. I definitely prefer this in terms of drivability and reliability on the road.

Update 2017-11-10: Added Force Feedback > Guidelines for Tuning GTR2 Force Feedback. Updated Force Feedback > Rumble Strips Pushing/Pulling the Wrong Way to clarify wrong interpretation and now using default FFB parameter value.

Update 2017-11-09: Clarified Racing > Custom Daylight Acceleration works for regular race sessions but not 24 Hour races – they automatically time scale to race length setup when first starting the 24 Hour race.

Update 2017-11-08: Added Racing > Custom Daylight Acceleration. Added Resources > GTR Engineers Handbook and GTR2 Car-Owner’s Manual links. The GTR Engineers Handbook is particularly excellent for describe car setups better and more informatively than any in-game descriptions I’ve encountered before and the Q&A with real-life experts is also incredibly helpful.

Update 2017-10-31: Added Racing > How to Set AI Difficulty Level and Tips for Practicing and Qualifying for a Race sections. Also emphasized tip to avoid Time Acceleration as it causes a bug which results in overly quick AI lap times no matter what your AI difficulty level is set to.

Update 2017-10-29: Cleaned up and clarified Getting Started > Field of View. It’s now easy to understand and has an example. Fleshed out Force Feedback > My Personal Force Feedback Tweaking Notes with latest tuning adjustments.

Update 2017-10-12: Now using AI to AI Collision Rate=”40″ (max) as there’s no FPS loss for me so why not. Added Tips and Tricks > Avoid Time Acceleration to AVOID AI Bug Actually, skipping qualifying is the bug, Time Acceleration is fine.

Update 2017-09-22: Now using AI to AI Collision Rate=”32″ as I’m no longer experiencing FPS loss, maybe only stock tracks are affected and not HQ tracks. Try running HQ tracks if you have this problem. Added 5. Adding Friction and Damper under Force Feedback > My Personal Force Feedback Tweaking Notes. Added Force Feedback Settings under Getting Started > Modernizing as, while it may seem obvious, I wanted to highlight the need to do more than is available in-game to get closer to modern standards for FFB feeling. Added note about preferring HQ Cars and Tracks due to improved handling and grip adjustments in Getting Started > Modernizing > Mod: GTR2 HQ Mods Collection.

Update 2017-09-21: Added 4. Improving Corner Feeling under Force Feedback > My Personal Force Feedback Tweaking Notes.

Update 2017-09-17 – 2: HQ Cars & Tracks is working for me again after a fix. See comments under Modernizing > Mod: GTR2 HQ Mods Collection. Added Troubleshooting > Enable Tracing.

Update 2017-09-17: Added Troubleshooting section. Noted HQ Cars & Tracks was crashing for me. This works now, see comments under Modernizing > Mod: GTR2 HQ Mods Collection.

Update 2017-09-16: Added Tips & Tricks regarding turning up tire scrub and tire skid volumes and regarding refreshing old mod files if you’re experiencing instability.

Update 2017-09-15: Added Modernizing > 4GB Patch notes. Added GTR2 HQ CARS & TRACKS – 10th Anniversary and GTR2 HQ AI under Modernizing > Mod: GTR2 HQ Mods Collection. Added note that I’ve stopped using the Changing Weather Patch due to suspected instability.

Update 2017-09-14: Added Mod Spotlight > DTM Classics Mod with details for getting it running in 2017.

Update 2017-09-11: Detailed my FFB tuning in the section “My Personal Force Feedback Tweaking Notes”. Important! After a few rounds of FFB tuning I finally feel like I have a simple FFB setup that achieves car stability, quick response, and road feel. Added “GTR2 Crashes – It might Be Other Accelerated Graphics Apps” to the Tips and Tricks section.

Update 2017-09-08: Added “Disable Auto-pit and ai control” under the “Tips and Tricks” section. Noted tweaks in the “Make GTR2 Use More Cores For Better Performance” section under Performance. Added “My Personal Force Feedback Tweaking Notes” under the Force Feedback section.

Update 2017-09-06: Noted I’ve started over again from Julien Regnard’s FFB guide tuning FFB from baseline values instead of PLR defaults values under the “Helpful Guide for Advanced Force Feedback Tweaking” heading. Highly recommended. Don’t skip it like I did.

Update 2017-09-01 – 2: Added main section Performance and sub-section Make GTR2 Use More Cores For Better Performance to describe GTR2’s single-core use and how to get it to use more than a single core for better performance.

Update 2017-09-01: Added a Table of Contents for more convenient organization and to make it easier to find what you want.

Update 2017-08-30: Updated Force Feedback section to include more details on finding my optimal “FFB steer force average weight”, “FFB steer force exponent”, and “FFB rumble strip pull factor”. Also added “Force Feedback Tweaking Guide for Simbin Games by Julien Regnard” in Force Feedback section.

Update 2017-08-25: Added Changing Weather Patch mod under Modernizing section and added to Mod Spotlight. Updated my latest FFB settings in the Helpful Guide for Advanced Force Feedback Tweaking section.

Update 2017-08-20: Further FFB tweaking of “FFB steer force grip weight” which gives a feel of losing and gaining grip while cornering. Added Tips and Tricks section Use Auto-Clutch With Paddle Shifters. Added main section Mod Spotlight.

Update 2017-08-19 – 2: Added Getting Started sections: Mod: Track update for GTR2 Original Tracks, Mod: New GFX Mod, Field of View, Wheel Rotation and Wheel Lock, iRacing-like Brake Sensitivity for Potentiometer Pedals (eg. G27). Added Adding Game Cars, Tracks, Mods and More main section. Added Force Feedback main section with sub-section Helpful Guide for Advanced Force Feedback Tweaking.

Update 2017-08-19: Welcome to the initial posting of Secrets of GTR2! Check back from time to time as I add things and note the updates in this update box.

What is GTR2?

From the Wikipedia entry,

GTR 2 – FIA GT Racing Game is a sports car racing simulator developed by Blimey! Games and SimBin Studios (later Sector3 Studios) for the x86 PC and is a sequel to GTR. Since its release in September 2006, it has received widespread acclaim. The game simulates the 2003 and 2004 FIA GT Championship racing series.

And here’s the official game trailer,

Continue reading “Secrets of GTR2”

RaceRoom Racing Experience Force Feedback Settings

Update 2016-12-10: The BMW M4 DTM 2016 at the Red Bull Ring Spielburg is an excellent demonstration of what the AccuForce should feel like in more games. SimXperience worked with S3 on the FFB feel for the November 2016 R3E update and, combined with DTM 2016 using the latest game physics, it produces an intense, visceral driving experience I had not yet experienced with the AccuForce since I bought it in early-mid 2015. I am very pleased, needless to say, after all my tweaking. Here’s the settings, and, personally, in SimCommander I always reset my AccuForce to defaults, set Wheel Mode High, enable Force Boost, and disable Engine RPMs:

Update 2016-12-10 (2): Important! Be sure you are basing your R3E Controller Profile tweaking on the correct device: The AccuForce Controller Profile. I was under the impression that, if the game knew about the AccuForce, and I setup the default in-game Controller Profile with the AccuForce wheel and buttons, that I was doing the right thing: Not so, it was using a lot of behind-the-scenes defaults for the actual selected device – the keyboard! So, be sure the first thing you do when setting up R3E is to actually click the AccuForce Controller Profile button in-game. It can be confusing as it doesn’t look like a button and it doesn’t highlight in a clear and obvious way. If you don’t do this you’ll end up reverse engineering the AccuForce Controller Profile, as I did, and you still won’t end up with a good result due to all the hidden logic they’ve already worked on themselves (including degrees of rotation support missing if you select keyboard).

Update 2016-11-16: I’ve been tuning FFB from the ground up for AF after the November 2016 update released yesterday. I feel I landed on pretty much the same as the 2016-11-14 update. The only drawback so far is a lighter wheel around center especially on straights. For the gory details of how I got to my settings, here’s the post that I made in the SimXperience Owners Club forums. Here’s the settings screensnaps:

r3e-sc-1-20161116 r3e-ffb-1-20161116 r3e-ffb-2-20161116

Update 2016-11-14: Just before the November 2016 R3E update, I was playing around with Dynamic Oscillation Control – Moving instead of Dampening in SimCommander and, with a little bit of friction, I quite enjoyed the results not having to put up with the side-effects of fluid dampening on handling behaviour. I even set some RaceRoom Raceway #1 finishes! :) I’ll be updating for the November 2016 R3E update, shortly, but for now here’s the settings:

r3e-sc-1-20161114 r3e-ffb-1-20161114 r3e-ffb-2-20161114

Update 2016-09-27: Been playing around with FFB to reduce ‘boat sway’ on straights. I’ve been experimenting with more dampening and even had to add some spring (ugh). I also clued in to the in-game FFB settings where Steering Force Intensity is the magnitude of strength for all the settings in that section (it strengthens or weakens the sum of all other forces in that section), and I also realized the Vertical Load and Lateral Load really need to fit in 100% (ie. one can be 75% but the other must be 25%). Here’s the settings:

r3e-sc-20160927 r3e-ffb-20160927-1 r3e-ffb-20160927-2

Update 2016-01-12: Renamed Wishlist to Suggestions for Improvements and added a number of items.

Update 2015-09-25: I’ve been putting a lot of my AccuForce updates for R3E in my AccuForce post over here.

Update 2015-06-04: Check out this post by Georg Ortner of S3 that explains the different FFB options.

Update 2015-04-15: Georg Ortner, dev for Sector 3, has posted his G27 Logitech Profiler and in-game settings (link fixed 2015-04-16 as they deleted the old one ugh) on the S3 forums. Ugh. Okay they deleted that thead. It’s still a good thread for getting an idea of what other people are doing, however. Here’s the gist: He has disabled Spring Effect, Damper Effect, and Centering Spring and I don’t modify anything else in-game or in files yet. I had these at defaults, due to my assumptions about some his previous posts over at the RaceDepartment.com forums, but I think these are better settings for the G27 now. I think the ffb center deadzone issue is a little bit better like this. I still feel no need to modify any files. My in-game settings are also pretty normal still. I think this is a net win so it’s worth a try.

Update 2015-03-31: Sector 3 released another update today. It will make you reconfigure your controllers (which isn’t such a bad thing since ffb is always being updated, just wish they had saner defaults). Watch out for the need for ‘inverted forces’ that some wheels, like the G27, need. I left pretty much most things at default. Among the changes were “3 new FFB multipliers for spring, damper and friction in FFB settings.” Spring is the one we’re interested in for dealing with the G27 center deadzone issue which still exists. I did a binary search from 0% to 100% to 50% to 25% and ended up at 25%. At each level I tried to determine whether hard cornering was ‘clipping’ (overdriving the wheel motors so no nuanced forces could be felt) and felt that 25% allowed me to feel the road through hard steering but, unfortunately, that means the deadzone is still there.

Update 2015-02-13: Sector 3 pushed another release yesterday. I’m using all FFB defaults and finding tweaking isn’t very rewarding in R3E with a G27, unfortunately. Center deadzone is still there. Great game, though, and I play it regardless of the FFB troubles. After seeing all the cars, tracks, audio, single player, multiplayer, experiences, championships, hill climbs, etc., I have to say I don’t think any other sim right now comes close to the complete package R3E delivers. Well done, S3!

Update 2014-11-18 – 2: Maybe I’m just getting used to the FFB but perhaps there has been a slight improvement in the G27 ffb center deadzone with the latest update although it’s not nearly enough. As well, the AI respect/aggression appears to have been improved. I can occasionally run side-by-side with AI now without getting rubbed off the track and AI are no longer ramming me from behind going into corners so much.

Update 2014-11-18: Sector 3 has released another major update today including the DTM Experience 2014 amongst various other improvements. Once again I’ve deleted my controller profile in-game to ensure I’ve got their latest controller changes in and I’ve reapplied my changes.  Surprisingly I don’t yet feel a need to change any of my profiler or in-game settings that I had with the previous October update. This is unfortunate as it means Sector 3 didn’t address G27 ffb center deadzone issues. They also haven’t improved AI respect/aggression which I was hoping for. That’s not to say this isn’t a great addition, though, as they’ve made a tonne of improvements to track and cars and released new content all besides DTM-E 2014. There’s even a free real-world track now for RaceRoom drivers: Portimao. Keep up the good work S3!

Update 2014-10-18 – 2: I’ve updated my ffb settings for the game update released on 2014-10-17. I started a new controller profile in-game. This resets the controller RCS file and apparently the latest update came with some significant changes that caused all my settings to act strange so I’ve redone everything. The good news is I’m not editing the RCS file anymore. All my changes are in the Logitech Profiler and in-game.

r3e-logitech.pg

Update 2014-10-18: Sector 3 released an update for RaceRoom Racing Experience yesterday and it came with some force feedback changes that really messed with my G27 wheel settings. It felt very, very light. I suspect this was due to game changes under the hood concerning the “FFB steer force front grip exponent” and “FFB steer force rear grip exponent” RCS file settings that I had heavily modified (see 2014-09-20 update below). If you’ve done this and are experiencing ffb settings try restore the original copy of your RCS file. I did and the wheel came back to normal in-game. Unfortunately the ‘road feel’ felt a little duller than it did before. I upped Vertical/Lateral forces from 160 to 200 and it was a tiny bit better but not enough. Back to the drawing board… :(

Update 2014-09-22: I’ve been experimenting again trying to get as much information of the wheel as possible even in ‘high force’ situations like hard cornering where the force output from the game is much more than the wheel can handle and ultimately drowns out the fine detail. My new Controller RCS file (see below) settings are: FFB steer update thresh=”0.0015″ (1/10th the original; not really sure if this actually helps). In-game settings: Vertical Load: 160%; Lateral Force: 160%. Some cars with heavier steering (Eg. BMW Z4 GT3) still max out the forces by quite a bit and all you get a simple, strong linear steering force. Not much use when you need to feel your way around a corner. If you’re experimenting on your own try to see, during the apex of sharp corners, if you can feel subtle tire force variations. If you can highlight those forces then you’re providing yourself with information about the contouring of the road, understeer and oversteer, etc. All things you need to know to tell how your car is handling. Right now it’s still unsatisfactory but it’s better than it was.

Update 2014-09-20 – 2: I compared brake sensitivity with iRacing. For linear brake springs iRacing uses a default 1.8 brake factor (~25% at half way brake travel) and this roughly equates to 0% in SimBin/S3 titles. I’m used to iRacing brakes on a linear spring so I setup mine in R3E at 0%.

Update 2014-09-20: A post over at RaceDepartment.com for DFGT FFB settings works quite well for G27s. His changes come down to editing your controller rcs file (see below for comments about that): FFB steer force output max=”1.2″;
FFB steer force grip weight=”0.8″; FFB steer force front grip exponent=”8.0″; FFB steer force rear grip exponent=”2.0″; FFB steer load multiplier=”1.85″;  FFB steer lateral multiplier=”1.1″; FFB steer rack factor=”0.55″. It works quite well and I can finally feel cornering forces although the ffb gets drowned out around most serious corners. The really drastic change is that 8.8 for “front grip exponent”. By default it’s 0.25 so it must really be helping. My only real problem is that this reintroduces the G27 ffb center deadzone issue as not enough forces are applied to keep the wheel fully centered. This means your Vertical Load setting is largely nullified on straights. Another poster recommends upping your Logitech Profiler Overall Effects Strength to 107%. It’s worth a try. I tried it. It drowned out other ffb effects.

Update 2014-09-17 – 3: I have been reading through the FFB Guide mentioned below. While steps are provided to go from baseline force feedback and gradually tune in more and different forces, which all sounds great, sadly the very first steps are what I still feel is lacking in R3E’s force feedback on the G27. It feels as though too much force is being applied to the wheel during ‘heavy’ steering / maneuvers and there’s no forces left to play with for other effects such as vertical load, lateral forces, understeer, even shift effect. Maybe S3 will fix it but, unfortunately, they don’t really have a track record of delivering on those kinds of things. Still, one can always hope!

Update 2014-09-17 – 2: My latest setttings (only where different from what’s posted below): Logitech Profiler: Use Special Game Settings: Checked; Allow Game to Adjust Settings: Unchecked. In-Game: Shift Effect: 80%.

Update 2014-09-17: To disable Brake Vibration while S3 fixes the bug about that not being able to be changed in game edit your Documents\My Games\SimBin\RaceRoom Racing Experience\UserData\ControlSet\Logitech G27 Paddle Shift Custom.rcs file (your file name might not be the same) and set: FFB brake vibe freq mult=”0.0″ // Scales actual brake rotational frequency to force feedback vibration frequency. The default is 6.0. Make a backup of your file so you can recover when S3 actually fixes the bug. Note you may still experience similar ffb braking into certain corners but I’m pretty sure that disabled the brake vibe for me.

RaceRoom Racing Experience Force Feedback Settings

Sector 3 Studios (formerly SimBin) have recently released an update to their sim racer RaceRoom Racing Experience which includes, among other things, much improved feedback. I wrote a post over at RaceDepartment.com detailing my Logitech G27 setup, thus far, for what I feel is giving me the most information out the wheel that I can get right now. That post wasn’t stickied so I’ll reproduce it here in case it gets lost. I hope to update this post in the future as Sector 3 updates their game and I test out new force feedback settings. My primary force feedback goal is more information even at the cost of force strength. It’s amazing how much information iRacing has been able to squeeze into a G27. That’s my gold standard right now.

Also, in another RaceDeparment.com thread a forum member reminded us of an old FFB Guide (backup link) for SimBin titles based on, what I believe is, the underpinning rFactor force feedback configuration file settings including detail on how to use them – something that’s really missing in the actual configuration files. I’m not sure how old it is but since rFactor is still at heart of Sector 3’s RaceRoom Racing Experience it should still be valuable.

The rest of my post will reproduce the post, with some edits, I mentioned above about my current RaceRoom Racing Experience force feedback setting so far…

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