DiRT Rally 2.0 DiRT Rally 2.0 FFB Update Now Live

[Paul Jeffrey]

The promised Force Feedback update for DiRT Rally 2.0 is now live!

When Codemasters dropped the recent 1.4 update for DiRT Rally just a couple of days ago, the British development team suggested a new force feedback update for the game is in the works and expected to be released quite soon. Well, that soon became almost immediately, as just two days later the game would go through the update process once again - and the FFB improvements are now here!

Codemasters have responded to the broadly disappointed reaction from the DiRT 2.0 gaming community regards to the feeling from the wheel in the new title, and in recent weeks have been looking at ways to improve the force feedback to fall in line more with community expectations. The update, deployed May 17th, mainly focusses on the way the suspension settings work within the game - for this update the slider has been set at a default level of 100 for all devices, but this can be changed to suit your preferences.

If you prefer the way things felt previously, then simply head to the Input section of the Options & Extras menu, select your device and then adjust the ‘Suspension’ slider in the Vibration & Feedback tab to 0.

Although the update is now live, Codemasters have confirmed they will look to continue tweaking and adjusting the wheel feeling in future patches, so stay tuned for (hopefully) more improvements in this department over the coming weeks.

An additional input device guide for the title has been released by Codemasters, and can be found HERE.

DiRT Rally 2.0 is available for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC now.

For news, discussion, mods and more head over to the DiRT Rally 2.0 sub forum right here at RaceDepartment.

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[MarkR]

On the TX458 wheel, the new FFB is an improvement in some areas and has a couple of disadvantages compared to the way it was. I liked the FFB from the start, it gave enough feel for what the car was doing without needing all the unnecessary effects some games add.

Good aspects of the new FFB:

++ Wheelspin and engine revs rising as individual wheels lose grip are much better communicated through the wheel.

++ There is real weight in the cars, pushing back against the wheel especially on the edge of grip. Where the wheel was light before (no matter the FFB strength) it will now give a real fight as the weight of the car moves left to right.

++ The AWD cars bogging down if momentum is lost and the diffs spinning the power back up is now superbly transmitted through the wheel.

++ Car setup changes make more of a difference in the wheel - try raising and softening the suspension on the mk2 Escort in Argentina and be ready to know what driving a pogo stick would be like.

+ Road ruts and loss of wheel weight over jumps is mildly better but it's still not as noticeable as in some other games.

+ Wet conditions and the lower grip levels are slightly easier to feel through the wheel.

Other changes that I don't really see as improvements. The feel is now much more like a game with added effects in the wheel rather than what is actually communicated through the wheel in a real car.

--- They've added wheel weight to all cars but the level of feel (other than the weight of the car pushing back) isn't any better than before. It's the Audi approach to wheel feel - adding weight to make the cars seem more sporty but the level of feedback is unchanged.

-- Wheel centre weight is now more pronounced. All the cars I've tried so far now feel like they have unassisted steering. Effort is now required from the centre of the wheel. This to me is very much a game effect. No real car feels that way, even unassisted (non-power steering) steering cars only require that effort at a standstill and low speed. with this update, the cars require effort to turn at all speeds. Turn the FFB down and too many of the useful sliding and car weight effects are lost.

- Track edge effects are now much more violent. Hit a raised track edge or kerb and the wheel reacts. The problem is those effects are now too strong - especially on tarmac stages where there is no feeling from the road. It's like older Forza games where the track had no feel or feedback but the kerbs had massive rumble effects. Most of the time this is OK but sometimes it's just jarring to feel the car lurch across the track after getting a wheel on a grass verge.

Negatives
-- No brake locking up feel in the wheel - they made this FFB much more game like with extra effects that would normally be felt through the seat but then didn't add the ABS/locking up effects other games have. That seems a strange choice to me. Before it was wheel feel alone it made sense, now it just seems to be missing.

--- Variation in surface feel. Gravel and dirt tracks have decent levels of feel and feedback. Broken up degradation on the surface is felt in the wheel. Strangely though cobbled road surfaces produce no feedback at all in the wheel - they are as flat as the rest of the stages.

-- Tarmac roads are completely smooth, having added road feel to other surfaces I'd have thought they'd have added something to the tarmac stages too.

Ultimately I am still enjoying Dirt 2.0, it still has the best interaction between throttle/brake and steering of any racing game so far, the ability to adjust the attitude of the car feels absolutely real. I imagine far more people will be happy now the wheel includes more of the game style effects and has that artificial weight some seem to like. Overall it's a neutral patch for me, some good changes marred by some other things that now don't make as much sense.

 

[Stuntman Daz]

It's version 1.4.1, no room for excuses.It should have been done before release.

Completely agree.

 

[Dpounder420]

After playing for several hours last night, I think it is as good as the DR1 ffb now. I had quite a bit of fun. A bit lacking in tire lockup feel, but much better that it was overall and quite driveable. Looking forward to hitting up wales again and hopefully finland and greece as they were my favourites from the original game. Hoping to see a couple new rally locations too.

 

[RowanH]

Hmmm I seem to have lost all FFB. Happened to anyone else? No combination of settings seems to get it back (OSW/MMOS).

 

[CC]

Yeah after doing some rally and rallyx and different surfaces, I do not feel 100% happy personally its hard to explain there direction they have taken with the updates,
On Tarmac its just sensational but only with some cars the FFB varies so god damn much from cars to surfaces its very peculiar tbh,
Just did a special event on snow and tarmac I have hardly any FFB at all or feelings on the loose ice, very hard to steer, but on the tarmac its godly,

before the update the FFB felt very strong and the torque was insane but very vague feelings from the car and track surfaces,
now the FFB is washed away and like I say just varies car to car surface to surface, I am not convinced now with it, I wished it felt like before hard FFB with more details to give feedback from the surfaces,
its like people complained they got confused and tried some kind of fix,

most annoying thing for me is no leaderboard time trials or attacks career is nice maybe once a month just want to pick a few tracks and smash at some times times, but with 0 options kinda pointless.

 

[Deleted member 197115]

Hmmm I seem to have lost all FFB. Happened to anyone else? No combination of settings seems to get it back (OSW/MMOS).

Just put that xml fix back in, it got overriden with update.
http://www.eksimracing.com/f-a-q/ho...rally-2-0-dirt4-with-simucube-fw-or-mmos-osw/

 

[Case_]

Ok... So how does this feel now? Should I buy the game?

Yes. You should've bought it ages ago It's absolutely brilliant.

I have the TS-PC and after the update there is no ffb_force value. I have added it and now i am using following setting:
name="tm_ts_pc" priority="100" type="wheel" ffb_force="3.5"/>

Is anyone else doing this? I'm hoping that the FFB is fixed, this doesn't suggest it is.

The fact there's no ffb_force value doesn't mean anything is broken, it simply means the wheel for which the ffb_force setting is not specified is using the default setting of 1.0. I don't think anyone who doesn't understand this should be poking into the XML files in the first place, to be absolutely honest.

(And if you set it to 3.5, it basically means you are setting your FFB strength in-game to 350 %. Which is...well, how to put it...not a very reasonable thing to do. And unless you set the in-game sliders considerably low, you're almost guaranteed to be clipping constantly.)

 

[CC]

Just put that xml fix back in, it got overriden with update.
http://www.eksimracing.com/f-a-q/ho...rally-2-0-dirt4-with-simucube-fw-or-mmos-osw/

Those settings in there with my CSL PS4 base seem almost perfect thx for the post,
before everything was on 100-, makes a massive difference with those, I also installed that SLI manager again,
FFB feels awesome now all cars and tracks and surfaces.

 

[Deleted member 197115]

Just put that xml fix back in, it got overriden with update.
http://www.eksimracing.com/f-a-q/ho...rally-2-0-dirt4-with-simucube-fw-or-mmos-osw/

And for settings, at least for DD, I've found this post quite useful.
https://community.granitedevices.com/t/dirt-rally-2-0-and-simucube/2223/69

 

[GEO147]

What settings are peeps using for CSW 2.5?

 

[scooterlord]

@CC Can you please share your CSL Elite settings?

 

[CC]

@CC Can you please share your CSL Elite settings?

Yeah can do ill fire it up tomorrow and look over them again.

 

[scooterlord]

@CC thanks! Looking forward to receiving them!

 

[CC]

@CC thanks! Looking forward to receiving them!

Yeah I bought the Fanatec universal hub, a Momo wheel for it, and today just received my Thrustmaster Sparco mod handbrake shifter combo, soon ill hit it hard hopefully, ill take a look in the morning.

 

[scooterlord]

@CC hey... you didn't forget about me, did you?

 

[CC]

@CC hey... you didn't forget about me, did you?

Hi man yeah not forgot was playing about with it last night somewhat maybe 1hr or so,
Monday my universal hub will be here my Momo wheel came yesterday and just built my playseat shifter bracket with this Sparco TSS handrake, Monday ill dial it in and throw over the settings,
currently using my Esports F1 wheel which is obviously not the best to get decent feedback from drifting,
got 102 last night on the Time Trial leader-board so hopefully can gain from this and fine tune the settings more,

this TSS shifter - handbrake feels awesome but the handbrake dont feel analog to me ingame maybe wants tuning better in my settings feels just 0-100% which seems a pitty

 

[scooterlord]

After all these days it is just today I found some free time, will play with the settings myself, however it would be great to get settings from one that feels it perfect with the same wheel