PC1 Fanatec CSW v2 FFB Settings

[Blkout]

OK, I'm just going to come out and say I like the game but the FFB still needs work in my opinion. Its not up the standard we've been given in AC, R3E, GSCE, iRacing. That being said, I believe after a LOT of tweaking and going through all of the suggestions I've been reading here and other forums, I've come to some settings that I can live with and surprisingly, doesn't really require much adjustment from the default settings and yes, I've tried all of the other settings already posted, bmanic's settings come closest to what I prefer to feel but these settings won't require as much tweaking.

Fanatec Tuning Menu:

SENS: 540 (make sure to run the wheel calibration in game)
FF: 100
SHO: 100
ABS: 100
LIN: OFF
DEA: OFF
DRI: 1, 2, 3 (your preference)
FOR: 100
SPR: 0
DPR: 100


PCARS Configuration Menu:

Steering Deadzone: 0

Steering Sensitivity: 50 (this actually has quite an impact on FFB around center, however some cars like the Lotus 49 and Formula B will have wheel oscillation on the starting grid above 50-60)

Force Feedback: 70

FFB Calibration Menu:

Tire Force: 100


That's all! I'm not saying these are the best settings and you may even tweak something else to your liking, but I've found these settings to be pretty good for most cars and tracks without any other tweaking.

Worth mentioning, all road cars tend to feel a bit soft and floaty compared to the race cars. I believe this is due to the physics engine and downforce as well as softer suspension compared to race cars. That being said, if you feel like the road cars don't have enough FFB for you, you can always increase them individually per car in the car tuning menu by raising the spindle arm value from 26 to 30-36.

Also worth mentioning, I don't think PCARS provides as much road feel as most of us are accustomed to feeling from AC, R3E, GSCE, iRacing and quite honestly, I don't think any setting in the game is going to change that unless SMS decides to add more road data to the game so we're all probably chasing a unicorn in the FFB settings.

 

[Blkout]

First of all. I have ALL THE OTHER simulators, except rF 2. I own almost every single sim racing game ever released, since Papyrus Indy 500 (1989 I believe!) except rF2, RRE and live for speed (which I've played the demo to death on but never purchased any of the releases).. so yeah, we have that sorted now.

Second, I've spent more than 100 hours on learning the FFB system of Project CARS.. if you seriously think you have completely understood the system then I congratulate you. I have a few questions:

1) Can you explain the non-linear function of Soft Clip (half input) and how it relates to the non-linear function Soft Clip (full output)? What happens when I set Soft Clip (half input) to 0.4 and Soft Clip (full output) to 3.0? Is it low force biased or high force biased?

2) What is the meaning of the Relative Gain Clamp function? What about the Bleed function?

3) How does Scoop work.. and how wide is the knee? Is it a soft knee or a hard knee function?

4) Why is it important that we can squeeze a high dynamic range into a low dynamic range? How is this relevant to consumer wheels of today?


Have some patience and perhaps try my settings. There's nothing to lose even if they are meant for Thrustmaster wheels. You can try them and then describe what's wrong with them and I'll try to adapt from the description.

Cheers!
bManic

And you have proven my point why the sliders are excessive and aren't intuitive. Thank you.

As for your last statement, read my original post.

I've tried all of the other settings already posted, bmanic's settings come closest to what I prefer to feel but these settings won't require as much tweaking.

I'm all for adjustments but its my opinion and many others that PCARS took FFB adjustments to the extreme for what seems to be little in return.

 

[bmanic]

540 degree because at 900 there's not much FFB around center unless you crank up the steering sensitivity to 70-75 at which point, the Lotus 49 and Formula B cars will get heavy oscillation in the staging lanes. Setting the DOR to 540 in the Fanatec tuning menu and then calibrating the wheel in game allows you to use a default steering sensitivity of 50 which feels almost identical to the 900 DOR at 75 sensitivity and doesn't cause the same wheel oscillation.

SHO and ABS at 100 don't work at all on a universal hub, doesn't matter if they're on or off. They only work with the older BMW wheel or the newer Porsche 918 wheel since they have motors in the wheel rim.

FFB at 70 works fine, sounds like you didn't even try the settings at all, you're just speaking from generalities. You're really not the type of person that should be trying these settings since you can't look past the default settings in game.

The Jack Spade files feel awful with the CSW v2 in my opinion, but if you like that heavy centering spring feel and curbs that will rattle your teeth unrealistically, then those are the files for you.

You really need to set the wheel to it's native rotation. If it's 900, set it to 900. Project CARS calculates the rotation correctly provided that you've calibrated it properly (following the instructions of the calibration TO THE LETTER.. and beyond. Make sure you turn it fully both left and right during calibration!).

Then start from the beginning by setting the FFB fully linear. This means turning Relative Gain to zero. Soft Clip to zero (both of them), which they should default to. Keep tire force at 100 as it is. Then tweak each car individually to your liking. I highly recommend a Mz biased setup. This means you set each car to something like this:

Fx = 70
Fy = 40
Fz = 80
Mz = 100

Master Scale so that you don't too much FFB clipping. Then crank up the FFB strength on your wheel to taste. Now you have completely linear, directly from the tires, FFB.

Well guess what? If this seems weak and not enough and doesn't compare to Assetto Corsa or iRacing then it means that you should be saturating the FFB output a bit (this is what Assetto Corsa seems to be doing in the background and there's no way of turning it off as far as I know which is why some Direct Drive guys don't like it).

To add some saturation/compression of the FFB, do this:

Set Soft Clip (half input) to 0.5
Set Soft Clip (full output) to 1.2

Now you can carefully add a little more Tire Force or preferably Master Scale for each individual car and "push" the saturation a bit. This will then squeeze the dynamic range which results in "more FFB detail and strength" for your wheel. Yes you lose linearity but that's the tradeoff (like in all the other simulators).

If this still isn't enough and you want really fine detail like "road noise" which is mentioned here so often then you can add Relative Gain.

Set it like this:

Relative Gain = 1.4
Relative Gain Bleed = 0.2 or 0.3 (the higher the value the bigger the risk of the FFB getting slightly "stuck" after hitting a curb hard. It's like an audio compressor "pumping" a bit)
Relative Gain Clamp = 1.35

Now you can push into this non-linear system even harder for stronger FFB without clipping. You'll lose even more linearity and truly squash your dynamic range but instead you gain more detail at usable FFB ranges.

Don't forget the Spindle Arm Angle for cars.. it is ONLY FOUND in the car garage FFB tab.. and NOT while you are on-track. In that garage/tuning menu it is missing (another blunder from SMS). It is an important value and is usually tweaked like this:

Wheel too tight in the center and suddenly goes lose even though your car isn't yet understeering? = increase spindle arm angle value

Wheel too lose in the center and gets heavier the more you turn, even though your car is already understeering? = decrease spindle arm angle value

I do not claim to understand the technical workings of this strange parameter but I do know it's important and the above method is roughly how I tweak it (but can only be done properly once you've made sure the car FFB is Mz biased like the Fx, Fy, Fz, Mz example a few paragraphs up!).

Anyhow, hope this helps. It truly is worth messing with these settings as the underlying tire physics + the FFB that comes from it is really awesome when you get it "in the zone". It's unique and it really is quite wonderful.

Cheers!
bManic

 

[bmanic]

And you have proven my point why the sliders are excessive and aren't intuitive. Thank you.

Some of the parameters are definitely excessive (Body and Arm are completely irrelevant in my opinion.. and SoP questionable), but some are definitely needed, however they are definitely not intuitive at all! I fully agree with you on that. I'd put the main blame on the user interface. It could be made a lot more clear and graphically represented. That would cut down the number of controls a lot.

As for your last statement, read my original post.

I've tried all of the other settings already posted, bmanic's settings come closest to what I prefer to feel but these settings won't require as much tweaking.

I'm all for adjustments but its my opinion and many others that PCARS took FFB adjustments to the extreme for what seems to be little in return.

Got ya. Missed that, sorry.

I'm curious, did you try my latest that I just posted earlier today or my old settings? If it is my latest and you have a thrustmaster wheel then I can't help you and it probably comes down to taste. I'm not going to claim Project CARS is for everybody, it clearly isn't, but it is worth fully exploring it and not just giving up immediately as some people have done.

I'm all for adjustments but its my opinion and many others that PCARS took FFB adjustments to the extreme for what seems to be little in return.

There are counter arguments too that are the exact opposite. People who have found settings that took it much further than they had ever anticipated.. so much so that it feels strange playing the other simulators.

Anyhow, see you on track, be it pCars or AC or iRacing!

Cheers!
bManic

 

[Blkout]

Some of the parameters are definitely excessive (Body and Arm are completely irrelevant in my opinion.. and SoP questionable), but some are definitely needed, however they are definitely not intuitive at all! I fully agree with you on that. I'd put the main blame on the user interface. It could be made a lot more clear and graphically represented. That would cut down the number of controls a lot.



Got ya. Missed that, sorry.

I'm curious, did you try my latest that I just posted earlier today or my old settings? If it is my latest and you have a thrustmaster wheel then I can't help you and it probably comes down to taste. I'm not going to claim Project CARS is for everybody, it clearly isn't, but it is worth fully exploring it and not just giving up immediately as some people have done.



There are counter arguments too that are the exact opposite. People who have found settings that took it much further than they had ever anticipated.. so much so that it feels strange playing the other simulators.

Anyhow, see you on track, be it pCars or AC or iRacing!

Cheers!
bManic

Have not tried your latest settings that you posted with individual car settings. To be quite honest, I'm quite fine with the most recent settings I posted above since I last edited it. I believe I miss some of the "canned" effects that can be enabled in Assetto Corsa that give better road and traction feel and I don't really care that they're "canned" either as long as they make my brain feel like they're realistic and they improve my lap times. That being said, I don't hate the FFB in PCARS now, but I don't like that I spent far more hours than I would have liked to get there.

 

[bmanic]

Give my latest settings a go. They are a completely new development, at least for me. Only today morning did I suddenly think of combining two non-linear blocks in series to squeeze as much FFB detail into a consumer wheel friendly range. It worked better than expected. This weekend I plan on trying the same method on my DFGT.

Link here: http://www.racedepartment.com/threads/bmanics-ffb-experiment-thrustmaster-tx-t300

 

[Peter Klawitter]

hi @bmanic and pCARS CSW V2 users. any suggestions and recommendations for CSW V2 and CSP V2 settings latest update of pcars?
i have not been on for about 8months now and need some serious help getting
1) fanatec driver settings
2) wheel settings right
3) in game settings right [global and ffb)

any help, suggestions and recommendations would be appreciated.

PS: also because lost all my old data due to damage to my computer

 

[Adam#81]

Specifically for you wheel, JackSpade in the official forums has the same wheel, so one of the things you can do is to copy his setup. And I would also use his tweek files, if you like this kind of thing, I strongly recommend it. There is a sticky thread in "Techical Help".

 

[Peter Klawitter]

@Adam#81 , thx will do, reason why I am here is because that forum pcars official is like little kiddies fighting over candy and always get rude replies or negative admin slaps for criticizing the forum or the game...but will check over there.

 

[Adam#81]

That usually depends on the way you express your problems and of course if it's stuff that just don't have an easy fix and people go on and on about it, it's gonna get closed. Some people are prone to ranting and cursing.

 

[Peter Klawitter]

true that, agree.