iRacing.com Motorsport Simulations

[Bram Hengeveld]

iRacing.com Motorsport Simulations check it out

 

[shiny side up!]

MS Wireless Wheel Compatibility?

Hello Gents,

I tried to use the Search function to find an answer to this question, but I could not fit a good text string in the search box

At any rate, I have been following iRacing for a while but have not had a computer capable of running it. I am just about to splurge for a new MacBook Pro, having confirmed that it has the horsepower to run iRacing with decent graphical settings under XP on Bootcamp.

The only wheel I have right now is the MS Wireless Wheel for my XBox 360... is that compatible with iRacing? Does it work well with iRacing's implementation of Force Feedback?

I have also been eyeing the new Fanatec wheels that are compatible with the XBox 360, but I fear that the "racing" budget is going to be pretty much broken when I plop down for the MacBook...

Thanks in advance for any help/insight you can provide me! Looking forward to getting hooked up to iRacing...

 

[Brian Venable]

If you join for one year you get $60 in iRacing credits to buy tracks/cars with or extend your membership.

Also if you begin your racing there and have to quit for a while for whatever reason you can rejoin later and pickup where you left off as far as your driving career.

 

[shiny side up!]

Did some digging around on the interweb and found that the MS Wireless Wheel still does not have any FFB drivers, and you have to buy a wireless receiver for it to use with a Windows PC (and presumably, a Mac running Windows).

So, would have to buy a steering wheel...

 

[Ollie Flint]

Can I ask... Why a Mac?

 

[shiny side up!]

Fair question!

I have a work laptop (Windows) and a home laptop (Windows) that are perfectly fine for the email/web/spreadsheet/word processing that we do at home, but they don't have the guts to do a lot of multimedia other than manage our MP3 players. My wife is getting more into streaming videos, digital photography, and wants to get into making home movies (before your head goes somewhere naughty, we have a new nephew/niece about...) and we need a new computer capable of doing these things. Her Mom and Dad bought 2 new iMacs last year and love them, and she is wanting to try out a Mac as well...

 

[Ollie Flint]

Well. For the price of a MacBook Pro you can get two or three new Windows Vista laptops that will do everything the Mac will and be capable of running most racing sims.

Cheapest MacBook Pro I have seen is £1k (2.4GHz C2D, 2GB Ram, 200GB HDD, 15.4"). Which in my opinion is over priced. But then again I am anti Apple!

 

[shiny side up!]

Truthfully, I am not at all sold on the Mac... somewhat leaning that way due to what the wife is saying, but at the same time reason must win the day when it comes to the $$$ spent...

I was looking at the 2.8GHz 4GB RAM Macbook Pro - definitely expensive at $2750/£1900! The graphics performance benchmark though, with the Macbook Pro's GeForce 9600M + 9400M is pretty darn strong. Would gladly evaluate a Windows-based laptop that can perform similarly, though... any specific suggestions to look into? Would very much like to spend less than $2750 (not to mention that that is WITHOUT a Windows OS to install, so looking at a few hundred more in reality!).

 

[Sander Hogendoorn]

If you join for one year you get $60 in iRacing credits to buy tracks/cars with or extend your membership.

Also if you begin your racing there and have to quit for a while for whatever reason you can rejoin later and pickup where you left off as far as your driving career.

Yeah, I forgot about the $60 iCredits. Few more days and I finally receive my CC to get going

 

[Ollie Flint]

I am assuming you are in the US.... (I'm in the UK)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220412

 

[shiny side up!]

Nice find! Definitely worth considering... for the $ saved vs. the Macbook, I could buy a G25 and one of the simpler cockpit setups...

 

[Ollie Flint]

Exactly!

 

[shiny side up!]

Poking around newegg, and there is another ASUS machine with a BD Optical and 2x250GB HDD for $1849 ($400USD/£275 more)... worth it? Same processor and GPU.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220414

 

[Ollie Flint]

Nice! The 2 HDD's will help when video encoding.

 

[Sander Hogendoorn]

Hey guys, add me to the list.

Just got my Creditcard today, activated it and bought iRacing. Downloaded the software and atm downloading updates. Can't wait to drive

 

[Simon Trendell]

Oh nooo...

Might have to join some Solstice races and get beaten by yourself

 

[Brian Venable]

Hey guys, add me to the list.

Just got my Creditcard today, activated it and bought iRacing. Downloaded the software and atm downloading updates. Can't wait to drive

Here's a couple tips:

Going fast in the Solstice is all about momentum and smooth driving/braking.

When you download the sim it will ask you to setup your wheel but I had to do it again once I got in the game to get my brakes modulating better(G25).

Also wheel rotation at 700 worked best for me to get the Solstice fairly neutral through the corners...at least at Laguna Seca.

I'm sure you'll do fine from what I've seen of your skills in Evo...just takes a bit of getting used to.

 

[Sander Hogendoorn]

Thanks

I play all my sims using 400 degrees of rotation, so I started with 400 in iRacing aswell. Seems ok, but I'll try a higher value later.

Braking seems ok too without calibrating again, however will try to do it again and see if there's any difference.

To my surprise it took a while to get the Solstice where I wanted it to go, but I'm doing ok now I think. Gonna do some more practice before I move on to the online time trials/practice/quali/races.

 

[Brian Venable]

I have used 200 rotation forever in GTR/GTR2 and Evo so upping it to more has been a new learning curve....but driving cars with no downforce you don't have that to offset steering and braking inputs...so more rotation is a necessity.

 

[Simon Trendell]

What that means iRacing is doing is making the ratio tighter.

For example the Solstice has a real world rotation of 1080 or close to it, so the sim actually uses whatever rotation it has available and adjusts the ratio to compensate for a lack of rotation. Technically you should set the wheel to 900 and forget about it like the user guide suggests.

For cars with lower rotations, Skippy for example if you turn the wheel beyond it's rotation it will have no effect. It does grind a bit when people say how real the physics are when they're using an unrealistic steering ratio.

 

[Brian Venable]

If I put the rotation on 900 and drive the Solstice on tracks with tight turns...I have to turn the wheel so far I can't downshift(paddle).

Besides I hate that much wheel movement.