DOWNLOAD UPDATED!! (Oct 8th, 2011)
I recently got hold of a friends iRacing account because he insisted I needed to feel this "incredible" "amazing" and "realistic" Force Feedback that he and other iRacing enthusiasts have been touting on-infinitum. I had no doubt that it would be better then rFactor's as rF's age has put it at a disadvantage. I tested with every car in the account on several tracks to get a "feel" for what the iR ffb was actually doing.
I was confident in my ability to duplicate it in rF, I spent the next week searching, tweaking, tweaking and then I did some tweaking to rFactors default Controller.ini, Realfeel and Leo's FFB.
With this concoction of a modified Controller.ini, modified default RealFeel (Thanks goes to this guy's tutorial for the original modification ideas http://www.eoaa.org/phpbbforum/viewtopic.php?t=338) and the painfully difficult editing of Leo's FFB settings. I was finally able to settle and do some testing (and more tweaking).
What this FFB will do is... Well you have to feel it. I think this feels better than iRacing. You will need to adjust every car with realfeel's numpad hotkey's, but with these settings I feel every crevice and bump in the road. I can feel the brakes lock up and the steering goes numb. A locked up tire will pull the steering wheel. I can even feel the slight pressure difference on the steering as the front of the car goes up and over hills and then gently lands again.
===TUTORIAL START================================
For all the Fanatec users, remove the PorscheWheelPlugin.dll from your plugins folder as it interferes with this!
I am using a G27 with a larger wheel than stock and used both 900 and 720 degrees of rotation for testing. Some forces may be set stronger for me than you would like but adjustment is pretty simple.
1} Download this zip. (Updated As of 100811) It contains all the plugins you need with the default settings set already. http://www.mediafire.com/?4f1r9k5oiyqbdxo
2} Move the files to their appropriate location Overwrite or remove any previous versions of Leo's or Realfeel!
3} Change the lines in your rFactor\userdata\yourname\Controller.ini There is a copy of them in the zip but I will post them here as well. http://paste2.org/p/1263317
4} Go to your Driving wheels control panel and set it up as follows. Even if you aren't using a logitech the spring, damper and strength setting should still be somewhere.
5} Change the "Front Wheel Lock Angle" line in rFactor\plugins\LeoFFB.ini
The very first line should be changed to your preferred steering lock used in "most" mods. Sometimes this won't be correct if a mod limits the angle but use an average. I use 22° if on 720° of wheel rotation and 28° if running 900° and the mod allows it.
6} Testing Once in-game you will not have to edit anything. Load a car such as HistorX or the Lotus23's or any mod that works with realfeel. I RECOMMEND USING A REAR WHEEL DRIVE CAR FOR A FIRST TEST!! When you go on track you WILL NO LONGER hear a voice say "realfeel is enabled" This was disabled in the newest realfeel. While sitting still you should find it difficult to turn the wheels and the steering wheel should stay where you turn it. This means that the Leo's is installed correctly.
** If you have severe oscillation when not moving simply lower the "Stiffness of Stationary wheels" value in the LeoFFB.ini
7} Adjusting the FFB
This is the hot key config used by RealFeel. The only things you should be concerning yourself with are the "Reverse FF", "Stronger FF", "Softer FF", "Decrease RFP mix" and "More Smooting" options.
A} Immediately in every new car you use set the RealFeelMix down to 90% (RIGHT CTRL + NUM 1) it will allow the Leo's road bump effects, rumble strips and grass effects to be felt. If you forget to do this the following adjustments will be off.
B} Drive the car at a decent pace turning back and forth. Once rolling ~25 mph you should be able to feel if the FFB is in the correct direction (Pulling to the center) or if the mod has the geometry backward (your steering wheel tries to go all the way left or right.) If it is backward you need to press "RIGHT CTRL + NUM 8". This will reverse the FFB for that particular car and you can continue.
** Note, when rolling forward for the first time around 12 MPH you should feel the Leo's stiffness fade and realfeel will take over. With some mods this transition is transparent in others there is a slight wheel shutter.
C} If the force is too strong you can use either (LEFT CTRL + NUM 9) to lower the FFB strength by 1,000 or (RIGHT CTRL + NUM 9) to lower by 100. Use NUM 7 to make it stronger. Drive for a while at high and low speeds, braking hitting rumble strips etc before finalizing this number.
If you notice your steering wheel vibrates alot when there should be no reason OR if you have to set the strength divider set under 1,000 it is recommended you use a smoothing level of at least 1 (RIGHT CTRL + NUM .)
A SPECIAL NOTE!! The RealFeel plugin's force is most dependent on the suspension CASTER of the car you are using. The higher the caster the stronger the force you will have straitening the wheels out at speed. If you find a car has severely low or high FFB. Instead of putting the Strength below 1000 or raising the divider above 8-9000 and risking over/under modulation try to adjust the Caster in the advanced tab to ~4-8 degrees. An example of Caster being an issue is the V8 Supercars use 15° of caster which is VERY HIGH. I set it to 7° and it was much easier to adjust the FFB correctly.
10} A Note on four wheel drive/ front wheel drive cars. You may find cars like the Historic Rally Cars or the HistorX Mini feel "funny". This is due to the front wheels being powered. What you will feel is, when coasting, it feels perfectly normal but when on the power through a corner the steering force will go light and even pull to one side. This is an effect known as torque steer. It is realistic for cars of this type and I have never felt it with any other FFB setup so that is a bonus.
That should be it. Now for every car you load the calibration procedure will be repeated and the adjustments will be saved automatically to your "rFactor\realfeelplugin.ini". It only takes about 20 seconds once you get the hang of it. I have included as many mods pre-adjusted as possible to help everyone with the transition. The following cars come set up by me.
Finally, Some mods simply DO NOT WORK with this FFB. I would point out the Saleen S7 Turbo mod as one. I couldn't for the life of me get that or the Mazda MX5's to feel "right". I tested as many mods as I could but if you find one that doesn't work or you are having issues, please post details here and I will take a look. Good luck and Happy Driving.
I recently got hold of a friends iRacing account because he insisted I needed to feel this "incredible" "amazing" and "realistic" Force Feedback that he and other iRacing enthusiasts have been touting on-infinitum. I had no doubt that it would be better then rFactor's as rF's age has put it at a disadvantage. I tested with every car in the account on several tracks to get a "feel" for what the iR ffb was actually doing.
I was confident in my ability to duplicate it in rF, I spent the next week searching, tweaking, tweaking and then I did some tweaking to rFactors default Controller.ini, Realfeel and Leo's FFB.
With this concoction of a modified Controller.ini, modified default RealFeel (Thanks goes to this guy's tutorial for the original modification ideas http://www.eoaa.org/phpbbforum/viewtopic.php?t=338) and the painfully difficult editing of Leo's FFB settings. I was finally able to settle and do some testing (and more tweaking).
What this FFB will do is... Well you have to feel it. I think this feels better than iRacing. You will need to adjust every car with realfeel's numpad hotkey's, but with these settings I feel every crevice and bump in the road. I can feel the brakes lock up and the steering goes numb. A locked up tire will pull the steering wheel. I can even feel the slight pressure difference on the steering as the front of the car goes up and over hills and then gently lands again.
===TUTORIAL START================================
For all the Fanatec users, remove the PorscheWheelPlugin.dll from your plugins folder as it interferes with this!
I am using a G27 with a larger wheel than stock and used both 900 and 720 degrees of rotation for testing. Some forces may be set stronger for me than you would like but adjustment is pretty simple.
1} Download this zip. (Updated As of 100811) It contains all the plugins you need with the default settings set already. http://www.mediafire.com/?4f1r9k5oiyqbdxo
2} Move the files to their appropriate location Overwrite or remove any previous versions of Leo's or Realfeel!
3} Change the lines in your rFactor\userdata\yourname\Controller.ini There is a copy of them in the zip but I will post them here as well. http://paste2.org/p/1263317
4} Go to your Driving wheels control panel and set it up as follows. Even if you aren't using a logitech the spring, damper and strength setting should still be somewhere.
5} Change the "Front Wheel Lock Angle" line in rFactor\plugins\LeoFFB.ini
The very first line should be changed to your preferred steering lock used in "most" mods. Sometimes this won't be correct if a mod limits the angle but use an average. I use 22° if on 720° of wheel rotation and 28° if running 900° and the mod allows it.
6} Testing Once in-game you will not have to edit anything. Load a car such as HistorX or the Lotus23's or any mod that works with realfeel. I RECOMMEND USING A REAR WHEEL DRIVE CAR FOR A FIRST TEST!! When you go on track you WILL NO LONGER hear a voice say "realfeel is enabled" This was disabled in the newest realfeel. While sitting still you should find it difficult to turn the wheels and the steering wheel should stay where you turn it. This means that the Leo's is installed correctly.
** If you have severe oscillation when not moving simply lower the "Stiffness of Stationary wheels" value in the LeoFFB.ini
7} Adjusting the FFB
This is the hot key config used by RealFeel. The only things you should be concerning yourself with are the "Reverse FF", "Stronger FF", "Softer FF", "Decrease RFP mix" and "More Smooting" options.
A} Immediately in every new car you use set the RealFeelMix down to 90% (RIGHT CTRL + NUM 1) it will allow the Leo's road bump effects, rumble strips and grass effects to be felt. If you forget to do this the following adjustments will be off.
B} Drive the car at a decent pace turning back and forth. Once rolling ~25 mph you should be able to feel if the FFB is in the correct direction (Pulling to the center) or if the mod has the geometry backward (your steering wheel tries to go all the way left or right.) If it is backward you need to press "RIGHT CTRL + NUM 8". This will reverse the FFB for that particular car and you can continue.
** Note, when rolling forward for the first time around 12 MPH you should feel the Leo's stiffness fade and realfeel will take over. With some mods this transition is transparent in others there is a slight wheel shutter.
C} If the force is too strong you can use either (LEFT CTRL + NUM 9) to lower the FFB strength by 1,000 or (RIGHT CTRL + NUM 9) to lower by 100. Use NUM 7 to make it stronger. Drive for a while at high and low speeds, braking hitting rumble strips etc before finalizing this number.
If you notice your steering wheel vibrates alot when there should be no reason OR if you have to set the strength divider set under 1,000 it is recommended you use a smoothing level of at least 1 (RIGHT CTRL + NUM .)
A SPECIAL NOTE!! The RealFeel plugin's force is most dependent on the suspension CASTER of the car you are using. The higher the caster the stronger the force you will have straitening the wheels out at speed. If you find a car has severely low or high FFB. Instead of putting the Strength below 1000 or raising the divider above 8-9000 and risking over/under modulation try to adjust the Caster in the advanced tab to ~4-8 degrees. An example of Caster being an issue is the V8 Supercars use 15° of caster which is VERY HIGH. I set it to 7° and it was much easier to adjust the FFB correctly.
10} A Note on four wheel drive/ front wheel drive cars. You may find cars like the Historic Rally Cars or the HistorX Mini feel "funny". This is due to the front wheels being powered. What you will feel is, when coasting, it feels perfectly normal but when on the power through a corner the steering force will go light and even pull to one side. This is an effect known as torque steer. It is realistic for cars of this type and I have never felt it with any other FFB setup so that is a bonus.
That should be it. Now for every car you load the calibration procedure will be repeated and the adjustments will be saved automatically to your "rFactor\realfeelplugin.ini". It only takes about 20 seconds once you get the hang of it. I have included as many mods pre-adjusted as possible to help everyone with the transition. The following cars come set up by me.
Finally, Some mods simply DO NOT WORK with this FFB. I would point out the Saleen S7 Turbo mod as one. I couldn't for the life of me get that or the Mazda MX5's to feel "right". I tested as many mods as I could but if you find one that doesn't work or you are having issues, please post details here and I will take a look. Good luck and Happy Driving.
