Track forum general chit chat.

[SYT_Shadow]

You're going wild over there roastbeef

[roastbeef]

Originally Posted by SYT_Shadow

You're going wild over there roastbeef

This is the beginning. I can't wait to really strip it!

[Shmelgy]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

This sucks.

Yeah, piece of shit rear carpet

[//steve\\]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

Done for the day. Punched some holes in a few things and got rid of the middle carpet. Front carpet will follow when I do seats in about a year. This is enough for now. I'll still spend time finding brackets and such. Right now it's time for beer.

You know I hate seeing stuff like this because it makes me want to do bad things. People will swear up and down all these little things don't matter but when you do enough of them it really does add up.

[roastbeef]

Originally Posted by //steve\\

You know I hate seeing stuff like this because it makes me want to do bad things. People will swear up and down all these little things don't matter but when you do enough of them it really does add up.

I'm reminded of a quote- something similar to; "When you're not preparing, someone else is. And when you meet him, he will win."

[WhiteM3EMC]

Originally Posted by //steve\\

You know I hate seeing stuff like this because it makes me want to do bad things. People will swear up and down all these little things don't matter but when you do enough of them it really does add up.

Do it!!

Probably my favorite benefit of stripping out my car is that you can hear things more without the sound deadening material. Can hear what the DCT is doing, can hear the road noise, exhaust note. It's certainly more visceral. I've seen some people saying that they don't want to ruin the "refined" feel of their car, but for me, not caring about that, I absolutely love getting in the car now with the interior stripped.

[roastbeef]

Originally Posted by WhiteM3EMC

Do it!!

Probably my favorite benefit of stripping out my car is that you can hear things more without the sound deadening material. Can hear what the DCT is doing, can hear the road noise, exhaust note. It's certainly more visceral. I've seen some people saying that they don't want to ruin the "refined" feel of their car, but for me, not caring about that, I absolutely love getting in the car now with the interior stripped.

Seriously. You get a lot more sound with just the middle carpet and I love it.

[//steve\\]

Yup! My car is already louder than average with mostly solid everything and/or upgrade mounts.

I came from a S2000 though which is already pretty loud inside the cabin so this still seems very civil to me.

[dparm]

Originally Posted by tsk94

The biggest problem with sim racing for new people, I think, is setting up everything up correctly. This includes FOV and FFB. FOV is pretty simple to do and there is a mathematically correct value for a given setup.

FFB is more preference based, but can make a night and day difference in how you perceive the 'realism' of a game. Bad force feedback results in poor communication through the wheel on how a car is behaving, and if setup very poorly can make being fast, or more importantly consistent, very very difficult. I'd advise anyone that wants to get the most out their sim experience to do their due part and spend time researching FFB for their given wheel and game. How to setup FFB varies per game, which makes it difficult. For example, you can't just take good FFB setting from Assetto and try to plug them into iRacing, it doesn't work like that.

I have a basic setup myself, basically the same as dparm. T300RS with T3PA pedals. It's far from anything high end, but I've taken the time to set things up properly to get the most out of my rig. I'm not the best sim driver, but I feel like I do alright given my setup and the relatively low amount of hours I have in sims.

If anyone has a T300/T300RS/T500 (or any Thrustmaster wheel really) and has questions about setting up FFB I'd be happy to help.

Agree that setup is very important. FOV is easy, it's just an equation.

I spent the first week trying a variety of FFB settings based on what other T300RS owners recommended. There was an "ah hah" moment when I finally got it dialed in correctly. I suddenly was way more consistent and wasn't guessing when I was near the limit.

Here's my settings with the T300RS & T3PA pedals:


Overall strength of forces = 60%
Detailed gain settings = all at 100% (except damper which is 0)

Linear = off
Brakes force factor = 1.72
Strength = 26.2
Wheel force = 3.0 Nm
Damping = 0
Min force = 1%

[tsk94]

Originally Posted by dparm

Agree that setup is very important. FOV is easy, it's just an equation.

I spent the first week trying a variety of FFB settings based on what other T300RS owners recommended. There was an "ah hah" moment when I finally got it dialed in correctly. I suddenly was way more consistent and wasn't guessing when I was near the limit.

Here's my settings with the T300RS & T3PA pedals:


Overall strength of forces = 60%
Detailed gain settings = all at 100% (except damper which is 0)

Linear = off
Brakes force factor = 1.72
Strength = 26.2
Wheel force = 3.0 Nm
Damping = 0
Min force = 1%

Glad to hear you did some research beforehand.

Overall your settings are very close to mine. You could increase your wheel force to 3.8Nm if you'd like, that's what the T300RS is rated at. I prefer min force on 0 but it's probably not a huge difference from 1% - try it if you'd like.

My settings in the Thrustmaster control panel are identical.

Makes a big difference once you get everything dailed in, that's for sure. Brake force factor is totally preference. I'm hoping to upgrade to a load cell pedal set soon as that will be a nice upgrade.

[dparm]

Originally Posted by tsk94

Glad to hear you did some research beforehand.

Overall your settings are very close to mine. You could increase your wheel force to 3.8Nm if you'd like, that's what the T300RS is rated at. I prefer min force on 0 but it's probably not a huge difference from 1% - try it if you'd like.

My settings in the Thrustmaster control panel are identical.

Makes a big difference once you get everything dailed in, that's for sure. Brake force factor is totally preference. I'm hoping to upgrade to a load cell pedal set soon as that will be a nice upgrade.

Thanks for confirming. I did read that the wheel is rated at "high 3s" but you want to keep the value below that to avoid clipping. So far I don't have any issues with the red bar illuminating on the force feedback meter during big incidents.


I have heard you don't want min force at 0 because it will make things feel artificial and numb, as if the wheel isn't connected to anything.

[tsk94]

Originally Posted by dparm

Thanks for confirming. I did read that the wheel is rated at "high 3s" but you want to keep the value below that to avoid clipping. So far I don't have any issues with the red bar illuminating on the force feedback meter during big incidents.


I have heard you don't want min force at 0 because it will make things feel artificial and numb, as if the wheel isn't connected to anything.

Personally, I find it better with it at 0. But keep in mind I have my wheel force set higher, so while we have similar strength values, my higher wheel force value increases the torque. From my understanding, min forces just boosts the feeling of smaller forces. Raising the wheel force in conjunction with lower your min force should offset this difference while keep the FFB more consistent as smaller forces won't be boosted.

That being said, if you're comfortable with your current settings and they provide the feedback you desire then that's all that matters!

[dparm]

Right now I have one set of wheels for street and track, R888R tires mounted. Looking to finally buy a second set of wheels and turn my current set into "track only" so I can run RRs or Hoosiers. I'd like to just get OEM wheel and tire sizes so I can run a milder tire for street driving (PSS or similar) and any wet track days.

But would it be stupid to not get the second set of wheels in the same size as my existing set? My coach suggested I do this so I have spares...bend a wheel at the track or get a flat, you just throw one of the others on and keep going. But this wouldn't give me many choices for a mild tire and means my wet track days will still be frustrating. This option isn't very appealing because I intentionally went with the strongest wheels I could find to minimize chances of them breaking/bending.

Option A
Wheel set 1: 18x11 + 18x12.5, non-DOT race tires -- for dry track days
Wheel set 2: 19x10 + 20x12, PSS -- street use and wet track days

Option B
Wheel set 1: 18x11 + 18x12.5, non-DOT race tires -- for dry track days
Wheel set 2: 18x11 + 18x12.5, Rival S or R888R for street and wet track days

[elim11]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

Done for the day. Punched some holes in a few things and got rid of the middle carpet. Front carpet will follow when I do seats in about a year. This is enough for now. I'll still spend time finding brackets and such. Right now it's time for beer.

The Swiss cheese build

[tsk94]

Originally Posted by dparm

Right now I have one set of wheels for street and track, R888R tires mounted. Looking to finally buy a second set of wheels and turn my current set into "track only" so I can run RRs or Hoosiers. I'd like to just get OEM wheel and tire sizes so I can run a milder tire for street driving (PSS or similar) and any wet track days.

But would it be stupid to not get the second set of wheels in the same size as my existing set? My coach suggested I do this so I have spares...bend a wheel at the track or get a flat, you just throw one of the others on and keep going. But this wouldn't give me many choices for a mild tire and means my wet track days will still be frustrating. This option isn't very appealing because I intentionally went with the strongest wheels I could find to minimize chances of them breaking/bending.

Option A
Wheel set 1: 18x11 + 18x12.5, non-DOT race tires -- for dry track days
Wheel set 2: 19x10 + 20x12, PSS -- street use and wet track days

Option B
Wheel set 1: 18x11 + 18x12.5, non-DOT race tires -- for dry track days
Wheel set 2: 18x11 + 18x12.5, Rival S or R888R for street and wet track days

Ideally option B.. with a 3rd set of wheels for solely street use That way you have a set of track day 'spares' and a r-comp better suited for wet running. Then you have your exclusive street wheels with a civilized street tire like a PSS/PS4S etc.

If that's not an option, I'd say go option A. I wouldn't want to drive on R888R's on the street, god are they obnoxious. No experience with the Rivals so can't speak there.

That's my 2 cents at least.

[dparm]

Originally Posted by tsk94

Ideally option B.. with a 3rd set of wheels for solely street use That way you have a set of track day 'spares' and a r-comp better suited for wet running. Then you have your exclusive street wheels with a civilized street tire like a PSS/PS4S etc.

If that's not an option, I'd say go option A. I wouldn't want to drive on R888R's on the street, god are they obnoxious. No experience with the Rivals so can't speak there.

That's my 2 cents at least.

Thanks. I'm on my second set of R888Rs. They have a very unique whirring sound on the street, that's for sure. I don't mind it, but definitely the noisiest tire I've ever driven on. The seating position in my car is so far back that you're almost sitting on the rear axle -- the rear wheel wells are directly behind the seat, and the rear hatch amplifies all of that noise.

[kyippee]

Any of you guys want to go to Buttonwillow, Saturday 5/31? Going with SpeedSF org for my first time there!

[Kelse92]

Originally Posted by dparm

Right now I have one set of wheels for street and track, R888R tires mounted. Looking to finally buy a second set of wheels and turn my current set into "track only" so I can run RRs or Hoosiers. I'd like to just get OEM wheel and tire sizes so I can run a milder tire for street driving (PSS or similar) and any wet track days.

But would it be stupid to not get the second set of wheels in the same size as my existing set? My coach suggested I do this so I have spares...bend a wheel at the track or get a flat, you just throw one of the others on and keep going. But this wouldn't give me many choices for a mild tire and means my wet track days will still be frustrating. This option isn't very appealing because I intentionally went with the strongest wheels I could find to minimize chances of them breaking/bending.

Option A
Wheel set 1: 18x11 + 18x12.5, non-DOT race tires -- for dry track days
Wheel set 2: 19x10 + 20x12, PSS -- street use and wet track days

Option B
Wheel set 1: 18x11 + 18x12.5, non-DOT race tires -- for dry track days
Wheel set 2: 18x11 + 18x12.5, Rival S or R888R for street and wet track days

Option A & B combined for 3 sets of wheels!
But I have a problem so don’t take my advice...
Between Street/Track/Autox I’ve managed to justify 4 sets of wheels around here lol

But in reality, I personally don’t think the sizing matters as much.
I like my DD 19’s with PS4s for the looks. They double as my rain setup and I threw them on one day I broke a wheel at Cresson. The key is having *some* kind of spare to throw on in a pinch. Considering Corvettes are a bit lacking in the storage dept you’ll need to decide really A) do you consider yourself towing a tire trailer behind it? Or B) do you just want to bring one spare in the passenger seat. If the answer is B, then your answer to the question above is also B

[rhyary]

Originally Posted by dparm

Thanks. I'm on my second set of R888Rs. They have a very unique whirring sound on the street, that's for sure. I don't mind it, but definitely the noisiest tire I've ever driven on. The seating position in my car is so far back that you're almost sitting on the rear axle -- the rear wheel wells are directly behind the seat, and the rear hatch amplifies all of that noise.

For me, there was no significant speed difference between the MP4S and the R888.

So one set with Mp4s and one set of Hoosier/RR is a good combination.

[PrimeBMW]

Originally Posted by dparm

Thanks. I'm on my second set of R888Rs. They have a very unique whirring sound on the street, that's for sure. I don't mind it, but definitely the noisiest tire I've ever driven on. The seating position in my car is so far back that you're almost sitting on the rear axle -- the rear wheel wells are directly behind the seat, and the rear hatch amplifies all of that noise.

I love the sound of the S65 so refuse to run a noisy tire like this.

[derbo]

Originally Posted by kyippee

Any of you guys want to go to Buttonwillow, Saturday 5/31? Going with SpeedSF org for my first time there!

Hopefully not too hot!

[dparm]

Originally Posted by Kelse92

Option A & B combined for 3 sets of wheels!
But I have a problem so don’t take my advice...
Between Street/Track/Autox I’ve managed to justify 4 sets of wheels around here lol

But in reality, I personally don’t think the sizing matters as much.
I like my DD 19’s with PS4s for the looks. They double as my rain setup and I threw them on one day I broke a wheel at Cresson. The key is having *some* kind of spare to throw on in a pinch. Considering Corvettes are a bit lacking in the storage dept you’ll need to decide really A) do you consider yourself towing a tire trailer behind it? Or B) do you just want to bring one spare in the passenger seat. If the answer is B, then your answer to the question above is also B

Forrest at TTW said they could store and transport my "dry" setup for a small monthly fee. But I think the idea would be to just keep them at home and throw them on the car if I know it'll be a dry weekend. If TTW is at a race, they can bring my spares with just in case.

I don't think a spare wheel and tire would even fit on the front seat. I could barely get a single wheel in the trunk of the car in the past. Also -- at $4000 a set for Finspeeds, how am I paying for two more sets AND tires? ;-)

Originally Posted by rhyary

For me, there was no significant speed difference between the MP4S and the R888.

So one set with Mp4s and one set of Hoosier/RR is a good combination.

I'm very surprised to hear the R888 was no faster. Regardless, I would bet you money that the R888 will last much longer and provide more consistent performance -- it is a track tire, the MP4S is not.