Hardware: steering wheel and pedals?

[Nigo]

I'm a Linux user as well and I hate Windows and Microsoft as much as you... but... what would I use on Linux ? vDrift ? RSC Motorsport ? Racer ? Torcs ? oh, come on...
I really like vDrift as a race-sim, it reminds me Netkar's beginnings on some points, but lets be realistic; maybe you should try rFactor, GTL, RBR, or Netkar Pro sometimes, that might makes you like Windows a bit :lol:

[cotharyus]

See, you're assuming that I would actually consider using windows for something. Honestly, I'm not much of a gamer. I've been using either linux or FreeBSD as my desktop for 10 years. I have a playstation that I only have one game for - GT2. I don't even play that very often because it involves dragging the thing out and hooking it up. I really like Vdrift because I can just grab a controler and play it. Well. And it's free.

[osiris]

Where can I find wheel and pedals for a MAC ?(not an universal)
Is any usb stuff OK? or must I seek for special items?

[Nigo]

I'm not saying you need to be a race-simer to play vDrift, I say if you're not a race-simer there are no much point gooing for a G25... but, hey, you do whatever you want :wink:

[joevenzon]

I still don't quite follow, Nigo... are you saying there are cheaper wheels that have a gearbox & clutch? Could you point me to them?

[Nigo]

no, that's not what I'm saying, that's the "cheapest"

[cotharyus]

Cool. We'll see what happens. I guess everyone doing it their own way is what the world is about huh? Good thing we can agree on the right to do that.

[stenyak]

Hi, a Logitech G25 just arrived home today. 2 years ago i tried getting my old Saitek R440 FFB to work on linux, but it didn't work; most support was for Logitech wheels.
I will try to see if i get the FFB working by applying the usual kernel pach. So far these are supposed to work under linux

{0x46d, 0xc211, hid_lgff_init}, // Logitech Cordless rumble pad
{0x46d, 0xc283, hid_lgff_init}, // Logitech Wingman Force 3d
{0x46d, 0xc295, hid_lgff_init}, // Logitech MOMO force wheel
{0x46d, 0xc219, hid_lgff_init}, // Logitech Cordless rumble pad 2

Unfortunately, running jscalibrator i don't get the full 900º of precision, but only the reduced angle (300º? dunno how many).

I'm a bit too lazy so don't expect results any time soon though.. you can try youself if you want, the file is <kernel>/drivers/usb/input/hid-ff.c, just add the new model identifier to that list (can't remember how to get it, sorry), recompile the kernel and reboot.

[stenyak]

Surprisingly i left my laziness aside and tried it. I've managed to get a "constant force" effect working in the G25. I'm not sure about the rest of effects, i gotta tweak the values some more, default force values are too weak to be felt.

This should allow to create most of the effects needed in a simulation.. the "constant force" can be modified (by re-uploading a new "constant force" effect everytime the physics engine wants) so that the effect of damping, vibration or whatever is felt.

Maybe i'll try to get it working with Motorsport...

BTW: no, the 900º mode doesn't work, nor does the H-shifter (only first and second gear.. which is only useful when you put the thing in sequential shifting mode, that is, like WRC cars)... a pity. Maybe it's fixable somehow, but i have no idea where to start.

[joevenzon]

If you want to try it, VDrift calculates FFB values but doesn't currently know how to send them to any controllers. If you want to hack in support for your wheel, it should be fairly easy. If you go to the latest SVN rev (R1525), line 1864 gets the feedback force value. I believe it's in newtons. You'll probably need to scale it to a reasonable range for your wheel, but that should be all that's needed. Try it out! You'll be the first.

Line 1864 reads:

Code:

float feedback = (GetCar(CONT_PLAYERLOCAL)->car->wheel(0)->GetFeedback()+
        GetCar(CONT_PLAYERLOCAL)->car->wheel(1)->GetFeedback())*0.5;

stop by IRC if you need any help.

[stenyak]

I have no time atm, just a small question (curiosity): does it predict FFB in order to account for lag in wheel movement?

[thelusiv]

No, but if you're playing with a steering wheel, then you can set the Touchiness Compensation setting to None. This will basically make whatever you steer go directly to the wheels. Thus if the force feedback changes how the driver is able to turn the wheel, this will have a direct effect in-game. There is no direct support for force feedback, except providing the value obtained from the tire simulation.

At least that's how I understand it.

[Nigo]

If you want to try it, VDrift calculates FFB values but doesn't currently know how to send them to any controllers

I don't think any Linux driver supports Force Feedback but we can use DirectInput on Windows for that

[stenyak]

Good. Being able to control how the virtual steering wheel behaves is a must for realistic control.

Nigo: i'm not sure what you mean, but the official Linux kernel has been shipping with Force Feedback support (even if partial; reverse engineering is hard) in its Joystick drivers for a long time now. I didn't use any custom code (the only thing i did was tell the drivers about how my steering wheel should be able to support FFB, since it wasn't aware of it).

[thelusiv]

The problem isn't that force-feedback devices aren't supported; some of them are. The problem is that there's no cross-platform library (or even a single-platform Linux library) for force-feedback. So we'd have to hook the game straight up to the force-feedback driver in the kernel, and the implementation would be driver-dependent, so it would only work for one device.

Linux really needs a good force-feedback library. If there was one, we'd certainly figure out a way to support it. However it would be even better if there was one that supported Windows, OS X, FreeBSD and all that stuff too.

Not only would it be cool if FF worked on my Logitech Momo steering wheel, but also on my Logitech Wingman Rumblepad...