Adjusting in car settings when using VR

[Lesthegringo]

As I am currently in the middle of a move and so my rig is stuck somewhere in a container a long way away, all I can do is read up on sim stuff and plan upgrades and improvements.

During this, it suddely ocurred to me that my newfound liking of VR comes with a distinct issue, which is how do you adjust things like brake balance while driving? With my 'old' rig I have some really nice switch panels which were clearly labeled and shaped such that a glance was all that was needed to know what it was, so in game adjustments were (relatively) easy.

Now, with a VR visor on, mucle memory is good for gear changes, but won't work for adjustments, and of course lifting the visor is out of the question. So what solutions have you guys come up with to do this?

Cheers

Les

 

[metalnwood]

As far as controls on the easiest spot, thats what you have on your wheel rim.

Of course what you have there really depends on your gear so on the lower end like a g29 you are not going to have 7 way funky switches or numerous rotary encoders that you can bind to brake bias, tcs etc.

Button boxes are still very usable but some are better than others. Good placement so you dont have to move your hand far helps develope better muscle memory and a distinctive layout so that you can place your hand about where you think your button is and if you are off by a bit its easy to feel the right one.

I have one that is eight rotaries in 2 rows of 4, its very near my rim so that I can easily touch either of the right ones or either of the left ones without thinking. So I put what I use most on the outer ones. Its easy to also come in one from the outer ones so that gives me four more. When you use them for a while you dont think about it and there isnt really any fumbling but the best for sure is what is on your rim.

While I find the BB helpful, the next best thing compared to what is on my rim is using my HOTAS throttle. The throttle was designed to never have to look at it yet be able to access 20 odd buttons as faster than you can on your rim. The downside is you have to take your hand off the rim to do it. I find it invaluable though and use it for things like crew cheif/setting pitstop strat etc.

You will find when you get used to it, it wont be the handicap you may imagine.

Edit - just seeing your profile pic, I know you understand how the warthog throttle is used without looking at it and imagine that on your racing rig. lots of controls on your left side, no problem.

 

[Deleted member 197115]

Ditto on wheel plate with multiple controls. Also take a look at VoiceAttack, you can map a bunch of keybinds to voice commands.

 

[Elaphe]

I have just one two-way momentary lever (which is the same as a rotary) in my button box. Then I have a button which changes the function of that lever, in my case: volume, force feedback, time of the day and fans speed. A synthetic voice tells me the selected mode when I press the button. That way, I do not have to deal with a lot of controls and I do not have to remember where they are and what function corresponds to each one. This is working with Autohotkey.

 

[metalnwood]

I have just one two-way momentary lever (which is the same as a rotary) in my button box. Then I have a button which changes the function of that lever, in my case: volume, force feedback, time of the day and fans speed. A synthetic voice tells me the selected mode when I press the button. That way, I do not have to deal with a lot of controls and I do not have to remember where they are and what function corresponds to each one. This is working with Autohotkey.

Nice! I did the same thing using voice attack, it was a couple of rotaries, one changed the function which was spoken out and then the second adjusted. Really simple and quite quck to use.

 

[Lesthegringo]

I like the idea of the lever; old school brake balance and ARB setting was adjusted using levers. It never occurred to me to do it that way.

Also realised reading about the button boxes that a large 3D printed knob will be easier to find, especially for older cars with less adjustments. Easy to make in distinct shapes.

Later F1 might be a bit more challenging, but i suppose I have to keep it as simple as possible

With regard to the wheel, I have a number. For modern F1 I have the Fanatec Formula, and then for older F1 I have a buttonless Momo copy and a simple 26cm leather wheel on a SRM hub, and then another Fanatec suede covered one with some buttons for everything else. Trying to find most of the wheel buttons in VR will probably be beyond me!

Cheers

Les

 

[Lesthegringo]

All, I'm coming back to this now as I will (finally) be getting my shipment delivered to my home this week. It has been 5 months, way too long.... Right now I feel like a kid just before Christmas!

Anyway, I was thinking a bit more in earnest about this over the last couple of days and it struck me that while a lever is great in theory for a brake bias or anti-rollbar adjustment, it may be difficult in practice to apply.

I can see it being possible to implement in three ways

1) geared to a rotary encoder so that forward movement of the lever turns the encoder one way, and pulling it turns in the reverse direction. Easy to implement physically but with a potentially big drawback, namely the last position you leave the lever in becomes the default position next time you restart the game. As an example, leaving the lever in the centre position will mean when you start the game, if the current bias setting is 56 / 44, that is what the centre poition of the lever is then set at.

2) geared to a multiple position rotary switch. This would mean that each switch would be allocated a preset bias value, which means that the game always sets the bias to the selected value on startup. However I am not certain if this is possible in all (or even any) games, plus there is the added complication of granularity; if you only have a 12 position switch you only have 12 possible preset values. Maybe that is not an issue though

3) geared to a rotary potentiomenter (or a linear potentiometer). This would give a theoretical infinite number of positions, and would also automatically set the bias value on startup. The downside is that it would have to either be able to be allocated to an axis (not sure if that is possible) or would require an external software solution to implement.

So I would value any feedback or suggestions based on the above. If anyone knows of how to get around the issues I am all ears

Cheers

Les