Not an exact science but you should possibly look at running higher torque on the wheel base and lowering the gain / FFB in game to avoid clipping and maximising the fidelity / nuances of the FFB effects
Ah, I'll do some experimenting.
Thanks for the help!
You can dial in the so called "dynamic range" to your liking. Example with numbers:
10nm max torque with 50% in game gain:
- Driving straight with some bumps in the road: 1-5% ffb output = 0,1-0,5 nm torque
- Cornering at low speeds without much downforce: 25% ffb output = 2,5 nm torque
- Cornering at high speeds and the downforce increasing grip: 50% ffb output = 5nm torque
- Hitting a kerb while cornering at high speeds: 80% ffb output = 8nm torque
- Hitting a tree: 100+% ffb output = 10nm torque
5nm with 100% in game gain:
- Driving straight with some bumps: 2-10% ffb output = 0,1-0,5 nm torque
- Cornering at low speeds without much downforce: 50% ffb output = 2,5 nm torque
- Cornering at high speeds and the downforce increasing grip: 100% ffb output = 5nm torque
- Hitting a kerb while cornering at high speeds: 100+% ffb output = 5nm torque
- Hitting a tree: 100+% ffb output = 5nm torque
So with low gain and high max torque in the wheel base or with high gain and low max torque, the driving itself will feel exactly the same.
But when you hit something while driving, things will be very different!
Cornering at low speeds vs high speeds and vs hitting a sausage kerb will have about the same difference in force so the sausage kerb will really hit hard!
And hitting a tree will be double the strength of cornering at high speeds.
With high gain and lower torque from the wheelbase, the ffb will clip when hitting a sausage kerb or when hitting a tree so your hands will be able to hold against it and the wheel won't become stronger, it will just wiggle with the same strength.
Btw, clipping doesn't mean that the ffb will become completely random garbage. FFB contains a
direction and
strength. When the ffb is clipping, only the strength won't increase any further. The direction will still be there!
So when the sausage kerb causes ffb clipping, your wheel will go left and right according to the bump. But the wheel won't become heavier.
Now I would recommend to set the gain to a level where it never clips while driving without taking kerbs.
But I would also recommend to have clipping when running over sausage kerbs or hitting trees.
I can tell you that assetto corsa at 100% gain will clip when driving through Eau Rouge with a GT3 car, for example.
I only have a fanatec csw 2.5 but I'm using 60% gain in AC and 75% "FF" (max torque) in the wheel base.
Just play around with it until it feels best for you.
There are also people that say that lowering the strength/max torque will slow down the wheel in general, because you would need the full 10+ nm to swiftly overcome the mass inertia of the wheel shaft and steering wheel.
This might be true or might not be true. It depends how the wheel software is programmed.
I personally don't really feel a difference with my csw apart from the smallest bumps being a bit smoother. Like a sine wave vs a sawtooth wave.
So it's not really like losing details. More like rounding rough edges.
I would compare it to watching the lord of the rings in 4k on a big TV.
It actually looks worse than in 720p/1080p because you can spot the edges of the masks and some Orcs look fake.
So yeah, more details but less immersion.
Another comparison would be music. Modern music barely has any dynamic, it almost looks like a flat line when looking at the wave form. The opposite would be some modern series/movies where it's fun in the cinema but at home with neighbours, you're constantly adjusting the volume because you can't understand what's said and in the next moment an explosion is super loud (I sadly don't have a receiver with "night mode" or a seperate center speaker. Just a good stereo system).
Just dial it in to what you like