Direct Drive Realistic Strength

Hey all,

I'm considering going all-out and buying a direct drive wheel but one thing that I'm not sure about is whether the 30nm Mige drive is really realistic or whether the 20nm drive is enough to match anything you'll come across IRL. Pretty much I want the wheel to match the force you would feel in a real car so I would be thankful if someone could give me some info regarding the suggested drive strength. I will be mainly using the wheel to simulate older cars without power steering so something like a pre-power steering F1 car would be my max force. Is the 30nm drive overkill or what kind of force would those cars have been doing IRL?

FJBH10
 
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20nm at full force will break your wrists off.
Most barely use half of its strength, 40% is my typical setting for AC, and I am not one of the delicate builds.
 
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I remember reading about this some time ago and there it was said and linked (so probably very true) that indy cars have about 17nm maximum steering force.
They don't have power steering (quickly read up on an article from 2016) and produce similar downforce to F1 cars. They are heavier though.
This combined I think even older race cars didn't have a heavier steering than these indy cars. 20nm should be enough therefore! I doubt that you would want to go above 10nm though as afaik most games don't have these "force spikes" that real cars have.
So a real car may be around 8nm through all turns averaged but peaks at 17nm. The current Sims will probably average at 8nm too but don't have these massive spikes.

What I also read is that the lower forced direct drive motors have less inertia and therefore give you more details.

I would recommend to get a smaller one. Not the big one. It should be plenty enough and still a good workout :)
 
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Steering Wheel Diameter is very importent i just use a Steering wheel Diameter of 250 mm. My strength Settings are not over 50%.

A table sheet of real life Forces that a needed with different race car classes or cars. Is highly needed :)
 
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Maybe intresting Nils Heusinkveld

Talk & Drive 12: Calculating steering loads from tire data and telemetry


To replicate the steering forces, Franchitti says it involves a bit more than one might expect.

"It's not really holding the weight out, but lifting that and rotating weight with forces pushing back on your lead hand," he remarked. "In Turn 1, you have to pull down with the left and push up with the right to overcome 35 pounds of force, then do the opposite for the right-hander in Turn 2, and so on. Imagine a string tied to your hand where you have to pull that 35 pounds up or down constantly. There's tremendous kick-back through the steering wheel on the new Indy car, and there's no power steering, so every movement of the Wheel requires a lot of energy."


With little time to rest between Mid-Ohio's corners, the steering effort is akin to exerting 35 pounds of twisting force, putting the weight down on the straights, picking it up again and repeating that process 13 times a lap.

That multiplies out to 1,105 burning reps during the race, with crunches included due to the torqueing motion drivers use from their core to assist their arms.

Using Mid-Ohio's 150 mph scary-fast Turn 1 to quantify the loads Franchitti and others experience, his Dallara DW12 produces 2800 pounds of downforce through the corner—approximately nine Shaquille O'Neals sitting on the car.

And with his weight (155 pounds), driver equalization ballast (30 pounds to get Franchitti up to the 185-pound standard), the Dallara's curb weight (1585 pounds) and a full tank of E85 ethanol (124 pounds), that's 4,694 pounds to be dealt with via the steering wheel.

Next time you feeling like emulating and IndyCar driver, borrow a Honda Ridgeline pickup truck, head to Mid-Ohio, disconnect the power steering and try navigating Turn 1 at 150 mph to see if you have what it takes to steer an Indy car.

Frankly, the 1,105 reps with a 35-pound weight might be a more attainable Goal.
 
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There are cars which go over 30nm and honestly don’t worry about replicating the real thing, none of the sims outside of iRacing even give you an easy logical way to do so anyway.

The whole gain/feedback strength settings don’t actually equate to anything. Using 100% will actually create software clipping on any wheel and the more powerful the wheel the less realistic upping it will be.
 
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Thanks for the replies guys, looks as though the 'small' Mige is the one for me, in regards to non-iRacing games how do they work with the force settings? If I were to drive a GT3 car in Assetto Corsa and then switch to say a 70's F1 car, would I have to literally change my ffb strength in-game for it to be realistic?
 
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Thanks for the replies guys, looks as though the 'small' Mige is the one for me, in regards to non-iRacing games how do they work with the force settings? If I were to drive a GT3 car in Assetto Corsa and then switch to say a 70's F1 car, would I have to literally change my ffb strength in-game for it to be realistic?
It will be different per car automatically so in that sense it will be realistic but not sure how accurate those are.

The way I do it is just to setup the cars with highest forces as my maximum torque level and let the game decide the rest. Aiming for exact realism is nigh on impossible at the moment and getting an approximate force level in the sense of an old F1 car is a real workout compared to a modern road car is really easy to do.
 
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It will be different per car automatically so in that sense it will be realistic but not sure how accurate those are.

The way I do it is just to setup the cars with highest forces as my maximum torque level and let the game decide the rest. Aiming for exact realism is nigh on impossible at the moment and getting an approximate force level in the sense of an old F1 car is a real workout compared to a modern road car is really easy to do.
Ok that's good. The big difference in force is my main priority really, not super concerned if it is maybe slightly weaker / stronger than reality as long as I can really feel the difference between cars.
 
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