Good PS3 controller settings/vibration + Separate Brake/Throttle Axis

[FinbarFoley]

Howdy folks,

I wanted to share my settings that I feel makes for a great driving experience with the controller. This is playing without mods, so I can't speak for how well it will work with different car mods. I use a program called Lavendy which converts force feedback into controller vibration from here: http://lavendy.net/special/driver/xi/index.html

I then followed this man's guide and used his app he made for vJoy to separate the brake and throttle axis. In Simbin's games, the brake and throttle share an axis which means you can't brake and accelerate at the same time. Following this guide will rectify that.

Below are the settings I figured out to stop the controller from vibrating constantly which I didn't like. Now it only vibrates for corners, braking, rumble strip and collisions, so there is a break from rumbling when on straights. This constant rumbling didn't seem to be a problem on the Xbox 360 controller, just the PS3 controller when using SCP toolkit (https://github.com/nefarius/ScpToolkit/releases/tag/v1.6.238.16010) to get it working on PC.

I've bolded the important settings to adjust, most can be kept default. I wouldn't mess with too much unless you know what you are doing.

FFB Device Type="1" // Type of FFB controller: 0=none 1=wheel, 2=stick/custom, 3=rumble pad. Set this to 1.
FFB Effects Level="4" // Number of FFB effects to use: 0=No Effects, 1=Low, 2=Medium, 3=High, 4=Full, 5=Custom. Set this to 4.
FFB Gain="1.00000" // Strength of Force Feedback effects. Range 0.0 to 1.0. Set this to 1. Can be reduced if you want to decrease overall strength of vibration.
FFB Throttle FX on steer axis="1" // 0 = Throttle effects on throttle axis, 1 = throttle effects on steering axis.
FFB Brake FX on steer axis="1" // 0 = Brake effects on brake axis, 1 = brake effects on steering axis.
FFB steer vibe freq mult="0.00000" // Controls frequency of steering vibration. Recommended: 0.5 to 1.0, 0.0 disables steering vibration. Turn this to zero to get rid of steering vibration
FFB steer vibe zero magnitude="0.00000" // Magnitude of steering vibration at 0mph (reference point). Turn this to zero to get rid of steering vibration
FFB steer vibe slope="0.00000" // Slope of line defining magnitude as a function of frequency (used with FFB steer vibe zero magnitude). Turn this to zero to get rid of steering vibration
FFB steer vibe wave type="0" // Type of wave to use for vibe: 0=Sine, 1=Square, 2=Triangle, 3=Sawtooth up, 4=Sawtooth down.
FFB steer force average weight="1.00000" // How much weight is given to new steering force calculations each frame (0.01 - 1.0). Lower values will smooth out the steering force, but will also add latency. At 1.0 there is less latency and it still feels fine
FFB steer force exponent="3.00000" // Steering force output "sensitivity". Range 0.0 to infinity. 0.0 to 1.0 = higher sensitivity, greater than 1.0 = lower sensitivity. This has to be set high enough to get rid of constant vibration. I think anything over 2.0 should be enough, but you can make it lower or higher, depending on when you want the vibration to kick in. The higher the number, the more force it takes for the controller to vibrate
FFB steer force input max="11500.00000" // Recommended: 11500 (-11500 if controller pulls in the wrong direction).
FFB steer force output max="2.00000" // Maximum force output of steering force, recommendation 0.8 to 2.0 The higher this number, the more the controller will vibrate when steering.
FFB steer force grip weight="1.00000" // Range 0.0 to 1.0, recommended: 0.4 to 0.9. How much weight is given to tire grip when calculating steering force.
FFB steer force grip factor="0.60000" // Range 0.0 to 1.0, recommended: 0.2 to 0.6. How much of a factor the front wheel grip is on the steering weight.
FFB steer update thresh="0.01500" // Amount of change required to update steer force/vibe (0.0 - 1.0). Lower values = steering force updated more frequently = lower frame rate.
FFB steer friction coefficient="0.10000" // Coefficient to use for steering friction. Range: -1.0 to 1.0
FFB steer friction saturation="1.00000" // Saturation value to use for steering friction. Range: 0 - 1.0
FFB steer damper coefficient="0.10000" // Coefficient to use for steering damper. Range: -1.0 to 1.0
FFB steer damper saturation="1.00000" // Saturation value to use for steering damper. Range: 0 - 1.0
FFB throttle vibe freq mult="0.00000" // Scales actual engine frequency to force FFB vibration frequency. Suggested range: 0.10 to 0.50 These settings are for engine vibration, which I didn't want, so I set them to 0
FFB throttle vibe zero magnitude="0.00000" // Magnitude of engine vibration at 0rpm (reference point). These settings are for engine vibration, which I didn't want, so I set them to 0
FFB throttle vibe slope="0.00000" // Slope of line defining magnitude as a function of frequency (used with FFB throttle vibe zero magnitude). These settings are for engine vibration, which I didn't want, so I set them to 0
FFB throttle vibe wave type="0" // Type of wave to use for vibe: 0=Sine, 1=Square, 2=Triangle, 3=Sawtooth up, 4=Sawtooth down.
FFB throttle vibe update thresh="0.08000" // Amount of change required to update throttle vibe (0.0 - 1.0)
FFB brake vibe freq mult="0.90000" // Scales actual brake rotational frequency to force feedback vibration frequency.
FFB brake vibe zero magnitude="0.00000" // Magnitude of brake vibration at 0mph (reference point). This needs to be 0, otherwise the controller may vibrate constantly.
FFB brake vibe slope="0.25000" // Slope of line defining magnitude as a function of frequency (used with FFB brake vibe zero magnitude). Set this higher for more vibration when braking. 0.25 gives enough vibration for me, but 0.5 will give more detail about brake strength.
FFB brake vibe wave type="0" // Type of wave to use for vibe: 0=Sine, 1=Square, 2=Triangle, 3=Sawtooth up, 4=Sawtooth down.
FFB brake vibe update thresh="0.05000" // Amount of change required to update brake vibe (0.0 to 1.0)
FFB rumble strip magnitude="0.35000" // How strong the rumble strip rumble is. Range 0.0 to 1.0, 0.0 disables effect.
FFB rumble strip freq mult="0.60000" // Rumble stip frequency multiplier 1.0 = one rumble per wheel rev.
FFB rumble strip wave type="0" // Type of wave to use for vibe: 0=Sine, 1=Square, 2=Triangle, 3=Sawtooth up, 4=Sawtooth down.
FFB rumble strip pull factor="1.50000" // How strongly wheel pulls right/left when running over a rumble strip. Suggested range: -1.5 to 1.5.
FFB rumble strip update thresh="0.07500" // Amount of change required to update rumble strip effect (0.0 - 1.0)
FFB jolt magnitude="1.00000" // How strong jolts from other cars (or walls) are. Suggested Range: -2.0 to 2.0.

I'll update and add my in-game controller settings when I have the time. Also, Joy2Key is a handy program to map some of the unmappable GTR2 hotkeys to the gamepad.

 

[FinbarFoley]

Before each race, I make sure to lower the steering lock of the car, usually down to around 10 degrees or so. This can vary from car to car, but 10 is a good starting point for me.

These are my controller settings.

Steering Sensitivity=40% 50% is neutral, 0% means more precision at lower degrees of steering rotation, 100% means more precision at higher degrees of steering rotation
Steering Deadzone=8% Set this for whatever is appropriate for your controller
Throttle Sensitivity=50% Similar to steering, 50% is neutral, 0%=more precision at lower levels of throttle input, 100%=more precision at higher levels of throttle input. May need to be altered depending on whether you drive with Traction Control or not.
Throttle Deadzone=0%
Brake Sensitivity=25% Same as throttle, but for brakes! I race with ABS, so this may need to be tweaked for those that do not use ABS
Brake Deadzone=0%
Clutch Sensitivity=30% I have this set to Square Button
Speed Sensitive Steering=50% This one is a personal preference, some like more, others less.

 

[Shovas]

Mods, might be good for a sticky for those who use a controller.

 

[StephenG]

This might not work the same for a PS3, but using an Xbox 360 controller (on PC) I found that using the "triggers" on the back (which are analogue, not simple switches) for throttle and brake allowed for better control of braking and acceleration than an analogue "stick". Takes a little practice and to each his own, but it's worth noting that the default settings for many games assign plain buttons (even if they're called "axis" - don't be fooled by that) to brakes and acceleration.

My feeling is that people pay a lot of attention to adjusting steering sensitivity on controllers, but not enough to throttle and brakes, which are just as important in driving well. I've found carefully adjusting these make a huge impact on how well you can use a pad. I suspect a lot of the jerkiness people complain about with pad controllers is due in large measure to the effect that poorly set braking and acceleration controls have on their driving in sim racing games.

 

[FinbarFoley]

This guide was written with using the analogue triggers in mind. When I said share the same axis, what I meant was that both the triggers are considered to be on the same axis in Simbin games, which means if you hold down the brake and throttle at the same time, they will cancel each other out and you will get 0 throttle or brake input, which obviously isn't realistic. It's easy to test, if you drive a car on a straight, keep the throttle trigger held down, but also apply the brake trigger and you will notice the brake light does not come on.

To separate the trigger inputs onto their own axes, you need to follow the guide in the video I shared.