Logitech G25 Wheel Force Feedback Tweaks

[Kroton]

For me this is quite a lot better than the stock settings, making more use of faster hardware with smoother more realistic feedback and effects though the full wheel range. It changes ffb values in the player profile PLR file for the game. I started by changing settings just by feel but also referred to Julien Regnard’s Force Feedback Tweaking Guide. It’s likely to some degree hardware specific so might be of limited interest. But I believe there should be broadly similar results on different rigs.

My system is an Intel Core i7 (3770) 3.4GHz Quad Core, GeForce GTX970, 1680x1050 display with frame rates on max settings averaging maybe 150 most of the time, or twice that in Race 07, but sometimes down a bit below 60 at the start of some races. My wheel is set to 270 degrees rotation in the logitech profiler’s global device settings as well as in specific game settings which is best for steam installations I believe. In-game I have wheel input sensitivity set at 50 percent.

I made versions (the attached text files) with a few small variations for each of the main SimBin games, GTL, GTR2 including the HQ Anniversary version, the Power & Glory Mod and Race 07.

IMPLEMENTATION
The PLR file (something like PlayerName.plr) will be in the game’s userdata folder in the PC’s user documents folder for steam installations or otherwise it should be in the game folder userdata folder. The best way to try it might be to open your current player .plr file in Notepad then copy and replace the relevant section towards the end of the text with the revised values, then save it in the userdata folder with a new name, thereby adding a new player profile that can be selected in the game. For many other wheels the Reverse Effects box in the game's force feedback menu will need be to be unchecked. I would recommend not making any ffb adjustments in the game menu other than the steering force value that feels right for the car being driven. Clicking on or adjusting anything else might restore a default value or values, requiring the the player profile file to be edited again. Actually in Race 07 the extension rcs is used instead of plr so the location will probably be: My Documents/SimBin/RACE 07 Install/UserData/ControlSet/*******.rcs

But for a quick test in GTR2 or Race 07 anyone familiar with the routine could simply paste in these settings:

FFB Effects Level="4"
FFB Gain="1.00000"
FFB Throttle FX on steer axis="1"
FFB Brake FX on steer axis="1"
FFB steer vibe freq mult="0.60000"
FFB steer vibe zero magnitude="0.06000"
FFB steer vibe slope="0.00000"
FFB steer vibe wave type="0"
FFB steer force average weight="0.10000"
FFB steer force exponent="1.00000"
FFB steer force input max="-11500.00000"
FFB steer force output max="1.70000"
FFB steer force grip weight="0.22000"
FFB steer force grip factor="0.91000"
FFB steer update thresh="0.00000"
FFB steer friction coefficient="-0.08000"
FFB steer friction saturation="1.00000"
FFB steer damper coefficient="0.16000"
FFB steer damper saturation="1.00000"
FFB throttle vibe freq mult="0.10000"
FFB throttle vibe zero magnitude="0.11000"
FFB throttle vibe slope="0.00000"
FFB throttle vibe wave type="0"
FFB throttle vibe update thresh="0.03300"
FFB brake vibe freq mult="0.50000"
FFB brake vibe zero magnitude="0.20000"
FFB brake vibe slope="0.00000"
FFB brake vibe wave type="0"
FFB brake vibe update thresh="0.03300"
FFB rumble strip magnitude="0.45000"
FFB rumble strip freq mult="1.00000"
FFB rumble strip wave type="2"
FFB rumble strip pull factor="-0.69000"
FFB rumble strip update thresh="0.03300"
FFB jolt magnitude="1.00000"

 

[Shovas]

The important parameters (Grip Factor and Grip Weight) are in a good range.

I wonder, do you know if you're getting any ffb clipping? You'll know if you're not getting bumps or road feelin in high ffb situations like high speed corners.

You can avoid clipping by lowering Steer Force Output Max. Anything > 1.0 results in clipping but some clipping may be acceptable to get a stronger feel.

 

[Kroton]

I did most of my testing on Brands Hatch Indy and also Zandvort which had quite a range of conditions. Difficult to be sure there is no clipping I suppose. But in high speed corners I seem to have quite good surface and grip detail including less resistance over dips and more over bumps and less or more resistance in slides or oversteer. If I recall, my relatively low FFB steer force average weight setting at 0.10000 might be helping and it seemed to smooth things out. It spoiled things a bit initially but I changed other settings to restore some bite. I tried lowering that setting quite a lot further but it seemed to reduce detail too much and maybe added some latency. Presuming that Average Weight both influences and is influenced by frame rates it’s effect would be continually varying but this seems to be okay provided fps at any moment are not super high or un-drivably low. Not sure exactly, but just a few observations and thoughts.

 

[Shovas]

Good work. Don't be afraid to try extreme values and then find a happy medium. I employ bisection searching to do that methodically. It allows you to hone in on pretty precise values.

 

[Paul Harwood]

Hi all,


What Logitech G25 global device settings are suggested as starting point ?

Thanks.

PH

 

[Kroton]

Hi, I think my Logitech Profiler Global Device Settings are pretty standard:

Overall effect strength: 100%
Spring Effect 0%
Damper Effect: 0%
Enable Centre Spring: check
Centre Spring Strength: 0%
Use Special Steering Wheel Settings: check
Degrees of Rotation: 271 (I prefer this to 240, but 900 for most other games)
Use Special Game Settings: check
Allow Game to Adjust Settings: check

These can also be set as specific game settings in the profiler which should then over-ride the global device settings for the relevant game but for me they don’t do that with Race 07 probably because it’s the only older driving game I have installed with steam. But it’s only the degrees of wheel rotation that need to be reduced for these Simbin games compared to most more recent sims. So I just have these global device settings for all games, mostly just duplicating my specific game settings now, and if for some reason there is a problem with a newer game I change the wheel rotation here back to 900.

I'm seeing the FFB Steering Force slider in the GTR2 HQ Anniversary version's force feedback menu working backwards with my setup and am presuming this is a G25 thing.

 

[Paul Harwood]

Thanks for the reply and info.

Is there a consensus on these global device settings?

My other question would be about the in-game 'steering speed sensitivity' settings. I am finding differing explanations for this feature,

Cheers.

PH

 

[Kroton]

I’d be a bit surprised but interested to hear if anyone uses any substantially different settings.

I’ve seen what maybe seemed a quite plausible argument that speed sensitive steering is what we experience in the real world anyway to some extent so why not use it. But I think it would mostly be an option to cover for a deficiency in the physics simulation or if not then other problematic wheel related settings or maybe low fidelity input devices such as gamepads and I’ve not found it to be a good solution so far. But happy to hear if that isn’t correct

Cheers.

 

[Kenny Paton]

My other question would be about the in-game 'steering speed sensitivity' settings. I am finding differing explanations for this feature,

It’s exactly as named, it works to adjust your steering input depending on your speed. Most people have it turned off. Using 240° means no need to mess with rotation in the garage.

 

[Paul Harwood]

Thank you for the info!

My only remaining issue is trying to get neutral on my TH8 A , Currently I have no neutral on the shifter. Its not a big issue but it is not quite right. Any fix for this?

 

[Bjarne Hansen]

My only remaining issue is trying to get neutral on my TH8 A , Currently I have no neutral on the shifter. Its not a big issue but it is not quite right. Any fix for this?

on the control page activate 'hold button for gear'
Might not be a good setting for Logitech stick shifter as that is analog.

 

[Paul Harwood]

Its a Thrustmaster shifter but this works !

Thanks Bjarne!

 

[Bjarne Hansen]

Should have noticed the TH8 shifter as I got one myself pared with my old G27 wheel.
For my G27 the important setting in FFB are :
FFB steer force exponent =
0.5 removed the deadzone from the wheel
1.0 are likely the 'correct' settings
So find what it best for between 0.5 and 1.0.
I am around 0.65. And a little higher in P&G ~ 0.8
But your own feel is more important than other peoples settings.

 

[Paul Harwood]

Thank you.

I will try this

 

[Paul Harwood]

Hey! I noticed there is no player profile folder in my P&G user data. Should there be one so that different FF sections of the PLR files can be used?

Thanks

PH

 

[Kroton]

I think the answer is yes and the game requests a player profile before it will work. Maybe adding a new one would shed some light on what's going on.

I have some different settings with the FFB steer force average weight reduced to 0.04000 but FFB steer force output max, raised to 3.00000 in GTL and GTR2 and 2.40000 in P&G. I tested these using 240 degrees wheel rotation except for P&G mod where 270 seems a better match for me.

Similar feel to to my original settings but allowing stronger forces for some of the lighter cars in the less recent games, just a matter of dialing in the right FFB steering force or force feedback strength in the game menu.

 

[mikeae1]

Yes Kroton !
I like your Avatar very much,
for Racing - Games (Simulations ?) this will be a perfect picture for me also,
because i use since Release G25 (2009 ?)
And more happy with this as G27, Fanatic GT3 etc.
And than 2017 i stop to buy new Steering Wheel - go back to G25.
With the GTR2-Software - IMO ISI-Moto-1-Engine as Basic (not the ISI-Moto-2-Engine, this was in the Years 2005-2009 exclusive for ISI-Software),
A lot of cars feels very different.
Mainly - nowaday - i drive the P&G Cars - here is possible to use 1 x a plr-file with ffb,
GT-Cars give a different response, use better different FFB-Settings.
Yours with Shovas is a really good starting - Parameters
Thanks for this

 

[zoner]

Another old G25 user here (13 years and still going). Use it on my Mac with ISI games running in crossover.Thanks for the files. Just tried GTR2 and find its perfect! Will try the Race07 settings this eve.

Cheers!

 

[mikeae1]

Yes, Logitech Release was for 13 Years - and still going to .
It survived a lot of other (more expensive) Steering Wheel Combinations !
And - H-shift 6-gear + Sequentiell Stick is possible.
I agree with you about the endless Theme FFB-Setting,
have only my mind about the Steering Ratios.
Older Cars 900 degrees
Touring Cars 720 degrees, etc.
So my arms on the PC have more to do with movement , and i had since a lot of Years the Feeling, that the FFB-Effects präziser and finer.
But this is very very subjectiv !

 

[Kroton]

Thanks for the kind comments and info. Not sure whether these adjustments have made me any faster but I seem to be able to stay on the track more consistently and only now am I able to get through and win championships. If I find any further refinements I’ll post them and will likely will keep an eye out for any textures or sounds that might benefit from further editing, having some experience. So much depth of content in the Simbin sims and with all the development and mods I don’t really need anything else for motor racing simulation.