Everyone's entitled to an A** hole, oh i mean opinion.
Over exaggerated.....lol.....and how much have you vested in your tactile setup ?
Ahem, come now, no need for that kind of
tone (lol)...
I am interested to hear from the OP in how things go for him and his own preference he finds out of this.
Your well aware of my interest in audio/tactile and I tried to offer an opinion with informative reading.
Here I am rambling on with more but really to share my own experimentation for cockpit audio and if, its interesting for some excellent, or not then its easily ignored. Im not not seeking confrontation, debate or attitude just sharing.
Firstly I would say I am glad you enjoy what you have with full surround audio but like I said, having cars in surround sound isn't anything new. Is it fair to question how big of a "WOW" these days or necessity it may be for most sim racers? So its exactly why I question your given perception of it. I can still remember the original Xbox Project Gotham back in 2001, with digital surround audio. So how or in what ways has sim racing progressed till today? Fair questions no, mmmmmm?
I don't assume anything spectacular is happening now/these days from the developers/audio engineers between a sims stereo audio mix or compared to 5.1 / 7.1. Much of it these days likely relies on the audio mastering tools within the mix being made that hardware can place specific sounds already in the stereo mix but position them to a relevant channel. I am not an expert or audio engineer but believe mid/side stereo is relevant here for expanding the mix to multichannel speaker configurations? The point raised here is what really makes a 5.1 or greater substantially better to the original stereo mix?
Own Tests
For a cockpit scenario, I have experimented with A/B stereo and multichannel audio. Yet I don't like to rely on 1 LFE subwoofer output. Not when stereo left/right directionality is such a large part for a racing cockpits immersion.
I prefer to use 4 subwoofers surrounding my cockpit and not use a .1 lfe channel at all. This can be used for enhancing the games audio be it stereo/surround channels or it can be used to output Simvibe "Chassis Mode" low frequencies normally only used on tactile also over a subwoofer to emphasise the tactile I do use and feel.
Simply because from my own testing/experimentation for what I want/prefer. I find it's much more dramatic/immersive for our bodies/brain when we hear low-end audible bass and it is combined with powerful felt tactile and not just have one or the other.
I created a configuration that means I can easily mix sources, having "Game Audio" & "Simvibe" combined. So both may be output to the 4 subwoofers or and also to the tactile depending what I want to do. This can work quite well to enhance directional events, be it other cars passing or wheels on kerbs. Yet with my own testing, compared to using a single .1 based subwoofer such can't bring the same directional enhancement for the low end as having an independent sub on all 4 channels can to represent basically each wheel for a sim based or cockpit environment.
Yes I have on/off bummed about with various degress of hardware to a point of reaching rather expensive gear taking several years to amass but it was just what came about with continued messing around and own wonders of, what if? Thus far, for a cockpit solution to increase directional and audio/tactile immersion my own progress ended up with the following:
Having the largest BK LFE for sheer low end 5Hz - 50Hz with Clark Synthesis TST 429 for the general tactile detailing and smooth response. Each are the best models with their own benefits. With two units, this reduces the workload over a single tactile unit for a start (via crossover control) so it helps when additional or multiple effects are applied. Having a decent quality 12" subwoofer also combined with them just presents much more authority to what you feel/hear in its immersion or sense of realism for not only bumps, kerbs, passing cars but of course engines too.
The subs don't even have to be loud but they are certainly missed when not used.
So having these 3 units representing one channel over 4 independent channels is reaching for me a rather high level of immersion. While I can use other tactile for Simvibe EM or SSW roles, I am not sure how I can improve much upon it and have the audio effectively combine with the tactile. Perhaps for some stereo is enough, or A/B front/back stereo pairs, these would match my subwoofers in a dual stereo or surround configuration, or is full multichannel going to be much benefit? I don't feel much need for a center and specific surround channels with the configuration I am using as do feel each wheel/corner is being well represented with my Frankenstein setup, even moreso than a standard multichannel config offers. I also think the left/right channels are more important than rear surround channels for obvious reasons highlighted.
Likewise for the OP he may prefer what his floorstanders offer in stereo with better bass response, clearer and more robust stereo representation. Each to their own really.