@sjb266 @Steve D @sdubbin @Mascot
Sorry to @ you boys but I am wondering if some of you can help me in an experiment that I've found needing investigating. So we are all owners, or about to be owners and users of both motion solutions. I have made my feelings pretty clear in that I thought the V3 was a welcome addition to the SFX-100 motion platform in my early testing and experience, However, not everyone agrees. I have since done some more mucking about with it last night and have come up with more questions than answers for now. I have a few dilemmas that need addressing which involve some feedback from you kind lot. Some of it will require a little additional testing if you can spare a little time for me and the rest will be your general feedback and opinions on what you've already been experiencing with your setups.
So the first thing is Sway. On the SFX100. I am somehow confused by this setting now after running the V3 for 2 years now. It always felt natural the way that Sway was portrayed. However, playing with the graphs and sliders last night in rFactor 2 revealed that the Surge was inverted, Meaning on braking, the chassis would pull up at the front. This felt very wrong to me and I HAD to reverse it to see if I could correct it. I tried comparing the graph to other profiles and eventually I think I sorted it out. However, this prompted me for some reason to do the same for Sway, which to my knowledge and experience felt like it was supposed to, as the V3 would have it. I inverted the graph and the result was the chassis tilting WITH the movement of the steering, so steer car left, chassis dips into the turn left with you. At first you think this is wrong. How come then in VR it felt somehow RIGHT? I was rocking the steering in my van today trying to make sense of it and although comparing a Toyota Hiace to a high powered race car is a little unrealistic, the movement felt like it did last night. Car tilts to the left, the seat pushes on your opposite side (so seat pressure on my right side while turning left) as the weight of the car shifts. Not representing G forces obviously in my passenger vehicle, but it felt correct. Can anyone go and reverse their 'G force simulating" Sway effect and see if they feel the same? In the V3 this felt wrong, but on the SFX-100 it felt like I was really in a groove going into corners around Suzuka, of which there are many changes of direction. I'm confused and it's been annoying me all day.
Right, the main thing. I think I want to remove the V3. I had it globally paused last night while doing the Sway thing and I feel SO MUCH MORE from the actuators with the seat static. Like, A LOT more. All the little vibrations and twitches, all the detail, the movement in the car chassis, not just my aluminium chassis but the feeling of the actual car I'm driving. I still got a TONNE of feedback through the new inverted Sway, the Surge was obviously different but I didn't feel like I completely missed the Surge from the seat. The firmness of the static seat really helped me get a feel of the undulation in the track, the small elevation changes, the little bumps, all the detail. You lose this while running the V3. The obvious solution then for now is to dial everything back on the V3 to an absolute minimum. This includes the travel in post processing as well as the Intensity sliders in the motion tab. This will definitely help to get some of the full platform feeling back. I just wonder if it's worth keeping the thing on there then. I get to drop my seat even further if it's gone and it would be completely rock solid mounted to rails without the small wobble in the V3. Removing that would even further increase the feeling of the full platform.
I'm going to have to try it completely without it to be sure for myself. But even with it just globally paused I can feel a big difference and that's with whatever wobble is in the unit still present. I've made it known that this doesn't ever really bother me but once it's removed, will we feel even greater feedback? I guess Simon is the first one to have removed his unit completely and I'm curious to see how he is still getting on with that. Any desire to put it back on? Have you tuned profiles now that make better use of the SFX-100 now that the V3 is removed? If so, please share!
I don't really want to go G Seat, but I'm seriously considering parting ways with the V3 at least for the short term and see how I get on with the full motion on it's own. I would like to acquire a seat like sdubbin (guys, 3 Steve's, really...?
), that bucket looks wicked. My Bride replica is OK but that seat you have looks like it would give even better feedback with the amount it would hold you in. Mine is recliner and not as enclosed as yours at the sides.
So, after all that, I need some guidance and thoughts from you gents as to how you're all fairing with your kit.. We're quite the minority with our combination of motion solutions. I just worry that I am stubbornly keeping the V3 mounted at the expense of the overall experience. I think now that I have used the SFX-100 for quite a while, removed the monitor and pretty much sorted the VR sensor issues while mounted to the rig, I am comfortable increasing the feedback level and the V3 might be a component that is losing viability every race. I have to say I feel much more in control of the vehicle when the entire chassis is moving as the car body would and not having the seat doing its thing as well. There are other factors that come into play such as title compatibility which the V3 has tonnes of, but overall I'd sacrifice being able to play Richard Burns with motion for an increased immersive experience in our favourite and most importantly competitive sims.
Please lend me your wisdom and I apologise if none of this interests you at all.