Thrustmaster T500RS - magic wheel but slowing me down...

[tpw]

After 6 months of dealing with the notchiness, midwheel deadness and loud clanking and rattling of my G27 I finally bit the bullet and splashed out on a brand spanking T500RS wheel/pedal set and TH8A shifter. I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir about the difference a good wheel makes: the T500 is just so smooth and powerful and silent and detailed, it's given all my sims a new lease of life and made rF2's FFB absolutely sublime. With rF2 and the T500 for the first time I actually feel like I'm driving a car on pneumatic rubber tires, and can feel every nuance and detail.

The trouble is that there's so much more strong detailed information coming in that I'm actually driving worse! I've had to drop the AI by 10% just to stay remotely competitive. Driving the Skip Barber, the super detailed FFB highlights every deviation from a perfect line and throttle, and every nudge and kerb really makes me flinch. The closer the FFB feels like a real car, the closer I get to the terrible times I'd achieve in a real car where I'd be worried about the physical and financial consequences of any mishap. This is not a complaint, it's actually a tribute to the immersion provided by the software and hardware!

So I'm just wondering if any of you experienced the same phenomenon when you upgraded your wheels, and how long it took you to regain your mojo.

 

[Emery]

Yup, same thing happened when I went from G25 to CSWv2. Took about 10-15 hours of driving to acclimate.

 

[Frederic Schornstein]

I switched from a G25 to a CSWv1 and then to a CSWv2. The switch from G25 to v1 was not so easy. I didnt really loose a lot of pace, but I first lost a bit of pace in slow speed corners as I lacked a bit of feel with the belt drive, but due to the higher forces I gained a bit in the fast corners.
The switch from v1 to v2 actually made the live easier. I first ran with to high settings even had blisters after a 3 hour LMP1 stint at Sebring (the FFB was already killing me on the straights). I could regain the feel in the slower corners.

 

[Spinelli]

Nope, never experienced that specific issue you talk about, and I use every wheel I own to their max power (since even their max power is a far cry from real-life). I've used the Logitech Momo Racing, G25, Momo Force, Thrustmaster T500RS, Fanatec CSR non-Elite, and CSW V2.

 

[David O'Reilly]

I think I did go through the similar experience. Still am probably.
My old wheel was a CSR and now a CSW V2 so poss not as big a jump but yes Kerbs scare me off a bit due to the wrenching and thumping.
I went in and made some tweaks in the controller JSON to the way the wheel responds to kerbs and that has helped. But yes for sure the tiny micro pieces of information can all create more to deal with.
One thing for sure is I can save a slide many many more times as effectively. I find myself correcting a slide thanks to clean and fast FFB b4 it even happens on screen. I can feel what the rear of the car is doing much more effectively.

Unless you have already done it, have a play with front tyre pressures, IMO small increases can give you more detailed FFB.

 

[CCL71]

Yes, I have experience the exact same thing that you're going though. My progression in sim racing has seen me start off with an xbox controller to the xbox wireless wheel to a forza csr wheel and now a t300rs. Lets forget about the controller as I have never gotten the hang of using it but I did get pretty good with the wireless wheel. I got to the point where I could run with my buddies who had real wheels. As a matter of fact, I still use it when I fire up Forza 4 or Horizons 2.

Once I got the csr though, I got much slower and didn't understand why. What I found was that ignorance was bliss. Not having any ffb to tell me when I lost traction actually made me faster because I just drove though it. Once I started "listening" to my wheel, my reactions caused me slow down in places where I would have kept accelerating. My t300 has evened everything out for me now. The signals and detail that I get from it are much better than my csr so now when I make a mistake, in most cases I know what I did wrong where before I was never sure.

I say just give it some time and before long you will understand exactly what you're feeling and how to react to it.

 

[tpw]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the replies. I'm slowly starting to improve, definitely catching slides a bit earlier thanks to the FFB. I am taking a small break from it all because I managed to rip the top off my bloody computer desk wrestling the wheel! I have a decent wheel stand coming, so hopefully will be back into it in a day or two.