I’d like to try out more serious racing games and maybe change my setups. I have never own a wheel setup before, and I had never played any more serious race sims. My last racing game was GRID 2 which I played with a controller.
I wish to know what are the considerations I should have before committing and buying a setup, and also what game I should get as a newbie?
Other requirements:
-I’d like the hardware to work out of box with Linux if possible, but I’m fine to boot into Windows if that’s where it’ll work the best
-I’m not interested in hardcore multiplayer, just want a game which I can race against AI, or take it easy and drive leisurely. (Also I’d like to refresh my manual skills since all of my work vehicles are automatics and I don’t even own a car, my manual skills are admittedly rusty).
I haven’t busted it out in a long time now, but I have an old Driving Force Pro Logitech wheel for PS2 that works in Linux. I only used it a bit in Super Tux Kart. Out of the box the force feedback didn’t work, and in general a lot of the pedals for cheaper wheels aren’t made well (potentiometers rigidly mounted to plastic). I should get around to fixing it with some spring steel mounts and new potentiometers.
There is a program pyLinuxWheel which has a bunch of options for Logitech wheels. I didn’t mess with it too much because of the pedal issues, but I remember that program working to get the force feedback going. I’m sure people with better wheels and more experience can go in to more detail, but it should be possible to get going in Linux.
yep any wheel designed to work with the ps2 worked well on pc with windows.
i have a joytech nitro with force feedback and all the features just seemed to work.
in windows its just seen as a hid and installs a microsoft default driver. and then your off so to speak.
on linux you have oversteer and it will support a lot of wheels out the box via its modules.
but its linux, so if oversteer doesn’t support it you will lose ffb until you can source a linux driver…
The potentiometers are basic like a volume knob on a cheap device, and gets actuated by your foot which is way too much force for it to handle. They really need some sort of spring so once you turn it all the way the spring would yield instead of the pot. The abuse also causes it to not let up completely, so the throttle and brake are constantly engaged slightly when not touching either pedal. If it had limit switches so it always sees full resistance or no resistance at top or bottom of travel it wouldn’t have these issues. They could use a hall effect sensor or encoder wheel, and I believe some of the really expensive ones might do that instead of resistance.
My understanding is that many of the racing wheel setups have similar problems, although the newer ones do appear to be a bit more robust than the one I have. It’s kind of hard to see from the pics/vids I checked out, and different models and brands may be set up differently. You might want to look up pedal repair for whatever model you are looking at and check it out. The pedals see a lot of abuse and it may be hard to tell why you are having issues in a game if your throttle is only hitting 95% or your brakes are never below 5%.
I’m going off of faulty memory here, but I believe they were 10k pots and a simple DB-9 connector to attach to the wheel. I could build a completely new pedal setup for relatively cheap given how simple it is. It’s just been a low priority project and every time I’m ready to mess with it something else comes up.
You can find them on ebay for $40- $100. (about $200 when new) The only issue I had was it started to drift off center. I took it apart and cleaned the sensor wheel and it’s back to normal. I also glued a sheet of rubber under the wheel so it is more secure when clamped to the table. the pedals have rubber pads and a ‘comb’ thingie for on carpet. I think it’s pretty good for an entry wheel
As for racing games, my favorites are DiRT 2 & 3. F1 2012. Wreckfest.
You really should try it one of these days. Its a different kind of beast. Its like weird a volunteer run project that spiraled into a juggernaut of computing. Its literally everywhere where there is a computer except funnily enough, the computer desktop.
Sometimes if you’d wonder what is a computer like without paying Microsoft (or Apple) money, come try it out in with an empty USB drive (4GB+). And see what legally not paying for software looks like:
There are others of course but these are the must try.
Its actually decent and you dont need to know command line stuff these days, especially with the above recommendations.
Go try to browse the web or just click around and see what the nerds are passionately raging about, how it feels like freesoftware in price and in spirit.
Also liking and preaching this experience is the internet equivalent of a vegan
I have. Set up a VM and ran Unbuntu. Then I was like. “What do I do now? I don’t have any Linux software and I don’t want to invest in learning Linux when I am already a Windows expert.” I always say “I am a software user. I have no desire to code software or manage a server.” I have been around since the days of DOS writing Basic apps, managing the PC’s at my engineering job. But I was never trained to write code, and I don’t enjoy it.
It not that I don’t like or appreciate Linux. Some people just don’t have a need for it.
In what way? It seems like now you have the access to all Linux software instead of none? But I have derailed the conversation already.
I’m also old enough to live just before the dying days of DOS as a kid and had enough experience to muck around in the autoexec.bat and system.ini
I guess its more about not tolerating Windows 11 shenanigan these days. Maybe its because you are on an Enterprise edition and have the capability to turn off all their non-sense.
The Assetto Corsa games mostly work with wine or proton including the mods. And one of the versions is usually on sale. It is probably the best and lowest cost way to see if sim racing is your thing.
The better question is, what is your budget? A logitech g923 or something like that works well to start out. and then you can spend another 2500 euro/dollar to get a whole sim rig. (even another 10.000 for motion, multiple monitors etc.)
I see a man of culture. Junkyard culture, but culture nonetheless. Those pedals are sweet. The bed frame rails and wheels are probably much more sturdy than the sub $200 Amazon/ebay kits.
so, i actually am a real car guy too, with multiple projects always running (but not running). but i have 2 teenage daughters, a wife, and an OLD house. so simracing is the cheapest way i could still race.
it brings me joy salvaging things most people no longer want.
