Much worse with wheel than keyboard - suggestions wanted.

Angilion

Angilion

Angilion

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I've been playing racing games using a keyboard for 25 years (I spent my summer holiday in 1983 picking runner beans for £1 an hour to save up £180 to buy a Spectrum after seeing Chequered Flag :) ).

Last week, I bought a wheel for my PC, thinking (a) it would be fun and (b) I'd be slightly faster in games.

Instead, I am crap. I'm all over the road and much slower. In a time trial in Sega Rally, for example, I eventually managed 4:57 with the wheel, but with the same car I can do the same time trial in 4:21 using the keyboard.

The wheel is a Thrustmaster Ferrari GT Experience. Not brilliant, but not crap either.

I'm obviously doing something very wrong, but I have no idea what.
 
Wheels take a while to get used to if you've never used one before, but eventually you should see your times tumble.
 
ive got the same wheel. its alright though i think i should have forked out for a g25. but yeah, i struggled to get used to it and on games like grid i just use keyboard anyway as response is going to be faster anyway. however i do use the wheel for test drive unlimited and after you get used to it. turns out great.
 
I would say part of the problem it's the type of racing games you are playing. Arcade style games are probably more suited / designed to work well with keys / gamepads. Sometimes they have massive non linearity curves built into the control system, to compensate for digital steering, which remains when a wheel is used. This will make steering very strange.

Also, it probably takes more than a week to get to grips with a wheel - ie muscle memory, different muscles being used etc. I got quite fast on keys in LFS when my wheel died (about a year with no wheel!) When I got a new wheel it took a few weeks to match my PBs, and I've played sims with a wheel for 10 years.

Get a decent sim (LFS has great free content, online available) then get that wheel dialled in and practice practice practice.
 
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sega rally is like 1000% more fun with a wheel, you've just gotta think a bit ahead. on your keyboard you were going from zero to full lock in like 0.1 secs with a press of a digital button and obviously it takes time to turn the wheel, you'll get used to it eventually
 
I got a wheel with force feedback for GT4, my times were slower but it was so much more fun, especially the rallies :D
 
memory said:
+1

they can also be fun with wheels but i would probably stick to a pad when it comes to arcade racers
Click to expand...

i'll definitely agree that games like grid,nfs,flatout,outrun 2 etc play better on a pad but sega rally must be played on a wheel imo, sooo much more fun
 
these days wheels compliment sims better, arcades tend to be built around pads and their limitations

either way, practice, practice, practice
 
I'll give it some practice...but so far the massive decrease in performance and the fuss of moving my keyboard, bolting the wheel on...meh, not worth the fuss.

I don't use driving sims, because I'm not that enthusiastic about them. I play driving games, and I know how much of a difference there is.

Although I have to say that Sega Rally is an extreme, so much so that it took me a while to get any good at it because I was playing it like a normal racing game, i.e. trying to avoid hitting things at 80mph rather than using the collision as a steering/braking combo. It's a bit of a joke, really, but good for some fun.

I'm off work next week. I'll give the wheel some hours, see what happens. If not, well, I wasted £35. Maybe I can get something for it on trade-in at a game swapshop.
 
bee said:
sega rally is like 1000% more fun with a wheel, you've just gotta think a bit ahead. on your keyboard you were going from zero to full lock in like 0.1 secs with a press of a digital button and obviously it takes time to turn the wheel, you'll get used to it eventually
Click to expand...

After some more laps, I think part of the issue is not steering into the corner, it's holding the steering for just a little too long coming out of it.

One good thing with Sega rally is that it has got me used to the driver's point of view camera angle. I've always played with a chase cam angle, but Sega rally is so tolerant of inaccurate driving (it's like inflating the bouncy tubes alongside a bowling lane for children) that I could have a laugh with the driver position cam without really bad lap times and now I'm used to it. It's a lot more immersive.
 
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