Understeer on wheel - looking for advice - new player

Hi all

I have played racing games on controller for the last 15 years, and have recently invested in a Logitech G29 wheel.

The main thing I have noticed playing this game on a wheel is the absolutely horrific understeer on a wheel, compared to a controller. It has slowed me down considerably.

I understand it will take some getting used to - that is fine - but the understeer feels very excessive, particularly in slow corners and long medium speed corners (Brooklands and Luffield at Silverstone feel impossible!) I am losing massive amounts of time. Usually on controller these were areas I would excel.

Does anyone have any tips for driving technique and/or set up technique to improve on wheel. Help from former controller players who made the switch from controller is particularly sought.

Thanks

William

P.S. If you want to post something obnoxious like "just get better" please refrain from commenting. I only want constructive assistance

f1 22

mariohomoh
3 years ago
@AussieMercedes A clip would go a long way here, pal. Anyway, from your description I'd take a wild guess here and say you're probably inducing understeer by releasing the brakes too early and/or too abruptly.

Issue relying on your braking and not slowing the car down enough or not keeping the front tyres loaded up enough to get good rotation.
Specially coming from controllers directly to a G29, that can be quite jarring with the stiff brake pedal the set has.

I did a similar jump just recently, from Dualshock to Dualsense and now G923. The first day the brake pedal gave me hell. Now I got used to it and braking feels like spreading butter on a hot toast relatively to how much it felt like stomping down a fire before. And it wasn't the application of brake pressure the issue, but how quickly I would release brakes on corner entry.

So basically, perhaps work on your trail braking and pay attention to the need of not unloading the front so abruptly?

12 Replies

mariohomoh
Hero (Retired)
3 years ago
@AussieMercedes A clip would go a long way here, pal. Anyway, from your description I'd take a wild guess here and say you're probably inducing understeer by releasing the brakes too early and/or too abruptly.

Issue relying on your braking and not slowing the car down enough or not keeping the front tyres loaded up enough to get good rotation.
Specially coming from controllers directly to a G29, that can be quite jarring with the stiff brake pedal the set has.

I did a similar jump just recently, from Dualshock to Dualsense and now G923. The first day the brake pedal gave me hell. Now I got used to it and braking feels like spreading butter on a hot toast relatively to how much it felt like stomping down a fire before. And it wasn't the application of brake pressure the issue, but how quickly I would release brakes on corner entry.

So basically, perhaps work on your trail braking and pay attention to the need of not unloading the front so abruptly?
ArkaniaDante
3 years ago
@AussieMercedes Is your wheel calibrated to be 1:1 with the wheel in game? The standard rotation for a F1 car is 360º so the first thing to check is if you turn the wheel the in game wheel turns the same degrees.
If it's the same and you're still experiencing understeering you can start by playing around with lower rotation settings. Instead of 360, make it 340º, in game or in the Ghub. It should help a lot. You can make it even lower like 320º or 300º and see how much fits your play style.
As I said the standard is 360º but many players and even drivers in real life have it tweaked to their preference.
dancrodrigues
3 years ago
Both @mariohomoh and @ArkaniaDante gave great advice that I’d like to dig a little deeper.
Breaking is likely the biggest difference I felt when I bought my G29. Thing is: your feet work different from your fingers and it’s easier to learn the pressure applied in the pedal then the distance your foot covers during breaking. To cope with it I use to set break saturation to 80% with just the “weight of my foot” that is pressing lightly the pedal until it stops: that point is 80%. The 20% remaining is for hard breaking and is there where you get to memorize pressure applied.
It takes some time to learn but works beautifully.
If you feel that you’re locking up your front tires, increase your break linearity so the game moderates your breaking. Get used, reduce linearity. Get used, reduce linearity and so on.

Regarding the steering angle, is really important to set it to 360° max. I use 350° as is more comfortable to my wrists (carpal tunnel, you know).
Hope it helps. Buying a wheel enhances the gaming enormously!
Cheers
Edit: here’s a print of my settings. Break sat. 20 allows me 80% of my breaking. Break lin. 5 for smoothness.
ScarDuck14
Legend
3 years ago
From a few YouTubers who’s opinion Is normally correct. Have mentioned they keep experiencing intermittent understeer.

I’m wondering as ffb has been and still is a issue if it’s clipping. Can’t be sure I use a pad. But last years game after a hour or so on track I’d get random insane understeer on my dual sense. Found pausing game and letting my pad rest for 5 minutes helped
AussieMercedes
3 years ago
@mariohomoh Thank you - that is very helpful. I hadn't considered the braking like that
TotosHeadphones
Seasoned Ace
3 years ago
I concur with @mariohomoh , the pedals on the G29 are a bit of weak point in trying to attain consistent lap times. I moved from pad to the G29 last month and I had the same problems trying to guage braking as the pedal is so stiff causing a lot of locking up in heavy braking zones. I ended up voiding the warranty and changing the springs and now have far less issues braking and trailbraking.
Jpk123456
Rising Traveler
3 years ago
What adjustment do you mean exactly,
I want to modify my G29 as well.
I already have an F1 steering wheel mounted, https://mvhstudios.co.uk/
Plus magnetic shifters.
The only thing not complete yet is the brake.....
Maybe you can give me some good advice.
Regards,
TotosHeadphones
Seasoned Ace
3 years ago
@Jpk123456 wrote:
What adjustment do you mean exactly,
I want to modify my G29 as well.
I already have an F1 steering wheel mounted, https://mvhstudios.co.uk/
Plus magnetic shifters.
The only thing not complete yet is the brake.....
Maybe you can give me some good advice.
Regards,
There are a number of mods that make the brake pedal less stiff and manageable if you find you have problems with it. There are plenty of videos and sites which show you various mods. Search for progressive spring mod for G29 on YT. It's probably the most popular mod for the G29/G923 wheel.
You can swap the clutch spring and the brake springs around but you get far less resistance in the pedal. Or you can remove the rubber block where the spring is seated. This is used to create progressive feel but the rubber block is a bit too hard for a lot of people so you end up having to put so much force into pushing the pedal down. Additionally, you can remove the block and purchase (or 3D print) some preload spacers. This will give you resistance when you push down on the pedal and would feel far better than swapping in the springs from the clutch. Or you can buy a progressive spring online (I bought one from AliExpress for £10). This for me was the best option as it gives ample resistance without having to feel like you need to go to the gym for Leg day. Trailbraking is a breeze with this mod.
R1ckyDaMan19
Seasoned Ace
3 years ago
@AussieMercedes did you change the wheel rotation to 360?

I have had an intermittent problem where sometimes the rotation seems to reset and I get massive understeer on the g29,

I think it's a ghub issue though as disconnecting the wheel and restarting my pc then reconnecting the wheel fixes it.
Nuvolarix
Seasoned Ace
3 years ago
With the G29 I used the clutch pedal as a brake, mainly for postural problems but even if it was very soft, I got used to it well. Rotation 300 °, but it must be a very subjective matter.
Regards,
Nuv