iRacing goodness!

WELCOME TO IRACING JOSH!!!! YEEEEAAAAAAAAAA!!!! Do you have a mic yet?

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! AND THANK YOUUUUUUUUU!!!!! I've been spending this whole time getting my wheel settings down.

I'M SO SORRY. but I goofed on the referral part. It asked for an email address, not a name. and I was so eager to get it going I skipped on it. Maybe if you gimme yo email address I'll drop them a line and ask them to adjust that for us.



DUDE. True story, see the time this was sent? I got iRacing yesterday. This morning, my truck's starter decides to die. Fate?

Last night my monitor made a loud pop, followed immediately by a dark screen. Nothing after that. So I guess on the plus side of things, the wife didn't put up too much of a stink when I upgraded from a 24 inch to a 27 inch

Remaggib wrote:Last night my monitor made a loud pop, followed immediately by a dark screen. Nothing after that. So I guess on the plus side of things, the wife didn't put up too much of a stink when I upgraded from a 24 inch to a 27 inch

NICE. now get two more.

Josh on ze bass wrote:

Remaggib wrote:Last night my monitor made a loud pop, followed immediately by a dark screen. Nothing after that. So I guess on the plus side of things, the wife didn't put up too much of a stink when I upgraded from a 24 inch to a 27 inch

NICE. now get two more.

I wish! I told my wife I'm building a cockpit when we get a house though

Here's a great add-on I found. Can't really describe it well enough. so here's a video and some other text.



link: http://www.dwarehouse.com/

"What is this thing?

The JJ Spotter Pack is an audio add-on for iRacing. Its goal is to significantly heighten the immersion factor of simracing by replacing the default in-sim spotter/crew chief with authentic audio from crew chief Chad Knaus and spotter Earl Barban. Even though the dialog came from stock car oval racing, the pack is purposely designed to be used for any vehicle, and for both oval and road racing. With close to 3,000 samples in the pack, no two races will ever sound the same."

final thoughts... yeah it's worth it. It replaces the somewhat annoying Australian/New Zealander guy with a more... American flavor. It works real well.

Good find Josh! I might have to give this a try.

Sorta05 wrote:Good find Josh! I might have to give this a try.

It's real easy. Just find the most current version (version .40, I opted for the cussless version. cussing makes me giggle). and run the installer.

Thanks Josh!

Tux I saw you have the V2 pedals from fanatac. What do you think of them? I have the V1's and am mulling over the idea of getting the V2's.

I like the JJ pack, ran one race with the regular pack, going to try the cuss pack next race. The cuss pack would have been more appropriate for the last race, as I got destroyed because someone decided that hitting the car spun out in front of him would be a better idea than not hitting it.

Sorta05 wrote:Thanks Josh!

Tux I saw you have the V2 pedals from fanatac. What do you think of them? I have the V1's and am mulling over the idea of getting the V2's.

The JJ pack is great. I too have been using it almost the whole time.

The V2 pedals are fantastic. Pedal feel is excellent and build quality is also. I put a stiffer spring in it for the throttle. I put a link on here somewhere for the spring. Only gripe I have is they become a little noisy after a while. I all but fixed it though with some synthetic brake lubricant.

I can make a how-to video if you guys need info on the V2 pedals.

http://www.derekspearedesigns.com/

Derek Speare's site. Check it out.

Oh yeah, and check this out. Looks pretty sweet. New shifter from Fanatec.

Cannon Pedals

Got a mic baby, it's on now! Or, at least now people should hear me talking. Which who knows, maybe that'll distract enough people that I can get some wins in

Damn, that stuff is expensive! I would be very, very tempted to buy the cheapest set of pedals possible, tear them apart, and attach the circuitry to a custom set up. Same with a steering wheel. For that price, you could build some awesome stuff and still come out ahead.

I have a Logitech Driving Force GT wheel and pedals and they're fine for me. And I picked them up used for $30 shipped.

Simcik wrote:Damn, that stuff is expensive! I would be very, very tempted to buy the cheapest set of pedals possible, tear them apart, and attach the circuitry to a custom set up. Same with a steering wheel. For that price, you could build some awesome stuff and still come out ahead.

If you bought the cheapest set of pedals available, the components and circuitry wouldn't even compare to the Clubsports. You'd have just that, a cheap set of pedal parts that you modified. You can already modify the Clubsports and they're already built for you. Customization is built into them. And, I've never seen anyone make a wheel with component parts, pedals and shifters yes, but no wheel. Those Cannon pedals are the best I've heard of, but not many people use them because the Clubsports do such a good job for half of the price.

Sim, you bring up an interesting subject. I wonder how difficult it would be to mount the pedal cluster of [insert your favorite junkyard car here], to a custom rig? What would be even better (and more complex) would be to have the pedals (including clutch) read inputs progressively and adapt realistic pedal resistances. Could you imagine a simulation rig needing brake fluid because the setup required a master cylinder?

Avanti 63r1025 wrote:Sim, you bring up an interesting subject. I wonder how difficult it would be to mount the pedal cluster of [insert your favorite junkyard car here], to a custom rig? What would be even better (and more complex) would be to have the pedals (including clutch) read inputs progressively and adapt realistic pedal resistances. Could you imagine a simulation rig needing brake fluid because the setup required a master cylinder?

I can imagine that, they're called the Clubsport V2 pedals. I had to add fluid to the brake cylinder before I set them up. Also, the Clubsports use a load cell for the brake pedal that does just what you say, measure pressure.

Using a junkyard pedal setup is not a terrible idea, consider this though, you still need hardware to adapt those parts to your rig, then you need the circuitry including the sensors and the board to interface with the PC. By the time you're done getting all of that stuff then figuring out how to assemble it and make it work, you could have bought the plug-and-play ones that have outstanding quality, functionality, and finish. Oh, and a warranty.

That's what I was talking about doing, Tux. Take the circuitry out of a cheapy-cheap set and attach it to a better set of pedals.

Aside from the use of loadcells (instead of potentiometers) in some cases, what makes the cheap pedals cheap and nice pedals nice is the feel and feedback you get. Cheap pedals use short levers, so you've got very little range of movement. They also use very weak springs, so there's little to no resistance. It's not a real-world feel. Good pedals use longer levers, with more travel, and they provide solid feedback (Love the fluid idea on the Fanatecs, that's what I would do if I built one.) so that you get more real-world feel.

IMO, building pedals that provide real-world feel is not an issue - making them interface with a computer could be. Go to a junk yard, find a set of pedals, grab a master cylinder, the clutch, and the throttle, viola. (You could also simulate them in various ways, but for the sake of argument, let's just say you have the real things.) So, now you've got the parts, but how to make them talk to the PC/Xbox/etc? That's where the el cheapo (That's Spanglish for "Cheap.") pedals come in. The circuitry they contain still transmits the same data to the console as the high end ones. Perhaps the precision is slightly lower, but there are ways to modify/account for that. The point is, the circuitry is there - you're not building anything from scratch, you're just hooking it all up differently.

This could easily be done for a shifter as well.

You could also do this with a wheel, though that would be the most difficult. You'd presumably want force-feedback of somekind, and you'd probably want a full 900* of rotation - there aren't many cheap 900* force-feedback wheels available. (Is the G27 a 900* wheel?) If you could find one, you could modify the internals and the wheel itself to be more realistic.

Anyway, while we're talking about it, here's what I would do:

Using junkyard pedals, the accompaning master cylinder, throttle, and clutch:

Remove the vaccum booster (if equipped) from the master cylinder, and fab up a firewall to attach the pedals and master cylinder to. Next, cap off all but one brake line using the appropriate fittings/caps/plugs. In the other, install an adjustable flow control valve in a line that connects to the master cylinder from above. (So that the system goes in a loop.) The flow control valve will allow you to adjust the pressure in the system, and therefore the resistance in the pedal.

Next, mount the throttle securely somewhere out of the way and attach the cable to the pedal and the throttle plate. You need a cable-driven throttle, not a fly-by-wire. If you use a fly-by-wire, just use the return spring built into the pedal itself.

The tricky part would be the clutch, due to its size, but you get it, make the connections, and there ya go. Now, go back and attach the cheap electronic components as required, and there ya go. That's the basic process I'd follow.

Sim, you're missing my point. I got yours on the first comment regarding it. Sure, you can probably find all of the hardware, be it used or new and build a pedal set for under $250 (cost of clubsports), but you still have to consider the time it would take designing, building, troubleshooting, and tweaking it. Also, what kind of finished product do you want? Used pedals don't look all that clean. I hear what you're saying, it CAN be done. For me, and many, it's worth spending a bit more to have a working, finished product that is tried and true. You mention the difficult part being PC interfacing, that's EXACTLY right. Very difficult and extremely time consuming part of the project.

I understand how you would physically do the build, I don't think the time offsets the cost though. It would take hours upon hours to build them, I could work a few side jobs in a fraction of the time to make up the cost. And your brake loop idea would not work. Installing a flow valve in a looped circuit back to the master cylinder would act just like a leaking master cylinder. If you wanted it to feel realistic, you'd be better off just capping the lines or, if you want to be really fancy, just install a caliper somewhere that would clamp down on a steel spacer. Having said all that, consider the cost of those parts as well.

And yes, the G27 wheel is a 900 degree wheel. It works very well and I got the pedals and shifter with it for $200. I just don't use the pedals that came with it. So, if you want to try your project, I have a spare set of pedals that you could use. They only use potentiometers though, the Fanatecs use a load cell and hall effect sensors (more accurate).

Radios on iracing:

You can create a (singular) channel for your personal use. It is a public channel so if anyone guesses the name they can hear the chatter on the channel the same as if it were a real public frequency. The channel can be any word or combination of letters you want (instructions didn't list a character limit but I'm sure there is one). Heres what you do:

type in the chat box: @add name
where "name" is the word/characters chosen for the channel you want to create.

Once that is complete the channel has been added to your scanner (yes the default radio chatter is actually a scanner not just one channel).

To talk on that channel you must type one more command:

@transmit name

Once that command has been typed you are now transmitting exclusively on that channel.
To get a list of all channels type:

@list

Other commands:

@mute name where name is any channel you want to mute from those listed (from the @list command)
@unmute name
@noscan only listen to the station you transmit on
@scan self explanatory
@remove name


That's it folks enjoy!

Thanks Sorta! It was fun running with you and Jake tonight. We were talking about running a hosted public race at some point in the future. Josh said he's in. I can host it.

Tux, you bring up a good point. I guess, in my mind, I don't charge myself for my time in fabrication/labor. The Fanatec stuff isn't badly priced. The other stuff (can't remember the name) was a little over-the-top if you ask me.

What is the real-world difference in the CSR and CSR Elite wheels? I can't see much that isn't cosmetic...

Simcik wrote:Tux, you bring up a good point. I guess, in my mind, I don't charge myself for my time in fabrication/labor. The Fanatec stuff isn't badly priced. The other stuff (can't remember the name) was a little over-the-top if you ask me.

What is the real-world difference in the CSR and CSR Elite wheels? I can't see much that isn't cosmetic...

I think the idea of building your own pedals sounds like fun for sure. I would probably enjoy the act of building them, however as a means to save money, to me it just isn't logical. Yes, the Cannon pedals are very expensive. Professional drivers that use them claim they're the best, however the Clubsport V2s got very good reviews from pros as well. Professional drivers can afford $500 pedals more readily than the average sim racer.

I'm not too sure about the CSR wheels as I don't use one. Fanatec's website would have information. InsideSimRacing on youtube reviewed a bunch of wheels in one of their episodes and the G27 and I believe it was the CSR were the top two and the score was very close. I believe they scored the G27 higher on feedback though, which is why I bought them. The Fanatec wheels use belts though, so operation is a bit smoother and quieter.