Experience with thrustmaster ts pc racer or certain fanatec wheel/paddle combinations?

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Peter1980
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Experience with thrustmaster ts pc racer or certain fanatec wheel/paddle combinations?

Post by Peter1980 »

Hello everyone!

I was wondering if some of you guys maybe provide me some information about the following.

After 20 years of non computer racing, I want to get back into the saddle. Besides maybe Rf2 and iracing I also want to play gp2 again. I have some questions about the use of certain wheels. I hope some people can and are willing to answer some questions

1.Are there people on this forum who have experience with one of these racing wheels (including some paddles) in grand prix 2?
- Thrustmaster ts pc racer (with thustmaster paddles)
- fanatec clubsport steering wheel v2 (with csl elite pedals)
-fanatec clubsport steering wheel f1 (with csl elite pedals)

2. If the answer on the above question is 'yes', I am wondering which wheel you use (a) and if the experience is positive. In other words is gp2 playable with these wheels (b)?

Thank you in advance.

Peter
ismael
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Re: Experience with thrustmaster ts pc racer or certain fanatec wheel/paddle combinations?

Post by ismael »

Hello and welcome to the forum!

I don't have the answer for you, as all I can say is that wheels don't seem to work very well with D-Fend Reloaded, which I use, and should instead be used with DOSBox directly or in another way.

But the forum has several knowledgeable people about it. Good luck with the return to computer racing - it's great!
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F1GParchive
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Re: Experience with thrustmaster ts pc racer or certain fanatec wheel/paddle combinations?

Post by F1GParchive »

You might find this video useful:

Microprose Grand Prix 2 - How to Play With Windows 10, Modern Racing Wheel and Pedals
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZedeS1wocU
Peter1980
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Re: Experience with thrustmaster ts pc racer or certain fanatec wheel/paddle combinations?

Post by Peter1980 »

Thank you both for the replies.

I'm already familiar with the video about racing GP2 with a modern wheel. The question really is if it's possible with the exact wheels I mentioned.

I'm a little afraid that when I buy an expensive wheel like the ones I mentioned, I can't play GP2 in a proper way...
Laahustaja
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Re: Experience with thrustmaster ts pc racer or certain fanatec wheel/paddle combinations?

Post by Laahustaja »

Peter1980 wrote:
23.11.2019, 21:19
Thank you both for the replies.

I'm already familiar with the video about racing GP2 with a modern wheel. The question really is if it's possible with the exact wheels I mentioned.

I'm a little afraid that when I buy an expensive wheel like the ones I mentioned, I can't play GP2 in a proper way...
I have a TS PC racer but I am nevertheless racing with keyboard. I am fairly confident though that it would work with GP2 as well since TED MEAT seems to be using Thrustmaster wheel in his video as well. The reason I am racing with keyboard though is that in GP2 it works fairly well and it does not require any time setting up unlike wheel which I have to take out of cupboard and install to table and then uninstall after the session...

I could give it a shot though later today / tomorrow to get an answer to your question.
roland ratzenberger
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Re: Experience with thrustmaster ts pc racer or certain fanatec wheel/paddle combinations?

Post by roland ratzenberger »

i believe that it also has to do with which dos box version we use .. the last couple of months i have given up the default version of dos box and in some pcs i use dos box svn daum and in others i use dosbox ece. i have read that in both there are certain problems calibrating the wheel. svn daum seems to be easier to calibrate taking into account the video of ted meat. As far as i am concerned i am willing to give it try but i am also afraid that it will not work properly and my money will go in vain haha. further more i have very enjoyable races with the keyboard. \:D/ \:D/ \:D/
Laahustaja
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Re: Experience with thrustmaster ts pc racer or certain fanatec wheel/paddle combinations?

Post by Laahustaja »

I have actually been considering of purchasing a cheap joystick to play GP2. Purely a retro decision, since this is how I played this in the 90s. Would be nice to get into the same feeling. The developers were also thinking of playing with joystick when designing the game, joystick use is mentioned in the manual and also it has a default settings avaiable in the control menu.
Laahustaja
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Re: Experience with thrustmaster ts pc racer or certain fanatec wheel/paddle combinations?

Post by Laahustaja »

Peter1980 wrote:
23.11.2019, 21:19
Thank you both for the replies.

I'm already familiar with the video about racing GP2 with a modern wheel. The question really is if it's possible with the exact wheels I mentioned.

I'm a little afraid that when I buy an expensive wheel like the ones I mentioned, I can't play GP2 in a proper way...
I checked driving with TS PC Racer and it works fine. Just follow the instructions in the youtube tutorial.
TedMeat
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Re: Experience with thrustmaster ts pc racer or certain fanatec wheel/paddle combinations?

Post by TedMeat »

I can confirm that at least Thrustmaster T500 RS works quite fine with the game (as shown in my videos). I've also had feedback that people have been able run the game with other Thrustmaster wheels and also with Logitech G29. With Fanatec I'm not so sure, recently someone complained how Fanatec CSL Elite F1 was not recognized by dosbox at all, so go and tell...

The only problem I have is that the wheel resolution (number of analogue values in between turning the wheel from left to right during calibration) is quite bad in GP2 and I haven't been able to fix it. What's even more funny is that it's not consistent but I always get a different wheel resolution when I start the game! It's like a lottery every time I start the game :P

At worst the resolution is something like 9+9 and the game is virtually unplayable. At best it's 21+21, but I rarely get such a big number. Luckily in Dosbox SVM Daum you can save the state of the virtual computer so I can always get the 21+21 resolution when I load a state.

However that resolution is still quite bad and you can really see it on straight line. Like here: https://youtu.be/cKrQQRn4DJo?t=3319 you can see how I have to jerk the wheel on the straight to make the car go where I want it to, instead of gently turning the wheel. It also makes it impossible to have a perfect wide entry into a corner because the steering is not accurate enough in high speeds.

Does anyone have any idea what might cause this? I don't think it's a DOSBox thing because the wheel resolution was quite sufficient in F1GP (something like 64+64) and the driving was a lot smoother. Also GP2 SHOULD support higher resolution because this was not a problem in the 90s when I played GP2 with a wheel. I have a very old hotlap file from 1998, driven with a wheel and here you can see it's very smooth on straight line:
https://youtu.be/tr-TJ6HbAfk
TedMeat
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Re: Experience with thrustmaster ts pc racer or certain fanatec wheel/paddle combinations?

Post by TedMeat »

I'm going to answer to myself here because I found a solution \:D/

So I was using DOSBox SVN Daum and with that the wheel resolution was very low. Same problem with the standard DOSBox 0.75. Today I found this topic and went on and tried DOSBox ECE. And what do you know, now I get like 200 + 200 (or something like that) wheel resolution, which is fantastic! The big thing is that with ECE I seem to be able to use timed = true -value without the "jittery wheel" on calibration and that is what makes the wheel resolution so good. If I try it with timed=false I once again get a poor resolution (though even with that it seems to be a bit better than it was with DOSBox SVN Daum.)

Other things I did I set deadzone to 0 in the DOSBox configuration file and low sensitivity zone to 2% in GP2 settings. Now the steering is frigging perfect! It's every bit as good to drive with a wheel now than any modern sim! Also brake and throttle have a better resolutions now. It's a hundred times easier to recover from oversteer and get good lines to corners. Nice.

So if someone is having same issues with too rough steering I suggest you try DOSBox ECE.

I wish I had known this before, already done half of my hardcore season :D Oh well, live and learn. Can't wait for the next race now, so much more fun to drive and a lot easier to be consistent (I hope).
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rremedio
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Re: Experience with thrustmaster ts pc racer or certain fanatec wheel/paddle combinations?

Post by rremedio »

Hi, Ted! Welcome and thank you for sharing your efforts and results.
"The Fox provides for himself. but God provides for the Lion"
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samsepi0l
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Re: Experience with thrustmaster ts pc racer or certain fanatec wheel/paddle combinations?

Post by samsepi0l »

I'm glad the ECE could help you!
TedMeat
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Re: Experience with thrustmaster ts pc racer or certain fanatec wheel/paddle combinations?

Post by TedMeat »

Thanks guys. I've been tinkering with the steering wheel settings forever with GP2 and now that it's finally somewhat perfect I'm glad to share the results in case someone finds it helpful. It's astonishing how enjoyable it is to drive now!

Still wondering if I was the only one with the wheel resolution problem in DOSBox SVN Daum since I haven't heard anyone else complaining about it.
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Mickeyg
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Re: Experience with thrustmaster ts pc racer or certain fanatec wheel/paddle combinations?

Post by Mickeyg »

I would like to input this thread, and give you all my experience, with setting up my wheel, on the Gp series of games.

I've recently installed Gp2, Gp3 (&2000 mod) and will be installing GP4 very soon.

I installed Gp2 on Dosbox Reloaded. I'm really looking at possibly looking at the other Dosbox versions too. Which as been talked about by Ted Meat on his GP2 streams and in this thread.
Installing Gp2 on my Dosbox DR was fine. But when it came to setting up the wheel, I can tell you, I lost a few hours until the penny dropped 😂
I found no reference to a default wheel set up or tab, and I just couldn't understand this. As I noticed in one of Ted's videos, that there was a tab setting for a wheel for Gp2. I could only see a joystick tab 🤔 Maybe it's something to do with my wheel (Logitech Driving Force Pro) that isn't recognised by the game. Or maybe it's a Dosbox Reloaded issue? On the latter, in the Defend Reloaded profile, the controller is set to auto, with nothing else ticked, like button wrap or auto fire.

My issue was finding the correct inputs and axis on Gp2. Eventually though, I found out that steering was on control A horizontal and the acceleration/break where on control B setting. I can't remember if the B set was both vertical input or a mixture of vertical and horizontal? Without looking back at my control settings.

But on Gp3 (with the 2000 mod) probably GP4 too, when I manage to install? The steering, acceleration and break inputs, where all on the A control setting axis, and there was an option for a default wheel setting tab too. I remember also with Gp3, I had to install a patch (with control update) which I'd remembered from doing so, some years back and had on my external HDD.

With my wheel being a Logitech I seem to get decent force feedback in Gp3, due to my Logitech profiler software.
I've tried it with Gp2 but it's just not quite there. Maybe I should make a profile in the Logitech profiler for Dosbox 🤔. M
But maybe not a good idea. Just thinking out loud there 🤭

I've also found (maybe doing something wrong here too?) That in GP2 I can't seem to get Gp2 to recognise my quick flip buttons on my wheel, which I want for changing gears up and down. So to get around that I set those to alt and space on the keyboard and mapped my flippers to match with the keyboard inputs with the emulator joytokey.

So there's my story so far. It's been quite a bind but funny enough enjoyable all the same 😁 Thanks all for reading 👍🏁
Mrgiles2007
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Re: Experience with thrustmaster ts pc racer or certain fanatec wheel/paddle combinations?

Post by Mrgiles2007 »

Hi everybody, this is my first post on the forum. I have thoroughly enjoyed playing GP2 again, and am having alot of fun with all the car sets and other mods.

I have been watching Ted Meats hardcore gp2 season with wheel and pedals and wanted to have a go at doing it with wheel and pedals too. I have just purchased a Logitech G920 Driving Force wheel and pedals, and it has been a steep learning curve in the quest to have a more immersive simulation. I have followed all the advice on this thread and others about replacing standard Dosbox 0.74 with Dosbox ECE, and editing the config file for the joystick values.

Currently the issue I am having is being able to drive in a straight line on the straights without the car spinning off the track. On regular dosbox, the jittery dot of doom was winking at me during calibration. I installed Dosbox ECE and the jittery dot was no more. However, the steering issue still persisted. I noticed that during calibration, for the steering, the dot was always off centre (slightly left), before I calibrated the wheel for left and right turning. When I am on a straight, I have to fight to car to get it to stick in a straight line, as mostly it wants to pull to the left when I pick up speed. Smooth steering to the right doesn't seem to work, so I have to jerk the wheel to the right, then it wants to keep going right and before I know it I've missed the corner completely and have collided with the barrier.

I have followed Ted Meats instructions to the letter i.e 300° steering, 0% dead zone on dosbox, low sensitivity 2% in GP2, and timed = true on dosbox. Despite this, I am still not able to control the car in a straight line at high speed. Am I missing something here? Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Also, as a side note (and I feel like a noob asking this), how can you get keyboard commands in game to work when the steering wheel is connected? All the buttons/commands change when I plug the wheel in so not everything is where it should be e.g space bar is now pause. I tried to remap on the logitech software, but it didn't work. Any pointers on this would be appreciated as well.

Thanks

Rob
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