Finally got my DFGT!

Set it up awkwardly on my coffee table and did a few hours of racing last night.

I've never used a wheel before outside of arcade games so I had no idea what to expect. I own a small underpowered hatchback which I drive at moderate speeds so that's really the experience level I'm coming from. I've used pads for all previous GT games and I'm decent with them, I bronzed the Vettel challenges and all but it took me awhile.

So far my lap times are nowhere near what they were with a DS3, but I've just barely started using it so I didn't expect any immediate improvement. The force feedback is a lot of fun and unlike some responses I've found here from new DFGT owners, I don't find it particularly strong or tiring to use. I left it on the default 5 and then later turned it up to 7 to see what difference it made and I like it a bit better. I've been driving with all aids off and ABS 1 in attempt to not baby myself and have to adjust again later.

First car I took out was a slightly tuned Lotus Elise and found it pretty manageable, although I was not doing clean laps by any means. Then for fun, in an attempt to see how bad it could be I took the Toyota 7 around the ring, result: many spinouts and a whopping 9:51 lap time...but in my defense I've only used the Toyota 7 once before and it's un-tuned and I found it pretty unmanageable then. Then I did a lap in the Alfa Romero GIULIA TZ2 race car and I found it to be a wonder learning car for the DGFT.

After this initial testing I settles down with my tuned Lancia Stratos to do some Trail Mountain laps, as I was tuning this car on Trail Mountain right before getting the wheel so I was pretty familiar with how it handled on that track. It took me awhile to get a clean lap (not an easy feat in the stratos) but I'm getting the hang of it although I'm not as fast as I was with the pad by a few seconds and my clean to failure lap ratio is pretty low.

The hardest thing I'm struggling with using the wheel instead of the pad is counter steering in a drift or oversteer. I don't really intentionally power slide or drift the Stratos, but being a Stratos, it happens on a regular basis. With the pad I can usually recover from a slide rather well but with the wheel I find myself just going into the wall, or when I successfully counter steer out of it I end up going off the other way. I guess I need to go back to the pad and really pay attention to what I do to recover on the pad, as I honestly don't know as it's simply second nature to me now.

Most of my problems so far really just stem from my lack of experience. I have felt the side to side wobble some people complain about, but I find just giving the wheel a good solid grip will eliminate that and I can safely let go of the wheel on a straight and not have my car go wild like some people seem to experience.

One question I have, is what does the power assist setting do? I honestly don't notice a difference. I have it turned on at the moment but I can't tell what is different.

Anyone wanting a fun beginner car for a new wheel should definitely drive the 65' GIULIA TZ2, that car is a dream on the time change version of the ring.

it probably took me a good 8-10 hours using the dfgt to get the times i used to get with the DS3. i'm way faster now, especially since i exclusively use manual trans (paddle buttons) compared to always using auto while playing with the ds3.

one thing i did (since i dont use the "shift lever") was reconfigure it so that when you push it forward, the car goes into reverse (rather than trying to hold on to the wheel while pressing the triangle button) and when you pull the lever back, it engages the e-brake.

another thing you'll want to change in the steering wheel menu is changing from ametuer to simulation. i've found that the FF setting at 7 and power steering off is best.

good luck with it, it's loads of fun!

driving with DFGT wheel for 5 days now.. still Im slower with the wheel about +3 seconds average compared to sixaxis (in 1:20 lap time on track) but its gettin better and better.. I can tell I will beat my records with DFGT, but I need some practise.. But drifting is another story.. with my SixAxis I could do easy Top 300 after 2 tries in Seasonal events.. I could do insane combo drifts one after another just like a pro.. and now on DFGT im nothing in drift.. very hard to control 900 degrees, but since I have a real car, and I know how to drift in GT with sixaxis, I will learn it after some time.. but I can say for sure it will be very hard and long way, when I will get to my sixaxis level.. this just proves how much different GT is with a wheel.. and about 200% more fun I have to say.. GT guys! BUY A WHEEL ITS AWESOME! 👍

My wheel will be here on Tuesday, Ive been holding off doing any racing since I started out getting a wheel. Now I need to make a wheel stand. I am looking forward go seeing how big a difference a wheel vs the DS3 is.

Make sure you go into the settings and configure your new wheel...

force feedback sensitivity:
If you've got the wheel properly secured you can go as high as 10 but your arms will feel like rubber until you build up some muscle (seriously -- i had a few sore arm days and now i don't even notice). If you have it attached to a flimsy table you may want to lower the sensitivity. Otherwise leave it somewhere in the middle.

Steering mode:
Change it from arcade to simulation. It will help with getting a realistic feel from the wheel, especially when the rear end steps out. You'll get faster lap times too. As for learning how to control a slide, it takes some getting used to but do your best to countersteer smoothly. Abrupt movements will just cause the tail to wag (great for drifting, not so great for racing).

You may also find some of your joystick tunes are no good with the wheel. Once you get used to it, you can control oversteer better and can run a looser setup which will help with initial turn in.

Gran Turismo is infinitely more fun with a steering wheel. Enjoy!

I notice everyone mentioned setting it to simulation, which I did, but when you select the entry for arcade/simulation the DFGT and DFP icon dims, does this option not even effect the DFGT?

I'll keep it on simulation anyways but it seemed odd when I go to change that option and the icons dim.

I'm going to have to try going back and forth between the power assist steering, I didn't really notice a difference, but I may have turned it on at the same time I turned the force feedback up to 7, so maybe I'm not noticing the difference because I haven't felt FF7 without power assist.

^ Everyone does seem to say about putting it on simulation mode. Personally, I don't think it does do anything because, like you say, the icons aren't lit up for the DFGT. It took me a while to get used to mine too, I understand exactly what you mean with the overcorrecting thing, when the car goes off in the other direction. It'l take a while to master that, it still catches me out.

I use mine with force feedback on 7 and power assist steering off.

I tried pwer assist steering once. All it appeared to do was lessen the force feedback when you over turned the wheel. For example, if the car was understeering and you cranked the wheel to compensate, the FF would lighten up instead of trying to pull it back to center. So I turned it back off because it felt funny having FF change depending on how much the wheel was turned.

that sounds likely. I'll have to turn it off and try. I certainly don't want it to do that.

another thing to try out:

select + R3 + left paddle = 200 degree mode (i believe). though i'm not exactly sure "when" you should do that to turn that mode on....

No I think that only works with the DFP wheel. I tried some combo (could've been that one) a while back and it did nothing.

toymdngn

another thing to try out:

select + R3 + left paddle = 200 degree mode (i believe). though i'm not exactly sure "when" you should do that to turn that mode on....

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Thanks! yea I heard about that before but couldn't find the shortcut to do it. It might seem weird driving normals cars in 200º mode, but I certaintly want to try it, at least with F1 cars and the X2010.

I find it funny watching the wheel in premium cars stop at 200º when I keep turning

chuyler1 seems to be right, official response from Logitech on their forums is that the DFP and DFGT are made differently, and although that worked on the DFP it does not work on the DFGT. the DFGT supports 200º rotation, but it needs to be enabled through the game itself.....guess what GT5 doesn't have a setting for.

I've been having the same problem - slower times since I started using the DFGT. I'm still getting use to it after several weeks.

I started a new PSN account (to also use in the GTP weekly races) and started re-learning how to drive with a wheel.

My only complaint is with the pedals. The wheel feels pretty realistic, but the pedals feel cheap.

CRANK IT! Crank it up to 10 Son!

And it sounds like when you go into a drift, your rears are grabbing traction while you're holding a heap of countersteer and she's spitting you into the wall.
Either try and anticipate it happening and adjust for it or just keep the boot in so your rears don't grab.

Finchypoo , where did you get your wheel at?, did you get new or a used one?

I got mine on ebay used.

This might seem like a dumb question, the wheel I bought, the CD is bad, that's only need for the PC correct?

nascar49

Finchypoo , where did you get your wheel at?, did you get new or a used one?

I got mine on ebay used.

This might seem like a dumb question, the wheel I bought, the CD is bad, that's only need for the PC correct?

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You don't need the CD as far as I remember. You can download the drivers for the wheel off of Logi's site anyway.

I bought mine new from Amazon. They have had them in stock randomly throughout the month and I fianlly caught one being sold by CitcuitCity through amazon, it was $134 with $1.99 shipping so I jumped on it.

As for the CD, I haven't used it but it's only for PC use, and I'm sure Logitech supplies rivers on their site.

The better wheel setup you have, ie secure, leg and arm position etc, the better your exp will become. I tell friends all the time who race with a controller to venture out and get a decent wheel, it makes racing so much better, IMO.

Good luck, have fun and stick with it, before you know it you will look at your DS3 laying all lonely in disgust as to how you ever did it!

I checked a few times at amazon, but when I checked they didnt have any, so after two weeks of biding on ebay I got one.

I don't like buying used, but the options for getting one new is hard in-less you are willing to pay a lot more for one then normally .

I have had my DFGT for over a month now and racing i have improved by 1-2 seconds round the nurburg i love the wheel but no matter how hard i try i carnt drift with it to save my life. I was better than most people with the pad but with the wheel i carnt get round a single corner. I am slowley going insane it doesnt matter what i do i just keep spinning out.

Any ideas or tips would be welcome.

mark_twigo

I have had my DFGT for over a month now and racing i have improved by 1-2 seconds round the nurburg i love the wheel but no matter how hard i try i carnt drift with it to save my life. I was better than most people with the pad but with the wheel i carnt get round a single corner. I am slowley going insane it doesnt matter what i do i just keep spinning out.

Any ideas or tips would be welcome.

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Looks like you may be needing to do this to your DFGT!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61PNx9WUbao

ollyb

looks like you may be needing to do this to your dfgt!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61pnx9wubao

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insane.