bManic's FFB the right way to go? (T300)

  • Thread starter JBF77
  • 30 comments
  • 4,905 views
323
United Kingdom
London
I have recently switched to bManic's FFB settings, after never really getting into Jack Spades' options. Months after buying the game I'm still lost on the right way to go in terms of the many FFB sliders that exist. I was wondering if any T300 users can share their insights into these settings, or any alternates ways that may be better. Also, using bManic's settings I'm getting quite a lot of fading, even after a few minutes of gameplay - I know that this is a known issue with the T300 and PCars. I received the 599XX Alcantara add-on last week, and I still haven't really got a chance to experience it yet due to this issue.
Thanks a lot :lol:

Edit - whilst driving in the rain/wet, is the wheel meant to be very light with little FFB? I find it very hard to know what the car is doing in the wet.
 
In regards to fading, if the T300 uses the same cooling construction as the T500, you could try to upgrade to a nice Noctua fan.

I did the mod on my T500: https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/the-thrustmaster-t500rs-thread.135961/page-298#post-9526340

My main improvements were...

- Highly reduced heat fade
- Fan powers down more quickly as the motor gets cooled more efficiently. So I didn't have a fan running for 30+ minutes anymore.
- I never smelled an odd burned electronics smell again.
- Reduced noise to the point where I wondered if the fan was even working at all

About the color... who cares? It's on the inside of a black box anyway. :P
Besides, the good thing about using that Noctua fan is that you won't see that the wheel has been improved on the outside. So it won't look like something Frankenstein made. ;)
 
I have recently switched to bManic's FFB settings, after never really getting into Jack Spades' options. Months after buying the game I'm still lost on the right way to go in terms of the many FFB sliders that exist. I was wondering if any T300 users can share their insights into these settings, or any alternates ways that may be better. Also, using bManic's settings I'm getting quite a lot of fading, even after a few minutes of gameplay - I know that this is a known issue with the T300 and PCars. I received the 599XX Alcantara add-on last week, and I still haven't really got a chance to experience it yet due to this issue.
Thanks a lot :lol:

Edit - whilst driving in the rain/wet, is the wheel meant to be very light with little FFB? I find it very hard to know what the car is doing in the wet.
That alcantara rim looks nice. Does it feel super comfy compared to the stock rim?
 
In regards to fading, if the T300 uses the same cooling construction as the T500, you could try to upgrade to a nice Noctua fan.

I did the mod on my T500: https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/the-thrustmaster-t500rs-thread.135961/page-298#post-9526340

My main improvements were...

- Highly reduced heat fade
- Fan powers down more quickly as the motor gets cooled more efficiently. So I didn't have a fan running for 30+ minutes anymore.
- I never smelled an odd burned electronics smell again.
- Reduced noise to the point where I wondered if the fan was even working at all

About the color... who cares? It's on the inside of a black box anyway. :P
Besides, the good thing about using that Noctua fan is that you won't see that the wheel has been improved on the outside. So it won't look like something Frankenstein made. ;)
Thanks a lot. I'll investigate and let's hope that they have the same system :lol:
That alcantara rim looks nice. Does it feel super comfy compared to the stock rim?
It feels a lot better now that it has a 30cm diameter, and the material greatly improves inertia and I believe the Alcantara is made in the same factory as the real car! Definitely worth the investment IMO, as well as the added benefit of improved FFB transmission. The material is great quality and the stitching is very thorough.

Also, what FFB settings do you use? Are they your own or someone else's work? Is there any fading?
Thanks :boggled:
 
VBR
I can't give you any insight on the FFB in Project CARS, nor any help with specifics for the T300, but I might be able to make you :lol: with this!


:D
It's a shame because we all know that once set up correctly it is the best FFB on console... But that will be near on impossible!! I don't understand how they could have got the default settings so wrong!
 
Thanks a lot. I'll investigate and let's hope that they have the same system :lol:

It feels a lot better now that it has a 30cm diameter, and the material greatly improves inertia and I believe the Alcantara is made in the same factory as the real car! Definitely worth the investment IMO, as well as the added benefit of improved FFB transmission. The material is great quality and the stitching is very thorough.

Also, what FFB settings do you use? Are they your own or someone else's work? Is there any fading?
Thanks :boggled:
I originally input Jack Spades classic settings I believe, but since then I've started tweaking them all. Now that I know what most of the sliders do I kinda adjust until I'm happy. I don't like a stiff or heavy wheel but do like to feel bumps, so I tend to have the Fy (wheel) slider between 30-40 and the Fz (bumps) up higher until I'm satisfied with curb feedback.

Plus these days I'd rather spend the time tuning the actual cars and not the FFB.

Might invest in a new rim in the future, the ISRTV review was a good watch.
 
I originally input Jack Spades classic settings I believe, but since then I've started tweaking them all. Now that I know what most of the sliders do I kinda adjust until I'm happy. I don't like a stiff or heavy wheel but do like to feel bumps, so I tend to have the Fy (wheel) slider between 30-40 and the Fz (bumps) up higher until I'm satisfied with curb feedback.

Plus these days I'd rather spend the time tuning the actual cars and not the FFB.

Might invest in a new rim in the future, the ISRTV review was a good watch.
What is your opinion on bManic's FFB? It might be too heavy which is causing the fading?????!!!!:lol:
 
There is no single right way to setup the FFB. It is all about finding a balance on what you like. There are many different setups that people like and are fast with. These setups vary, often greatly.

The thing with Jack Spades settings that I started to realize is that he based it off running FFB = 100 TF = 100.. On PS4 lowering or raising either of those is a balance and changes which forces are felt more than others. On console if you are running both of those at 100 then your steering gain has to be much lower than .75 or your per car master and SoP settings must be lower than his. Neither of those though wont exactly balance the forces out, you will feel some things more than others.

***EDIT - Also on bManics ... same goes for him he bases it on FFB/TF both at 100. but he lowers his driver setting to 75%

PC users can run both at 100 and just turn down the over all force in the driver.. console players can't do this.

This is why I believe there was a big split of the PS4 players between people who think settings close to FFB=75 TF=100 is better vs settings close to FFB=100 TF=60. Both are a base point that likely wont give you any wheel fade but I personally believe neither is really ideal.

FFB is a 0-100 scale and TF is 0-200?(I forget) .. so raising and lowering them equally or close to it does not balance out right.

I personally found that FFB=90 and TF=60 is a better balance, then raising Steering gain up a bit (around .80) to get the right over all force. Though I liked the extra feel I got with FFB=95 so that is where I set it and set steering gain to .76

But.. there is nothing wrong with starting with FFB=75 and working from there. I just never could find a setup I liked using that as a starting point, but many others have. When FFB=75 and TF=100 the way you feel braking force and braking lock up is different to me. So to get that balance right I would have to lower tire force way down and things got so light I never found a setting I liked as much as what I got with FFB=90+. It is a give and take it depends what you personally like.

Then you have to consider if you are using Soft Clipping or not.. This changes a lot of the feel. I am not good at explaining in detail how it works, but in short it compresses the range of forces into a more narrow range so that the lightest forces feel stronger and the strongest forces feel a bit lighter. I run jack spades moderate compression recommendation for it, combined with a little bit different relative adjust settings.

Anyhow it is a black hole of tweaking settings if you want to go down that path. There is a confusing thread that I was a part of on the official forum but it also has some great info from people who like different settings.
http://forum.projectcarsgame.com/sh...00-wheel-settings-post-you-preferred-settings

My current settings can be found here if you want to try them.. they use jack spades Fy+SoP lateral settings. I feel they are lacking most for FWD or AWD cars. The torque steer is too strong I think but I never figured out a way to fix it.
http://forum.projectcarsgame.com/sh...red-settings&p=1109709&viewfull=1#post1109709


There is a document guide that I found interesting and helpful found here.
http://www.wmdcars.ru/docs/pCarsFFBGuide20150416.pdf
 
Last edited:
I run FFB at 75 and TF at 100. I also feel the Spades settings are a tad too strong. Didn't he do all that using a Fanatec wheel and not the T300? Not messed with the steering gain, might give that a shot.
 
I think I'm going to spend a good chunk of a day this week to get this FFB properly dialled in...
Thanks for the advice guys:lol:
 
I'm still trying to find a setting where i can really feel the gear shifts. Don't even know if it's realistic but I enjoyed this sensation in Driveclub, although the rest of the FFB wasn't great. Not getting the shift feeling with pCARS. Ideally would like a drop off when changing then a little bump when the new gear kicks in.
 
I run FFB at 75 and TF at 100. I also feel the Spades settings are a tad too strong. Didn't he do all that using a Fanatec wheel and not the T300? Not messed with the steering gain, might give that a shot.

Yes he has a Clubsport wheel and a PC.. but his tweaker files IMO are still good for the per car setting and there are websites that are easy to use to get those from for console users ( http://pcars.oscarolim.pt/cars ) . **EDIT - forgot some of them are bad as they should be negative but we cant do negative numbers on console like the Audi 90IMSA GTO. So I use the older settings he had for them but the websites did not note this. - So AWD cars I use his older settings (1.7 or 2.0) which the website has in a drop down selection.

He also has a section for setting up relative adjust and soft clipping for other wheels (G25/G27, G29, T300, DFGT, etc) .

All the long term FFB gurus for pCARS are on PC that is why their base settings are not a good transfer to console as we do not have the driver to limit the wheel's overall force. Which is where my point lies.. find a balance you like with FFB/TF/Steering gain that gives you enough force but does not overwork your T300 wheel and cause it to fade out. None of those 3 on console IMO is really an all encompassing force limiter. It would be really nice if the console people had a control panel driver type program for the wheels, but with the way the games can provide drivers (like the older fanatec wheels on ps4) it just likely will never happen.


I'm still trying to find a setting where i can really feel the gear shifts. Don't even know if it's realistic but I enjoyed this sensation in Driveclub, although the rest of the FFB wasn't great. Not getting the shift feeling with pCARS. Ideally would like a drop off when changing then a little bump when the new gear kicks in.

There might be a way to feel them more but I am not sure how. Like one of the forces I feel from braking (i think it is some sort gforce simulation) while turning. With the FFB up higher and the TF lower I would feel this more. I did a lot of testing with it could not find the exact setting in game that changed it. The way I did it was go into a relatively fast corner and press on the brakes and you can feel the steering push back a bit more. I did not feel this when I ran with FFB=75 and TF=100. Other people have tried it.. some like it some don't. I felt it was too strong with FFB=100 and TF=55.. this is one of the most obvious effects that landed me at FFB=95 TF=60 and steering gain .76.
 
Last edited:
I think I'm going to spend a good chunk of a day this week to get this FFB properly dialled in...
Thanks for the advice guys:lol:

Good luck only spending one day to figure out this FFB. Many of us have spent days fiddling with this.

There is no single right way to setup the FFB. It is all about finding a balance on what you like. There are many different setups that people like and are fast with. These setups vary, often greatly.

This is the most important advice you will receive.

Here is a list I have accumulated trying to chase the correct FFB settings. Hope it helps you find "your" FFb settings.

ffb setings t300.jpg
 
I don't think you should use bmanic's settings listed on his thread on PCARS forum, they are well out of date.

We've had the introduction of steering gain since they were last edited and the default value would mean they are very strong. I don't believe he uses the same scoop settings either, the knee will be up around the 80 mark and the reduction will be significantly higher too. That's going to have a massive impact on the feel of the wheel and discolour any of his or Jack Spade's in-car settings.
 
In the configuration FFB screen, is it best to set 'advanced' on or off? I know that 'soft steering dampening' should always be off, so I assume you have to put 'advanced' on in order to switch the soft steering off??!! What do you guys use?
Thanks :lol:
 
I've been put off playing PCARS lately because of the wheel settings being hit and miss, this thread is a blessing.
 
In the configuration FFB screen, is it best to set 'advanced' on or off? I know that 'soft steering dampening' should always be off, so I assume you have to put 'advanced' on in order to switch the soft steering off??!! What do you guys use?
Thanks :lol:

I use to always go in and set soft steering dampening to off.. now I have set advanced to off and adjusted my settings that way. - I never did the testing to know if they give the same result, but I found that with advanced off I could get a good feeling with my settings - better than with advanced ON and soft steering dampening ON. I am just assuming it is the same as going in each time I start the game.and turning soft steering dampening to off.
 
Personally I gave up worrying about FFB after the 3.0 patch when they revised FFB completely. Now I just run the following on the T300:

Drivers: 75/100/100/0/0
In game: damping 0%, force 100%, no deadzones, 50% saturation. Advanced menu I leave stock except for dropping tyre force to 30% and adding a 5% minimum force deadzone removal.

Like this I've not seen any clipping and I can feel the cars nicely. It's probably not perfect, but after years of playing rFactor more to tune the FFB than to actually drive the cars I got fed up chasing after FFB settings with my limited racing time. As long as you can feel the car and it doesn't take you by surprise the FFB is good enough, I just adapt to what there is.
 
Same here, in the beginning I fiddled a lot with the settings, but these days I just switch to classic, lower tyre force to 75%, add 0.16 deadzone removal range, and that's it. Good enough for me and my G27. Same in Asetto Corsa: gain to 75%, minimum force to 16%, remove canned effects and it's good. Less is more. :)
 
On Jack Spades settings for the TS040, it says that the arm angle should be 4000, but the maximum value is 2500????!!!! Any suggestions? :boggled:
 
Sorry for double post.

Over the past few days, I've been having severe fading issues. Consistently after about 3 laps of racing, FFB almost completely fades and becomes almost undriveable. It happens on all the games I play (PCars, GT6, F1 2015, DC).

I'm considering contacting Thrustmaster in getting another replacement - early this year I got my first T300 replaced after an internal failure.

What do you guys think?
 
Sorry for double post.

Over the past few days, I've been having severe fading issues. Consistently after about 3 laps of racing, FFB almost completely fades and becomes almost undriveable. It happens on all the games I play (PCars, GT6, F1 2015, DC).

I'm considering contacting Thrustmaster in getting another replacement - early this year I got my first T300 replaced after an internal failure.

What do you guys think?
Are you playing for hours and hours at a time? It shouldn't matter, but I've heard of the FFB getting cut down do to overheating. That could be the problem.
 
Are you playing for hours and hours at a time? It shouldn't matter, but I've heard of the FFB getting cut down do to overheating. That could be the problem.
The first PCars race I did today it happened - it was a 7 lap race at Watkins Glen and at the beginning of lap 3 the FFB faded significantly :irked:
 
The first PCars race I did today it happened - it was a 7 lap race at Watkins Glen and at the beginning of lap 3 the FFB faded significantly :irked:
Well I'd have to guess its the motor,or lack of cooling doing it. Had mine since PCars came out,never had an issue. Sorry to hear.
 
@JBF77 , Here is some great info on causes and solutions.

http://forum.projectcarsgame.com/showthread.php?29962-T300RS-FFB-weakening

Also make sure you have the updated firmware from thrustmaster. The new update, V25, includes manual cooling option, see below.

http://ts.thrustmaster.com/faqs/eng/thr_eng_00156.pdf
I updated to V25 a couple of weeks ago, although I'm not sure this effects use on console?? What does it mean by the manual cooling option? What do you have to do? I knew that it changed the cooling, but I didn't know it had to be manual!??
 
@JBF77 , I copied and pasted this from thrustmaster sight.

Automatic” cooling mode:

When you are using the wheel in a game, the cooling fan starts up when the wheel has reacheda certain temperature

after a few minutes of game play, depending on the strength of the Force Feedback effects used


When you’r e done playing: due to the motor’s thermal inertia,the cooling fan continues to operate until the temperature drops below the fan’s startup level Your wheel has beendesigned in this way in order to facilitate cooling, and to protect the motor this may take from 5 to45 minutes, depending on the temperature reached while using the wheel in a
game

“Forced” cooling mode: (requires Firmware V25 or above)

In this mode, the cooling fan operates whenever the racing wheel is powered up, and stops only whenthe wheel's USB connector is no longer powered.This mode enables quicker cooling of the motor, and is particularly useful:
-
When playing with a very high Force Feedback setting
-
When playing in a high temperature environment.


Process to switch from the “Automatic” cooling mode to the “Forced” cooling mode
(and conversely):

The selected mode is automatically saved to the racing wheel's internal memory(i.e. you do not
need to repeat this process after restarting the wheel).

You can switch from one mode to another at any given time (even during a game).
-
Simultaneously press the “ST*” and “MODE” buttons
= The “Forced” mode becomes active (the LED flashes twice).
-
Simultaneously press the “ST* ” and “MODE” buttons
= The “Automatic” mode becomes active (the LE
D flashes once)
 
Back