How important is force feedback

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Hedi

Hedi

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Hedi666
For a wheel, how important and useful is it?

I use a cheap wheel without it, and I can't find the grip limit before understeer (which is manageable) or the rear end sliding, which I can't always control. Of course that could be lack of skill, I haven't been using the wheel for that long.

I'm driving with all the aids off (except abs=1).
 
Was playing last night, and realised that I couldn't drive the car I was using (rx-8) without FF - any time the back end would start to slip out I could feel it from the FF and correct it before it got away. I used to play with a pad fine (and didn't feel I was lacking for anything), but I'm a lot better now than I used to be.
I think once you've used FF you can't go back, so I guess you could look at that as a disadvantage :). More importantly, FF makes the games more fun. It certainly adds a lot to it in terms of immersion.
I got a DFGT for £80 (it's £85 here now, not sure how much it'll be in France), and for that price it's a very good wheel, and a great way to try FF without spending too much money.
I recommend doing it, I think you'll like it. You'll even be able to drop the ABS and drive unaided (so long as you lower the brake balance levels - around 3/2 works well for most cars)
 
Thanks for the tip, that was what I expected, I might upgrade that crappy wheel sometimes :P
 
From my experience of driving GT4 with a wheel and GT5 with a pad, I can tell you that a FF wheel makes your life a *lot* easier with the more challenging races. Especially on tracks like the Nordschleife you can easily be many seconds faster with the same car if you have FF. You can really feel the weight of the car and where/how it's moving.
 
It makes driving a more defined experience, this I can say from 1st hand experience. I recently ruptured my achilles in my right foot so I cannot drive using my wheel until I heal. For the first time since GT4 I am using a pad, it is incredibly hard to drive using it, I had to turn the sensitivity to the maximum allowed in order to steer correctly as with the pad there is a delay(analog) which causes you to under steer in corners and using those itty bitty buttons for braking and throttle control is a lesson is futility.
What compounds things is the total lack of feed back, the DS3 only lets you know when you are driving off the road, on a rumble strip runoff and when you are locking wheels under braking. You can't tell when you are hitting dips, or when one tire is losing grip and cornering is just plain strange without FF. I am begrudgingly waiting this healing time out, having to play GT5 with a pad is just a serious let down. PD needs to fix the controller sensation interface it's lacking big time.
 
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