Vita Racing Sim Control Scheme

  • Thread starter CaptCalvin
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CaptCalvin

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It's a shame the first serious racing title that came out for Vita, F1 2011(really just 2009 with updated cars and upgraded graphics) was so lazily made. Not a good start. I think the Vita as a portable is very well suited for racing sims (among many many other things). Here's a control scheme that I thought up that retains analog control on steering, accelerating, and braking:

Left stick = braking, right stick = throttle. amount should be based on how off-center your pushing the sticks in which ever direction so you don't have to worry about pushing them completely straight to max out the axis.

Motion sensors = steering. also camera controls similar to Hot Shots golf to pan the camera around the cockpit as if you are viewing the cockpit through a viewfinder of a camera. This can potentially make bigger steering locks practical with the gyroscope since the view is no longer obstructed by the tilted screen as you can naturally adjust your view at will.

Shoulder buttons = gear shift. obvious

Back touch = various functions like camera, DRS, KERS, etc, etc.

What do you guys think?
 
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peterjford
For a Formula 1 game wouldn't the obvious place for the shifters be the back touch?
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You would think so, but it would not work. Changing the position of your hands to change grip would mean shifting gears.

CaptCalvin, I like your idea of using the left and right stick. I noticed with Motorstorm RC that I was not pressing full throttle with the analogue stick due to reasons you mention. So yes, I think you got that part right.

About the steering with the motion sensor, I am less favourable about that. In Wipeout 2048 you can steer like that, but in reality you will win even fewer races that with the normal controls.
 
peterjford
For a Formula 1 game wouldn't the obvious place for the shifters be the back touch?
Click to expand...

I tried imagining how it'd feel like shifting gears with the back touch and I find it very uncomfortable and unnatural having to hold my fingers in such a way to make sure I don't shift accidentally. Also I prefer a more tactile approach when it comes to gear shifting.

Another idea for the back touch is using it for throttle and brake I guess, varying based on how far down your fingers are touching. It's less tactile but it does give more travel.

MarcoM
About the steering with the motion sensor, I am less favourable about that. In Wipeout 2048 you can steer like that, but in reality you will win even fewer races that with the normal controls.
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I can see why you would be concerned about that. Wipeout's motion steering was a nightmare, but I think it comes down to how well the developers implement it. I feel like the motion sensing of the Vita is much more responsive than those of smartphones. Asphalt for example has very responsive and convincing motion steering. It's what convinced me that motion steering can work and work well.

If you still don't buy this idea after trying out the Asphalt demo I guess one idea would be to use the left stick for steering and right analog stick for throttle+brake like in Motorstorm RC. I feel weird, almost handicapped, though when both the throttle+brake is on the same axis. Another idea would be the backtouch throttle+brake as mentioned above.
 
I tried the aspalt demo. It has better motion steering than WO for sure.

I am currently playing F1 2011 for Vita. You also can choose to use the backpad for either gas/brake or shifting up and down. I do not like it. I find myself tapping it too often which results in incorrect gear changing. But.... I want this to work so I will practice. Shifting up and down with the backpad is cool feature of F1 2011.
 
can't you just use the right stick for throttle and brake, left stick for steering? That's how I play and everyone should play if you don't have a wheel on PS3 so if it's possible to do that (which I'm pretty sure it is), why wouldn't you? It gives the most amount of control over the throttle, something that the PSP severly lacked.

I think using a stick for throttle/brake is extremely important if you really want to race a sim on the Vita. GTPSP is such a great sim, but in my opinion it was kind of wasted on the psp because of the need and lack of good throttle control. GT is so realistic, I don't the tapping the x button has never worked for me.

Best solution would be to somehow use a FFB wheel to play GT PSP on the vita (hooked up to a tv obviously) but as far as I know, that's not possible
 
You can use the right stick for gas/brake, but it it is sill on or off. In GTpsp you map gas to triangle and brake to X. Then you use the Vita function to map the right anlogue stick to the X [] /\ O.

But remains digital because GTpsp is programmed that whay. And I do not like that feeling. It feel strange and it seems you are always too late in reacting.
 
MarcoM
You can use the right stick for gas/brake, but it it is sill on or off. In GTpsp you map gas to triangle and brake to X. Then you use the Vita function to map the right anlogue stick to the X [] /\ O.

But remains digital because GTpsp is programmed that whay. And I do not like that feeling. It feel strange and it seems you are always too late in reacting.
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Aww crap, it's not progressive? Damn that ruins it totally. Bummer. They really need to fix that.
 
I think that will never ever happen. GTpsp remains a psp title.

Untill GTvita arives, I will stick to GTpsp ;)
 
TomBrady
can't you just use the right stick for throttle and brake, left stick for steering? That's how I play and everyone should play if you don't have a wheel on PS3 so if it's possible to do that (which I'm pretty sure it is), why wouldn't you? It gives the most amount of control over the throttle, something that the PSP severly lacked.

I think using a stick for throttle/brake is extremely important if you really want to race a sim on the Vita. GTPSP is such a great sim, but in my opinion it was kind of wasted on the psp because of the need and lack of good throttle control. GT is so realistic, I don't the tapping the x button has never worked for me.

Best solution would be to somehow use a FFB wheel to play GT PSP on the vita (hooked up to a tv obviously) but as far as I know, that's not possible
Click to expand...

I understand that using the right stick for steering and left stick for throttle/brake is easier to get used to. But I feel that using the motion sensor for steering and dedicate a stick to each throttle and brake gives the greatest range of motion for all controls and can give an edge with practice.
 

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