Wow.
Finally got some time and space to give the rig a good run. The seat is finally set up right and super comfortable, if ever so huge. My only slight gripe is the way the wheel base swings out to allow me to sit in the seat. It feels a little awkward to get in past it but it’s not a big deal.
Wheel is several levels beyond what I’m used to. So much detail and masses more force. I had to turn it down in the control panel. Really have to hold my hand away from the wheel when it calibrates on startup. It nearly badly staved my thumbs first time I did it.
The t3pa-pro pedals work very well plugged into the wheel as you might expect. Better than they did via the adapter imo. I had so much more control over acceleration and braking than I’ve ever had before. I still need to work on my lead foot, but it was night and day compared to what I’m used to.
I fired up ACC for a couple of hours and got used to everything fairly quickly. Started with GT4s and then moved up to the Porsche 911 GT3. I had a time in that car at Brands Hatch from about 6 or 7 months ago. Not particularly fast but I don’t think I was a total n00b at the point either as I’d been racing for two or three months by then.
Anyway, my first lap was two seconds faster. Half an hour later I dropped another 3 seconds off that time too. So 5 seconds in total. Keep in mind, I haven’t raced at all with a wheel since well before Xmas I think; nearly two months, so I think I qualify as “rusty”.
I felt like like I had infinitely more information to play with. The Porsche is a lairy beast in ACC and it still bit back a fair bit but I definitely was able to correct a lot of snap oversteer moments in a way that I’ve never been able to before.
I don’t necessarily think the wheel will have this kind of benefit for most folk but it’s more that it’s helping me out more now than it might have when I first got the g29. It’s making up for my rapidly failing reflexes. 😄
I actually suspect my 2 month hiatus has helped me a little as I don’t have any muscle memory issues to overcome with my old gear.
I’ll probably drop into WRC 9 to get a solid idea of how much extra it’s giving me there too. Then I’ll drop back into iRacing \o/