All feels the same after 2 laps, and if it feels 'amazing' it's probably not real, because in a race car you don't feel shit unless the wheel falls off, or the servo is dead.
I'm pretty sure you know that isn't really true. No matter how much power assistance there is, if your steering suddenly had no centering force at all it would feel a lot different.
That said I don't think the ffb is exceptional in AC, judging purely from the tech preview.
Sure there is resistance, but mostly, when my friends or 'hardcore'-simmers say : Dennis try this out, this is the most amazing feel I've ever felt'' It's usually over exaggerated, I'm sure Kunos has made something fantastic here and I'm probably just blowing the bubbles, but there is NOTHING that can feel 'real' compared to a racing car, there is just too many elements you can't simulate, sadly.
Well I agree to an extent, but ultimately what happens to the steering via FFB should be dictated by what happens to the front wheels. I'm perhaps like you in that "effects" add nothing. Vibration should only be felt if it exerts a torque on the steering column. What matters, and what makes the difference, is the response and reaction to those forces, but ultimately it should be the tyre model which dictates what the FFB is like.
A good FFB system should simply relay those forces to your wheel with as little latency as possible. For me LFS is far better in this way than AC. A sim should prioritise the FFB, not just say "only 50fps? Guess you don't want steering response or feel anymore then".
I also think that with the right hardware and software there is no reason why an FFB system cannot accurately simulate every ounce of "feel" and force you experience in a real car.
I agree to your post 100%.
But normally, as I said, when people think it's what a race car feels like, it's usually over exaggerated, because in the cars with Servo systems I've driven, fx Lamborghini Gallardo GT3, Chevy Camaro, Lacetti (WTCC spec) and so on, usually the servo is more effective than in most road cars. ( <- Meaning that the centering effect in road cars are bigger compared to 'race' cars )
By effective I mean less physical power needed at speed to turn the car etc.
Many times I've had people on TS saying how realistic it felt when they ran the curb, and I've asked ''Why?''... '' I can really feel the rumble strip in my hands and how it's hitting my arms about''.
Thing is, you don't feel this ''Shaking'' in the wheel, the whole car shakes about, the wheel you're holding isn't exactly flickering about, usually I don't feel anything( I feel something, it's just not big like wow this is so tough) in the wheel from Curbs, asphalt damage, contours in the track It's on when you hit someone you can really feel a hit in the wheel, or if you're in a compression area where there is a lot of stress on the car, that's where it gets tough, but apart from that, you don't feel much.
I agree, and I think AC got this less wrong than many others. What you SHOULD feel in the wheel is centering force, and that you feel pretty well in AC too. In AC I don't feel much of the kurbs or bumps at all. That might be my wheel, though (G25).
In my real car I don't feel much of the bumps and stuff either, but aligning forces is VERY evident (rwd, electric servo)
Agreed, since we don't have the privileges of feelings g-forces in sim racing(yet) the force in everything else needs to be close to perfect for it to actually be 'good' in my books.
The somewhat understeery nature of the Elise makes this a bit hard to evaluate, imo. When you understeer you have very little aligning force, and when you oversteer you are usually going backwards headed for a barrier, so again, limited value. We need an oldschool E30 M3 or something on road tires to test this properly.
Or a model of my car, the Toyota GT86, that does aligning forces VERY well.
I guess that's why [to me] Game Stock Car and Fórmula Truck are two of the most realistic feeling games I've driven FFB wise, because nothing is exaggerated. Unlike RF2 when everything about the FFB feels exaggerated.
But nevertheless I garentee you will be impressed with AS. It's as close as it gets to driving a real car whilst still sitting motionless in your living room. The instant I drove it, it immediately felt like driving a road car which is something all of us have experience with, so we can relate to it alot more than driving an F1 car in a sim for instance and then saying it feels amazing.
I think A.C. over-does this a bit. The centering force drops off as though you have intentionally steered way too far on a suddenly wet track, not slight understeer on a dry track, but maybe that's tyre model more than ffb. Elise steering is lovely, sharp, solid and delicate at the same time, I don't think ac does particularly brilliantly at capturing that, but it's alright.
Ever tracked an Elise? I found it to feel like a dog if you enter even slightly too fast, and then I felt I had to drive with an egg on the throttle to avoid the instaspin on exit. Might have been tirepressures or something that was off, but I feel AC captures this behaviour pretty well.
No but I owned an early mk1 for a short time. I am not critical of the ac handling at all, though it was not really as you say, only the steering feel which I don't think is the best, but that's just me.
Imo, whatever you think of the physics/handling, lfs ffb is fantastic at telling you what is happening with urgency and precision, and if ac is set apart by anything, it's not the ffb based on the tech preview, anyway.
I've always thought FFB wheels need a second set of servos which can (slightly) move the entire steering column about, separately from the torque forces on the wheel. As Dennis says, a lot of what you feel isn't torque from the wheels, but the entire car moving and vibrating under you.
The new fanatec Clubsport rims have a separate motor in the actual rim for vibrations I think. That might feel somewhat akin to what we are talking about?
My Fanatec pedals have a rumbler on the brake pedal to simulate it. It's really basic, but I think it comes close enough for such a basic solution, and certainly adds a kind of realism.
Well yeah, a rumbler is 'ok' as you stated, but I don't think this could be done with a pod cell, it has to be a potentiometer, along with a hydraulic pump to push a kick your foot back as ABS comes.
Racing ABS is really hard on your foot, and would most likely hurt a ****-ton if you don't wear shoes.