wheel and shifter combinations you like - PC

[DirectCedar]

I haven't owned a wheel in years and years and I've never used a shifter with a game, but I am considering it for FS22. What wheel and shifter setups and combinations do you enjoy using with FS22? I've also been looking at the side panel for a long and may well add that at the same time. Anyone running all three? How do make the space to set it all up?

Thanks for all input

[Noraf]

I'm using a G29, H-shifter, sidepanel, track-ir and sim dashboard.
I got the wheel in front of me, shifter right next to it, on the right side, and just to the side of that again, and at a small angle, is the sidepanel. I've made a mount on the top rear on the sidepanel for my cellphone that I use for sim dashboard. If you don't know that piece of awesomeness, take a trip over to The Farmsim Guy's YouTube channel and see what an amazing immersion enhancement that is.

And, the combination of these pieces makes for a very nice experience (for me atleast)

[parad0x177]

Mostly Thrustmaster here; TX wheel base, TM Leather 28 GT wheel, T3PA Pro pedals, TH8A pedals. They have newer bases now that may be (probably are) superior, but I’ve got no real complaints and no motivation to upgrade. Makes for a stupidly heavy setup when bolted to the stand, but it is sturdy and solid. Works well for me (except when I need to move it), at least once I manually map the controls so everything works…

I also have the Logitech side panel and it is definitely a great addition, regardless of the other pieces you use. I actually started with the wheel/pedals/side panel kit back when it was still Saitek. The build quality on the 2nd Gen stuff from Logitech seems to be notably better. (I repaired the original Saitek side panel, which had definite weak spots, until a pin finally broke off one of the potentiometers, at which point I replaced it. The original wheel and pedals, while heavily worn and having had wires repaired themselves are still going, though, and my son uses them.)

Honestly, though, unless you just have a need to spend more money and/or other driving games you will use it with, you may want to really consider the Logitech Farming bundle. It flat just works with the game, with no need to fiddle with mapping unless you just want to do so. And, really, (in my opinion) it makes the game realistic enough to be fun without turning the realism into a job. I think, for most virtual farmers, it gets pretty close to the sweet spot. No, it doesn’t have a shifter and clutch pedal, but that may not be a real negative: see below.

I will acknowledge the novelty of having the manual gearbox option in FS22, but you may find the novelty short lived, as I think I basically have. After just a few hours of the added realism, I can vividly recall what a pain it was/is to actually operate a fully-manual gearbox tractor in general and, in particular, with a front loader. Hills only add to the “fun”! I’ve actually found myself considering pushing the my simulated finances a bit to upgrade to a newer tractor with a CVT transmission sooner! And that brings up another thing to consider: with fairly few exceptions the newer/more modern tractors in the game won’t really make use of a shifter because they have a CVT or some form of transmission automation. So, unless you plan to “role play” with older equipment and demand maximum realism, the added expense and complexity of the shifter and clutch may not be worth it (again, unless you play other driving/racing games).

Probably more information than you really wanted, but I hope it helps. Good luck with whatever option you choose!

[DirectCedar]

Probably more information than you really wanted, but I hope it helps. Good luck with whatever option you choose!

Not at all; this is exactly the kind of info I'm looking for. Someone who has already considered all the questions I'm mulling over and come up with solutions

[DirectCedar]

And in your experience is the wheel that comes with the heavy equipment bundle of reasonable quality now? I have read in years past that the wheel in that set at least used to be not very good. Reviews of the side panel were always fairly positive.

[parad0x177]

And in your experience is the wheel that comes with the heavy equipment bundle of reasonable quality now? I have read in years past that the wheel in that set at least used to be not very good. Reviews of the side panel were always fairly positive.

The first gen ones from Saitek left a bit to be desired in the quality “feel” department; definitely light-weight and mostly plastic (except for some internal bits). There were some (coming from an engineer) cost-cutting choices incorporated in the design that made the internal wiring unnecessarily fragile (hence my repairs).

However, except for one repair of a low-voltage ground wire for the USB interface, the (first gen) wheel and pedals I have are still going after (according to Steam) a few thousand hours of gaming in total. (I even used them with American Truck Sim and European Truck Sim 2 some to good effect.) The original side panel would probably still be hanging in there too, if one of my attempts to fix a wiring design weakness in the stick hand’t gone awry. I can’t speak for the current-production wheel and pedals, but I’ve heard they are better still. The current-production side panels I do have (one for me and one for the kid) definitely have a better feel and seem to have a better build; I assume the wheel and pedals have similar improvements. (I’ve had no problems with either of the newer panels, so I’ve had no cause to dissect them for a look at the internals. I consider that a good sign!)

So, long story short(er): No, they won’t have the bells and whistles (like force feedback) of a $500 (or more) setup. And, no, they won’t be as heavy and solidly built. But they are fun, easier to put away if you want to use the computer for something else, just “work” with FS, cost a lot less, and (assuming no serious misuse or abuse) should be up to more hours of virtual farming than some folks might consider healthy!

[Coldlandlord]

I don’t like the manual shifter because it takes up a lot of space for something that just changes gear and secondly, most tractors/machinery don’t have gated transmissions any more and the ones that do, have an element of power shift which means you mostly press buttons on a stick which a shifter doesn’t have. My happy medium is a joystick. Got powershift on the right hand thumb buttons (upland down), gears/ranges on the left/trigger and shuttle on the left hand paddle of the wheel. Whilst missing out on physically moving a stick, I think it works nicely for gears. A bonus of this setup is that I use the joystick axis for loader controls and have 12 buttons on the base for hydraulics, pto’s, lights etc. I got the thrust master t1600m as you can change it to left/right/no handed by swapping/removing the thumb rest moulding

[norfolk farmer]

I don’t like the manual shifter because it takes up a lot of space for something that just changes gear and secondly, most tractors/machinery don’t have gated transmissions any more and the ones that do, have an element of power shift which means you mostly press buttons on a stick which a shifter doesn’t have.

How I have my shifter setup is 1&2 up and down ranges, 3&4 up and down gears or powershifts.

[parad0x177]

My happy medium is a joystick. Got powershift on the right hand thumb buttons (upland down), gears/ranges on the left/trigger and shuttle on the left hand paddle of the wheel. Whilst missing out on physically moving a stick, I think it works nicely for gears. A bonus of this setup is that I use the joystick axis for loader controls and have 12 buttons on the base for hydraulics, pto’s, lights etc. I got the thrust master t1600m as you can change it to left/right/no handed by swapping/removing the thumb rest moulding

You know, that’s kind of brilliant! With some work, you could probably get surprisingly close to mimicking the functions of a modern tractor that way…

[DirectCedar]

My happy medium is a joystick.

This is pretty much the step I am considering going to as well. I currently use the joystick exclusively for just about everything (driving, steering, and controls) with the keyboard for backup when I am out of inputs on the stick or trying to do a few things concurrently - loader being the obvious one. I've also got four of the thumb buttons set up for shifting gears and ranges which I agree is much closer to most real tractor configurations than shifting an automotive 5-speed, and I've used that configuration very happily in 17 and 19. I actually really like this setup for pretty much everything except loader and crane controls. I was curious about the shifters since 22 now seems to actually have a base-game use for them and was wondering people's observations on making them feel like they should actually be used in a tractor. So I am debating maybe adding a wheel and pedals to the joystick, or a wheel and pedals and side panel with the joystick, although I can't help but think the rate of return on utility adding the side panel beside the joystick might be quite diminishing - although it would be very handy to have more buttons on the joystick as I always feel a couple short. Also there is the question of where to put all this stuff in my office and how to hide it when not in use so my wife doesn't slag me too much when she sees it sitting there

Thanks to all for your excellent ideas so far. This is a great discussion.

[Dezza69]

Hello!

My farming/vehicle sim rig is a Logitech G920 mounted in a simple wooden frame with an old car seat. There's a keyboard mounted on a slide under the steering wheel.

On the right I've made a wooden console (similar to that in a car with a padded arm rest) which has the Logitech shifter, space for the mouse, plus extra buttons and switches wired to an "I-PAC 2" controller, and an iPad mini that connects to "Sim Hub Dash" (as mentioned elsewhere in this thread).

The I-PAC 2 controller is like a custom keyboard controller which can easily be remapped for different games, and button(s) can be used as "shift" to double up the amount of control available to the physical buttons.

The wooden console has a 4-way arcade joystick in it (next to the Logitech shifter), which is mapped up/down to sequentially shift the gears as the Logitech shifter only has 6 positions (7 counting reverse) and it's a bit useless without a "splitter/range" system like American Truck Sim and Euro Truck Sim 2 allows to be setup. It's used as the shifter/splitter buttons in ATS/ETS2.

A Logitech 3D joystick thingy is mapped for the various crane/arm uses in the Farming Simulator games. ATM this just sits on my legs when needed, but soon I'll add a little (folding??) wooden platform for it somewhere on the console.

It's really immersive pushing a button or moving a lever to start the tractor, lower the hydraulics, or turn on the harvester!!!

Also Sim Hub (although not just yet with FS22, but with FS19 and other games) allows for integration of other custom components like bass-shakers, wind blowers and custom Arduino units, so my rig has an old sub-woofer which I've carved up and made into a bass shaker.

It's very immersive when the rig shakes when you hit a bump or rumbles the rig when the engine runs!!

Happy Farming!!!