steering wheel advice?

[PrincessJessi84]

mmkay so im getting my wheel, peddles and shifter.. problem is.. whats a good buy.. ive got a budget of aprox $400 for the set.. i would be ok with shaving some of that off but i know quality often doesn't come cheap so im willing to go up a bit if needed to get what i want. here is the thing tho.. i don't just play fs.. nor will this set be used for that.. in fact in SUPER excited to play some ATS and Spintires Mudrunner with it as well as cuttle and croops and some other sim games.. so.... compatibility is a must.. easy(ish) mapping for controls and usability would be pretty nice.. the shifter is something i want to be particular about.. i don't just want up and down or whatever.. a good quality shifter (H type preferred) with a minimum of 6 gears (the more the better i guess as i often run an 18 speed gear box on ats and im not even sure how that will work).. i want something that looks nice and feels natural.. i miss operating heavy equipment irl and being more inside my game so to speak will make me a very happy lady.. any help with any part of my issue would be appreciated as i have never bought this sort of thing for pc before.. thank u so much in advance

[Meadwolf]

Probably the cheapest wheel set that is still decent quality is the logitech G29 or 920. Comes with pedals and you can often find it in a good deal set with the H-shifter, although the logitech shifter is not too expensive on it's own. If I had more money I would go Thrustmaster TX racing wheel leather edition but generally you are buying the pedals and h-shifter separately unless you find a good bundle deal. Couldn't give exact prices as I am in UK and we pay a premium for everything PC related it seems.

If you are going to be running with 18 speed gear boxes in ATS you want to look for the almar SKRS shifters (you can get them on Ebay) for the range-splitter, I believe they are converted from real truck sticks into a usb switch and easily fix onto the logitech and thrustmaster shifter sticks (1 minute job). As they are essentially a usb interface with 2 switches they can be bound to other functions in other games too. They may seem a bit pricey but they are so worth it, and mine came with free Polish chocolates too!

[PrincessJessi84]

so... they sell the shifter separate? interesting.. ok now i must expand my search lol.. but yea i found a really nice one a few months ago for like $425 usd that was the whole package.. 6 speed H shifter.. peddles (including clutch) and wheel.. it was chrome and black.. it was Logitech something or another.. but now i cant seem to find it and the closest ive found was for PS..

[Meadwolf]

Logitech G29 and G920 are for PS and XBOX respectively, both however work on PC. I don't think Logitech make an exclusively PC wheel anymore.

[W1der]

I have had my G920 for a long time now, with lots and lots of hours of gaming ... and it´s still going strong.
Using it for farm sim is not to stressful for it but I have also given it some ruff racing practice ... so I would say it is good quality for the money spent!
Although ... The only thing I have to compare with is the Logitech Heavy Equipment crappy thingy (which you hopefully do not think about buying).

One thing you could look in to is the Thrustmaster TH8A shifter which can be used as a stand alone controller together with any wheel (as long as the game can handle multiple controllers).
I have that one as a compliment to the shifter that comes with the G920 and for farm sim I have them both mapped for various things, one on each side of the wheel ...

The TH8A has a more rigid feel to it but the G920 shifter is a bit faster as it is smaller /travels shorter between the gears.

[BreadedVirus]

This is my setup that i use for Farming Sim, RaceRoom, rFactor 2, F1 games and ETS2.

Thrustmaster VG T3PA-PRO 3-Pedal Add-On Set

https://www.amazon.com/Thrustmaster-T3P ... N21IU?th=1

Thrustmaster TH8A Add-On Gearbox Shifter

https://www.amazon.com/Thrustmaster-PC- ... KYX3P&th=1

Thrustmaster T150 RS Racing Wheel

https://www.amazon.com/Thrustmaster-For ... 142&sr=1-2

[W1der]

Virus ... care to share some input on what you think about your setup? ...

[BreadedVirus]

Virus ... care to share some input on what you think about your setup? ...

Love it. Could of gone with a more expensive wheel, but the T150 does the job very well at half the price. The shifter can be used for both H pattern and sequential. The pedal set is great, You can mod the brake pedal too...

[PrincessJessi84]

hey thanks a bunch guys! now i really have an idea of what to start looking for.. im really excited.. honestly.. as fantastic as modern simulation games r i have a hard time getting truly immersed using a controller.. i always kinda feel outside the game when it comes to driving.. i suspect having a complete wheel set with some joysticks on the side is gonna be an absolute game changer for me

[PrincessJessi84]

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Thrustmaster ... t/55692641

ok so this is the link to what I found.. I think its actually the exact set breaded mentioned.. now I just gotta find the switch thingy so I can run an 18 speed box (I know its stupid to want an 18 speed box on ats but all the trucks ive EVER driven had 18 speed boxes except like 2).. im super super excited.. now just gotta find a head tracker.. any suggestions?

[Guitarman]

Welcome to the club! Seriously, having a wheel will totally change the experience for you. I've never regretted getting one.

One the subject of head tracking, probably the most popular option is trackir 5. However from what I've seen some say the slip can be fragile, and it's quote expensive and tricky to get hold of outside the states.

Another option I'm currently looking at is track hat, which is significantly cheaper and gives the choice for a hat instead of clip for a headset. However they are a smaller UK based company and I'm not too sure what the shippings like to elsewhere.

You could also look into something like facetracknoir which was originally an open source face tracker. As far as I know the debs circumstances changed so now its a small fee. But much cheaper than the other's at the payoff of being slightly cluncky.

Hope that helps a bit.

[W1der]

I was thinking about a head track device ... but decided to not go down that road as using the joystick for looking around works really well.
I dont know if you will be using a joystick with your wheel or not ... but I can recommend it!

Typically you would want to use the joystick for operating your front loader and such ... and this is what do also.
For looking around I am using the trigger button on the front of the joystick as a "camera button".

When mapping anything that involves a camera function I press the trigger button together with the other axis or buttons when mapping these commands.


Trigger + AXIS: look around
Trigger + Left button: zoom in
Trigger + Bottom button: zoom out
Trigger + Right button: Indoor / outdoor camera
Trigger + TH Up: Look forward (VCA mod)
Trigger + TH Down: Look backward (VCA mod)
Trigger + TH Left: Look 45º to the left (VCA mod)
Trigger + TH Right: Look 45º to the right (VCA mod)

Here is a You Tube clip showing some game play using the camera features that comes with the VCA mod ...


And here is a clip showing how using the Joystick for looking around is like from cab view.


I find myself looking at other things around my desk a lot while playing ... I think I would get distracted from the head tracking shifting focus on my screen while doing this ...

[gordon861]

Here is a You Tube clip showing some game play using the camera features that comes with the VCA mod ...

Sorry to go off topic but what direction/GPS MOD are you using in this video?

Back on topic, I just bought a Logitech G29 which I'm very pleased with.

Only a couple of problems,
1. Giants haven't implemented forward/reverse gears in game so you need to use a MOD, which works but this should be supported without MODs.
2. You still need to have a controller handy to control the implements, should only be a problem until I build my switch box.

Positives
It feels much better driving around the map with a wheel, and it makes a massive difference to ETS2.

[theSeb]

For maximum compatibility and least hassle go for Logitech. Especially since they've announced a "partnership" between Giants and Logitech recently.

[W1der]

@gordon861

It is the Vehicle Control Addon (VCA).
https://github.com/Mogli12/VehicleControlAddon

It will give you ...
- Gears (Manual or Auto) with different type of gear boxes to choose from. This also comes with true support for the gear stick (latching button feature). Even the clutch can be set to auto or manual.
- Adjustable engine break effect.
- Adjustable axle speed.
- GPS with adjustable (manually) working width.
- Soft steering which adapts to speed (can be turned off if you are using a steering wheel).
- Camera controls (also adjustable).
- Additional cruise ctrl function (suitable for "hand throttle").

All settings are stored individually / vehicle ...

I strongly recommend having a look at the additional lines in the controls menu for this mod when trying to figure out how everything works.
When capturing the video the GPS feature was not as developed as it is with the current version of the mod and I did not fully understand how to use it.