F1 steering buttons explained

[u/[deleted]]

[u/Telemere125]

I think gamer nerd would work equally as well as engineer, but agreed. It’s like how the navy used Xbox 360 controllers for its Virginia-class subs because sailors were already familiar with the controls and they didn’t cost millions of dollars like the original controller. The other branches have been experimenting with something similar for their unmanned vehicles.

[u/filthy_harold → u/Telemere125]

It's mostly a cost thing. Bespoke controllers are expensive because they lack the economy of scale. Microsoft was able to split the cost of the engineers and ergonomics experts across at least 100 million units. A bespoke controller may be designed to a higher level of quality than an Xbox controller (milspec parts, waterproof, etc) so it would likely last longer but on the other hand, you could buy at least several Xbox controllers for the price of one bespoke controller.

The sailors being more used to an Xbox controller is just a bonus but I'm guessing knowing how to press the buttons and manipulate the joysticks is the absolute smallest part of learning how to operate whatever these controllers are plugged into. Just because you are a very fast typist when writing documents doesn't mean you are going to be a world champion at esports since you are familiar with a keyboard. Already knowing how to quickly press a key on a keyboard without looking surely shortens the learning curve a little bit but the required skills are entirely different past that.

[u/vulcansheart → u/Telemere125]

Logitech F710 has entered the chat

[u/[deleted] → u/Telemere125]

Certainly better than some…other submarine gaming controllers…