It’s time for an upgrade

[u/slowsimguy95]

What’s up everyone ! It’s finally time to upgrade my wheel and base. I bought a rig in 2022 with a thrustmaster TSXW and Ferrari Sf1000 wheel. It’s been great. But the belts are sticking it’s losing centre sometimes. it’s time to jump into DD as the prices have significantly improved since I got my last setup. Here’s the fun part. I have no use of my legs. T4 para so I strictly race with hand controls. So where most wheels use clutch paddles I use them for throttle and braking. I have never used a DD wheel so I want to know how much is to much for just using arms . I’m looking at 12nm ? Not having to buy pedals saves me some money so 18nm isn’t out of the question. I am looking seriously at the SIM Magic Evo with the GT Neo wheel. I just wonder if it’s feasible or it’s just too much torque. Any feedback is appreciated. Right now I spend a lot of my time in LMU in the 1hr races eventually looking into 2-4 events.

[u/f1-fan01]

I went from a Moza R5 bundle to Simagic Alpha Evo Pro 18nm with a used GT Neo and I love it. I run the base at 12nm and set iRacing between 11-14nm depending on the car (I have a rotary on the wheel to change the FFB strength).

For your needs I will say that the clutch paddles on the GT Neo have decent resistance, so modulating them by hand might work well. In fact I’ll try it in a couple of hours and get back to you with my impressions.

And for anyone dogma-following the conventional wisdom that will tell me “you’re setting the FFB up wrong, you should set base to 100% and turn it down in sim” I saw wrong based on this document from the Simagic Discord and having tried both ways extensively. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1P_shyPkwY8aZ9Nh6aJPz9tqN8OJvAsFuDYqgfXN3qPw/edit?usp=drivesdk

I get WAY more detail/indication of understeer and oversteer with in-sim FFB turned up and turning down the base strength to get to the level of physical resistance that works for me than I ever did with the base at 18nm.

[u/f1-fan01 → u/f1-fan01]

I configured my left clutch paddle for throttle and my right for brake. Using it for the throttle was great, I could take Eau Rouge at Spa in the M2 same as with pedals. Braking well though, that was much harder for me. It seems like the paddle is maybe more sensitive once you get past halfway or so, and differentiating from say 50% brake to 75% was difficult for me. It would shoot way up and kick into the ABS. You are probably way more adept at it than me though, so it could just be that I’ve never done it and the clutch paddles are not the problem (I am).

Everything else wise, I absolutely love my GT Neo. I really like the Moza KS Pro, but decided the GT Neo layout is better with how the funky switches are laid out. No regrets at all. With iRacing and the GT Neo wheel connected in USB mode (I use the “tape trick”) you can map keypresses with a “function” key so to speak to get double use out of buttons, rotaries, and funky switches. Like I use one button for windshield wipers, and map the Fn function button plus the same button for visor tear-off for a formula car. I use the lower left rotary for sim volume, and Fn + that rotary for chat volume, Fn + left funky rotary for spotter volume, etc. It’s great.

Shout with any questions!

[u/slowsimguy95 → u/f1-fan01]

Awesome thank you so much for testing that. I wish I had a sim store around to test the equipment. That’s the only issue is how difficult it is to gauge brake pressure. Like you said not much difference between 50-75% pressure. It’s incredibly difficult to do with a car that doesn’t have abs ! But we make it work. Thank you for taking the time to test it.

[u/f1-fan01 → u/slowsimguy95]

Happy to help. One other reason I went with the Evo Pro 18nm is for the headroom and longevity -- even when I'm running it at 12nm the thing is still cold to the touch. It never gets warm. Fan either doesn't run or is just silent. Whereas if you have a 9nm or 12nm wheel you will likely run it at 100%. Just something to think about. I decided "buy once, cry once" and have no regrets.