Widescreen Gaming Forum

[quote]I wanted to get both of those games, yay for staying behind the curve...

Unfortunately you're also a bit behind the curve on system spec, if you still have the one listed in your sig. You may be able to play Grid OK, but it would probably struggle with the multi vehicle races in DiRT.

Yea, I am gonna download both demos and try them out, see how the looks/performance ratio is. If they perform well I will probably get them, especially Grid as I dont have to go over 2 miles to get it.

Edit: Dirt does run ok on my computer, havent tested grid yet.

Need to tweek wheel settings a bit next time I try playing it.

Wheel is super sensitive so it is hard to drive in a straight line, and when i have force feedback on it randomly moves, it will randomly turn really harshly if it is up a lot so I need to tweek those settings also, but if it is off the wheel can practically be moved by blowing on it (motors assist you in moving it, but in that they also sometimes jerk it when you start to move it even with feedback off)

Havent tried GRID yet but it is installed.

Edit: Dirt does run ok on my computer, havent tested grid yet.

Need to tweek wheel settings a bit next time I try playing it.

Wheel is super sensitive so it is hard to drive in a straight line, and when i have force feedback on it randomly moves, it will randomly turn really harshly if it is up a lot so I need to tweek those settings also, but if it is off the wheel can practically be moved by blowing on it (motors assist you in moving it, but in that they also sometimes jerk it when you start to move it even with feedback off).

I don't recall if I tried the DiRT demo or if it had multi vehicle races, but you won't know if it plays smooth enough until you've done some.

On the steering sensitivity, I would consider leaving the wheel for now and try adjusting steering saturation and front wheel toe and camber in game before digging into the wheel settings. You want quick response from the wheel to avoid the dreaded lag sensation.

Adding toe and camber will increase straight line stability with minimal tradeoff, being a bit slower speed. If anything you have plenty overhead on speed in DiRT. It's also important to get suspension and front/rear power bias dialed in, the latter of which can avoid some AWD cars feeling like fishtailing RWDs.

One of the demos was a multi car race with the buggy type vehicles

It runs fine at 1440x900 and high settings but I turned off AA and AF and put shadows to medium.

Ok, thanks I will try tweaking those later.

The force feedback has me puzzled, all the way up I feel every bump and it is super loud listening to the motor.

Whats the difference between feedback strength, weight and effects strength.

I know effects strength is like bumps.

But strength vs weight for feedback. Is weight how hard you have to push it and strength how hard it moves randomly.

With all off my wheel like I said spins when you blow on it :P

LOL, NOW I see what you mean. Personally I never liked Force Feedback, so I'm not the best to ask on the settings details. I've always felt FF is way over hyped and not in fact a realistic representation of a true driving experience. If anything it just makes it harder to get a feel for the handling and settings, as you're experiencing.

I forgot to say above that DiRT has buggy 5.1 surround audio. You'll get better results using 2.1. There's even audio mods for the game that turn off the audio of other vehicles when they're a certain distance from you, but mainly just using stereo or 2.1 is the best way to avoid such problems.

Downside is with no force feedback the motor basically acts in such a way that practically blowing on the wheel makes it spin 270 in a second, there is literally no force and sometimes the wheel would jerk with force feedback off in the direction you are turning it in (motor would power back up)

Gotta find the right balance of some force required to turn but without spaziness.

I think sensitivity may be a bit of the issue too with the car tuning.

Ill try GRID tomorrow and see how it compares.

Well that's exactly why I think those super free spinning wheels are over hyped too. You need a little gear resistance built in to avoid having to use FF to keep it from feeling too loose, and IMHO, relying totally on FF to do that is not a good way to go. However do try the steering saturation and toe/camber settings I mentioned before you decide how much FF you need. Personally I wouldn't have issues with FF if you could set it up so that it only increases wheel spin resistance and provides subtle indications of differences in road surfaces, vs having to wrestle it when bumps are driven over, walls/cars are hit, etc, but that's not typically the case.

In the past it has always had the motor not running providing resistance, but its pedals didn't work so I had to put in drivers and after I installed them and turned off force feedback then it became freespinning.

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/61231
The PC required 'specs' are out.

So who has bought a 5 series card that does not want to use their free copy of dirt2? *cough*

Recommended Specifications - Enhanced for DirectX 11
OS: Microsoft Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7

Fail.

There are rumors of a demo coming out 11/26... along with optimized Ati drivers. Yum-yum.