SimBin Force Feedback Guide
Over on Cohost some time ago, I posted a guide to help people make fine-tuned adjustments to steering wheel force feedback for SimBin racing games. A very kind individual who wasn't a Cohost user actually sought out my YouTube page to thank me for my work demystifying the process. However, with Cohost soon to be taken off the net, this useful resource would be nuked from the web.
This guide is a mirror of that one, bar for bar. If you wanna get a little more immersion out of SimBin's classic sim racing titles, this is how you do it.
This guide works on any SimBin title, including GTR2, GT Legends, Race 07 and many more.
First, some quick tips:
We can actually make some changes before we dive into INI files to get a little more enjoyment out of these classic games. Back then, steering wheels with 900+ degrees of rotation were a rarity, while 270-360 degree rotation wheels were the norm. For this reason, you'll want to change your wheel's rotation to 360 degrees either on the wheel itself or in the driver settings.
Additionally, most of the cars in SimBin titles actually have a lower than normal steering ratio. This means the front wheels don't turn much from lock to lock on your steering wheel. During typical operations this isn't a problem and actually creates more precision at speed, but the downside is when the car gets sideways. Less steering angle means it's easier for your car to slip into an unrecoverable spin. In the setup menu of most cars in most SimBin games, you should be able to find a Steering Lock or Steering Angle setting. I recommend an increase to around 19-21. This means you won't need to turn the wheel as much during normal vehicle operations - thus losing a bit of precision - but you should be able to catch slides from much deeper angles than previously.
Now, let's get into the fun stuff.
First, let's make a control input file. Head into the game of your choice, bind your controls and save them with a unique name. This will save your inputs as a file on your computer in the form of an INI file. We will open this to make our adjustments. To find the input file we've made, we can follow this directory:
My Documents > SimBin > [GAME NAME] > UserData > ControlSet
Open this in any text editor like Notepad or Notepad++, and press CTRL+F to open the search bar in the text editor. We wanna look for "FFB," which will take us to the settings we wanna adjust. You can also use the CTRL+F shortcut to look for specific settings in the file as we go down the list.
Base Feedback
FFB Rumble Pad="0" - Turn this off if you're using a wheel. This particular setting is for handheld controllers like Xbox or Playstation controllers.
FFB Effects Level="2" - This setting can be adjusted in-game with the FFB Effects setting, from None to Full. In this case, more isn't always better; beyond effects level 2, SimBin games may add vibration effects for throttle and brake applications. This ends up making the FFB feel imprecise and blurry, and doesn't really provide any information about the grip in the tires, so just keep this at 2.
FFB Gain="0.6000" - You don't need to worry about this one too much right now since you can just change the setting in the game if the feedback is either not strong enough or too strong. FFB clipping is when the forces being sent to the wheel are either stronger than the wheel can generate, or stronger than the game can actually send. If you find that the wheel is turning "numb" or lacking detail while turning the car, there is a high probability you're clipping. When we're finished with the edits we'll be making shortly, we can go back to this FFB Gain setting and raise or lower it by 0.05 until our wheel is receiving good, strong feedback without clipping/turning numb.
FFB Throttle/Brake FX="0" - Changing to 1 adds vibrations to the wheel while we press the throttle or brake pedal, and we don't want that. As mentioned previously, the information SimBin sends through these effects has no relation to the level of grip in the car, so it's useless noise.
FFB steer vibe freq mult="0.0000" - Put this to 0. These are vibration effects that we don't need. We can also set the "FFB steer vibe zero magnitude" setting to 0 while we're here.
FFB steer force average weight="0.99000" - Now we're getting more interesting. Every new frame SimBin games display also sends new force feedback data to the wheel. Making this number lower will blend the data more from one frame to the next, but also adds latency to the FFB. Making this number higher means there is less blending from frame to frame. It's generally a good idea to keep this number high on computers that can run SimBin titles at consistently high frame rates, but if your PC struggles with frame rate consistency then the FFB might feel choppy with a high number. I have pretty hefty PC parts, so this is set to 0.99 for me - but you might need to set this lower if your PC is older/weaker, or if you're constantly racing against a large number of opponents.
FFB steer force exponent="1.5000" - This is a critical reason why I think SimBin's FFB feels dated. Adjusting this number essentially changes the ramp of resistance you will feel as you turn the wheel and the car fights your inputs. Making the number higher will make the number more like a half-pipe, while lower numbers pull that ramp closer to linear. I prefer a pretty loose feel in the center of the steering range, so 1.5 is probably a high setting for most sim racers.
FFB steer force input max="11500.00000" - If the wheel seems to be pulling the wheel away from center while turning the car, you may need to change this setting to "-11500.0000". Keep the number at either 11500 or -11500 though.
FFB steer force output max="0.30000" - This setting can change the overall balance of FFB steering force effects. If your output is set too high, your FFB will clip as you reach maximum grip and erase all other FFB effects. If it's set too low, you'll be feeling every bump and kerb strike but the wheel won't give you any feeling while you're turning the car. Generally, you wanna adjust this setting so you can feel your car resist your steering inputs while also feeling the bumps and kerbs on the track. A higher number will increase the force of steering resistance, a lower number reduces it.
FFB steer force grip weight="0.15000" - This is a simulated understeer effect. If you push the steering wheel too far for the front tires to maintain grip, the steering force will weaken. This isn't a realistic effect; instead, it emulates the "butt in seat" feel of a car understeering from an over-cranked steering wheel, which is very easy to feel in a real car. The suggested setting is too high for my tastes, but it's a good starting point to figure out how much presence you want the understeer effect to have in your force feedback. A higher number makes the force falloff more intense, a lower number makes the force falloff less intense. If you want pure steering rack without unrealistic feedback similar to iRacing's FFB, set this to 0.
FFB steer force grip factor="1.0000" - This is another "butt in seat" effect emulation. Real cars will only give you feedback from the front tires, through the front suspension and into the steering rack. Setting this number lower introduces grip information from the rear tires, which isn't realistic but as stated before adds that "butt in seat" information you'd feel in a real car. This setting acts as a percentage; a value of 0.80 means 80% of the information sent to your wheel is from the front wheels, while 20% is from the rear wheels. I've set this to 1 to remove those effects, since I don't need that information; over a decade of sim racing experience has allowed see and hear the subtle hints of oversteer as it occurs.
FFB steer update thresh="0.0000" - This adjusts the amount of change in the force feedback required to send more FFB data to the wheel. This was used for older computers that struggled to process the game's simulation maths, the graphics AND the FFB information. These days you can just set this to 0.0000 and get new FFB information as soon as possible.
Vehicle dynamics.
FFB steer friction coefficient="0.08464" - The steering column inherently wants to stay in a state of least resistance, and that state is with the wheel centered. Turning the wheel away from center makes the wheel want to return to center because of the Caster Effect on the suspension geometry. Long story short, this setting adds an overall force from the suspension of the car that wants the steering wheel to stay straight "Centering Force" might be how others describe this setting. A value of 0.10 means the resisting force of the wheel is 10% stronger as you turn.
FFB steer friction saturation="1.0000" - Leave this setting at 1. Changing this setting may induce weird behavior in the FFB where the wheel feels like it's clipping, but is still able to transmit road bumps and kerb strikes. This is one of those "this setting is here because it needed to be" things.
FFB steer damper coefficient="0.07964" - This setting is similar to Dynamic Damping in CC. As your car accelerates, the wheels on your car spin faster and generate centrifugal force. This turns your wheels into gyroscopes that make steering harder as the wheels rotate faster. A value of 0.08 means the centrifugal forces of the wheels make your steering wheel 8% harder to turn. I tend to prefer an extremely subtle setting here, but i know of a few people who crank it up to 15 or 20% - a value of 0.15 or 0.20 respectively. Setting it higher than that is probably overkill, though.
FFB steer damper saturation="1.0000" - Same story as the friction saturation setting. Leave this at 1.
FFB throttle/brake vibe - Ignore these settings. If anything, change the vibe magnitude and slope settings to 0 to keep throttle and brake inputs from introducing useless information into your wheel.
Rumble strips & impacts.
This section is kinda weird. In older SimBin titles like Race07 and GTR2, the kerbs on the track are actually a flat surface for the sake of frame rate optimization. Real kerbs are actually a series of very small ramps or bumps that create the iconic "vrrrrt" sound as a car's tire races over it. Since these old games weren't able to simulate the kerbs to the exact precision of today's simulators, some compromises were made. Whenever your car rides over the kerbs in these old games, the simulation basically flips a "kerb switch" on that changes how the car feels while one or more tires are on a kerb. This includes your vehicle's dynamics and your force feedback. These settings will change how every single kerb feels in the game universally, so the best we can do here is approxiamate what most kerbs tend to feel like. You can adjust these settings to taste, however.
FFB rumble strip magnitude="0.20000" - This changes how strongly your wheel shakes as you roll over kerbs. Generally you want this to be noticeable, but not overpowering. Lower numbers make the kerb effect weaker, higher numbers make it stronger.
FFB rumble strip freq mult="1.20000" - This setting is going to have the biggest impact on how kerbs feel. This determines how fast the wheel shakes or oscillates as you roll over a kerb. A higher number means the wheel will shake faster - not harder, but faster - while a lower number means the wheel shakes slower. Applied to real life logic, a lower number means the little bumps/ramps in a kerb are more spaced out while a higher number means they're closer together.
FFB rumble strip pull factor="-0.05000" - This setting changes how hard the kerbs push or pull your steering wheel back onto or away from the racing surface. Generally, most kerbs barely have a noticeable push or pull onto or away from the racing surface, but some kerbs will be sunken into the ground or raised above it - inducing that pull or push feel. It's generally a good idea to keep this setting near zero. The value of -0.05000 makes the kerbs push the wheel toward the racing surface and away from the kerbs, but if your wheel's force feedback needs to be reversed this value might actually pull your wheel toward the kerb.
FFB rumble strip update thresh="0.0000" - Another hardware optimization for the PC's of the time. Set it to 0 unless your frame rate is highly inconsistent.
FFB jolt magnitude="1.0000" - This adjusts how strong impacts with walls or other cars will be. You can make this pretty strong if you want - up to 2.0! - but keep in mind this also affects door-to-door contact found in most touring car racing. Setting this too high can make a simple door tap rip the wheel out of your hands. 1.0 is pretty high, but I like the dramatic impact - and I tend to drive cars that aren't as door-to-door as touring cars are.
YOU'RE FINISHED!
That's it, you've reached the end of the guide. Congratulations! Getting your settings to feel just right on your rig is all about trial and error, but hopefully this guide demystifies the process and helps you get to those ideal settings faster. All value suggestions provided are my own, tested on a Thrustmaster T248 wheel. Your wheel will likely feel very different from my own, so have fun giving new settings a try and making adjustments as you desire. You can always come back to this guide and use it as a "backup" of sorts to put values back to baseline if you need to.