No need for QR2 - QR1 is fine? Slew rate filter!
So, I've recently understood - as is true in many other circumstances - that good hardware is nothing without good software controlling it. In regard to DD wheels, I'm assuming they're all good enough to reproduce FFB, possibly with very large margins, and maybe even "too good".
FFB signal is coarse, rough and very "digital". Reproduced by a belt or gear driven wheel base it transforms into feeling analogue, smooth and realistic. But a DD needs filters for it to not feel absolutely awful and broken - it's simply too good at reproducing the harsh signal. Fanatec has most of the relevant filters available, presented in a somewhat easy to use way. But there's one very important filter missing - slew rate reduction. Slew rate is the acceleration of the wheel. There sure is such a thing as too high acceleration. When you go over a bump or curb, and the wheel snaps very violently or starts chattering violently, that's neither realistic, beneficial nor realistic. The acceleration needs to be lower.
So, to the QR1 "problem". My bet is that with a slew rate filter applied, that preserves all of the necessary fidelity and acceleration needed for self-correcting slides, but doesn't overly chatter or twitch in a violent way, a QR1 won't knock or slip - it would be absolutely fine. And no, damping, friction and inertia are something else, with a different purpose.
Others have slew rate reduction. Why doesn't Fanatec have it? If iRacing didn't have it in software, I'd get a DD wheel base from another manufacturer that does have a slew rate filter immediately - not because of the hardware, Fanatec is absolutely fine, but for the software. And yes, I'm happy that INT and FEI exist because they're also absolutely needed.
Comments
What you wrote is correct. Actually the only real filters are INT and FEI. NDP, NFR and NIN are rather additional effects. If you take a photograph, a portrait of a face, the filters soften wrinkles and imperfections, but the subject remains natural. However if you apply a heavy layer of makeup on the subject's face, to cover the flaws, you modify the subject, cover it with a foreign element, and that is exactly what NDP, NFR and INT do.
It is interesting to note how many people are inclined to use these "natural" effects, above all NDP, which cover the FFB, but use at a minimum the real filters, INT and FEI, which do not cover anything, they only make the FFB more acceptable.
Wow, thanks for confirming! It's amazing how almost nobody seems to take this approach, or even talk about it.
Now having INT and FEI, let's hope they also implement slew rate reduction some day! From what I can see, Simucube, Moza, VRS got it, and maybe a few others as well that I'm not aware of. Without all three available, no way I'll ever be interested in anything stronger than 8 Nm, or maybe a little stronger if a big wheel is used.
+1 vote for a slew rate setting, that would be great
Oh and also "Static force reduction", which reduces the FFB strength mid corner where it's highest, that allows for higher overall FFB in the details and lower forces, without having to work hard against the wheel during turns
I would like to bring this topic back to life. I think as of today we have plenty of wheelbase vendors in the market. What differentiates them from my point is software/driver not so much hardware.
So I support the ask for the two mentioned filters: