Mysterious oscillation DD1 only on PS4
Sander Roubos
Member
A few months ago I acquired a 2nd hand DD1. It worked fine and after updating it to the latest drivers 4.51 and FW I used it without issue for three months. However, last week I suddenly encountered very strange behavior which I haven't been able to resolve.
The issue is that the wheel experiences very heavy oscillation, jolts even under normal use. It's as if the wheelbase overcompensates or enlarges normal FFB behavior like centering and road bumps. I have added a video to show what I mean.
Some data on the situation:
- I play on a PS4 Pro.
- The issue is most pronounced in AC, but also happens to a smaller degree in ACC, GT7 and GT Sport so it is definitly not a game issue.
- It does NOT manifest itself if I hook up my DD1 to my laptop and try it with AC on that. Super smooth FFB like what I was used to.
- I am not sure what triggered the effect but I think it did start after a wheel change. I use a Formula V2.5 and a CS Universal Hub V2 wheel. Both experience the same issue now when I switch them out.
I played around with all the settings on my wheel base of course. My standard settings are:
SEN: AUTO
FF: 35
LIN: PEAK
NDP: 20
NFR: Off
NIN: OFF
INT :02
FEI: 100
FOR: 100
SPR: OFF
DPR: 100
BLI: 90
SHO : 70
MPS : AUTO
Now the key thing here, changing these around does not seem to affect the issue, it just hides it. What I mean is that, for instance, increasing NDP to 50 lessens the force of the jolts due to the dampening but it is still there. SImilarly, increasing NFR, NIN and INT puts a dampening effect on the wheel but I can still feel the oscillations and jolts. Decreasing FEI and FOR obviously decreases FFB as a whole which makes it less pronounced but still there.
Other things I have tried which didn't help:
- Different profiles, just in case I missed a setting. All of them, including AUTO, experience the issue.
- Downgrading the firmware, I went to V691/V42 but this did not make a difference at all.
- Different USB ports on the PS4 and different USB cable.
- I tried another PS4 with AC on it!
- Turning off BT on the PS4
- Unplugging my CS V3 pedals
At this point I'm not sure anymore what to try. Perhaps anybody else has a good idea :)
Comments
I don't think there is anything wrong with your settings and I don't think you have a hardware problem per se. I think you have simply discovered that the PS does not output as detailed FFB information as the PC.
The oscillation and jolts are likely caused by the FFB on PS being being less granular and updated less frequently leading to hysteresis between the signal and the wheel movement - the delays can lead to an out of phase relationship between the signal and the resultant movement that can build into oscillation and jolts.
If you hadn't compared the two you would, likely, simply adjusted the settings to dampen the unwanted effects, and assumed this was normal.
But it was fine on my PS4 until a week ago. FFB just as smooth as it is on the PC laptop. It has from one moment to another changed into an unplayable situation.
Forgot to post the movie, here is the link.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_Q1HIZLPQJY
The video is interesting, there is a notable lag between you moving the wheel and the game responding - not good! Afraid I have no idea why this would have been caused by the latest Fanatec update. That will need Fanatec's dev's input but I expect they will simply ignore you I'm afraid!
Yes, the lag was present earlier either. It's like there is something wrong in the communication between the wheelbase and the PS4. But since two different PS4s show this behavior I still suspect it's something on the wheelbase side.
The lag may be due to the driving assistance.
Driving assistance where? In the game? I haven't switched it on in any game, this issue manifests itself in every game I try. AC doesn't even have driving assistance as far as I know?
In the options, there are driving aids, such as ideal line, automatic braking and gearbox, and also a steering assistance, which corrects steering errors. It is generally active by default when you log in to the game for the first time and should be deactivated. In some games the driving aids follow the difficulty level, so at the minimum level they are all active, while at the maximum level they are deactivated.
It is possible that this assistance is active, without you knowing it.
Tried looking for driving assists but the PS4 version of AC definitely doesn't have any that interfere with the steering system. And all my games suffer from this issues, it's not game dependent.
I have done some more testing and contrary to my earlier statement and the topic title it ALSO occurs on PC now. I have also tested on a PS5 and it appears there as well. So I'm now firmly convinced the base is at fault.