CS Formula V2 .5 thumb encoders
Andrea Silva
Member
Dear all , I know this topic has been discussed a few years ago, but without coming to ny conclusion. So I try to focus again on this topic, hopefully getting a feedback from Fanatec itself.
The situation is that it is too easy to activate thumbs encoders by acciden while moving your hand on the steeringwheel items driving the cars. For sure they are very light to rotate, so that using racing gloves it is nearly hard to feel their clicks. I don't know if it possible to get them stiffer, or if it is possible to set them in order that I need to rotate there much more than a click to confirm the input.
What is your experience? is there any mod I can install to improve this behavior? I could accept both solution, i.e. get them stiffer (always feeling the clicks) or increasing their rotation to have an input.
Last but not least, in F1 I assigned them to BBIAS and DIFF. Perhaps the way out is to change their function? in this case what do you suggest.
Thank to all the community for the feedbacks I will receive.
Comments
that probaply is more like game devs self need think about. but if they test they games something else they not even may notice problems
for example i play one game where i cant even use encoders by default at all, game menu movement is so fast that i cant even click the right things.
I find the same issue, and did some searching. Only option I saw was a 3D printed part that bolts on the back and adds resistance to the notches in the knob. I did not pursue this and just put up w it
In F1 I also used Diff and Bias on those knobs as those are things I might change during a lap but rarely do. ERS mode might be one which I currently have on a lower knob and might not want to accidently change
Also I guess you could asign up/down to one for fast scrolling of the radio messages and other menus
Not many other useful commands to assign imo
I found a fast flick can just move one notch a bit easier than a careful turn
Looking at the knob internals, a different part would be required, so Fanatec would have to redesign
By no means a perfect solution... but I use thin rubber bands (bands that are on some produce from grocery store) and loop it around few times. The band sits between the rotary dial giving it some friction. It's not going to give the most consistent friction, but it does work to prevent accidental turn. Try it, it's free and easy if you have some rubber bands around. You'll lose the clicky feel though with this.
(If you also notice, I removed left thumb hat to avoid hitting it when I turn the wheel close to 180 in hairpin turns.. I play GT7 primarily and my glove sometimes hits the hat causing my screen view to turn, no way to turn it off or button map in GT7).
Thank you for your feedbacks. I see that I am not the only one facing this "issue". Some clever workarounds, no technical measure to "solve the problem" (i mean... I would call it problem if these encoders were designed to be used for car settings, such as BB or DIFF as it happen in real F1 cars). Is anybody using the thumb encoders for different functions ? Or any mods/software setting to solve?
regards,
I know what you mean. I like to think that Fanatec is aware of this issue given number of times it was mentioned, but I'm not holding my breadth for any immediate fix (either software or hardware), hope I'm wrong and happy to be proven wrong.
Likely and hopefully a newer wheel gen will address this, but given state of affairs at Fanatec to Corsair transition, it may be long time before we see anything "new" IMO. Again, happy to be proven wrong, I like Fanatec products and want them to succeed so we can all benefit.
If and When they release a new Gen, my wish list:
1) make thumb encoders more tactile, harder clicks to help avoid accidental turn (also give slightly larger interval between clicks, it's too sensitive than what it needs to be, especially when most of us are wearing gloves)
2) make left thumb joystick hat little smaller for accidental bump in hard turn, or allow disabling in software (I may be the minority here on this issue, but adding a software to disable or reassigning button map is reasonable)
3) slightly increase the wheel to 280mm or release versions with larger wheel diameter, 280, 290 would be nice
4) for Gran Turismo players, make this wheel button mappable to the game. I know this is not a Fanatec issue, but they have relationship with PD and they already have F1 Podium wheel in the game, not unreasonable ask
Sorry to turn this into a discussion rather than a solution. Good luck and let us know if you run into a solution that could help all of us. Cheers!
at the moment the only "consistent" measure that I found is to assign BBIAS and DIFF to the two red switch levers. They are not so "cool" to be used as the thumb encoders are, and of course less comfortable to activate because you have to move quite a lot your thumbs to reach them... but at least you don't have any accidental modification in car settings during your laps... performance (and safety, for the real life) first of all is the rule of racing. It's a shame not to be able to use those thumb encoders . Perhaps with different games than F1 20xx (F! 2025???? or others) they will turn to have sense for some functions.... but at the moment the cons are by far much relevant than the pros... what a shame!! But I don't give up to find a solution for this! I'd like to keep the post alive... if anybody has something to share it's good for all the community.