I found A REPRODUCIBLE BUG with FM6 using my Thrustmaster TX/TH8A/T3PA
There really is a lot of great stuff being “Constructively” discussed here… And since I KNOW that constructive comments ALWAYS help…
I’m going to try and keep it that way too! I understand frustrations, but… I love the forum when it works to improve rather than complain!
Even if this bug is confirmed by other drivers and ultimately by Turn 10, I still find that the FFB, Physics, and the realistic feel provided is the best yet in Forza of any variety!
That said…In order to experience this “great feel” I think it is critical for you tune your car, AND… Tune your WHEEL appropriately… And… Drive with realistic expectations…
If you do those things, FM6 FFB and Tire Physics seem the best yet in the entire Series… IMHO of course…
I can say those things broadly, because, right now, I’m trying to max out my Forza score for Rewards! So, I have been playing at least one race or event in each of FM3, FM4, Horizon, FM5, and Horizon2 Daily… (My OCD is showing. LOL)
I only add that because it is interesting swapping between them… Like what I learned about the Thrustmaster sensitivity settings… (more on that below).
The Bug I believe I have found, and would like others to look for and Confirm is what follows…
If you drive a Thrustmaster TX wheel in FM6, please try to see if you can get the same problem to occur, because I know that there is a SLIM chance this might just be my rig, and that would be the easy answer for a developer to deflect the issue… So I need others to try and confirm. I don’t think it is my rig, because it never does this in FM5 or Horizon 2… Just FM6!
Additionally people have touched on the problem in other posts (my previous posts as well), without nailing it down… I think I have nailed this one down though now!
I started testing to figure out why it seemed that FFB was SOOOoooo heavy (and weird) at some times (and not others), particularly when I had full settings in the wheel (not tuned down with SEN or Force…). The key here being… That it is just SOMETIMES… which explains a lot about what I had been trying to communicate before… “Stay on track, and the feel is great”… Until… “Weird losses of control”… Seemingly out of nowhere… “More difficulty on some turns than others”… but only sometimes…
HERE IT IS! and it IS Absolutely Reproducible (For Me AT Least)…
Using Spec Ford GT with total stock parts and tune… ---- Probably can be confirmed with other cars too … please do use a different car if you know you had weird issues or had problems with something you normally like to drive and wondered “What the heck!” I will check others later… For now please try the Spec Ford GT…
I’ve recreated this in Test, Rivals, and in my League!
Go to Catalunya or Sebring, or Brands Hatch, or any other track where you can find grass on both side of a long straight away… The long front stretch at Catalunya is a good proving ground because is has only about 3-4 feet of grass on the sides between track and wall…
Then Just play around quite aggressively… Generally things feel pretty awesome (at first)…
Make some mistakes… Like… hard cornering with tires over the rumble strips into the grass… Or, spin it i out by coming off too aggressively… Hit the deep puddles and spin (tracks with rain)… get way deep in the gravel somewhere… OR other any other variant of a normal mistakes you might make! — wow… I might need driving school)… LOL… Still… try this as a test…
Pay particular attention to the feel of the FFB pressure… And, PAY PARTICULAR ATTENTION to the DIRECTION of the Force Feedback… Because that is where the problem is when it rears its ugly little head… And this issue/bug has never been present when first start a session… At least not for me…
So… at first… The feelings from the road/surfaces In-Hand through the wheel are as expected…
And Very Great!..
To test this for yourselves, drive about 100 MPH on any straight with grass on either side… Then simply dip the same side tires… say left side first… just off the pavement into the grass. The car (and FFB) will (as it should) try to pull you deeper into the grass. And… It will give you that sort of Pop-Free feel as you steer back onto the track which will requires some driver reaction to prevent scooting off other side…
Now repeat… Traveling in the same direction by doing the same with the right side tires… on the right hand side of the track… The car should behave like, but opposite as above, trying to pull you deeper into the grass, and requiring the same but opposite response by you to to get back on track without skidding across to the other side…
Now Stay on the pavement and perform some (say 100 MPH) very slight (low to medium angle) E-Brake Drifts in both direction while loosely holding the wheel… The FFB and the wheel should try to self-counter into the slide… Drifting to the left (back of car out to the right) should produce a right-handed reaction in the wheel… Drifting to the right (back out to left) should produce a Left-handed reaction… And when its working… IT Does react as expected —though I agree with others, that it seem to be a bit sluggish… IT IS THERE and IS CORRECT in direction!
–Until (continue reading)
I played like this for a while — Running up and back — Forwards and backwards to track direction— staying in certain areas and usually on the straights (for predictability/reproducibility sake)— and continued playing around the rest of the track… driving aggressively… making laps… And, purposely making mistakes…
Then eventually… Bam! There it is!
Now… Wheel starts suddenly feeling too heavy in a weird way… Driving feels wrong on certain turns… my performance and lap times drop off… What The Heck???
What I found — once the problem sets in — is that NOW…
When you test the car again, by dipping the tires off the track, as we did above… and when doing so on either side… The FFB is EXTREMELY HEAVY… and
(pause for effect)…
IT IS ALWAYS TO THE LEFT!.. — Which others in previous posts have mentioned (Props to you all)
Left side off… Left pull and very HARD PULL… making recovery back onto track extraordinary tough particularly when off the left side… And, that “Pop-free-and-scoot across the track” affect after getting all four tires back onto the payment… becomes even more pronounced and difficult to manage!
Right side off… YOU GUESSED IT… Left pull… and hard… (Which actually helps a bit to get back to the pavement when off right side — but in a bad way).
Now, to further confirm things…
Drive down the straight… keeping the car fully ‘ON’ the pavement… about 100MPH again… and initiate a very light E-Brake drift to the right…
That Strong Left Bias is there… Left FFB would be correct here… But the Overly Strong Left Bias makes the car SNAP BACK into OVER CORRECTION, and SPIN… Definitely wrong relative to what would be the normal response… before this BUG presented itself.
Now do the same on-track E-Drift to the left…
THAT SAME STRONG LEFT BIAS IS THERE AGAIN… LEFT… That is INCORRECT in this situation!
As a matter of fact… And you will confirm if you too reproduce this 'Bug’ condition… The car and the TX Wheel FFB will be “over-the-top” strongly pulling to the left in any situation where the tires are not sticking in a solid state of Static or rolling (but not sliding) friction…
Even traveling on the pavement… make is push by turning the wheel too far — And you get Strong Left FFB — Regardless of the direction (right or Left) of the turn when you caused the push…
The same is true for spinning the rear tires coming off the turn too aggressively. Spin the tires even a little while accelerating off — And you get Strong Left FFB… It does not matter if you have a little left or right steering input when accelerating… the strong Left FFB in this “rear-wheel” slip scenario seems to be brought on just because the wheels are “Out of Grip” with the pavement…
I
n other words… This Bug will cause the wheel to exhibit Very Strong Leftward FFB… In ANY situation where the wheels are not within their limits of grip!
This is true in Grass, Gravel, and even in some paved section of track that are out of bounds… Making it painfully difficult to get back onto the track…
And… I believe when this problem occurred during my League racing session… It did not clear up between races… Exiting the Lobby and Re-entering was the only thing that would do it… Likewise… Once it happened in Rivals, or test… I had to quit back to the main menu to get the issue to clear…
And before you think it… It is not my Wheel overheating… And… Not likely Glitching… I feel comfortable saying that because I put it through much more abuse in long drifting session in both FM5 and Horizon 2… Where the cooling fans come on. And I can actually feel the heat… Still in those abusive sessions, No Such Glitch Has Ever Occurred. And… Temp of wheel is low (no fans on yet) when issue arises in FM6…
If you have read this far… And Thank You if you did… Please spend 30 minutes or so in Test or Rivals mode trying to confirm what I think I have found.
I will also let Christian at Turn 10 know about this too, but it is more likely to get a real look if more people have confirmed the behavior… I will contact a couple of you whose prior posts seem to hint that you had in some way experienced the Bug…
Oh yeah… one last thing… Even when I turned the FFB level and Vibration Levels down significantly in the advanced controller setting… When the Bug was active… In grass, or gravel, or slide… It seemed like it also went to full strength (still leftward of course).
Please try it… And feel free to let me know
Thanks again
Heath!