SimXperience AccuForce Pro Wheel

What is the SimXperience AccuForce Pro?

The AccuForce Pro is a force feedback steering wheel system used mainly for sim racing on PC.

From the SimXperience website,

"The AccuForce Pro V2 Steering System Kit is a complete Plug-N-Play package of our most advanced and realistic direct drive force feedback system. With unparalleled realism and the most advanced tuning features on the market, the AccuForce Pro not only delivers significant advantages for hardcore sim racers but is an effective training tool for real world drivers as well."

Here’s a taste of what it is and how it plays in games, from Inside Sim Racing and their short review,

[Youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qd88Ome9dRg[/Youtube]

Getting Started

In Secrets, I try to focus on the non-obvious or unintuitive so I won’t be covering basics like getting the wheel or installing it, unless there is is something of note to comment on. You’re probably beyond that yourself so I’ll focus on the more obscure and non-obvious things.

My Initial Review

You can find my initial unboxing, review, and various notes over at my post titled SimXperience AccuForce Pro Steering System.

SimXperience SimCommander

First, go to the SimXperience AccuForce Pro product page and then click the Documents / Requirements tab and you will be presented with a number of guides and tutorials, both written and video. These are worth a watch at least once.

AccuForce Settings For Dummies

If you want to dive in and tune your SimCommander game profiles but don’t quite understand the available sliders and options, check out MockRacer.com’s AccuForce Settings For Dummies. It’s a good introduction to what is going on in SimCommander for AccuForce options.

Reset Game Profile to Defaults

1. Duplicate Profile
   1. Open the Control Center, select a profile, then click the Duplicate button near the top of the window.
2. Reset Profile to Defaults
3. Open the Control Center, select a profile, click Output Mixer tab in the middle portion of the screen, click the Output Tuning Wizard button in the same area, select Reset To Defaults option, click Next, Click Next again, click Finish.

And, my typical custom defaults:

1. Set Wheel Mode High
   1. Set Wheel Mode “High” in Output Mixer > AccuForce Steering Wheel > Device Settings.
2. Disable Engine RPMs

How to Auto-Tune In SimCommander

Auto-tuning automagically adjusts the force feedback strength based on recorded lap telemetry ensuring you have the greatest strength at the wheel while avoiding clipping.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Duplicate Profile
   1. Duplicate an existing iRacing profile in Sim Commander: Open the Control Center, select a profile, then click the Duplicate button near the top of the window.
2. Reset Profile to Defaults
   1. Reset the profile to defaults so you’re sure you’ve got a good base line: Open the Control Center, select a profile, click Output Mixer tab in the middle portion of the screen, click the Output Tuning Wizard button in the same area, select Reset To Defaults option, click Next, Click Next again, click Finish.
3. Reset Wheel Mode
   1. Set your desired Wheel Mode in Output Mixer > AccuForce Steering Wheel > Device Settings. I use High as, according to SimXperience, it’s the only guaranteed linear force feedback. You can use whatever you’re comfortable with. The important thing is that you do this before running laps or else it won’t correct if you change the Wheel Mode after.
4. Run Laps
   1. Launch your game using Sim Commander with the overlay enabled and run a few laps at your favourite track. These laps will be recorded and you’ll pick the fastest in Sim Commander so it can tune your settings for that track and car.
5. Auto-Tune Profile
   1. Open the Control Center, select a profile, click Output Mixer tab in the middle portion of the screen, click the Output Tuning Wizard button in the same area, select “Create effect settings from recorded lap telemetry” option, click Next, Click Next again, select your fastest lap at the track you just ran laps on, under the “Select a Template” heading choose “Intelligent Peaks” in the drop-down, click Next, click Finish.

SimCommander Settings

Profile Settings

Output Mixer – AccuForce Steering Wheel

Smoothing (0-255)

• This and Device Settings > Overall Smoothing are one and the same and if you change one it changes the other.
• The Device Settings option only goes up to 47.06% while the other goes up to 100% (255).

Intensity (0-100%)

• This and Device Settings > Overall Intensity are one and the same and if you change one it changes the other.

AccuForce Duramold Steering Wheel

This wheel is better than it looks and better than its price would make you think.

When my Alcantara wheel material started to wear down and slick from use, I picked up this wheel thinking it would be a poor, plasticky feeling wheel, but it’s not. I actually think it should probably be the default wheel.

It is cheaper in make and quality than the other stock options, yes, but for what it is it’s actually really good. The DuraMold material is tough but still has a nice rubbery give to it when pressed. There’s red highlight stitching that only serves to make it look a little nicer. The wheel is smaller than the stock wheels which means your fingers can reach the buttons more easily.

Honestly, I thought I was getting a downgrade because I just needed a wheel, but I have to say this thing is good.

Games

In this section, I’ll be covering specific games and their quirks and features when getting setup.

Race 07

See Heavy wheel or heavy dampening feel when driving

GT Legends

See Heavy wheel or heavy dampening feel when driving

For more general information, see Secrets of GT Legends.

Assetto Corsa

Test Conditions: Primarily Ferrari 458 Italia and Corvette C7.R at Nurburgring GP, clear weather conditions.

Force Feedback Settings

Current Settings: Test 4.0 (below)

(1.0) Description: Trying to find informative, clean, smooth ffb without rough, meaninglesss ffb I was experiencing and also without vibration/resonance I was experiencing; In-game: Gain 75-90% (I customize per-car), Filter 90%, Minimum Force: 0%, Kerb 19%, Road 0%, Slip 25%, ABS 25%; SimCommander: Reset to Defaults, Wheel Mode High, Engine RPMs Disabled, Game Force Feedback Smoothing 18.82%, AccuForce Fluid Dampening 1.18, AccuForce Friction 1.18%. Test Conditions: Primarily Ferrari 458 Italia and Corvette C7.R at Nurburgring GP, clear weather conditions.

(2.0) Description: Experimenting with Experimental Gyro + Damper settings to reclaim some Filter that was extreme at 90 previously; In-game: Gain 75-90% (I customize per-car), Filter 62%, Minimum Force: 0%, Kerb 19%, Road 0%, Slip 25%, ABS 25%; Content Manager > Settings > Controls (learn more): Unlock Experimental, Enable Gyro, Damper Gain 100%, Min Damper Level 1%; SimCommander: Reset to Defaults, Wheel Mode High, Engine RPMs Disabled, Game Force Feedback Smoothing 18.82%, AccuForce Fluid Dampening 1.18, AccuForce Friction 1.18%. Test Conditions: Primarily Ferrari 458 Italia and Corvette C7.R at Nurburgring GP, clear weather conditions.

(3.0) Description: During Test 2.0, tried Gyro Damper 0% and suddenly Filter road feel felt analog. Ended up disabling Gyro all together. Gyro doesn’t seem to hurt, may help oscillation, but not needed for clean ffb. Weird.; In-game: Gain 75-90% (I customize per-car), Filter 61%, Minimum Force: 0%, Kerb 19%, Road 0%, Slip 25%, ABS 25%; SimCommander: Reset to Defaults, Wheel Mode High, Engine RPMs Disabled, Game Force Feedback Smoothing 18.82%, AccuForce Fluid Dampening 1.18, AccuForce Friction 1.18%. Test Conditions: Primarily Ferrari 458 Italia and Corvette C7.R at Nurburgring GP, clear weather conditions.

(4.0) In-game: Gain 75-90% (I customize per-car), Filter 0%, Minimum Force: 5.0%, Kerb 19%, Road 0%, Slip 18%, ABS 19%; SimCommander: Reset to Defaults, Wheel Mode High, Engine RPMs Disabled, Game Force Feedback Smoothing 18.82%, AccuForce Fluid Dampening 4.71%, AccuForce Friction 4.71%. Test Conditions: Primarily Ferrari 458 Italia and Corvette C7.R at Nurburgring GP, clear weather conditions. Assetto Corsa Content Manager

Basically a super well-done launcher for Assetto Corsa. Free to try, lots of options available free, and absolutely worth it to unlock for a donation of any amount (as of 2019-05-21).

Assetto Corsa Competizione

Reducing Weird FFB Tick in Scrubs/Slides

Try lower Force Feedback Frequencies in Options > Controls to lessen or remove that weird ffb tick during scrubbing / slides. There’s no option to disable this effect specifically.

The tick never felt right to me. I assume it’s meant to communicate rubber sliding laterally over tarmac but the effect just throws me off.

At 111hz the effect is pretty much disabled as far as I can tell and I found the experience of scrubbing or lateral slides then started to match my experience in other sims – which to me is preferable at this point.

At 222hz the effect is almost gone but there is something there and it may be more helpful than at 333hz. Try it out for yourself.

At 333hz the effect is in full force and it feels like a quick, sharp but light, tick in the wheel that I can’t quite make my brain turn into useful information.

Lowering the Frequency doesn’t seem to have a dramatic effect on FFB quality. iRacing still gets away with 60hz so 111hz isn’t a bad jump.

See Frequency under Force Feedback here:

iRacing

Steering Feedback Foundation Settings

1. SimCommander FFB Settings:
   1. SimCommander Reset to Defaults
   2. Wheel Mode: High
   3. Engine RPMs: Disabled
   4. Game Force Feedback: Disabled
   5. Game Force Feedback Smoothing: Disabled
   6. AccuForce Fluid Dampening: 9.02%
   7. AccuForce Friction: 9.02%
   8. AccuForce Inertia: 9.02%
   9. Steering Feedback Foundation: 125%
      1. Add/Enable Smoothing Filter: 2
   10. Add/Enable Road Bumps Effect: 160%
   11. Add Front Suspension Bumps: 100%

irFFB – Alternative Force Feedback

GamerMuscle’s recent irffb video got me interested in trying irFFB particularly for the SoP (Seat of Pants) feel. I call this SoP feel “Oversteer Effect” as it seems to me to complement the Understeer Effect you can also find in irFFB, Assetto Corsa, etc.

Click here to download vJoy 2.1.8 prerequisite for irFFB

Click here to download irFFB 1.4.2 (latest as of 2020-10-19)

The way GamerMuscle says it, some slides you just can’t catch in iRacing, you don’t feel it coming on and once it hits that’s it it’s going to slide out on you and there’s no way to recover. He says with irFFB + SoP he can catch rear end slides much more easily.

Here’s my irffb settings:

SimCommander’s Rear Traction Loss effect comes into this because it basically accomplishes the same thing as irFFB SoP but, I would say, with a more elegant feel.

I’m currently using 12-25% Rear Traction Loss to mimick 12-25% irFFB SoP.

I recommend giving either of these a try.

PS. irFFB might be a replacement for SimCommander for some people because (a) it works right out of the box, (b) it’s simple one-page interface, and (c) it provides some of the typical ffb tuning parameters built right in that you might have seen in other games.

Kart Kraft

SimCommander: Reset to Defaults, Wheel Mode Responsive (Peaks Allowed), Disable Engine RPMs, Game Force Feedback Smoothing 100% (feel free to tune yourself).

In-Game: Force Feedback Gain 50%

Project Cars 2

First, this SimXperience video does a good job explaining how to initially setup the game:

[Youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhePKcs14eA[/Youtube]

Project Cars 2 does not detect steering left/right assignment

Mentioned in the video but I found that you, at least, need to rotate the wheel 360degs in the direction of the assignmnet, and then back again 360degs, to get Project Cars 2 to detect the assignment.

Project Cars2 may act like it never detects any steering assignments or it complains about ‘multiple inputs detected’. The rotation fix mentioned above fixed this for me.

Unexpected/Unnatural Rotation/Oversteer In Corners on Throttle Lift-off

If you experience unexpected/unnatural rotation-around-center /oversteer in corners when you lift-off the throttle then try going Tuning Setup > Edit Setup > ECU/Engine/Gearing > Engine Braking and increasing that number.

Engine Braking: Lower values result in greater engine braking torque which can cause the wheels to rotate too slowly or lock-up when you lift off the throttle in corners and this can cause the car to rotate/oversteer more than you think it should.

So, try increasing Engine Braking to counteract this problem.

Force Feedback Settings – Christiaan’s Pure FFB

1. Download and install Christiaan’s Pure FFB 1.06 (new download) “Direct Driven\Without LSS (anti-oscillation)\Standard FX\ffb_custom_settings.txt” as your own in “Documents\Project CARS 2”
   1. Download my ffb_custom_settings.txt for maximum wheel strength while avoiding clipping (Christiaan’s default txt is too weak on AccuForce)
2. In-Game FFB Settings
   1. Gain: 100
   2. Volume: 82
   3. Tone 38
   4. FX: 18
3. SimCommander FFB Settings:
   1. SimCommander Reset to Defaults
   2. Wheel Mode: High
   3. Engine RPMs: Disabled
   4. Game Force Feedback: 100%
   5. Game Force Feedback Smoothing: 43.14%

Force Feedback Settings – Steering Feedback Foundation

SimCommander FFB Settings:

1. SimCommander Reset to Defaults
2. Wheel Mode: High
3. Engine RPMs: Disabled
4. Game Force Feedback: Disabled
5. Game Force Feedback Smoothing: Disabled
6. AccuForce Fluid Dampening: 7.84%
7. AccuForce Friction: 7.84%
8. AccuForce Inertia: 7.84%
9. Steering Feedback Foundation: 150%
   1. Add/Enable Smoothing Filter: 2
10. Add/Enable Road Bumps Effect: 150%
    1. Add/Enable Smoothing Filter: 12
11. Add Front Suspension Bumps: 88%
    1. Add/Enable Smoothing Filter: 12

Improved FFB with Jack Spade Custom FFB Files

I no longer use Jack Spade files or ffb settings. See Christiaan or SFF settings, above.

See this post in the Project Cars 2 forums for custom FFB files. I found it difficult to get satisfactory FFB out of Project Cars 2 so I went asking around if any other AccuForce owners have good results and a user told me about the Jack Spade files.

Current Settings: Test 8.3 (below)

Test Conditions: Primarily Ginettta G55 G4 and Corvette C7.R at Brands Hatch Indy, clear weather conditions.

The following tests with were the Project Cars 2 DEMO as of 2018-09-30:

(1) After some brief testing, I’ve getting decent results with the ffb_custom_settings – tire lo comp DD.txt file. Settings: In-game Gain 88%, Volume 88%, Tone: 88%, FX 25%, SimCommander Reset to Defaults, Wheel Mode High, Engine RPMs Disabled, Game Force Feedback Smoothing 100%, set AccuForce Friction 3.14%.

(2) More testing (ffb_custom_settings – alt lo comp DD.txt): Feels better for sharpness of steering forces and road feel, not perfect but better. Settings: In-game Gain 88%, Volume 63%, Tone: 63%, FX 25%, SimCommander Reset to Defaults, Wheel Mode High, Engine RPMs Disabled, Game Force Feedback Smoothing 100%, set AccuForce Friction 3.14%.

(3) More testing (ffb_custom_settings – alt hi comp.txt): Okay but a little less sharp in steering forces, a little bit more lively. Settings: In-game Gain 88%, Volume 63%, Tone: 63%, FX 25%, SimCommander Reset to Defaults, Wheel Mode High, Engine RPMs Disabled, Game Force Feedback Smoothing 100%, set AccuForce Friction 1.57%.

(4) More testing (ffb_custom_settings – alt lo comp DD SopDiff.txt): Improved corner grip feeling, good road feel, decent steering force weigh/sharpness. Settings: In-game Gain 88%, Volume 50%, Tone: 50%, FX 12%, SimCommander Reset to Defaults, Wheel Mode High, Engine RPMs Disabled, Game Force Feedback Smoothing 100%, set AccuForce Friction 1.57%.

The following tests were with the Project Cars 2 FULL RELEASE as of 2018-09-30.:

(5) ffb_custom_settings – alt lo comp DD SopDiff.txt: In heavy cornering this file now shows a dramatic loss of wheel weight that I didn’t experience before. Not sure what’s up with it. Settings: In-game Gain 88%, Volume 50%, Tone: 50%, FX 12%, SimCommander Reset to Defaults, Wheel Mode High, Engine RPMs Disabled, Game Force Feedback Smoothing 100%, set AccuForce Friction 1.57%.

(6) ffb_custom_settings – stan lo comp DD SopDiff.txt: Solved previous wheel weight loss issue noted above. Felt light all around, though, had to increase FFB settings to get some weight. Pretty decent feeling, though. Settings: In-game Gain 88%, Volume 88%, Tone: 88%, FX 25%, SimCommander Reset to Defaults, Wheel Mode High, Engine RPMs Disabled, Game Force Feedback Smoothing 100%, set AccuForce Friction 1.57%.

(7) ffb_custom_settings – tire lo comp DD SopDiff.txt: Also decent, much more subtle steering forces. Settings: In-game Gain 88%, Volume 88%, Tone: 88%, FX 25%, SimCommander Reset to Defaults, Wheel Mode High, Engine RPMs Disabled, Game Force Feedback Smoothing 100%, set AccuForce Friction 1.57%.

(8) ffb_custom_settings – stan lo comp DD SopDiff.txt: Back to this file, further tuning for improved feel: In-game Gain 100%, Volume 70%, Tone: 79%, FX 0%, SimCommander Reset to Defaults, Wheel Mode High, Engine RPMs Disabled, Game Force Feedback Smoothing 88.63%, set AccuForce Friction 3.14%.

(8.1) ffb_custom_settings – stan lo comp DD SopDiff.txt: Trying to improve ability to catch oversteer, improve wheel weight in corners, try out more FX: In-game Gain 100%, Volume 77%, Tone: 54%, FX 18%, SimCommander Reset to Defaults, Wheel Mode High, Engine RPMs Disabled, Game Force Feedback Smoothing 48.24%, set AccuForce Friction 7.06%. Test Conditions: Primarily Ginettta G55 G4 and Corvette C7.R at Brands Hatch Indy.

(8.2) ffb_custom_settings – stan lo comp DD SopDiff.txt: Trying to improve ability to catch oversteer, improve wheel weight in corners, try out more FX: In-game Gain 100%, Volume 77%, Tone: 54%, FX 18%, SimCommander Reset to Defaults, Wheel Mode High, Engine RPMs Disabled, Game Force Feedback Smoothing 48.24%, set AccuForce Friction 5.49%. Test Conditions: Primarily Ginettta G55 G4, Corvette C7.R, Porsche 911 GT3 R at Brands Hatch Indy.

(8.3) ffb_custom_settings – stan lo comp DD SopDiff.txt: Still tuning catching oversteer/overweight-steering in hard cornering: In-game Gain 100%, Volume 77%, Tone: 38%, FX 18%, SimCommander Reset to Defaults, Wheel Mode High, Engine RPMs Disabled, Game Force Feedback Smoothing 48.24%, set AccuForce Friction 5.49%. Test Conditions: Primarily Ginettta G55 G4, Corvette C7.R, Porsche 911 GT3 R at Brands Hatch Indy.

Tips and Tricks

Heavy wheel or heavy dampening feel when driving

Try disabling Stationary and Moving Dynamic Oscillation Control. Some games or configurations have been known to trigger a heavy wheel feeling even when it shouldn’t (eg. Stationary Dynamic Oscillation Control enabled but car is moving so it shouldn’t be taking effect) so try disabling oscillation control.

Try tuning oscillation control levels yourself, after confirming the issue with disabling, to dial in the feel that you want.