SimuCube 2 Pro
By Shovas / 2024-03-29 / Original Article
What is the Simucube 2 Pro?
The Simucube 2 Pro is a force feedback steering wheel system used mainly for sim racing on PC.
From the SimuCube 2 Pro product page,
Are you ready to be known from jaw-dropping maneuvers in Sim Racing eSports scene? If so, don’t let mediocre simulator equipment tame you down. Unleash your predator like driver skills with Simucube 2 Pro Direct Drive wheelbase.
25 Nm of torque is enough to give you deep immersion with any track, car, and condition. With Pro, one might easily forget they’re in a simulation. High torque reserve enables the driver to receive all the detail simulator and car has to give.
Combined with exceptionally high torque response rate Pro motor, the sharpest kinks will be delivered at a clarity not seen in the Direct Drive scene before. The torque response rate is adjustable to the driver’s preferences.
SimuCube 2 Pro is destined to set the new golden standard for high-end class Direct Drive wheels.
And here’s a promotional video to show it a little bit,
[Youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRmTyct97Pg[/Youtube]
Getting Started
In Secrets, I try to focus on the non-obvious or unintuitive so I won’t be covering basics like acquiring or installing, 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.
Resources
Community
Notes
Slew Rate: What It Actually Feels Like
This effect limits how fast the torque is being changed. “Off” (default setting) means, that the rate of change is unlimited and the rate will be as fast as the Simucube 2 servo drive and motor will be able to accomplish. Limiting the slew rate can be useful to soften the driving feel. If the Driver has experience of other DD wheel systems, limiting the slew rate can be useful to make Simucube 2 feel less active. -Simucube 2 User Guide (See Resources)
In my own words, slew rate is how fast the wheel can ramp up force, that is how many Nm per millisecond it can increase. For example, the stock iRacing profile uses 3.25 Nm/ms. In AMS2, I use 2 Nm/ms.
What It Actually Feels Like
At lower values, the forces are less jolty, and a rubbery tire feeling starts to emerge more (which I prefer). At higher values, forces are more jolty, they are supposed to come in more quickly, but for me you start to lose the rubber tire feeling.
I’m sure there’s some kind of trade off here with latency but it’s hard to detect and it doesn’t seem to affect me.
Tips and Tricks
Rim Hard to Remove from Quick Release
The best solution I’ve found so far is Super Lube 21010 Synthetic Multi-Purpose Grease with PTFE 1/2.
I had previously been using WD40 Teflon Dry Spray on a recommendation but it evaporates within days.
There are also recommendations to turn the wheel upside-down and pound the QR but that’s more force than I’d like to use.
Issues
Use Low FFB Effects Level in Old SimBin Games
Update 2022-10-25: There is a new beta firmware being developed on the Simucube forums that fixes DirectInput Effects support. Try asking on the forums to get access to it.
As of 5/13/21, the only way I’ve discovered to eliminate the wheel center bias problem (see “DirectInput Friction” issue below) is to set the FFB Effects Level to Low (Steering Forces + Grip Forces).
- Low: Steering+Grip
- Medium: Adds Friction+Damper+Rumble strips
- High: Adds Brake vibration
- Full: Adds Throttle vibration+Steering vibration
Most might not even care but I like to tune as much in-game as possible and I also like the option to tune the extra vibration effects, too, that help give some tactile feel to the driving experience.
DirectInput Friction Biases Wheel Center On Some Games
Related: See FFB Effects Level issue above.
Over on the Granite Devices Community Forums, I’ve posted a thread about an issue I experience in GTR2 where wheel center becomes biased to the left or right by a few degrees after going through sharp corners and when DirectInput Effect Fine Tuning for Friction is set to anything other than 0%.
At this time, I haven’t experienced problems with the other effects.
The Simucube guys say they are trying some workarounds for what they think is bad effect delivery by the games.