/ogc/ : Racing Vidya General - as good an OP as any edition

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Don't suppose I could ask for a recommendation?

I like Initial D, what kind of games/wheel/shifter/pedals am I looking at for a good time. Ideally I'd like not to spend an arm and a leg on the hardware.

XInput supports wheels, including most Logitech FFB enabled wheels. Your point?

Probably a G25 or G27.

Impossible. You're looking at about 300 bucks right there.

I don't really see how Initial D is relevant either. If you like anime about driving cars all stupid and shit then you probably wont like a using a full wheel combo with a game that supports it. You're probably better off playing Ridge Racer with a controller doing sick 360 degree drifts around corners or Need for Speed Carbon if you want to go down a hill drifting in a one on one.

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They should have played with the TOD settings more in PCARS to try replicate the time of Day in Forza. Spa in Forza they run evenings with a lower sun.

The main difference I can see is there's a lot more background detail in Forza between the Helicopter flying around the track, birds flying about and everything is in it's right place regarding track detail on sponsorships. F6 has the best recreation of Catalunya since everything is in place while both Assetto and PCARS are missing a ton of detail on sponsor boards and the track.

Graphically, PCARS looks best (No shit). But attention to detail on the tracks, Forza.

Assetto is just gross looking.

They said supported wheels will be announced soon though along with the Soundtrack but it's absolutely Day 1.

Personally I think they quietly abandoned Apex to concentrate on full F7 next year. No point in fucking around if the big question they wanted to answer in "How well does the engine scale on PC and can we hit 4K" was "Of course we fucking can. PC is the master race"

Xinput has axis and button number limitations. You're stuck with X360/XBONE gamepad configuration forever.

It's relevant because it implies I'm not interested in hyper realistic simulators.

In the case of a wheel, XInput supports the following (as of Windows 10 1607):
D-Pad
16 buttons
Any size H-Shifter
Clutch axis
Handbrake axis
Throttle axis
Wheel axis

More than enough for most wheels. Still limited in support until we get drivers or there's some support added to the API.
Current API support as of 1607:
G25
G27
G29
G920
MOMO Force Feedback Racing Wheel
T300RS
T500RS
RGT Force Feedback
T150
TX
TMX
Fanatec CSR

Which is decent to be honest