Steering wheel plugin with ffb for PCSX2 update: 5/29/14

[SegaOutrun]

Update 5/29: Jackun has released a new version of his PCSX2 wheel plugin. I requested to implement emulation support for one of the earliest PS2 wheels the GT FORCE and he got it working after a few days of testing . Many older racing games only support the GT FORCE and would not fully recognize newer wheels like the Driving Force PRO/GT and G25/g27, even in emulation mode. 

The following games have been tested by me. Game with * require GT FORCE mode

Battle Gear 2 (or Tokyo Road Race [PAL])*
Battle Gear 3
Burnout series
Initial D*
Wangan Midnight
Sega Rally Championship 1995*
Sega Rally 2006
Outrun 2 SP (Japan) [note: the US version coast 2 coast does not have wheel support at all]
Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3
Tokyo Xtreme Racer : Drift 2
Automodellista
Enthusia
GT3
GT4
Sega Ages vol 8 : Virtua Racing*
18 Wheeler

Plugin info
This will let you use your PC wheel, xbox controller, etc in PCSX2 as an emulated Logitech wheel (Generic, Pro and GT FORCE modes). This plugin also allows you to remap the buttons and axis and has some FFB support for games that have FFB.

Link to the plugins forum
http://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-Qemu-USB-Wheel-Storage-mod

DOWNLOAD PLUGIN
https://github.com/jackun/USBqemu-wheel/raw/master/Release/USBqemu-wheel.dll





Initial D reading my Driving Force GT wheel as the GT FORCE wheel



Battle Gear 2 is finally playable in GT FORCE Mode

[Felsir]

I truly hated the default controller settings when I tried it a few months ago because it treated my steering wheel as a dual shock controller so i gave up on it for racing games.

Perhaps offtopic; I don't have a steering wheel, but how is a steering wheel different from an analogue input with one axis? The reason I ask is because I'm working on a racegame and would love to add steering wheel support.

[baritonomarchetto]

[...] how is a steering wheel different from an analogue input with one axis? [...]

Yes, you are OT 

An analog axis is not different from a 270 steering wheel with potentiometer. It's different from a optical steering wheel. >>Here<< you can see how to interface a pot steering wheel with an analog axis 

[BadMouth]

I truly hated the default controller settings when I tried it a few months ago because it treated my steering wheel as a dual shock controller so i gave up on it for racing games.

Perhaps offtopic; I don't have a steering wheel, but how is a steering wheel different from an analogue input with one axis? The reason I ask is because I'm working on a racegame and would love to add steering wheel support.

In trying to set up console emulators I came to the conclusion that a lot of games designed to be played with a thumbstick don't translate well to the wheel because it takes longer to change directions with a steering wheel.  The movements on games designed for a thumbstick are more about changing direction than holding a specific angle or transitioning smoothly like a wheel.  If you have and adjustable wheel such as the G27, reducing the rotation of the wheel to below 150 degrees can help, but it kinda sucks to have such a limited range.

Most of the consoles that had a wheel accessory would detect when a wheel was connected vs a gamepad.
The game would state on the box that it was compatible with the wheel accessory.
I'm guessing the game itself changed the way input was handled based on this.

SegaOutrun, what do you mean by *some* force feedback.  Is it directional or just rumble?

[SegaOutrun]

I believe burnout 2 and battle gears 2 were directional. Initial D was rumble (it shaked when you ran over bumps). I played super briefly. It was extremely cold outside last night.

[isamu]

Ahhh Racer_S. That's my dawg 

Truly a legend.

[ant2]

Cant even get pscx2 to run on my i3 550 with an amd 6950.

hopefully things will improve over time, or if not it can wait till I upgrade my rig again in a few years

[twistedsymphony]

...So far the only games ive tried that had *SOME* FFB was burnout 2, Initial D and battle gear 2 but, my main concern was steering and it feels great.

I missed this thread in my FFB research somehow, Thanks for sharing.

I looked at a few videos of this online and it didn't really seem like the FFB was doing much.. have you done any comparisons against original hardware?

If you're looking for other games to test the FFB functionality here is a list of all the PS2 titles that supposedly support it: http://community.us.playstation.com/t5/Racing-General/What-ps2-Games-are-compatable-with-the-g25-racing-wheel/td-p/1851547

proper FFB support for PS2 games is great since it's probably the platform with the most FFB racing titles.

[SegaOutrun]

UPDATE: I checked back in and it seems that they had made a few updates. Download the one titled "latest raw ...". The most important update i think is that the game now see your wheel are a "driving force" or "driving force pro" regardless of what you are actually using. Previously, the plugin allowed you wheel to feel like a wheel in the game and now it also tricks the game into seeing your wheel as a "driving force". For example, previously, i could play initial d with my driving force GT(not fully support as it is newer than the game) using plugin but, now the game actually thinks i have a driving force (not gt version) and i can access the ingame driving force wheel setting. This make fine tuning much easier. Same thing with tokyo xtreme drift 2 (has FFB btw).

[Jitterdoomer]

Dude that was sick man, try Japanese version of Outrun 2 SP and Howard will be impressed

[SegaOutrun]

i have outrun 2 jap but my pc is not powerful enough to play outrun smoothly. i also have it for a physical hardware ps2. it plays fine there ofcourse

[Howard_Casto]

Yeah the xbox version is probably my favorite, but the whole point of hacking the pc version is so we don't have to keep antiquated consoles in a cab. 

[SegaOutrun]

Update 5/29: Jackun has released a new version of his PCSX2 wheel plugin. I requested to implement emulation support for one of the earliest PS2 wheels the GT FORCE and he got it working after a few days of testing . Many older racing games only support the GT FORCE and would not fully recognize newer wheels like the Driving Force PRO/GT and G25/g27, even in emulation mode.

The following games have been tested by me. Game with * require GT FORCE mode

Battle Gear 2 (or Tokyo Road Race [PAL])*
Battle Gear 3
Burnout series
Initial D*
Wangan Midnight
Sega Rally Championship 1995*
Sega Rally 2006
Outrun 2 SP (Japan) [note: the US version coast 2 coast does not have wheel support at all]
Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3
Tokyo Xtreme Racer : Drift 2
Automodellista
Enthusia
GT3
GT4
Sega Ages vol 8 : Virtua Racing*
18 Wheeler

[BadMouth]

I don't have a PC powerful enough to run these games.

Just to be clear (since I can't test), are we talking about the steering wheel shaking when a rumble signal is sent or full directional ffb as someone with the original console and compatible wheel would experience?

[ant2]

Whats your pc specs, any pscx2 tweaks?
Last time I tried pscx2 on my i3, ati 7850, 8gb ram it ran at about 40fps

[twistedsymphony]

...
The following games have been tested by me. Game with * require GT FORCE mode
...

Any chance you've been keeping a list of games that you've tested that do NOT support any wheels? that'd be a worth while list too as it save people from re-testing stuff that doesn't work.

[SegaOutrun]

Badmouth: I dont play any sims and so honestly, I dont know if i can tell the difference. can you tell me an easy way to tell the difference? Right now im hooked on Battle Gear 3 and the more i turn the wheel the harder it feels (still easy tho) and when drifting, if i left go, the wheel snaps back.

Ant2: i have two comps (my personal and cabinet) my personal is phenom X4 945 and my cabinet is a phenom x6 1100t with a 7850 so, your i3 should be able to play with tweaking. im using the lastest compiled pcsx2 from git 1.3.0. I set the preset to two or three and the only changes i make is I make the VU clamping mode to extra (otherwise the cars fall through the floor) and I turn on multithreadingVU in speedhacks(for 3+ cores), that made the biggest difference. You can also also decrease the sound quality, it same song over and over anyways. I can play at native resolution perfectly and I can do 2x native with very small dips (mostly at launch)

Twistedsymphony: So far, any game that official supports logitech wheel has worked so, theoretically, all theses games should work.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logitech_Driving_Force_GT


    007: Nightfire (cars only)
    18 Wheeler: American Pro Trucker
    4x4 Evolution
    Auto Modellista
    Battle Gear 3
    Burnout
    Burnout 2: Point of Impact
    Burnout 3: Takedown
    Burnout Revenge
    Burnout Dominator
    Colin McRae Rally 3
    Colin McRae Rally 04
    Colin McRae Rally 2005
    Corvette
    Corvette Evolution GT
    Driven
    EA Sports F1 2001
    EA Sports F1 2002
    EA Sports F1 Career Challenge
    Enthusia Professional Racing
    Ferrari Challenge: Trofeo Pirelli
    Ferrari F355 Challenge
    FlatOut
    FlatOut 2
    Ford Mustang: The Legend Lives
    Ford vs. Chevy
    Formula One 2001
    Formula One 2002
    Formula One 2003
    Formula One 04
    Formula One 05
    Formula One 06
    Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec
    Gran Turismo 4
    Gran Turismo 4 Prologue
    Gran Turismo Concept
    Grand Prix Challenge
    Grand Theft Auto III (cars only)
    Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (cars only)
    Hot Wheels Velocity X
    Hot Wheels World Race
    Hot Wheels: Stunt Track Challenge
    IndyCar Series
    IndyCar Series 2005
    Initial D: Special Stage
    Juiced (video game)
    Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights
    Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis (cars only)
    Knight Rider: The Game
    Knight Rider 2: The Game
    Lotus Challenge
    Midnight Club II
    Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition
    Motor Mayhem
    NASCAR 06: Total Team Control
    NASCAR 07
    NASCAR 08
    NASCAR 09
    NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona
    NASCAR Heat 2002
    NASCAR Thunder 2002
    NASCAR Thunder 2003
    NASCAR Thunder 2004
    NASCAR 2005: Chase for the Cup
    Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2
    Need for Speed: Underground
    Need for Speed: Underground 2
    Need for Speed: Most Wanted
    Need for Speed: Carbon
    Need for Speed: ProStreet
    Need for Speed: Undercover
    NHRA Championship Drag Racing
    R: Racing Evolution
    Rally Championship
    Rally Fusion: Race of Champions
    Richard Burns Rally
    RoadKill
    Sega Rally 2006
    Shox
    Smuggler's Run 2: Hostile Territory
    Starsky & Hutch
    The Simpsons: Hit & Run
    The Simpsons: Road Rage
    Total Immersion Racing
    Test Drive Overdrive
    Test Drive: Eve of Destruction
    TOCA Race Driver 2
    TOCA Race Driver 3
    Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3
    Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Drift 2
    Total Immersion Racing
    Twisted Metal: Black
    Twisted Metal: Head-On
    V-Rally 3
    World of Outlaws: Sprint Cars 2002
    World Rally Championship
    WRC II Extreme
    WRC 3
    WRC 4
    WRC: Rally Evolved

Although this list is incomplete as I have listed games on my list that arent on this wiki, this is because of Jap or euro only games or older games that well there no official place to find information on. For example, I could not find Battle Gear 2 info anywhere but after googling the ps2 cover, that back cover mentions the older GT FORCE wheel. 

as for ones that surprised me to have no support at all, the ones i can think off right now is
Outrun 2 :C2C (the Japanese version Outrun 2SP does have support tho)
Dirt Track Devils (original an Model 3 game, no idea why they didnt add wheel support)
Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Zero (TXR 3 and Drift 2 have wheel support but not Zero)
Motorstorm: Arctic Thunder (understandable since it works best on Dualshock but, it would have been nice)
Ridge Racer V (another big surprise. The reason why is because it was trying to promote its own special negcon controller. Google it if you dont know it, its worth learning about)
Road Rage 3 (Touge 3 [Japan]) (Initial D style game. I really wish it had wheel support, it actually a rather fun game no one knows about)


 

[BadMouth]

Badmouth: I dont play any sims and so honestly, I dont know if i can tell the difference. can you tell me an easy way to tell the difference? Right now im hooked on Battle Gear 3 and the more i turn the wheel the harder it feels (still easy tho) and when drifting, if i left go, the wheel snaps back.

If you hit a wall on your right, does the wheel jerk to the right?
(compare it to Daytona USA in model 2 emulator)

What made me question it is the description that it also supports xbox360 controllers which are only rumble.

Testing with your MOMO wheel might reveal something since the MOMO doesn't respond to the simple rumble signal like newer Logitech wheels do.

Or, you could nicely ask the dev if the ffb should be directional or is just rumble? 

[SegaOutrun]

Badmouth: the wheel jerks if i hit a wall.

[BadMouth]

Badmouth: the wheel jerks if i hit a wall.

...but does it jerk in different directions if you hit a wall on your right vs one on your left?
(or does it just shake)

[SegaOutrun]

opposite direction.

[BadMouth]

opposite direction.

Awesome.  If I ever get back to putting my driving cabs together, I guess I'll need upgraded PCs.

[twistedsymphony]

opposite direction.

Awesome.  If I ever get back to putting my driving cabs together, I guess I'll need upgraded PCs.

I think you'll need at least an i5 for PCSX2, I've got an i3 @3.2GHz and a beefy nVidia 80 series GPU and sadly PCSX2 is just this side of too choppy to play

[Howard_Casto]

Or you could just throw a ps2 in there. 

Honestly I've learned the hard way that it's a waste of time to upgrade your pc for emulation.  If you are going to buy one anyway, then sure, but otherwise you are forever playing catch up. 

[twistedsymphony]

Or you could just throw a ps2 in there. 

Honestly I've learned the hard way that it's a waste of time to upgrade your pc for emulation.  If you are going to buy one anyway, then sure, but otherwise you are forever playing catch up. 

I don't think a PS2 would work with an immersion FFB setup though.

[SegaOutrun]

Or you could just throw a ps2 in there. 

Honestly I've learned the hard way that it's a waste of time to upgrade your pc for emulation.  If you are going to buy one anyway, then sure, but otherwise you are forever playing catch up.

i actually have my ps2 in my cab but, i think ima go the emulation route. The games look soo much nicer upscaled. the first pic is the native resolution. This second pic is 720p (the max i can handle atm), imagine 1080p.

[isamu]

Have they fixed the emulation problems plaguing Gran Turismo 3 and 4 yet? The last time I tried to run them in PCSX2 my comp blue screened...twice. Would be nice to play part 3 again for nostalgic reasons. Dat F1 car at Tokyo Route 246!!! 

[SegaOutrun]

i dont play sims much but i booted up gt3 for you. I had no issue (other than dipping to 50fps in more dense scenes) 

there plenty of vids of gt3 and gt4 running at fullspeed and at higher res on powerful machines(mine is not one of them)

[isamu]

i dont play sims much but i booted up gt3 for you. I had no issue (other than dipping to 50fps in more dense scenes) 

there plenty of vids of gt3 and gt4 running at fullspeed and at higher res on powerful machines(mine is not one of them)

Thanks for report.

[Malenko]

so I added PCSX2 to my iRacing rig just to test this out, and it seem to work really well, however the steering sensitivity is all over the place. Do you have any specific settings for any specific games?  Im using a Fanatec CSR Forza wheel, if that matters. I figure youre also using a 900 degree wheel, so it shouldnt matter the brand.

[sonik]

@SegaOutrun can you confirm if Virtua Racing Flat Out have force feedback?
For me it only have the center spring effect.

[Moksi]

Just tried PCSX2 Gran Turismo 4 but at high speed the steering wheel jerks lef and right which is annoying .
I have a an G27

[isamu]

4 years later and this this is still such a relevant topic. Badmouth is 100% correct when he said the following....

In trying to set up console emulators I came to the conclusion that a lot of games designed to be played with a thumbstick don't translate well to the wheel because it takes longer to change directions with a steering wheel.  The movements on games designed for a thumbstick are more about changing direction than holding a specific angle or transitioning smoothly like a wheel.  If you have and adjustable wheel such as the G27, reducing the rotation of the wheel to below 150 degrees can help, but it kinda sucks to have such a limited range.

After trying Tokyo Xtreme Racer Zero for the first time ever, I concur. Despite LilyPad allowing you to map your PC wheel's analog signal to the PS2 DualShock's analog stick, nothing I've done makes it feel right. There's a feeling wheel range authenticity that is missing, even if you try and match the analog stick's range and your wheel's range 1:1. Something's just off. Not to mention, TXR0 not supporting any of the Logitech wheels means no true FFB. Which is a damn shame, because I really wanted to get into this game.

But.....THANKFULLY we have the sequel....Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3, which does in fact support Logitech's DF and DFP wheels. And after reading this thread:

https://www.reddit.com/r/tokyoxtremeracer/comments/gw8w88/is_tokyo_xtreme_racer_3_worth_it_if_i_already/

.......I'm excited jump in and play this game!

I really wish the Xbox 360 had support for true force feedback wheels, because I'd love to play Import Tuner Challenge, which I hear is fantastic and a worthy next-gen sequel in the franchise. Unfortunately there's no Xbox 360 emulator so it's a moot point lol.

On a side note, anyone here played the PS3 version of Wangan Midnight? How is it? Does it run well in the RPCS3 Emulator?

[ShogunX]

Wangan Midnight plays fine at 60fps in RPCS3 but has an audio stutter problem. Seems to pop up semi-randomly and then won't go away.

This thread is still relevant to me as well. I stumbled across this thread while trying to get my wheel working with pcsx2. Had to use the wxWidgets release as the QT release doesn't have the USB options needed. I got the wheel working but there were several issues:

-The emulator crashes when a wheel is assigned - This was fixed via a workaround of choosing Cubeb audio under the audio output settings
-The wheel's center point will slowly drift to one side making you have to turn the wheel around 30% to go straight. No fix yet and not sure what is causing this.
-When mapping buttons the buttons aren't mapping correctly to my wheel. O is triangle, X is square, left and right end up on the shifter paddles. No fix or cause on this

I'm using the latest nightly wxwidgets build and a Thrustmaster T150 set to GT Force mode in Battle Gear 3. When it does work its really good!

*Edit*
After further testing in Battle Gear 3 picking GT Force emulation doesn't work right. The buttons being reversed is probably more due to the button layout on the real hardware. However in GT Force mode the wheel center moves pretty drastically from the start of a race and continues to drift the more you play. There is also no ffb only rumble. In Driving Force emulation there isn't any drift and the ffb works.