Q: Do people really use squash balls with their wheels ?
I have seen this mentioned and haven't really taken it seriously until now.
I was clearing out my loft and came across my old squash equipment,including
a few old balls.
I thought i would quell my curiosity and check it out.
Well now i have severe doubts,because when i placed the ball behind the
brake pedal of my Microsoft Sidewinder FF i then couldn't press the pedal
down fully and it was a real chore getting ANY movement.
So i remembered HALF a squash ball being mentioned...tried it...still felt
awful.
So...was it just an in joke i missed the point of or has anyone actually got
an improvement out of this little tip...?
Thanks
Morg
"Morgan Boof" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:a51egu$sdm$[email hidden]...
> Q: Do people really use squash balls with their wheels ?<snip>
> Well now i have severe doubts,because when i placed the ball behind the
> brake pedal of my Microsoft Sidewinder FF i then couldn't press the pedal
> down fully and it was a real chore getting ANY movement.
Like a real brake pedal? The day I can get the brake pedal in my z down to the
floor is a day too late to save my arse, and probably a six months too late to
be checking fluid lines.
Brakes are meant to be activated by pressure on the pedal as opposed to
movement - remember you are squeezing pads against moving discs, not pulling a
throttle linkage like with the accelerator.
> So i remembered HALF a squash ball being mentioned...tried it...still felt
> awful.
I think this would depend on your pedals/amount of travel.
> So...was it just an in joke i missed the point of or has anyone actually got
> an improvement out of this little tip...?
I've been using it, but with LWFF instead of the microsoft wheel so I can't
comment on that (I also did some creative cutting to keep it attached so again
YMMV). It depends a bit on the game (some games have poor calibration) but I
found if I calibrated max braking force to be equal to a damn good press on the
pedal then it definately improved feel and improved laptimes (after practice).
iksteh
"Morgan Boof" <[email hidden]> wrote
> So...was it just an in joke i missed the point of or has anyone actuallygot
> an improvement out of this little tip...?
>I use the two halves of a squash ball (one on the top of the other) squeezed
under my brake pedal (MSFF). Works quite well for GPL, N4. I am not sure
that this improves lap times that much (it is more difficult to lock the
wheels but at the expense of some sensitivity), but a stiffer brake pedal
just feels more realistic to me. A couple of laps at the Ring are necessary
to get accustomed to it.
Xavier.
PS. You can also search groups.google.com for "squash ball gpl pedal".
Please ignore the 6-months old post suggesting that squeezing a young kitten
under the brake pedal improves your lap times: it does not work that well
because of the distracting squealing sounds.
"Morgan Boof" <[email hidden]> wrote:
> Q: Do people really use squash balls with their wheels ?
>
> I have seen this mentioned and haven't really taken it seriously untilnow.
>
> I was clearing out my loft and came across my old squashequipment,including
You are using your foot, right? I remember pushing it with my hand a couple
of times, right after installing the ball. It seemed impossible.
> So...was it just an in joke i missed the point of or has anyone actuallygot
> an improvement out of this little tip...?
I use a squash ball with my MOMO wheel. It replaces the spring for the brake
pedal, I don't know if that's possible with the MS wheel. When I had just
installed the ball, I thought it was far too stiff, I guess I didn't expect
that. I couldn't even push the pedal all the way down. But later on I
realized this was not necessarily a bad thing: you calibrate the pedal, so
that 100% braking requires you to push the pedal as far as you want (for
comfort), with some travel to spare. The last bit of travel isn't used, but
it's not really needed. The two biggest advantages (imho):
1. I can now rest my foot on the brake pedal, without accidentally pushing
it.
2. You have to push hard, in order to brake hard (feels more realistic).
Ice D
Quoted text (10 lines)
> a few old balls. > > I thought i would quell my curiosity and check it out. > > Well now i have severe doubts,because when i placed the ball behind the > brake pedal of my Microsoft Sidewinder FF i then couldn't press the pedal > down fully and it was a real chore getting ANY movement. > > So i remembered HALF a squash ball being mentioned...tried it...still felt > awful.On Thu, 21 Feb 2002 11:15:09 GMT, "Ice D" <[email hidden]> wrote:
>1. I can now rest my foot on the brake pedal, without accidentally pushing
>it.
Uhm - are you very sure of that? I have momo/squashball too, but I
certainly don't let my foot rest on the brake pedal.. unless you have
a big deadzone, you will break a tiny bit when you rest your foot on
the pedal.. you better check out some replays to see if you gain
maximum speed on a straight when you rest your foot on the brake..
Andre
"Andre Warringa" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
> On Thu, 21 Feb 2002 11:15:09 GMT, "Ice D" <[email hidden]> wrote:
>
>
> >1. I can now rest my foot on the brake pedal, without accidentallypushing
I'll check that out, and get back to it in this thread (probably tomorrow).
Ice D
