I had the same problem, reducing the sensitivity to about 3/4 or 4/5 helped a lot. It won't remove the deadzone of course, but the aim won't jump around as much.

Has anybody figured out what the brake button is on the AV8R yet? I believe on the gamepad it is clicking down on the LS or RS (can't find the thread that was posted in).

I think it's the B button. I was mashing buttons trying to find it when I landed and when I pressed B I stood the plane on it's nose. It was late so I didn't get to try it again.

Is the deadzone really a dealbreaker? I was thinking of getting this for a friend (I already have the Ace Edge), but if it doesn't work well, maybe that's not a great idea.

No at all.

I think the jerkiness has more to do with the sim handling characteristics of the planes then the dead zone. The Spitfire is very twitchy and hard to aim but easy to turn quickly and keep from stalling. The Mustang is harder to turn quickly but responds smoothly on small aileron adjustments and is easier to aim.

If anything the stick probably makes the differences in the planes more noticeable. The Spitfire is a like a little sports coupe and the Mustang is like a muscle car.

For me, it was... I gonna get a refund, I don't want to be handicapped in multiplayer with this deadzone, I prefer to lost being able to look around than my precision shooting

I am not a hardcore gamer,simer or anything...but the twist rudder is just so intuitive that I've managed to do a rudder twist across three Heinkels on Sim and taken them all out, and currently with the limited time I have I'm leaving thebombers and just dogfighting the 109s,which is helping use of the pov camera thumbstick.(again sim only)... IMHO the environment is too dynamic to warrant concerns over a deadzone-(I honestly hadn't given it any thought) I'm too busy learning how the stick translates to orientation of the plane in countless different alignments and trying to fly by the seat of my pants rather than micrometres of retentive stick twitching-the aviator is cheap and isn't perfect..but neither is a pilot or the plane he's flying- it'll do for mere mortals like me...
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MERCEDES-BENZ BUSES HISTORY

So there is no way to control trim when using the Av8r?

RB on base
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Vaporizer Volcano

Yeah that's what I did....I settled around 12/18 notches on both.