Updated: 28/11/09 RnR News Thread

[Ubaku]

Guys I will be the one translating part of this blog http://rignroll.taba.ru. I have just translated one of the articles there, and it will soon appear on the english version of the blog. Before then you can read it.

It is the translation of this article, impressions of Sergey Babaev about the steering wheel in RnR.
http://rignroll.taba.ru/blog/f/Blog/...ya_v_igre.html

Please look at the website above to see the pictures referred to here.

Here is the translation. Enjoy.


The use of the steering wheel in the game. Refuse to use the keyboard? Here is what to do.

Ok, enough! Enough playing using the keyboard, I thought to myself as I was replacing my keyboard yet again, this time from regular to ergonomic, from ergonomic to gaming, and so on. It is obvious what I should try next, a steering wheel, pedals, gearbox, the only thing not so obvious is which choice to make.

There were many wheels. There was a regular yet massive one called Defender Forsage Turbo (pic 1), A sporty one Dialog GW-23FB Gran Turismo 2 (pic 2), and even an uncomfortable one called Genius SpeedWheel RV FF (pic 3) whose gamepad got in the way of actual steering.

Then I looked at the logitech wheels, which are the best and easiest to use. No we are not partners with Logitech and I'm not advertising them, its just that most gamers seem to love their
products.

But even here the choice was hard. Logitech MOMO Racing Force Feedback (pic 4) and Logitech G25 Racing Force

Feedback Wheel.(pic 5). I chose the second one, and think that most people will agree with me.


Step 1: Getting ready to drive.

This was the second time I ever used a steering wheel, except in arcade games of course. Later I realised that I have no clue how to use the gearbox, and stood in neutral for 1 minute pressing on the gas pedal without moving. Oh well, the only way out is automatic transmission.

Then I chose the view, outside view to be exact. Of course its cool to look at your powerful 18 wheeled metal stallion, but its much more comfortable to drive from the driver's cabin view. Then I customized my view so that I can also see a good part of the truck itself from the driver's view.

So then I carefully pushed on the gas pedal, held the steering wheel with confidence and looked. All the gauges in the truck cabin began to move and the virtual steering wheel perfectly mimicked my physical movements, even the slightest vibrations. That is one of the things that really caught my eye, the synchronization of the physical and virtual steering wheels. You know how in some games we turn the wheel all the way, and the virtual wheel hardly moves at all, or we hardly touch the wheel at all, and the the virtual wheel rotates 90 degrees. But I am very happy to say that there was no such problem in Rig'n'Roll.

Second step: My first impressions

What I really enjoyed doing is turning the wheel as far as it can go and then letting it go until it returned to the default position, while watching the virtual wheel mimic this action perfectly. But here I repeat myself as I already said how well the virtual wheel responds to the physical one. Of course you first need to regulate the settings a little for this to be perfect.

Also you need to get used to each truck separately, because some trucks require less of a turn on the wheel than others to go around the same car when passing the car for example.

I tried the formula 1 like speed controls. I am not a big fan of this and feel that its uses in real life are limited, however it is very useful in the game. Imagine that you need to run away from the cops while carrying a heavy trailer and the fine if he catches you is very expensive, its then when this extra speed is very nice.

In summary, these are basically my impressions of using the steering wheel in Rig'n'Roll. Pretty, effective, realistic. My only problem was my constant want to use the keyboard, but I realize that some games are meant to be used with keyboards, while Rig'n'Roll is one of those which was meant to be used with a steering wheel, as in fact were the earlier games in the Dalnoboyshiki series.