What sim software and/or other haptic devices are you using?

@@OlderGamersPerspective ​​⁠only other “haptic” I’ve got is the fanatec v3 pedals. Using fanalab so I don’t even have simhub. Other than that a mix of simagic and moza gear. No buttkickers or anything

@@FlamingCurtain what sim racing software are you going to use... Mainly. and do you use Crew Chief ?

@@OlderGamersPerspective crew chief yes, simagic software (simpro manager 2), fanaled and sometimes moza pithouse. So do I use NLR software instead of simhub of hf8?

@@FlamingCurtain last thing I need to know is which sim you race. It matters if you use crew chief

Well who doesn't :) We've all used them from D&D to Elite Dangerous and beyond. Hell, I've even got one for Clone Hero :)

You can (and perhaps should) experiment with settings per game. iRacing I found with my system could only tolerate a setting of 450 on encode bitrate, otherwise I got the occasional audio stutter, which also gave a graphical glitch, but that's just iRacing, so I suspect that something like AMS2 and AC1 (when played off line) could go higher. It's a case of try it and see what your system can cope with.

can you open the OpenXR toolkit okay?

@@OlderGamersPerspective yes! Everything there just no HAM or Cull setting

@@fatih_a if you have time, pop over to my discord channel - discord.gg/6wF2yETw and we can discuss with the other members in more depth.

It's entirely your decision, of course, but if you are having performance issues, the OpenXR toolkit will help, and it does work at the moment with iRacing at least. With Steam games you need to go through some more hurdles, and I haven't yet tried that, but for iRacing it works with the Meta app and the quest 2 or 3. Is that any help to you?

@@OlderGamersPerspective yeah thanks for the reply.. so i can use it for some games and not for others? will steam still default to using oculus or whatever else i set it as? or should i desactive openxr like you showed in the video?

@@carlostezna3514 I use Steam games all the time, and when I hit the Play button in the library, it comes up with a menu asking if I want to use a Monitor, Oculus Link or Steam VR. Generally speaking I use Oculus Link. This doesn't seem to be affected by the presence of OpenXR toolkit, so I have never had to deactivate it. So far, I have only been able to use openxr toolkit with Oculus link games outside of steam. Anything inside steam doesn't seem to use it, although I have been shown a method to do so, but have yet to try it. Let me know how you get on.

@@OlderGamersPerspective i’ve done it! now using openxr and my frame rates are great. thanks again for taking the time to layout all the settings. your videos are amazing!

@@carlostezna3514 Cool. glad it worked out :)

Cool. Pop by my discord channel when you have finished and we can compare versions :) discord.gg/6wF2yETw

Very down turn, there is an upswing :)

I haven't had much chance to race in the rain lately, and I haven't tried it at all in this Season 4. But yeah, when I made this video, the performance of iRacing in VR was generally better. Some things have changed, but it's difficult to get iRacing to admit to any wrong doing, so I guess we all need to turn down to 72Hz and lower some settings :(

@@OlderGamersPerspective Yeah, something is going on...

@@mementomori4972 A lot of stuff in the iracing VR forums about it. Main suspect is one of the settings which got turned on by default a while back to fix a non-vr problem. And that seems to be stuffing everything else up.

@@OlderGamersPerspective Which setting is it?

@@mementomori4972 I can't recall of the top of my head, but it's in the Ini file. But, it's not 100% certain that this is the problem. Some think it is, others are not so sure.

Hi, glad it's all helping. One of the frustrating things about VR is getting everything to optimal, or at least optimal enough, to fully enjoy the experience. For me it feels like time travelling back to the late 90's where we had to optimise a PC just to get it to run a very basic game (probably booting the game from DOS). But hey ho, it is what it is, and VR is without a doubt, a very cool experience.

You are most welcome. I hope you found the video helpful.

Hi, have you run some other benchmarks on your system? Just to see if it's the system and not iRacing. Worth checking that first. 3DMark is a good one, or Heaven. Something that will give you an idea about what your system can handle, and if you need to do any optimisations to get it up to speed.

@@OlderGamersPerspective only just seen this, I never heard of it, I'll download that now and give it a try. I ended up our basing a 3080 super and upgraded my CPU to a 11900k but I reckon the setup would benefit from a 13th Gen CPU which means upgrading the motherboard

@@ghost4004 Take a look at the bench marks. Heaven is free, and 3D mark is on Steam. Each has their own way of doing things. See which one works for you.

Hi, glad to hear the Art rig is working with you and is allowing you to sim race with a back condition. I also have some back issues, and so far, apart from getting in and out of the rig (it is very low) I have been fine. The handbrake you mention is interesting as I have been thinking about getting a handbrake for my rig for rally driving, but I am unsure what to get. What do you have and can you recommend it? Also a good tip about the handbrake mount, I'll make sure this is something that I can use before I buy it. I also had a similar purchase regret with my flight sim additions to this rig, but that's mostly because I don't get much time to do flight siming... BUt hey ho, it's there in the future if I need it.

Hi thanks for your reply i personally have and highly recommend the thrustmaster sparco replica handbrake its a very solid premium handbrake / gear shifter you can use as either its a hefty piece of kit and looks totally awesome !! it mounts straight onto the art handbrake mount and if you have the thrustmaster 7 speed gear shifter that actually comes with a bracket to mount to the side of the sparco handbrake. The sparco handbrake is very expensive at around £249.00 but its well worth the price and adds that extra immersion when playing rally games you can adjust the sensitivity of the handbrake in game menu some people have two of these one as the handbrake and one as the sequential gear box !! i will be getting another one too hope this helps in your decision making thanks terry

@@tb6539 That is a lot more than I wanted to pay, but if it can double as a sequential shifter as well, that does make it tempting. I will have to look into the reviews. Thank you for the tip.

Interesting, I will have to try this. I don't race on a regular basis at 120hz as my computer can only supply a trickle charge down the connection cable, meaning that it slows the discharge down enough to get several hours of sim racing at 90Hz, but at 120Hz, that time is much reduced. I could get an additional PSU for the cable, but at the moment, most things work fine (iRacing problems aside), so I am going to stick with what I have for the timebeing. But thank you for sharing your findings. I will look deeper into this.

That is the best way, although it is time intensive, but if you go through everything, one bit at a time, it can give you a much better performance rating from your PC, and the sim of your choice.

I tested this at the weekend and it worked fine. Do you have the OpenXR toolkit installed?

@@OlderGamersPerspective I ended up getting it to work on another PC. I’m now deep into the pi max crystal. I wouldn’t mind sending it to you if you’d like to play with it and maybe give us some tutorial on the pimax products.

@@thestageplan That's a very generous offer. Where are you based?

@@OlderGamersPerspective San Jose ca

@@thestageplan I'm in Europe, so I don't think this is going to be feasible. Shipping and possible import duties would be very expensive. But thank you for the offer, I will reach out to Pimax and see of they can spare me a review unit.

Thank you, glad you liked the video :) Best of luck with your upgrade.

Yes it is, although it does also have some impact on performance. I've managed without it and still managed to stay on track, although it has to be said that rain in general seems to be very bad for performance in Season 3 of iRacing, in VR. Be interesting to see if season 4 improves on this, or makes it worse. I have found dropping to 72Hz works well with rain, although I have not put SSR on high.

@@OlderGamersPerspective looks like I’ll need to do the same. I’m about to get a VR headset and find it a shame that the settings aren’t going to be set and forget. Would be good if they had a way to dynamically adjust settings to keep the minimum frame rate up on a track by track basis

@@StickyPlasters Yeah, I mean there is kinda that, with Asynchronous space warp in the ODT, but I find that rather than adjusting down it just chops the frame rate in half. I keep trying to log the tracks that are problems, so I can create suggested settings, but then iRacing change something, and my findings all become wrong again. I guess the only way is to simply try stuff and see what happens. Usually doing an Ai Race is a good indication of what performance you will get in an open session, but it's far from a guarantee.

@@OlderGamersPerspective yeah good suggestion. Since the start is the most taxing, I could start an ai race, adjust, then go online. Thanks!

Thank you for the feedback. And for the information, good to know that the improvement in your software, over simhub, wasn't just in my head. :)

Hi, also a casual racer here, in that I can't afford to spend hours practicing a track before I race it (keep coming across people who practice several hours per track - I wish I had that sort of free time), and I have found the HF8 to be a real improvement to my overall Sim racing experience, especially in VR. Like you, when I first plugged the HF8 in, I was thinking, is that it? Probably because I had just put rumble motors on my pedals, and those motors really did help me become a better driver. Where as the HF8 just seemed to be giving me more immersion. However, like you, I started to really get into it, and now I am like 'I never want to race without the HF8'. I guess sometimes the smaller changes make the bigger differences. And yes, sim racing is addictive, as is buying new stuff to use while racing. Are you close enough to Dortmund in Germany to go to the ADAC sim racing show in October? In the meantime, why not pop over to the Older Gamers discord channel, share your experiences and post images of your rig. discord.gg/FdrjB3AR

You sure can. kzbin.info/www/bejne/omTIgomPjputjsUsi=lVol3ZUHgz4Qtpfq if you take a look at this video, you can see how mine is mounted. I seem to remember that it went straight on there with no fuss and the holes were more or less where I needed them to be.

@@OlderGamersPerspective thx a lot

Which headsets do you mean? I've not seen any reports on the Quest 3 being any higher than other headsets on the market.

@@OlderGamersPerspective Native pcvr headsets which are basically anything except quest and piko. These two have to encode and compress the video first to send it wirelessly or through usb. This adds latency vs headsets which use display port. Quest 3 is about 50ms but native pcvr headsets are usually sub 10ms. Even PSVR2 is native

@@StickyPlasters I've seen the theories on this, but I haven't seen anyone show any benchmarks. By native I assume you mean going via a DP port or similar? That is going to be quicker, of course, but how much? I don't know. Sub 10ms seems a little unlikely to me, but I am happy to be proven wrong. And also, the latency has never really bothered me. It doesn't make me any quicker or slower than using a flat screen. And when I had a CV1 Oculus head set (DP connection), I didn't notice any difference in latency then either. For me, I think it's a personal issue. If you can notice the difference between 50ms and 10ms, then it's going to be important to you, but I have never been able to detect these minor latency issues. But then I am from old school gaming where we used to have massive lag, back in the day, so maybe my tolerance is higher than modern gamers? Anyway, if you reject the Quest 3 for this issue, what will you get for VR? or will you just not bother?

@@OlderGamersPerspective I was torn because the quest 3 looked great, but the fact that it has to encode/decode adding overhead, latency, and artifacts put me off. I just want simple native plug and play. These are probably minor and it’s probably not THAT noticeable, but I’m fussy and competitive and it would annoy me. I’ve chosen PSVR2 even though the lenses aren’t on par with the quest 3, it’s a true pcvr headset (display port) with OLED and they’re cheap used. Excellent bang for buck. You probably haven’t noticed the latency because your brain has adjusted, try half wear the headset so you can see your wheel at the same time and turn it fast. Curious to see if you can see any lag.

@@OlderGamersPerspective to be honest, it’s probably me just being fussy. I’m a software engineer and I hate anything that feels hacky, and this feels hacky. There’s really no need to encode then decode at the other end of a cable. It just seems like an unnecessary step to me when it could just pass native video

I bought the GT omega ART rig with an XL chair. I reviewed it here - kzbin.info/www/bejne/h3ncdJKJhc2DgbMsi=LSCxSRqss-9ZgTc7 I also got the flight pack for this rig, but still, I found it awkward to get in an out of the rig with the joystick on the plate, so end up storing it on a table next to me, then swearing endlessly when I try to get it back into place. As for swapping out the wheel for a yoke, and pedals for rudder pedals.... No, that's just not something I can be bothered to do. I just don't have that sort of time available to mess about like that. Honestly, these mixed rigs, racing and flying, are hard to optimise, and I keep thinking I would be better with one rig for racing and one for flight, but hey, who has the money and room for that? Mostly I now only fly when I have a burning desire to do so, which is seldom. Gone are the days of Elite Dangerous, where I would spend hours and hours in VR, in the chair, exploring the universe. Maybe Flight sim 2024 will change this for me. I think if I am to be honest with myself, I would say you either need to decide if you want to race or fly, but finding a rig that does both is probably just not possible. Having said that, I would love to be proved wrong.

Be nice, but they didn't even invite me to the KZbinr exclusive to demo Batman on the Quest 3. Oh well. Maybe another time :) And thank you for the feedback on this video, much appreciated, and of course, have fun in VR :)

I have tried these settings at 120, and yes, it does work, but the USB-C socket on my mainboard. that I have connected to my Quest via a 4 meter cable, will only deliver enough power to slow the discharge of the Q3 battery during racing at 90Hz, which is okay, because it still gives me at least 4 hours of racing. However, at 120Hz, I see a larger discharge rate. Not tested how long the Q3 can last at 120Hz, possibly something I should test, but from my brief observations, it's going to be much less than when I am at 90Hz.

Iracing won't open? Or the XR toolkit won't open?

@@OlderGamersPerspectiveXR toolkit wont open.

@@vxtwist6325 Have you used the XR toolkit companion app to create a short cut to open it?

See 1:48 of this video.

​@@OlderGamersPerspective yeah I've got all that. It's in game nothing happens.

Hey, happy to help :) I too am looking forward to the new generation of GPU's and what the future holds for VR. Let's hope we can all afford it :)

Glad you liked it :)

Hi, you should have no problems running the HF8 with the AMS2. You will need to set up AMS2 as the HF8 software requires you to do, this information is inside the red exclamation mark. It's a five second job, but be aware, once you change the settings in AMS2, then currently Crew Chief will not work as it requires AMS2 to be set differently. I have reached out to NLR support for help on this, and will post a video about that if they can figure out a solution. But yeah, AMS2 and the HF8 do work well together, once setup correctly. Just take your time working out which effects to enable. I found that by enabling one, doing a test drive, setting the gain, I could figure out if it worked for me or not, as an Effect. Then I would disable it, and try the next effect, and so on. It takes time, but it's worth it as haptic feedback is very personal to whomever is using it.

UPDATE - I found a solution, but it's not ideal. The workaround is to just use SimHub software for the HF8 and to ignore the included software. then set AMS2 to be what simhub wants it to be: Shared memory - Project cars 2 UDP frequencey - off UDP protocol - Project cars 1 And then the HF8 will work, and Crew cheif will swear at you for not doing so well. Not a perfect solution, I know, and you will have to create a HF8 effects profile, but if you go to this video, it explains how to do that (not mine) - kzbin.info/www/bejne/r2bTeZaqd5qNhJo He also includes a download link to a sim hub profile for the HF8 to get you started (although you will probably want to tweak it). Hope this helps.

@@OlderGamersPerspective I use a MOZA wheel base and for AMS2 you need to set the shared memory project cars2 , UDP frequency-1 UDP protocol project 2 so do you think it’s going to interfere with this if I change it to accommodate the HF8? and thank you very much for the response.

@@steffendetrick Use this - Shared memory - Project cars 2 UDP frequencey - off UDP protocol - Project cars 1 And it should work fine. I am also using a Moza Wheel base, the R9, and these settings seemed to work fine with the wheel, the HF8 and with crew chief.

If you need anymore help, pop over to my discord channel. Plenty of minds there to help - discord.gg/PmsF3ceR

I did try it, but I use the standalone UI for iRacing, not the steam version, and I could never get iRacing to launch in VR, it just came up as a flat screen game in my vr headset. I reached out to support, but they were unable to help me. How do you connect to iRacing using virtual desktop?

I am happy that I am in tune with you, possibly we are both on a sim racing journey, and are at a similar stage. So the procedure I mentioned is specifically for Simhub, and not for Crew chief. I tested crew chief this morning, and the settings it requires to be made in AMS2 (in the options menu - nothing to do with the port forwarding), are not compatible with Crew chief. So at the moment, CC and AMS2 will not work together if you set up AMS2 to work with the HF8. The settings conflict :( I have reached out to NLR support to see if they have a solution for this problem, which is disappointing, and I am sorry I didn't spot it in my review. I think this was because I was focused on a test lap and not on races, and when I was racing, it was in iRacing, where both Crew Chief and the HF8 (and sim hub) all work with no issues. The problem is this very specific set of settings in the AMS2 options menu, which various programs seem to need to be on one direction or another. THE GOOD NEWS - I have been able to figure out a workaround, but it's not ideal. The workaround is to just use SimHub software for the HF8 and to ignore the included software. then set AMS2 to be what simhub wants it to be: Shared memory - Project cars 2 UDP frequencey - off UDP protocol - Project cars 1 And then the HF8 will work, and Crew cheif will swear at you for not doing so well. Not a perfect solution, I know, and you will have to create a HF8 effects profile, but if you go to this video, it explains how to do that (not mine) - kzbin.info/www/bejne/r2bTeZaqd5qNhJo He also includes a download link to a sim hub profile for the HF8 to get you started (although you will probably want to tweak it). Hope this helps.

Thank you for your effort and detailed response. I figured this might be the case when I spotted in your video the AMS2 UDP settings were different from what I use. Glad to hear it is compatible with Simhub though, might just take a bit more effort, but hey what else is new with sim racing lol

@@rolanddo4989 Yes, sadly sim hub is always repeating the same moto ... If it were easy, everyone would be doing it .... :) good luck, and let me know how you get on.

With simhub you can definitely be informed about wheel slip and other things.

Yes I agree. The HF8 is great for immersion, but I didn't find it that useful for information like traction loss. But then I have been using my rumble motors on my pedals, and they are fantastic for feedback on what's happening to the car, so maybe my expectations have been altered.

Don't steal from Mom. Especially stuff that's on her favourite chair :( Glad you liked the vid :) And your comment made me laugh.

Hi, no questions are stupid here. It was in fact a bug meta introduced in one of their PC app version, and then took forever to fix it. It has been fixed now though.

Thank you for the heads up on the light blocker. Not seen anything online yet, so I will wait for it to appear.

I use the Oculus Debug tool, so I think that won't work with the PSVR2. How you finding the headset?

But don't forget the immersion of actually being in the car inside the 3d world compared to looking at a screen

@@Fromatic At only 90hz with everything turned right down? Nah.

Glad you like the video, although I am sorry I have put you off VR. It is a big performance eater, and it can be a bit of a mind hazard to get it setup, but when it is running correctly, which is most of the time for me, it is just the most immersive experience ever. Don't write it off until you have tried it. If you are anywhere near Dortmund in Germany, there is a Sim Racing Expo at the end of October, and there are usually plenty of VR rigs to try out. (although you will have to queue, as they are popular).

it depends on you system, but I will be doing a video soon on using openXR with AMS2, which does provide more performance. But like I say, you have to try VR to understand how cool it is.

@@OlderGamersPerspective I'll wait until the technology has improved. You've never got the latest thing have you.

Great tip, I will try to remember to include that in my next video.

That's great to hear, I am glad it is working well for you.

Cool, glad the video could help.