During my visit to the Ivory Tower Studio in Lyon, i had the pleasure to have a chat with Sebastien Tixier, the guy who is responsible for the Force Feedback and Wheel setup for The Crew. A real Physics Guru, who worked on TDU1 as well.
One of the reasons why TDU1 worked so well was the combination of physics, force feedback and interaction with the gaming environment. The base physics were not even that great, simcade at the most, but the symbiosis of those three key elements made the driving in TDU1 special.
I bought my G25 wheel especially for Test Drive Unlimited and it rocked. I played hundreds, even thousands of hours on Oahu because the driving felt alive.
So i took the opportunity to thank Sebastien, who is largely responsible for that driving experience.
Knowing that this guy, together with Sylvain (car physics) is working on the wheel setup, is great news for any wheel fanatic who will play The Crew. Not only will the car handling be great. The translation of the physics to what you actually feel in the wheel will be spot-on.
Off course i have only played with the Thrustmaster T500 during the playtest. That seems to be the reference wheel they use during the development. But a large collection of wheels, pedals, shifters and other hardware was piled up near Tixier's working space.
As i described in my review the feel and driving during the test with the wheel was awesome. If you want to experience The Crew to the max, get a wheel.
I asked him how he manages to "translate" the car physics to the wheel, so you actually feel the suspension working and also feel the weight of the car, as with a lack of G-Forces of real world cars, that is also a bit emulated through the wheel.
In some games the FFB is so bad that a lot of players switch it off and prefer to drive without it, as it only comes down to some unrealistic jerking on the wheel and retarded controller rumble at the most. So what makes the difference?
He explained to me that 88% of the FFB comes directly from the physics. So if the physics are good, so will be the FFB. He is very humble about it, but i think that the 12% he adds to the mix are what makes it really good and special. They go through great lengths to get it as good as it can be.
I was really excited as i saw a Fanatec Club Sport Wheel over there and he confirmed that the shifting lights will be natively supported by The Crew. That is awesome, as i usually have to run 3rd party parallel programs to make that functionality work in other games. It only shows the dedication and interest they have in providing the best possible driving experience for all wheel users, even exotic ones like mine.
I also dug up some Q&A from the French TDU site.
Tixier revealed a few interesting facts in that interview
For instance the different parameters that will be added in The Crew in comparison to the physics in TDU1.
While in TDU1 only vertical suspension movements were used, The Crew will have a full 3D Geometric suspension system, including dynamic camber and toe.
The tire model in The Crew will have volumetric multi touch patch management, while in TDU1 it only referred to a single point under the wheel.
Only 2 basic differential models were used in TDU1, where The Crew will have a complete differential management system, 5 basic types with 3 subtypes.
The Crew will have complete independent management of all wheels and can also support multiple axles, so an 8 wheel vehicle with 4 wheel steering is possible.
This also explains why i thought the driving was that good in The Crew, as you could really feel the car work during the driving. Experience the tires bite the tarmac and controlled sliding when they lost grip. The feedback was even better than in most real life cars, lol.
Driving on the cool roads of the USA in The Crew with a wheel will be a special experience, thanks to guys like Sebastien Tixier.
It will be good
