The HIDDEN problem you should know about Sim Pedals

foreign [Music] racing Journey particularly for the brake pedal and the way it works which helps creating that famous muscle memory to hit our breaking points consistently but there is a hidden problem no one ever discussed publicly which I'm trying to fully understand for more than a year testing thousands of different pedal sets here on my cockpit and it turns out every single producer is aware of this issue and quietly try to deal with it and solve or at least minimize that problem I also found proteins and drivers are aware of that and have found their own Solutions without sharing that publicly which is understandable as for them an advantage against the competition is very welcome so it's time to discuss this publicly and try to help you with some solution also we may push the industry to give more attention to that and even push them in different direction let's break the myth [Music] first for those who are not fully aware how muscle memory Works basically when a movement is repeated over time the brain creates long-term muscle memory for that task and eventually allowing it to be performed with little to no conscious effort the advantage of that is the decreased need of attention executing that movement but with maximum efficiency within our motor memory system in Sim racing with the lack of g-forces and with most of the pedals lack of any feedback we fully rely on that muscle memory we built with practice and that is the reason the industry use Lotso units in their pedals which are very precise in their capability to measure the exact pressure we apply to the pedal plate which usually push or pull the load cell through piston with set of elastomers or Springs which determine how the Pell oil fields in compression for us all that is really great concept and serve us for ages in our Sim racing Journey but there is one big issue with the pedal switches elastomer's compression resistance the elastomas are rubber compound with different properties some are hard some soft but testing so many of those over the years they all have the same problem to fully understand what I am talking about we'll read this state from the article which you can find in the description below so here are the main challenges of the rubber Behavior there are three District categories of the stress strain behavior of the elastomer which makes engineering design so challenging with that material first cyclic property changes second large deformation response and third non-linearity of stress strength curve in our case for Sim racing Heroes the third one becomes the huge problem and no one never brings that to the table that is the stress relaxation in this picture there are two successive extensions last attraction Cycles taken to the same maximum stroke the decrease in measured stress of the second cycle is due to the stress relaxation and that is defined as decrease in stress with time at constant deformation in rubber stress relaxation occurs due to the sleeping of entailments losing the network of molecular chains so they apply less Force now having that basic understanding of how elastomers work due to their molecular structure let's see how that translates to a Sim racing pedal with precise load cell measure if you are experienced driver you know most of the cars in different circumstances can't handle hundred percent pressure and lock tires which not only extend the travel of the car but also overheat the tires and can create flat spots in some Sims let's say the tire grip can handle for 2 seconds 80 percent brake pressure before we start rail braking and into the corner well here is the problem of that elastomer relaxation we hit 80 percent which is the maximum the grip can handle initially but the sleeping curve entanglement losing the network of the molecular chain relaxing the initial pressure on the load cell with sometimes more than 10 percent and we end up breaking in the next Second and a half with 70 or even less instead of 8 which the grip can easily handle the end result is we have indeed created perfect muscle memory to hit the exact initial pressure on the pedal for each Corner being sometimes a 80 or 85 or 90 percent and then out of our control the elastomerular Lux and we end up breaking with 10 12 percent less force and letting lots of time on each braking Zone when I first discovered this on set of pedals I was testing before I was thinking we have filtered load cell and asked for another unit when I replaced the load cell and nothing changing that pedal Behavior I started looking in wrong directions for problems with my USB slots or electromagnetic interference still one day I decided to test Springs I had around from other pedals and once I replaced the elastomer with those Springs the load cell calmed down and become quite precise once I explained the manufacturer this problem and asked him to develop spring set for the Piston he was bit skeptical but two weeks later reports three tends to half second improvements on his times with Daniel spring skip in the next year I've heard similar reports from people who replaced their elastomers with Springs so I start diving deeper in that problem and try to fully understand what's the difference between Springs and elastomized compression behavior and that's how I discover that molecular structure of the rubber and relaxing Behavior under constant pressure that being said Springs are not perfect too but at least we have more stable now I'm not engineer but somehow my brain find a way to solve different problems and at the time I discovered the issue and found solution I start contacting different pedal manufacturer and for my surprise most of them were fully aware and quietly trying to solve the problem and find the way to bring the most accurate measurement to using that rubber compound which as we can see is not optimal at all for this use my personal guess is also cost efficiency as that is way cheaper some companies minimize that effect using specifically designed spacers or cups containers even mixing Springs with elastomers another difference between Springs and the last message is the compression property Springs are mostly linear and elastomers are more on the Progressive side that means elastomers will give bit more realistic feeling to the break and can give a lot of options to the manufacturer to create different settings and different compression curves which will help their selling point but at what cost no one have ever explained as you can see I don't mention any specific names as all manufacturers have to deal with this problem but no one have ever met mentioned that publicly because that myth of famous muscle memory and load cell measurement is such a convenient selling point and we are all responsible for that myth anyway the damage is done and we are all responsible for that so here I have few solutions for you first if you're on pedals with elastomous and you have different in hardness options test them all and check which set of rubber is the most stable with less relaxation open your pillow set software or give your program and hit your pedal with 80 pressure keep it there and check on what percentage the pressure will fall down in the next few seconds repeat that with all different rubber you have and use just the best one next option is to look for aftermarket springs for your model and if you can find but your elastomer problem is severe find other people with the same pedals explain the issue and try to push the company to make set of springs for that model as much more noise we make about that problem that much more the companies will realize we are aware and all elastiness feels bit better in use but at cost of breaking performance and we need full control another solution I found in the last pedals I use is angle measurement and those I have the choice between Lotso and angle and I found my inputs to be way more precise translated to the Sim with the house sensor than the load cell with the same muscle memory I have created using elastomers I know many people got confused with that statement but you have to understand that simple thing the work of my fits doesn't change at all and I still press the pedal with the same same feeling and amount of pressure through my muscle memory when lot cell measure my input is over the place because the elastomer molecular Matrix is relaxing after the initial push but when I use the angle sensor I feel exactly the same way but the game input is absolutely stable you have to understand load cell or angle sensor have nothing to do with the muscle memory we have built that memory is built on the compression of the moving Parts in this case rubber or Springs and as long as the pedal moves the angle sensor will be absolutely precise the main difference between those two is the linear measurement on the house sensor even if the pedal feels progressively stiffer and the progressive measurement of the load cell the progressive stiffness of the pedal through that movement however in both case cases we will build that muscle memory we need and subconsciously execute that movement precisely just one of the inputs will be translated to the same as super stable and the other or relax out of our control I hope you understood the unspoken problem we have for so many years and find a way to minimize it with at least the best available elastomer set you have in the Orchid or find some good spring set and have full control of your braking inputs and eventually improve your times

Channel: Race Beyond Matter

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Id: ovcI4gqoeO0

Length: 11min 53sec (713 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 24 2023