Project Reality Forums

I find the throttle response on some vehicles sluggish and inaccurate, especially tracked vehicles come to mind. I'm not sure if this is a BF2 or PR thing but just posting my findings.

I use analog pedals for forward and brake/backward throttle, analog joystick rudder for steering left right, mouse axis for camera control and analog joystick x/y axis for turret control.

When accelerating from a stand still:
The vehicle won't react the first 10-20% or so of throttle press. After pressing it a bit more to 30%-40% it seems to come "loose" and goes forward at a considerable speed. If I lower throttle the vehicle will go slower, where at first it wouldn't even move.

When lowering throttle from full throttle and speed:
The vehicle will just go on at full speed, only when almost dropping the throttle to 10% or so it decelerates. But the deceleration is so harsh it comes almost to a complete stop. So there is no practical way to go from 100% throttle and full speed to half speed, three-quarters speed smoothly etc...

Tracked Vehicles Turning:
At full speed these things almost won't turn, seems logical to me. But coupled with the less than optimal throttle response it's hard to slow down smoothly and make a turn while carrying some speed. You have to stop almost completely for the turning function to work. Whereas If I didn't press the throttle to 100% but kept it at 50& or so It will turn very good.

There are some differences in vehicles though, US tracked vehicles feel very sluggish but the British Challenger seems to respond better to steering inputs.

I use Joy2Key and have setup my joystick software to report combined pedals, otherwise it won't work as it should in the BF2/PR controls. ALso there is nothing wrong with the analogue controls, checked with DXTweak.

The answer to the first point lies in the torque vs gear ratios of the vehicle, it does it in several steps but it isn't realistic in any way sadly and I believe is a BF2 limitation. I've messed about with a similar idea before but there is also a second problem the vehicle doesn't throttle down on hitting the smallest object which causes heavy damage when you have a long gear range. The next problem is the weight especially isn't modelled correctly, you can't give the vehicle a realistic weight in BF2 as it will simply blow up the second you go over a bump. I tried to import the correct gear ratios of the Challenger 2 tank (from the TN54 spec) into PR a while ago but the problems were as above. 0.9 brought some improvements as previously it was like driving on ice at times with the tanks but I'd suspect it's BF2 holding it back.

Someone will be along to shoot you down for an already suggested idea / known issue but that's some explanation as to why it is, in shot BF2 physics are **** and current ratios are to limit damage afaik.

EDIT: There is a second reason rapid deceleration is in game and that's due to a lack of turret stabilisation; use to be able to stop on a dime before 0.87 so this is a slight improvement in terms of realism but it's a compromise all the same.

I'd be reviving this damn thread, but I feel this needs to be said.
Land vehicles are hard to steer, yes. Maybe a "low gear" button could be used? Like push W to move normally forward, but hold Shift and push W to move at a low gear, which allows for faster acceleration but lower top speed?

do what I do, use a joystick, your Y axis is your throttle, your rudder is for steering.

you then push the stick forward to go forward, less so for slow movement, the rudder allows smooth bends.

This allows gunners to hav a much easier time of shooting stuff while on the move.

you get alot more controlability from tracked vehicles as well as you slow slightly to turn

and the advantage to using a traditional throttle is that you let go of the stick and the vehicle stops by itself

I wanted to do this for a long time, but three controllers are too much.
How do you, at the same time:
-drive, keeping one hand on the stick
-look around zoomed in spotting targets, with the mouse cause you need the accuracy (at least i do)
-bring up the map, place markers, type to the team/squad
-have a smoke/beer

I keep trying to find an excuse to use my joystick in pr, but so far it isn't worth changin all my controls for so little gain. Jets are rare like slowly creeping up with infantry, or engaging armor on the move.

I use a Saitek X52 for flying. It features a seperate throttle and joystick module which I've come to like very much with helicopters. Its very useful with jets as well, however, I rarely fly jets for lack of opportunity in PR.

I tried the joystick/throttle combo for armored vehicles once but I got the same results as Alex123, slow delayed or sluggish response to inputs as compared to keyboard controls.

use a joystick, your Y axis is your throttle, your rudder is for steering.

\

That actually sounds like it would be a very intuitive control system, yet I can't see it being able to solve the problem. Regardless of what you set your throttle axis as, I don't believe the actual response time will change. As Alex123 said, you need a considerably larger amount of force to start moving than you do to stay moving. While this does corresspond with the laws of static friction it doesn't exactly scale correctly. It's a bit extreme in the case of armored vehicle controls in project Reality. In addition, throttle controls must be lowered to almost 0% in order for the vehicle to begin slowing down whether to turn or fire. I hope I explained myself in a less than confusing way...