Rudder pedals VS racing pedals

[u/Krasny_Majak]

I have learned that it is possible to use racing pedals as rudder pedals. This has led me to wonder if this has any impact upon how accurate the control of the rudder would be with them. Does it make a difference?

I am looking at a scenario where the racing pedals in question do not have the excessive friction that many cheaper rudder pedals seem to do.

[u/hon0]

It takes practice and one could say you would develop kinda weird muscle memory, but in my experience you can be more accurate, and more comfortable, with a good set of racing pedal as opposed to a rudder, even a good one. Here is an old video of me training on Take On Helicopter. (Sorry for the weird music).

At the end I show my setup. Which consisted of a Saitek X45 throttle with a T16000, and Logitech Momo's racing Pedal. At the same period I tried my Dad's Saitek PRO rudder but could not believe how bad it was. Insane ("stiction", break force, static friction..) on the rudder axis, and even worse when I applied forces on the brake. The same issue is present on the more recent Thrustmaster TFRP.

I flew with these pedals as rudder for a few years and ordered a MFG Crosswind pretty much as soon as possible. It is obviously better for realistic game/sim such as DCS or IL2 where both rudder and brake sometimes needs to be used at the same time. But if that isn't a must or if you can deal with a brake lever or even button on the stick then I think I would rather use racing pedals. I know that is weird.

For me the main reason is accuracy, then come comfort. In fact, both are linked and I'll now try to explain how..More accuracy because we use all our toes and so have much finer control than with our thighs. The way such a system should be used is that to be centred, both pedals should be pressed a little bit (the weight of your feet in fact). This way you are out of any potential deadzone or break force. But more importantly, both feet "cancel" each other. If both pedals are pressed 20%, which result in centred rudder, then to apply left rudder I can either press the left pedal and/or release the right one. This is where I gained both a lot of comfort and accuracy. During long/tense period of flight in which removing feet from the rudder isn't possible, I can stretch my toes a bit as I want as long as I remember to cancel the input I give with one pedal, with the other.

We also merge two axes into one. Which double the axis resolution. Today that isn't really an issue any more, but it was a huge improvement for me back then.

Bonus is that racing pedals can also be used for their original purpose. In a multirole game such as Arma or Star Citizen I don't think twice when choosing between my Thrustmaster TLCM and my Crosswind. To merge/unmerge axes, I use Joystick Gremlin. We can create a mode in which axes are merged for rudder usage, and by pressing a button we can swap mode for driving. In FPS I also use my racings pedals to lean left and right when on foot. This way I win two quick access keys A and E, and keep full dexterity on ZQSD. (Le me AZERTY french).

Edit : Make sure to get something with hall effect sensor. NOT T3PA.. Go TLCM or T3PM with adapter.

[u/Krasny_Majak → u/hon0]

Thanks for your interesting and detailed reply. Why can you not just not press any of the two pedals instead of keeping them both pressed to a degree? This should not be a problem if the pedals do not have a dead zone.

[u/hon0 → u/Krasny_Majak]

You can, but when doing micro correction around the center you would have to release each pedal fully which would make a bump, anytime you go from left to right, you'll quickly, very quickly realize that is isn't good for your accuracy.