New Driver UI
Dominic Brennan
Member, Administrator
Hi folks,
We are developing a new user interface for the Fanatec Driver, and this thread is an opportunity for the community to offer some suggestions. Of course, you can expect the interface to be updated to a modern visual design, and the usability will be enhanced.
What do you think is missing from the current driver?
What would you like to see in the future in terms of features or functionality?
All suggestions welcome.
[Fanatec Community Manager]
Comments
I think the last version of the update manager is already a step forward but maybe it's an idea to build in a test run so users can do that before actually flashing the new firmware on the hardware. The amount of topics opened on the forum because of failed firmware updates with it's consequences is way too high.
Not sure how that's covered at the moment (i never had a failure when doing firmware upgrades) but there should be a proper fallback mechanism when something doesn't work as expected. It isn't like that's something impossible like with flashing a new BIOS to a PC 10 years ago, nowadays all those manufacturers have fallback methods when something goes terribly wrong.
Can we opt for stuff to be removed also? If so please remove the FFB test button, i used it once when i still had my CSW V2.5 and it scared the sh*t out of me and i can't even imagine i would ever press that button again now i have a DD2.
Something else: they should really do something on the forum software... i know new stuff is coming out but i had a timeout twice while writing this message, https://cln.sh/zlYYLhonFD0nJL0e2ERR
Custom pedal curves seem like a good idea.
https://forum.fanatec.com/discussion/23021/please-vote-1-on-this-thread-so-fanalab-can-have-a-feature-for-customizing-pedal-input-curves
Competitors already offer them and if you ever come out with a podium line pedalset, not having them would put you at a huge disadvantage.
I can't help thinking development focus is in the wrong place.
We had a driver released 4 months ago that screwed up rotation setting on a whole family of wheelbases. A reasonable person might expect this to be immediately sorted with a hot fix but there has been no update. I've heard many requests for this to be fixed.
The DD wheelbase display is till unusable to display ITM because for over a year Fanatec haven't been able to provide a stable driver that isn't negatively affected by displaying telemetry. I've heard many voices asking for this to be fixed.
But I have not once heard anybody ask for a new UI. The existing UI is perfectly functional. It is largely a use once then forget window. Please concentrate on the stuff that matters - not just the shiny stuff.
PS - my advice would be move everything into Fanalab. That would be less messy - but focus on fixing the stuff that has been broken for months first.
With Fanalab not being accessible to consoles, I would stay away from moving everything to Fanalab. The rest is a +1.
This discussion is about the driver - it's not accessible on consoles - just like Fanalab.
Doesn’t Fanalab have to run in the background? If I’m wrong then my bad. Just thought if that was the case then the use, set, and then use to test functions every now and again would part of the driver would be inaccessible to consoles. Once again, if wrong my bad. I mean I would love to use Fanalab but.....
What do you mean consoles are unaccessible to fanalab? I have a PS5 and I have access to the properties screen through the DD1 F1 wheels base and fanalab. I do think fanalab could merge with the calibration-properties screen. Maybe I misunderstood the post.
I think Fanatec has done a better job giving us console users a choice in well-built- accessories for sim racing; unlike the other vendors who only stick with PC.
An efficient exchange, return, repair, interface would be nice with the new UI in the event issues cannot be resolved in a timely manner.
Unrelated. I know, but its taking a while to get an answer back. The only issue I have is I cannot get my throttle rumble motor to work during GT Sport gameplay. However, it works by tapping the test throttle rumble button. The throttle rumble has worked before on my PS5 ! The brake rumble motor works fine; though I wish it was a bit more noticeable. I believe as I tweaked the fanalab settings, I may have dialed out the throttle rumble ? I've removed everything and reinstalled everything (including the performance brake kit bushings and the CS damper for the throttle and the stiffer spring). Maybe a category to adjust the strength of the motors ? Or suggested tunes to preset that utilizes the throttle rumble.
The pedal vibration motors have one fixed strength and can not be adjusted through any Software.
By the way, any adjustments you are doing on PC in Fanalab will NOT be saved to be used on the base. Only the Tuning Menu itself is saved in the base and then can be used on Console but for the Tuning Menu it's faster to directly set everything in the Base and Wheel Tuning Menu instead of hooking up the base to a pc and start Fanalab.
Thats odd and I disagree. I have saved preset 4 on my Fanalab that it always goes to (which is where the wheels base is set on). The settings look identical to the tuning menu on the DD1 F1 Wheel base. I heard there was a recent update for consoles and fanalab but not confirmed.
In addition, the tuning menu does not address calibrating pedals, shifter, handbrake, wheel, etc.... I know fanalab does not calibrate but you still have to pull out a PC and connect anyways. Might as well use Fanalab before/after checking latest calibrations. I will double check tonight on my PS5 and fanalab,
As said, what you set in the Tuning Menu in Fanalab is automatically saved to the Setup in the wheel base Tuning Menu. It's always synced.
Everything else you change within Fanalab like LEDS, Display Settings, Vibration Settings, Dynamic FFB effects etc are NOT saved to the base and therefore have zero effect on console. It's a console Limitation because on a console you can not run a Software like Fanalab.
Hm I guess thats all I can wish for. Especially the flag led spotter is supported by one of my other wheels and its the feature I miss the most.
Thanks for asking the community and hope some of my ideas will be realized! Cant wait for the QR and the BMW rim!😁
All your wishes are nice but have nothing to do with the driver as those are all FanaLab Features… ;)
Ahh yeah true there is a difference. I read community suggestions and everything is welcome so I wrote my Christmas wish list.
I know you are part of the Fanalab team so at least you have some new ideas 😉
Then I have one more:
Exactly.... I thought this afternoon “let’s not start that discussion again because it will only end up some usual suspects who keep defending the strange choices made on this topic and it’s like screaming to a wall”.
I asked several people who work for Fanatec if they had any idea, any roadmap, any thoughts on how and in which timeframe issues will be solved but it remains dead silent. The only response I got from Marcel was that it was a lot of work and they probably needed to rewrite a lot of code, as a developer I know that excuse and in 90% of the cases it means “we don’t have a clue on how we are going to solve it so we try to ignore it”.
It’s a shame that a lot of new stuff has been started while some major issues remain open and customers are left out in the dark without any known progress on it.
Ego. Basking in the glow of new product releases makes a certain type of person happy. Ensuring that those products work properly and that adequate support is in place is just thankless hard work. Ain't nobody got time for that. This applies to companies just as well as to people.
"Of course, you can expect the interface to be updated to a modern visual design"
Please do not do that, if you mean "modern" like most UI designers mean it these days.
One of the things which attracted me to Fanatec was seeing that their driver was a standard Win32 UI, which looked like it was made by people who take software development seriously and have a serious product, rather than the usual whiz-bang nonstandard "gamer" UIs (which have started to infect applications and the OS itself, sadly).
The UI should be functional, not be something that looks like a UI out of a Hollywood action film. (There's a reason the UIs in films are a joke, and in the last 10 years real UIs have started to emulate them, thanks in part to desktop software copying ideas from phones, which are both dumbed down and designed for use with tiny screens and fingers.)
The current UI is already great. Please don't ruin it chasing a BS trend nobody actually wants. The issues that need attention are in the actual drivers (like how the FFB has sudden jolts if you actually use any of the information screens on the wheelbase, WTF?) and in things like how tightly the screws on the pedals are done up (broke several tools trying to undo them to install things in the box). The driver UI is not something you need to spent time and resources on; it is already completely fine, follows Windows desktop UI standards, and is perfectly functional. Put those resources into things that actually need them, instead of potentially ruining something that's already great.
(You could also allow us to bind buttons to keyboard keys, which would be very useful in some games. So many ways a programmer could improve your products; ruining the UI to follow "modern" trends of bad phone/hollywood UIs isn't one of them.)
Everyone hates Logitech's G-Hub for a reason, and a lot of that reason comes down to the way they've used a completely non-standard UI which, thanks to reinventing the wheel, lacks basic functionality you'd get for free with the standard Win32 controls, on top of looking ugly and using up far more space than it needs to while simultaneously needing to scroll and change panels all the time despite the amount of space the window takes up. Don't copy those mistakes, please! You were one of the few companies not doing this (although Fanalab is already heading in that direction, which I was disappointed to see).
Leave the flashy graphics to the games. The drivers and configuration software should use standard UI elements, get the job done, and then get out of the way.
Well said.....+1 all the way.
I agree with everything Gary says here. Just to add a few thoughts:
To Fanatec's driver team: if the DD driver code requires a major rewrite in order to fix the many issues still lingering, then rewrite the code. I know it might seem like I'm armchairing here, but I've been in that position myself (as a developer) and it always is easier than most fear to simply discard everything and start from a clean slate, armed with the knowledge of where the last implementation went wrong. Please: just start over, if that's what it truly needs.
Actually hilarious that this thread died within 2 days, without any response from the OP....go figure
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Legacy support for old and discontinued wheels.
CSL Elite and CSW coming soon. All older wheels like CSR or even old Porsche wont come.
that they put an automatic selection of the most used steering wheel configurations in the most important games like fanalab but in the interface and that they put in the interface, which means in SEN, FF, DRI, Etc ... for less experienced and new users , and what configurations would be the most recommended, and that it had a language selection, at least in the most important languages of the world, Spanish is one of them :)
dito...The driver should work and and not just look good .... If I already hear a modern design, then it's most of the beginning from the end ... The driver surface is ok, that's important to the firmware updates and the driver functions...
Please no big experiments of design, functionality and stability is the most important ...
How good that the new UI is out for a long time now already and it works great.
not sure if anyone else has run into this issue, but every time I try to update the firmware on my wheel, the firmware manager crashes. I've tried uninstalling and re=downloading the manager and it still does the same thing. Any advice?
Hello
I have had the same problem for some time.
I don't know if there is a problem communicating with the wheelbase when I start the firmware manager, but it crashes when I just start the firmware manager and try to close it without selecting update.
I reinstalled the driver with 429 434 and tried it, but it has not been solved yet.
My environment is "CSW V2.5 (474) motor (18)"
Why is the driver window too big for my screen and also completely un-adjustable?! Usually when poorly written software does this such as the logitech G-hub at least you can go full screen to see the bottom and it at least is functional.
So yeah I have a 4k screen.. yes I use scaling. So that shouldn't break this software. This is some rookie BS. Why don't you allow us to adjust window? If you're not going to make it work, at least allow user to minimize and or go full screen or better yet.. let m3e adjust the damn window! I'm a little annoyed after trying to set up my GT DD Pro and stuck here without farting around in windows settings every time I want to use the software.
How can this even be a thing in 2022? And it doesn't work when I hide my toolbar either. Still way to Freaking big.