A new beginning with a new project car.  Why a Subaru Impreza 2.5rs?  It mostly has to do with this article: Old School Rules – Subaru Impreza vs Mitsubishi Evolution .   I was completely shocked at what this car was capable of within a budget.  So I decided to pull the trigger and build myself a “TrackWhore”.  Definition of a “TrackWhore” :  A car used/beaten on a race track on a consistent basis.  My goal for this car is to put it on track but also have an ultra responsive daily driver that doesn’t need much to serve double duty.  I also wanted to keep this entire project build under $14,000 (including the price of the car).   In order to get the job done I needed to find a completely stock 98 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS at a really good price, which I did thankfully.  After a few months of searching I was able to find a 1998 2.5RS with 115,000 miles with a clean carfax report.

As you can see, there were a few minor issues with the paint/body, but overall not a bad car for $3,400.

Now that I have the car, the next step is to develop a list of parts to get for the car.  Here’s version 1 of the master list:

Engine

• Version 8 JDM STI 2 liter motor with twinscroll turbo:  Having a high redline stock and a ultra responsive turbo would be perferct for the street and track
• JDM Stock ECU: Great for emissions and easy to flash
• Top Mount Intercooler
• Radiator
• Exhaust

DriveTrain

• 6 Speed Transmission
• STI Differential (Rear, Center, Front) with DCCD
• STI Hubs with New Wheel Studs

Suspension & Brakes

• KW Coilovers : Not Sure Which Ones.
• 4 Pot Front Brake and 2 Pot Rear Brakes
• STI Aluminum Suspension Arms and Lateral Links

Wheels & Tires

• Stock STI Wheels
• BridgeStone RE-01R

Interior/Exterior & Other Misc Items

• Depo Exterior Head Lights and Corner Lights
• JDM Rear Tail Lights
• JDM Rear Spats
• 22B Front Fenders
• Aluminum Hood
• Version 5 Rear Wing
• JDM Crash Beams
• Steering with Quick Release
• STI Shift Knob and E-Brake
• Alpine Stereo System
• JDM Gauge Cluster With 10,000 RPM Redline
• Defi Gauges
• Gauge Pod
• Evo Recaro Front Seats

That should be it.  Next step is to strip the car and get it into paint.  Check back soon for next update.

Gallery:

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Logitech’s G25 Force Feedback Steering Wheel is by far one of the best force feedback wheel I’ve ever used.  The game I choose to play with the G25 was “Formula 1 Championship Edition” on PlayStation 3.  The combo of the wheel and the intense graphics from the game, gives the gamer the feeling of driving the real thing.  Any car enthusiast looking to get the real experience of driving without having to leave the comfort of your home should really try using this wheel.

One of the biggest surprises after opening the box is the excellent build quality of the wheel.  The wheel itself feels like it came straight out of a high end super car as well as the feel of the paddles.  My previous experience with gaming steering wheels are the flimsy materials used.  This is probably why the G25 is so popular.

So what are the down sides to this wheel?  One downside is having a way to setup the wheel.  With force feedback, the G25 can’t be placed on top of a table without supporting it.  The real issue is even if you find a table to support the wheel, getting the placement of the wheel and pedals becomes a task on its own.  The easiest solution to this is to purchase something like a Race Seat.  The second item on the negative list is the lag experienced after playing the game for a long period of time.  The initial fix was to reset the wheel by unplugging it to get it back to center again; however, a new fix has been developed to correct the lag issue.

Other then the two negatives (wheel setup and lag) this wheel couldn’t be more perfect.  Very simple to use once you get the perfect setup.  Once you start using this wheel, there’s really no going back to the standard joystick.

Lag Fix
Briefly said steering lag means there’s a delay between your actual steering wheel controller
and the game. Some people say there’s no lag in RBR but if you don’t notice it, it doesn’t
necessarily mean it isn’t there. Doing this fix is recommended and it works for every wheel.

1. Note: If you don’t have Logitech wheel skip this and move to point 2.

First of before you even start to fix this lag issue, you should start using the proper
FFB settings for RBR. Go to the Logitech Profiler FFB effects settings and set
“Damper Effects Strength” to 0%. This is essential to do because RBR does not use
these forces (RBR head physics coder has confirmed this). You can use whatever
settings you prefer for “Overall Effects” and “Spring Effects” but “Damper Effects” should be 0%.

This doesn’t apply to other games so maybe you want to create a new game profile for RBR so
it’s easier to switch between games. Check the Logitech Profiler manual on how to create profiles.

2. Start RBR and go to the Options – Controls – Filter Settings – Steering.

Turn “Saturation Speed” off.

“Maximum Fade” off = completely linear steering / full = non-linear steering

That is mostly a personal preference but it also depends on your wheel’s steering range.
If you have no idea what this means you probably want to set it full.

Put “Fall Rate” and “Rise Rate” to Instant.

Do these all settings mentioned above for both menus (“Axis” and “Digital Button” menus).

4. Find ‘PC_InputFilter.ini’ from your RBR folder and delete it or rename it to something else.
RBR doesn’t need this file anymore.

5. Open ‘RichardBurnsRally.ini’ and delete a whole line that says ‘ConstantForceMultiplier’.

6. Done!

(7.) <– This is OPTIONAL

This is the “last thing to do” if you STILL notice lag. This is optional because
you’ll change the original physics files – but it doesn’t affect the handling,
specs of the cars or anything else, just the FFB strength.

Go to the ‘Physics’ folder, find ‘physics.lsp’ file and then open it in Notepad (remember to backup!).
Find “MaxFFTorque” line and change the value to 90.0 or 80.0 (original value is 135.0).

Note: If you don’t have a folder called ‘Physics’ in your RBR main folder, extract ‘physics.rbz’ file.
Then rename ‘physics.rbz’ something else because now the game uses files from that ‘Physics’ folder.

Video

Gallery

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