Greetings,
I’m on my third attempt to get FS2020 working well in VR. So, things are looking pretty good ATM.
CPU I9-12xxxK
RTX 3090Ti
64gb RAM
OpenKneeboard to display ForeFlight using APowerMirror
FS Flight Keeper (Still one of the better add-ons)
HP G2 Reverb.
So with this set up it’s pretty nice. Did a couple flights, switched to OpenXR (I think that’s the name of it) Did a few more and it looks really nice.
But I do find the feel of the default C172 is pretty bad. I don’t like it. It’s hard for me to control. Add some weather and it seems ridiculous. Rolling down RWY17@KTIW it pulls really hard to the right, then at V1 it starts to tip forward and to the left. It’s kinda crazy if you ask me.
Anyway, I thought since my set up is VR only that I’d ask here how the prop pilots feel about the “Feel” of the sim and what they do to get a decent experience?
I truly appreciate your feedback about this.
thx
Do you have rudder pedals? If not - indeed you may have some difficulty in controlling the plane.
Are you real world pilot? If not - it may be hard for you to judge if the simulated plane behaves like the real one.
I remember once in small plane (Tecnam P2008JC, a bit smaller than C172) when my seat slided backwards due to seat slide lock malfunction. I wasn’t able to reach my pedals. The plane veered left, out of the runway, fortunately between the runway lights and on all-grass field, so nothing bad happened and I managed to stop the plane.
Little planes can be nasty if not controlled properly, especially in crosswind. I will not even mention taildraggers here, which I believe conspire to kill you if you don’t handle them gentle but firm enough.
It is a bit easier in RW, as you have the “seat of the pants” sensations, peripheral vision etc. But if things go nasty I still prefer to be in the sim 
In RW, when I need a smooth ride, I start flying just after the sunrise, when the atmosphere is calm. You can do the same in the sim or you can define calm off-line weather.
Sebastien from Asobo admitted recently, that there is still work in progress when it comes to simulating the rolling-flying transition, when part of airplane weight is supported by the wheels and part by the wings. Generally, due to P-factor and some other effects C172 should have tendency to turn left during the takeoff roll, to be counteracted by rudder application. If there is a crosswind, yoke should be also applied to counteract turning into the wind (this is possible due to asymmetrical wing drag resulting from aileron application). When the airplane lifts of during strong crosswind, the yoke application results in side slip which helps staying over the centerline, which is later corrected by the pilot into crabbing. All these phenonena are difficult to be simulated, so C172 in the sim still does not behave 100% like the real one. All these effect happen withing ca. 20 seconds of the takeoff roll and initial climb.
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I am not a real pilot but this situation where it pulls hard in one direction and then later it pulls hard in the other direction seems wrong to me as well. I get the engine torque will make the aircraft pull to one side but the engine torque doesn’t switch direction so I’m unsure why the aircraft switches the pulling direction. That doesn’t make sense to me. It could be the wind but this happens to me in calm weather as well.
You mention the “tip forward” part. That I don’t experience. Maybe you haven’t properly set your elevator trim? Try adding more elevator trim before you start rolling down the runway.
Indeed, the rolling-flying transition is not simulated well. Very hard to mathematically gradually increase the lift forces (with accompanying drag: induced, parasitic, interference etc.) and to decrease the forces on the wheels, rotational friction, side friction, the way tyre rubber reacts with concrete or grass. Then front wheel goes up, so the whole force system changes.
If somebody wants to use sim as an aid in the real world flying training, I typically recommend this, but without flare and landing and also without the takeoff, as this can result in learning bad habits.
Even in VR it’s extremely difficult to judge the flare height, not to mention the lack of perception of forces on the controls and from your balance/vestibular system.
Imaging learning operating a sailboat in a gale while sitting in you stationary chair with your VR headset. What about bicycle riding or skiing.
We must accept some limitations and have fun.
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Before reading this thread I had been searching for topics on the ground handling problems related to surface winds.
“Please fix the ground physics!” is one that can be voted on.
“Is there something going on with wind or runway friction?” is another.
They both have suggestions about tweaking the code in the flight tuning section. I haven’t tried this yet but I plan to.
Here are some excerpts:
Base MSFS folder->Official->OneStore->Asobo-aircraft-c172sp-as1000->SimObjects->Airplanes->Asobo_C172sp_AS1000. From that folder make a backup of flight_model.cfg, I just copy and paste the file into the same folder so that my backup is flight_model-copy.cfg, then open flight_model.cfg using any text editor and scroll down until you reach [FLIGHT TUNING], then add
ground_high_speed_steeringwheel_static_friction_scalar = 2.0
ground_high_speed_otherwheel_static_friction_scalar = 2.0
to the end of that list and save the file.
These values were also suggested:
ground_high_speed_steeringwheel_static_friction_scalar = 10.0 ; 1.0
ground_high_speed_otherwheel_static_friction_scalar = 10.0 ; 1.0
I agree that groundhandling is nothing like IRL.
In your case the aircraft should go to the left - you need to apply right rudder during takeoff roll and during all climbs.
Crosswind do make the aircraft wanna Turn the nose towards the wind, but no way near as sensitive as it is in the sim. I’ve landed C172 and PA28 in 25kt crosswind (yes I know that is above demonstrated crosswind 
) IRL a couple of times. It’s impossible to do in the sim and stay on the runway.
Try locking to 45fps with Rivatuner to get it as smooth as possible. Smoothness is the most important factor for me with regard to “feel”. It’s actually feels a lot smoother than, say, 51fps and is night and day compared to 30-40fpa.
