Maneuvering On The Ground With Differential Braking

[OmasRachE]

I have that problem on every airfield als long as there is noticable wind.

Yesterday two suqadron mates and I got to fly the corsair in a training mission (without any wind). Taxiing was not an issue. Besides the lag of wind and turbulences, which I realy like while flying warbirds, it was great fun. Managing the engine with the cowl flaps felt a bit off, since the slightest opening cooled the enging down below the blue corridor but I don´t have real live experience so I can´t tell if that is correct and it didn´t bother me at all. It´s a great module over all, and I can´t wait for them to get rid of the taxi bug, so that we can fly her in actual missions with realistic weather. I love the corsair.

Edited November 11 by OmasRachE

[Art-J]

38 minutes ago, tekwoj said:

What airfield are you having a problem to taxi? On paved airfields on Caucasus I can taxi without an issue, just gotta be gently with the brakes.

Taxiing in some way is not an issue discussed in this thread. Yes, It's doable, as long as there is no wind set in the mission (or it's very low speed wind) and you use  high power to make tight turns. Thus, the module is still very much usable and enjoyable, albeit in limited circumstances.

That being said, player should not HAVE to turn wind off, or use inaccurate brake and rudder applications, to overcome problems of apparent lack of groundlooping plus excessive weathervaning in the ground handling part of simulation. These are the problems pointed in this thread and they apply to both paved and unpaved surfaces.

Edited November 11 by Art-J

[Scotch75]

I have noticed in slightly stronger breezes that heavy use of diffential braking to fight the weather vaning results in the right main gear being damaged. It won't retract.
Cheers!


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[Captain Orso]

Normandy II, Brucheville.

I was just playing around with it, and found that if instead of using the brakes on my rudder-pedals, if I used A, S, and W for right-, left-, and both brakes, I was able to use differential braking to maneuver around.

I then tried with the rudder-pedals, and they now seemed to work.

I turned on the controls display to see if something looked funny while using the pedals, but the brakes are not displayed like with other aircraft 

I think this time I also didn't use the pseudo-parking-break lever to set the parking bake before starting the engine, and just held the pedals down.

[tekwoj]

4 hours ago, OmasRachE said:

I have that problem on every airfield als long as there is noticable wind.

Yesterday two suqadron mates and I got to fly the corsair in a training mission (without any wind). Taxiing was not an issue. Besides the lag of wind and turbulences, which I realy like while flying warbirds, it was great fun. Managing the engine with the cowl flaps felt a bit off, since the slightest opening cooled the enging down below the blue corridor but I don´t have real live experience so I can´t tell if that is correct and it didn´t bother me at all. It´s a great module over all, and I can´t wait for them to get rid of the taxi bug, so that we can fly her in actual missions with realistic weather. I love the corsair.

Thanks for clarifying. Tested with 20kts wind and yeah, the plane won't turn over certain heading until you push it using the engine torque for extra momentum. So somehow the rudder and brake are together to weak to turn the plane over the 110-290deg line in a wind blowing towards 60deg.

[AG-51_Razor]

I keep reading responses like this one from tekwoj and I have to wonder how it is that their experience in the Corsair can be so completely different than others? Tekwoj, if you were to jump into a Jug and begin taxiing straight ahead at the speed of, say a brisk walk, then unlock the tailwheel and ever so lightly tap on either brake, you would see that the P-47 will do a complete 360 degree turn without any additional input from rudder or throttle whatsoever. Try the same thing in a Corsair and you will see your direction of travel change slightly towards the brake you tapped but then continue on. If you hold the brake pedal down, the result will be the slight change in direction and then the plane will just come to a halt, as if you had clamped down on both brakes. This is not anywhere close to being normal or realistic. Go to the F2 view and, while in the P-47, you will see the tailwheel turn 90 degrees as the plane begins its turn. Do the same in the Corsair and it appears to deflect only about 20-30 degrees. I'm not saying that this is what is causing the problem however it certainly looks like it. I am really curious to know if you are not seeing this same behavior. 

[tekwoj]

1 hour ago, AG-51_Razor said:

I keep reading responses like this one from tekwoj and I have to wonder how it is that their experience in the Corsair can be so completely different than others? Tekwoj, if you were to jump into a Jug and begin taxiing straight ahead at the speed of, say a brisk walk, then unlock the tailwheel and ever so lightly tap on either brake, you would see that the P-47 will do a complete 360 degree turn without any additional input from rudder or throttle whatsoever. Try the same thing in a Corsair and you will see your direction of travel change slightly towards the brake you tapped but then continue on. If you hold the brake pedal down, the result will be the slight change in direction and then the plane will just come to a halt, as if you had clamped down on both brakes. This is not anywhere close to being normal or realistic. Go to the F2 view and, while in the P-47, you will see the tailwheel turn 90 degrees as the plane begins its turn. Do the same in the Corsair and it appears to deflect only about 20-30 degrees. I'm not saying that this is what is causing the problem however it certainly looks like it. I am really curious to know if you are not seeing this same behavior. 

The plane turns but doesn't do the full 360. I don't have real life experience in airplanes to tell what's realistic and what's not, I know that  in IL-2 you have to push too hard (which is a bit more than a tap) to make the P-47 swing 360, if you just gently tap the brakes it's fine. 
And you're right, after paying more attention than just starting up and taking off, the corsairs tail wheel in DCS is stiff, limited in turn and seems to be on a strong spring that centers it. 

[Captain Orso]

After fighting with the Corsair for a while, I jumped into the Mustang in the same mission, starting in the same row of paring spots, facing the exact same direction. I started the Mustang and taxied out, smooth as butter, like I'm used to.

[Art-J]

On 11/11/2025 at 6:25 PM, AG-51_Razor said:

Go to the F2 view and, while in the P-47, you will see the tailwheel turn 90 degrees as the plane begins its turn. Do the same in the Corsair and it appears to deflect only about 20-30 degrees. I'm not saying that this is what is causing the problem however it certainly looks like it. 

Nah, not likely. You might've missed Rudel's reply on this subject, posted long ago either in this thread or the other, related one.

In DCS animations are separate and unrelated, or should I say - not always tied to, what physics engine is doing. The best example is a long-standing bug in P-51D module where during turning on the ground, the wheel which is supposed to stop - rotates, while the other wheel which is supposed to rotate - stops. The plane taxis allright otherwise, so it's "only" a messed up animation.

Rudel explained that small deflection angle of tailwheel in Corsair is related to animation limits of DCS, while physics engine just treats tailwheel as a dimensionless pogo stick.

So, whatever ain't right, it's not "visually visible" to us if you know what I mean and it's buried in variables and parameters of the code.

[TopCover]

From today's patch notes:

DCS: F4U-1D Corsair by Magnitude 3

• Stall exit improvements.
• Fixed propeller stream effects on vertical tail (improved taxi with side wind).
• Force feedback trim pitch fix.
• Tail wheel swing - WIP (urgent).
• Corrected fuel tanks drag.
• Japanese ground units, 25mm AA gun, corrected max distance (7500m -> 6000m).

I just updated, but don't have time to try it out yet.

[GTFreeFlyer]

Had a chance to play with the new update.  Here's what I found...

I cranked the wind all the way up to 30 kts and was able to taxi easily.  Able to lock one wheel with brakes and pivot around it.  The wheel seems to stick in place better, without the sideways translation is used to have, but you'll still have some skidding with high winds like 30 knots which is fair.

The swivel animation is not yet correct.  You can't see the tailwheel turn 90 degrees, but the planes handles as if it did turn 90 degrees.

I found that locking/unlocking the tailwheel had no effect in slow speed ground handling, such as pivoting around one main wheel.  I could not feel a difference in the way the plane spun around a single main wheel.  However, when taxiing forward in a strong crosswind, locking the tailwheel does help to keep the nose straight, and it becomes obvious that it works because when you unlock it, the plane will weathervane into the wind as it should.

Overall I think the devs did a great job in this update.  The plane handles well, but it almost feel like all wind effects were turned off altogether below a certain speed.  Spinning around in either direction was quite effortless in 30 kts of ground wind.  I'll take it!  So much better than it was.  I think everyone in this thread will be much happier overall.

Cheers.

[Etask]

Finally! Haven’t had a chance to try it yet, but if it’s been fixed it’s great news!