Maneuvering On The Ground With Differential Braking

[Doughguy]

27 minutes ago, Art-J said:

No you can't* and that's not what this thread was initially about. All the talk anout the wind derailed it, albeit one can assume two SEPARATE issues discussed here might be somehow connected in the code. The issues are:

1) Inability of the tail wheel to caster freely while unlocked, which makes making tight turns with diff brakes (ie. taxiing out of parking spot to perpendicular taxiway) impossible unless you use full rudder + stupid amounts of power to literally scrape the tailwheel sideways across the ground. Simply put - tailwheel always remains locked either fully or partially (ie. it kinda unlocks but to about 30'ish degrees only). Watch the video of the real thing posted by Super Wabbit on the previous page. Wind or no wind, It's impossible to do the same sort of turn in DCS Corsair right now. 

* Makind mild turns with rudder only as in DCS Mustang is perfectly doable indeed, but that's not what we're talking about here.

2) Some excessive weathervaning caused by adding wind component to the mission. What wind speed threshold maxes turning impossible is still to be determined.

I would also add a third issue of tailwheel getting stuck hard in the mud if one incidentally rolls off the runway/taxiway on some maps, which makes the plane very difficult to get moving again, but It's a different issue and I don't want to derail the thread myself.

This video?

Well i posted a track where i exactly do that. Iirc i dont even need full rudder.
Ill retry later.

I can only state that only if wind is involved that i cannot turn. Dont experience this with other a/c.

Its the same in Geo´s track. He´s got wind in the mission. Remove that and tadaaa.. works.

Edited 9 hours ago by Doughguy

[LeCuvier]

I agree. With little or no wind she handles very nicely. When I first saw postings about ground handling issues, I wondered if my plane was somehow different. But by adding wind to my test missions I was brutally corrrected. Somebody says that the tail wheel is broken from spawn. I believe that would make landing difficult past touchdown. But landing is a pleasure as long as no wind is concerned.

[Doughguy]

I re-run the corsair.

With zero wind i have absolutally zero issues taxiing. Either doing donuts on the spot or driving around corners.
"corsair texi test wind.trk" has 5m/s wind.
East is west to east. You can already see that it gets difficult to start a donut on the spot and while taxiing the nose always wants to drift into the wind.
With 10m/s you can forget 360 turns, taxiing only limited into the wind.

I tried the same with 10m/s wind and a mustang. Works like a charm. Hardly noticable effect.

I didnt need any rudder to do any manouvering. Just tried here and there to watch the effect.

Whilest the 3d model might not display a freely castering model, the physics still do it.
So i still say, the wind is the culprit here.
Might mean, either the corsair model is wrong, or its right and ED´s models never took this into account.

corsair taxi test 2.trk corsair taxi test 10 ms wind.trk corsair taxi test no wind.trk corsair taxi test wind.trk mustang taxi test 10 ms wind.trk

[Doughguy]

On 8/16/2025 at 6:55 PM, GeoS72 said:

@JupiterJoe, @Doughguy, & @-Rudel-

Here are my tests in an F4U and P-47 with diff braking. See relevant track & MIZ files.

These conditions are confirmed:
1. Damage to Corsair at initial spawn.
2. Corsair "slams" on deck after repair - potentially damaging tail wheel; no notice for sustained damage.
3. Poor turn radius with tail wheel unlocked (before and after repair).
4. Sharp turns in Corsair under 0 wind conditions by increasing engine to takeoff speed. Tail lifts off deck and diff braking is achieved.
5. Demonstrated the dangers of diff braking with high engine power & tail off deck in the Corsair.
6. Corsair track file with repair has accelerated time after initiating the repair cycle.
7. P-47 repair cycle NOT triggered at spawn point.
8. P-47 can perform sharp turns when engine near takeoff power. Tail lifts off deck & diff braking achieved with tail wheel locked.
9. External views yielded a visual difference between Corsair & P-47 tail wheel caster effects. Corsair shows limited, approx (+/-) 20 deg caster; P-47 tail wheel showed 90 deg caster.

Conclusion:
F4U-1D Corsair tail wheel model appears to be damaged at spawn and/or aircraft has too much weight on the tail wheel to prevent full caster.

@JupiterJoe, I never put a lot of thought behind the repair cycle for aircraft. Thanks for sharing that pearl of wisdom!

2025-08-16 F4U Turn Rate-No Wind.trk 1.01 MB · 1 download 2025-08-16 F4U Turn Rate-No Wind-Repair.trk 1.53 MB · 1 download 2025-08-16 P47 Turn Rate-No Wind-Repair.trk 1.86 MB · 1 download Corsair-Turn Test-No Wind.miz 11.79 kB · 1 download

 

21 hours ago, GeoS72 said:

This is the struggle that most of us experience. In this track file, I attempted to taxi to the takeoff spot in the Corsair School campaign. The player is directed to taxi forward, turn left to the takeoff point (indicated by green smoke). I wasn't able to get there. Without using the brakes, the plane started turning right, all on its own. I don't know if there was a cross-wind or wind component. I attempted to use the power up then pivot left. I couldn't even do that. See the track file.

This module is massively bugged and is a BIG fail. A player struggles just to take off. That has 0 fun-factor. I will NOT fly this plane until the diff braking problem is resolved.

Please address this problem SOONER than LATER. What good is an airplane if you can't taxi to the runway?

2025-08-16 Corsair School Cant Turn to Takeoff.trk 6.9 MB · 1 download

Ok i watched your tracks.
What i notice is the following in the first four.
You really stomp on those brakes. Either very ligh tapping not fully pushing through or stay on it slightly.
You want to turn while youre very slow. The whole plane will come to a halt. She needs momentum.
So either apply more power if slow and while stepping on one brake or if possible gain some speed.
Its basically the same with any other warbird.
Its the same with the video in Mud´s post. The Corsair lands, has momentum and does a 180.
If you barely move, you need to increase power.
I cant check the P47 as i dont have that one. But it works the very same on the 51, and the axis birds for me.
On the track with the repair you step on both, go full power and then release one break as the nose lifts.
As the nose lifts there is a point where she will skid forward. its not possible to control her in that moment, especially if you let go of one brake. She´ll skid forward.
You do not need to apply full power.
Step on one brake, and steadily increase power to about half the travel of the throttle. She´ll immediatelly start doin donuts on the spot.

 

The track with the corsair school has wind in it. I tried it myself and i cannot turn aswell. Only into the wind. Once i set it to 0 it worked.

You´re very harsh on the brakes. Those planes need some swing to turn, or more power.
See my tracks above and just watch my throttle and pedals.

If you´re stationary you stomp one pedal and apply more power. If youre on the move you either tap slightly to correct, or step on it slightly to turn.
The sharper or more prolonged the turn is, the more you need to compensate by adding power.

Again, this works easy with the corsair without wind. Add wind, and you can turn only into the wind. It does not happen for me with any of the axis birds or the 51. Dont have the other warbirds.

 

Edited 4 hours ago by Doughguy