I’m copying this over from a thread I started on the main forums where I got no traction.
For the new tire physics, it would be great to either have a torque limit on steering or get independently adjustable friction for the steering wheel in the new physics just the way we got it in the old setup c. SU9.
As-is, the steering wheel has far too much authority. You can limit steering angle by speed, but it still acts to drive you straight ahead when the wheel is centered. This makes taildraggers feel way too sticky as soon as you get the wheel down. It should twist or skid, not carve dead ahead with little pressure on it.
Steerable wheel linkages in most small GA planes are spring-driven, and not capable of heavy direct steering input the way a direct linkage is (like a steering rack / other hydraulic driven steering). however, when implementing the new ground contact model for small steerable things the steering deflection of a steerable wheel is not limited by the resulting force. therefore, FAR too much steering force can be generated. (i.e., you can hold the wheel at 30 degrees deflection while the tail is up and as you lower and weight the tail, it snaps HARD in the direction of the wheel. in real life it would not only skid, but the spring linkage would NOT hold the wheel firmly at 30 degrees. the resulting control IRL is much lighter than is now simulated by the new better tires)
As a result, a developer must severely limit friction (or as you call it… stickyness) to avoid over-controlling with steering inputs. This makes the non-steerable mains too likely to skid sideways.
Other compromises, such as limiting steering input angle, have undesirable side-effects such as increasing the low speed turning radius (also wrong).
Either a parameter should be added so that wheel angle is no longer directly coupled to steering input and instead simulated as a spring (this is hard).
OR, simply provide a separate stickyness value for steering wheels so this behavior can be controlled independently from the grip on the main wheels, allowing some reasonable balance.
Detailed steps to reproduce the issue encountered:
put ground_new_contact_model* in a taildragger with a steerable tailwheel. (also impacts ga planes with steerable nose which should have spring driven linkage - particularly noticeable in taildraggers though).