Most PPG pilots do not use a foot-rest - I would not fly without one - It does not bring any negatives but adds a couple benefits:
1 / Immediately upon takeoff, I backpedal and grab the self retractable foot-rest with one foot to push myself inside my harness without having to let go the toggles or wiggle myself to get in, or grab the risers, etc… one push and I am in for the flight.
2 / It increases onboard comfort level a great deal, at least in my case. I have to say that I added and secured as I always did on my previous machines, a 4" thick hard foam cushion encased in a soft housing with the width of the harness, near the coccyx area. It is there permanently. It pushes the harness forth while the machine is kept with the correct angle under power and with the top of the hoop away from the trailing edge lines. The only tiny drawback is that the PPG is tilted a bit forward on my back while walking around but I do not even think about it anymore. It has become part of the routine to arch back a bit for a couple seconds during acceleration to keep the thrust as parallel to the ground as possible. Pretty simple and easy actually.
The cushion can be seen between the harness and the frame and is kept in place by two 2 velcro straps - 1 vertical and 1 horizontal). I do not need to remove the padding and can fold the OpenPPG with it in it. By pushing the harness forward a bit, it gives it a better supporting ergonomic curve to increase inflight comfort. The most important part of a PG or PPG harness is to have good support behind the knees to prevent cutting the blood flow behind the thighs. Not enough seat plate length will also lead the pilot to fly with tight abdominal muscles (not fun) which usually happens with beginner PG students on the bunny hill because they do not yet know how to get inside the harness after takeoff. In other words, the thighs will be slightly slanted downward. The kneecaps should be slightly higher than the hipbone axis while flying - basically the same posture as when driving your car. You will see many PPG pilots flying with a straight spine at a 90º angle in relation to a horizontal seat-plate which is fine but not the most comfortable.
, full speed-bar, side storage pocket. It was a PG harness, and because of it I was able to weigh-shift as well as with any paragliding harness which was impossible to do and still is not with today’s PPG designs because of the frame configuration preventing it. You will only get a partial weigh-shift.
hits the fan. More play on the three axis under a seasick wing will be more difficult to manages. You could talk about it to Parajet-USA and see what they have to say. On our local cliff site, 90% of the pilots use a Split-Leg harness because it is lighter, easier to use, and snug at the hips which will buffer turbulence better in strong air. Sitting on a flat hard surface area (seat plate) will give more jolts to the harness if I can describe it that way, when the wing is hit by turbulence. The wave will travel through the lines to the risers and finally the harness with you in it. When paragliding, if your right wing tip gets hit by an updraft (thermal gust for example), the right risers will lift the harness on that side and since gravity always talks, your will slide toward the left of the harness. If you are loose in your seat, it will not be the best feeling. Pilots with loosely fitting harness feel as if sitting on ball bearings and will often grab whatever(risers or carabiners) to stabilize the harness. In the early days, to prevent the problem and keep the seat plate flat in turbulence, someone invented the “Cross-Brace” which is basically two straps crossing each other like an “X” and connecting the upper right to the lower left and the upper left to the lower right to prevent the harness from tilting widely from one side to the other in trashy air. You could tighten or loosen the straps with trimmers to adjust them to your liking. The idea was good in theory, but pilots quickly realized the down side of that contraption… it was almost impossible to counter-weight shift in case of a collapse to bring the wing back to the default configuration. This is when the company SUPAIR (Pierre Bouilloux) invented the ABS (Anti Balancing System) used today on all PG harnesses. It is a compromise between the “cross-straps” and none. You still can weight shift pretty well with the ABS and managing a collapse.