For years a couple of my buddies have always ribbed me(and a couple of other of my friends) for the way we hold our console controllers. It always felt natural to me so I have always just gripped it where I use my index fingers for both LT/RT and LB/RB. I do ok in Forza, I’m not the greatest driver but I usually don’t have a problem getting into the 1% in rivals.
Finally I let my friend convince me to give a different grip a shot where my middle fingers control the triggers leaving my index fingers free to only use the LB/RB. Something I immediately noticed is that doing this causes me to “choke up” on the grip a little bit and apparently the old way I held the controller I didn’t use the full range of the left stick for steering, I would inadvertently grip a bit low on the controller causing me to pull the stick down towards me a bit when turning. Now with my thumb a bit higher on the stick I use the full left/right range of motion and cars turn completely different. Secondly I can now manual w/clutch like it’s second nature using the clutch as the LB. Lastly, though this could be my imagination simply because I’m still adjusting to the change in grip, is I feel my middle fingers have more precise control on the range of the trigger letting me better make use of non-abs and also I’m able to better apply just the perfect about of throttle to keep the car on the edge of breaking traction.
I know this isn’t technically a Forza specific topic but making this simple adjustment has really changed the way I play the game and I thought I’d pass it on incase someone else gripped like I did(I can’t be that alone, right?)
If I’m playing a game wherein I use the bumpers much I use index fingers for that and middle fingers for triggers. Otherwise I use index fingers on triggers.
When I bought my first 360 I held the controller the “natural” way. This changed when Forza 3 came out and I wanted to use manual with clutch to get more credits.
Probably the strange thing is that this only applies to my left hand because I use my left index finger for LB, my left middle finger for RT but I still use the right index finger for both RB/RT.
As I got used to this system I started to use it in other games too and today I’m using it in all games I play.
I use my Index fingers for trigs and bumps(I don’t feel as though I have enough control over those otherwise since they’re pressure sensitive) and I use my elbows to control left and right sticks
I use my index fingers on the triggers. I don’t use the bumpers for anything and use A for the clutch and just shift and hit the clutch simultaneously for the manual with clutch. I did try index fingers on bumpers so I could use the bumper for the clutch but my middle fingers were going to require some training on the triggers and I wasn’t willing to start over again to train my middle fingers for trigger control.
In all seriousness, I use my index fingers on the triggers (in the rare case that I use the bumpers, I just move my fingers). I grip it high enough to get 100% travel on the thumb sticks.
I use the controller how you typically would. I tried using the ‘A’ as clutch, I can upshift fine, but I cannot downshift very well using the ‘A’ as clutch. I should give it another go.