Hello, all. This post is directed towards people who have used a wheel. Specifically the $300-500 “force feedback” wheels. G920, Thrustmaster TX, things like that. I’m mostly looking at the G920 at the moment.
I’ve been playing Forza since the beginning, but have always used a controller. Right now, I’m thinking about getting a wheel. It’s mostly for another game, I actually like the way controller steering feels in Forza 6 just fine. But, if I had one, I’m sure I’d try to use it for Forza as well. So I’m curious about something specific that I’ve failed to find a definitive answer to. I’m wondering if there are vibration cues for throttle-induced wheelspin, lateral sliding, and braking/brake lock-up. The sort of thing that you tend to feel through the triggers in Forza 6. I drive without TCS/stability control, ABS, etc., and a lot of my ability to feel what the car’s doing comes from those. My fear with a wheel is that if that feedback isn’t present, I’ll gain the ability to give smoother inputs, but lose my ability to feel what those inputs are doing.
What say you, wheel users? Does that feedback exist? I tried searching (both here and elsewhere), but it’s difficult to come up with specific terms for this question. I mostly just get a bunch of unrelated junk about force feedback (which I’ve come to understand is a different term than vibration), and adjusting the level of the vibration setting (but nothing about WHICH THINGS vibration does, which is what I’m looking for). I have found a grand total of 2 forum posts that even mention the concept I’m looking for. One of them states that this sort of feedback does not exist on wheels, and the other one says it does. Not terribly helpful, obviously.
The reason I’m asking is that, many years ago, I did try a wheel with Forza for about 5 minutes, and it was not a good experience. There was absolutely no physical feedback to warn of wheelspin, and I could not keep the TVR Sagaris going in a straight line at all. That car is not friendly when you’re inducing wheelspin and can’t tell (it was a party environment, so audio cues may have been there, but I probably couldn’t hear them). The thing is, I think it’s pretty likely that wheel was one of the relatively cheap ($100 or so) items. Also, it was years ago, I think Forza 2 or 3 was the current game. So I’m hoping that the higher-end wheels do a better job. Plus the game has advanced several versions. But those wheels are a big chunk of money to take a gamble on without knowing how they work beforehand. I’d appreciate any info you can offer.
There is vibrational feedback through the wheel, but it feels so off to me that I run it very, very low. FFB in FM6 isn’t all that well done overall, to be honest. Typically, for me anyway, R class and up-more tractable cars and more precision required (and sequential transmissions)-use the wheel, S-class and down-generally less tractable cars you can throw around a little, I use the controller for the haptic feedback and the magic manual w/clutch shift times.
If you crank the vibration up you will feel vibration occur if you peel out from a stop. As far as when you lose traction midturn for instance or while drifting then no there is no vibration.
Theres actually not much of anything when that happens because for whatever reason they decided the best way to let you know you have no traction is to lose ffb totally. Its not ideal and actually messes more people up because youll have ffb as you start the turn, if you start to lose traction you lose all ffb and the wheel becomes super light, then if you managed not to over correct because the wheel is so loght that you can very easily turn too much then bam ffb comes back on full force. Its too abrupt and not nuanced at all.
I personally would never reccomend getting a wheel for forza, but like you said you have another game you want to use a wheel with. Luckily there are some good options out there on consoles. So if the price is right and you’re willing to put in the time a wheel is a good investment. Just dont think you’re gonna just jump right in and be a pro.
So if your other game is assetto corsa, pcars or dirt rally then id say definitely get a wheel. If your other game is horizon 3 (which is better than it was) or the crew i wouldnt be in a rush to get one. Forza 6 is playable with a wheel, some cars can feel good but on the whole it doesnt do a wheel any justice.
Weird. I’m at a loss as to why that would be different. I worry that it’s suddenly going to be really difficult to sense things happening because of stuff like this. Maybe the audio cues are enough? I dunno.
I guess I can still use my controller for Forza, but not using a wheel when I have one will probably annoy me.
Huh. Is that with FWD/AWD, or everything? Steering going light makes sense if you’re overdriving the front wheels (at least in my head) but not so much for RWD.
Heh, actually the other game is Dirt Rally. I love it overall - best rally game I’ve played on a console in years - but I can tell they concentrated more on wheel users than controller. Controller steering is extremely twitchy at low speeds by default (at least on tarmac - loose surfaces mask the problem a bit), it took me months to get it adjusted. I do own PCars, but have hardly played it - again, I felt like the default steering on controllers was awful. Not just a bit twitchy like Dirt Rally, I found it nearly unplayable. I could barely get a lap completed without spinning. And unlike Dirt Rally, I never managed to find a setting I liked. So, since it sounds like those two are good with a wheel, I’m confident about moving ahead.
Yea forzas ffb isnt so great but it is playable once you get used to it. Dirt rally is harder with a wheel but so much more satisfying than with a controller. Pcars is much much better with a wheel, it just takes a little time to setup the ffb but its good. Just be patient, youre not going to be quicker than with a controller but eventually youll get better. Wheels also require you to dial in your preferred settings, so when you get the wheel(make sure you update it on the pc first) go to each games forum or wherever and find the best ffb settings.
I had g920 and the feedback was very distant and ffb felt loose in the center of corner, so I returned it after a week. No settings helped that. I’ve driven two years with tx wheel and it’s servomotor is very strong and feedback quite good with Forza. I’m driving mainly gt cars and r class, 270 dor, vibration 50 and ffb 80. With those settings the driving is still quite physical thing and makes u swet during long races… Only problem with tx is ffb bug which happends every ten minutes or so… quick boot needed then!
But the answer to the main guestion is no! U don’t feel a thing in pedals or steering when u lock up or wheelspin…it’s all listening the tires.
Well, that’s kind of disappointing. I wonder if there’s some technical reason that isn’t done, or if I am somehow the first person to ever think of it? One of those explanations seems a bit more likely than the other.
Hi! I don’t own a wheel, but all the while, I don’t understand where that disappointment’s coming from. IRL, the only time you’ll have vibration in the wheel is upon wheel spin is if it’s a FWD or AWD car (the torque bias in the front as well to an extent). Or, if you go off road and feel the bumps and unevenness in the wheel. Or, when the front wheels lose grip and then regain grip. In most cases, you don’t feel much as it’s either a power steering or an electronic one.
I think people expect things to be too dramatic or Hollywood-style “gimmicky” in a videogame - it just isn’t like that IRL. Unless you’re a rally driver!
As for the pedals vibrating, why would they? When you lose traction in a real car, the pedals do not vibrate! Only the brake pedal vibrates a bit IF you have ABS on and brake hard.
Why do the controllers vibrate? Why do they let people use controllers for racing games? People dont use controllers to drive in real life, this can go both ways here. I get what your saying but this isn’t real life it is a game, a gimmicky one at that.
A wheel is harder to use than a controller which is little more than an on/off switch. Wheels have 900 degrees of travel where as controllers have about an inch. Ffb is there to help people know what the car is doing so they can react properly. If you start to oversteer with a controller a flick of your thumb is all that needed, a wheel can be a little more tricky.
Some games give a lot of settings some dont, the type and strength of ffb is a preference. Forzas problem is that they lack options for the various effects, which is why a lot of people have issues with it.
Since I use a pad, I simply observe the camera movement and tire noise feedback to assess how much I need to steer or correct in order to keep speed going into/coming out of turns. But I get where you’re coming from. On a gaming wheel, all that is needed to a certain point to connect the driver with his/her car and the track.
Unfortunately, the wheels that do relay this properly are 3-4 times the price of the console itself!
Its just a very basic ffb system. The only technical reason its the way it is, is that they technically didn’t care to make it better. It seemes as though now with forza also being a pc title they are going to try and make it better. Im all for improvements i just hope they dont try to reinvent the wheel here, keep it simple, keep it intuitive and most of all keep it natural.
Controllers has only vibration, but wheel has that and force feed back which tells u much more during cornering AND that is the thing that makes wheel more satisfying to me! Only problem is Forzas poor support for ffb…
Forgive my weak english and maybe I didn’t completely got your point. But only Fanatec wheel is that expensive! Logitech g920 and Thrustmaster TX wheels costs the same as console, but 4-5 times as much as controller…
We’re really spoiled with the trigger vibrations in Forza. You have to go higher end on the wheel/pedal hardware to get vibrating accelerator and brake pedals to mimick that.
While I would prefer to play with a wheel, Forza is just more accessible because it’s not ruined by a gamepad. Sit down, grab the controller, and play. As opposed to pull the rig out of the closet because the wife doesn’t want it out in her living room when it’s not in use (hard to blame her).
