I’ve been looking at getting a Thrustmaster TMX with the 3 pedal setup and a shifter for FM7, FH4 and future Forza titles.
Is it possible to be fast on this game with a wheel? Or is the controller superior. I get that it comes down to personal preference, but there are some games out there where a wheel just simply can’t be as fast as a controller, wondering if Forza is the same way.
I’m pretty fast with the controller as of now, but I think I’d have more fun with Forza if I had a wheel
i have a wheel setup and I still play this game primarily with a controller. While i like driving with a wheel, the lack of fov and seat adjustments kills it for me. Especially since theres no VR. I would still recommend you get a wheel though. Not for this but for the other “real” simulators out there. You will be hooked.
I guess a wheel setup and triple monitors will much more immersive. I have seen some crazy setups on Instagram. However, if you watch the Forza RC Championship, all the top players around the planet 
use standard Xbox controllers. I guess one of those guy’s input is needed here.
If you have money to waste def get a wheel, then do yourself a favor and buy AC or PCars 2 and try it there.
IMO the only reason getting a wheel is worth it for forza is because now you have a wheel if u decide to venture into the world of sims. A wheel is/can be more immersive as you are actually driving.
With that said forza was not designed with a wheel in mind and it shows based on the lack of features like adjustable fov, proper ffb, etc. The dynamics are just not correct with a wheel.
I use that set-up and enjoy using the wheel on Forza. It will be better on the other games, but is useable on Forza. Controllers have an advantage for sure, but it’s still fun. The “driver” view (not cockpit) provides a decent FoV. I’m pretty competitive in the open lobbies and win my fair share. In time trials, I can usually get within a couple seconds of the top times if I dedicate myself to the track. I feel it’s mostly my general skill level that holds me back, not the wheel. I’m definitely better on a wheel now than the controller.
If you’re just a casual player though, I probably wouldn’t recommend it. It takes a lot of time though to get the FFB dialed in though and production spec cars can be a nightmare on a wheel with FFB trying to take over the wheel. It takes a lot of practice to get used to. If you’re goal is to be a top driver, master the controller. If you get the wheel, you’ll be ready for the other sim games, which is what I’m looking at now.
I think it’s worth it, but my enjoyment is based mostly on the feeling of using a wheel and pedals, not on absolute race times. I play the Horizon games to blow off steam, and it can be really relaxing to just cruise around in a fun car using the wheel, because it is more immersive for me. I also find that when I get really sucked into a game and play it for several hours, my hands start to hurt using the controller. I don’t have that using the wheel. And it’s useful for other games, as folks here have pointed out–even ones you wouldn’t think of, like Farming Simulator. I just picked up the original DiRT Rally while it was on sale, and that is an absolute blast with the wheel.
no if you want to race with a wheel the best game to play is iracing which you need to pay a subscription for, forza is the worst among the titles in terms of wheel support
It’s not on Xbox. I would of picked PC2 and some others
Being blatantly honest if you’re going to race with a wheel you should honestly have a PC so that the game plays and reacts properly and you can get a much more realistic sim experience.
I haven’t played PC2 since that should have been update to PC1 but they wanted to charge full price for it but hey, if you don’t have a PC I say go for it because I’ve only heard mostly good things about the game other than their rating system which I haven’t checked in on thiem in a year so I would definitely research that to see if they made some improvements to that system.
Most serious racing games where you’d want to use a wheel are generally on PC because of the power you need to simulate real life.
Yeah I’ve heard that FM7 isn’t exactly the best game to use a wheel on. But I do have dirt rally 2.0 and would consider PC2 in the future. Dirt rally runs very well on my Xbox one X and I just played the demo for PC2 (on a controller) to see how the game runs and it’s acceptable. Not as clean as it could be on a PC obviously but still good.
I would love to have a PC to play sims on but I don’t necessarily think it would be worth it since I’m not planning on getting super into the sim scene. I just want to play Forza, dirt rally and possible PC2 and leave it at that. For now at least.
These are all good titles. Get a wheel you won’t be sorry. Pity non of these, aside from FM, support cross platform multiplayer.
I only play Forza 7 with a wheel, maybe I will never be as fast as controller users but I can assure you FM7 Is the best on the serie to play with a wheel and it’s definitely a blast.
FM7 is fun with a wheel. Takes some tweaking to get the feel you like but the TMX works well with this game. Pleanty of other great games to use the wheel with besides FM7.
That’s the wheel I have. I got it a couple months after FM7 dropped. At the time there wasn’t a proper rivals mode which made relearning the tracks difficult. I had to switch the breaking line back on. You’ll need to change a lot of your tunes as well. I have a lot more throttle control, but less brake feel. This will change the way the balance feels. You’ll be faster on tracks with big sweepers, but slower on ones with sharp turns. Watkins Glenn is awesome, but Hockenhiem is a challenge.
A tip for the wheel itself is do not push the white XBox button. Its designed to gently graze your hand across it. I’ve had to open mine up twice (12 or 15 screws) to pop the button back out.
The question you should be asking is if you invest in this wheel now will it be compatible with FM8 on the new system? When FM5 dropped and all the 360 based wheels became obsolete people were very upset. I’m sure there’s an old archive in here somewhere. For me personally, if it’s not compatible, I’ll be investing in a PC instead.
I’m also watching wheel compatibility closely–fwiw, MS is currently claiming the new system will be compatible with XBox One controllers:
Whether or not that includes wheels remains to be seen, but I hope they have learned some lessons from the 360 transition.
I play a lot of SIMS and games, mainly Forza, AC and F1. When it comes to force feedback, Forza isn’t far off AC. The main problem with Forza’s force feedback are the stock settings and poor explanations of what each setting does. The default settings are horrendous. Far too much centre spring and damper to the point where it actually cancels out the dynamic force feedback and the explanations are woeful in-game. The support site explains everything quite well but a lot of people don’t know it exists and don’t use it. Regardless, the in-game explanations are very poor and this is a huge problem. A lot of people don’t know what settings to tweak so they leave it at the stock settings, which are terrible, or the make it worse because the information given in the menu is misleading or poorly explained.
The amount of people who set up the wheel with far too much centre springs, vibration or damper is astounding and there’s loads of people who just don’t know what setting does what because of this lousy half baked information guide. My advice for people is to look at the support page that I’ll link down below and watch someone’s videos like Blue.
Once you do set up the wheel in Forza correctly though, it is really nice to use and leaps and bounds better than previous titles. I personally prefer it to the F1, GT and PC games but AC is still the nicest force feedback by far on consoles. In the past I actually heavily criticized PC1’s force feedback a lot. In hindsight, that I think that was naive of me. I went back and tried PC1 and realised now the issue I had wasn’t down to the FFB, it was down to the physics, particularly when the car broke out into a slide. It’s very similar to Codemaster’s F1 games with their terrible lateral slide problem in medium to high speed corners that just doesn’t happen in a high down force car. The force feedback wouldn’t translate to what the car was doing in either game and you’d feel disconnected and helpless at times. Going back I actually prefer PC1’s force feedback both to Forza and to PC2. Of course you have games like iRacing which has such good force feedback, it’s like butter. Unbelievably smooth and natural but Forza will never come close to a game like iRacing for multiple reasons. However what we have is very nice. I haven’t tried ACC at all really but I’ve heard praise about the new tire model so I really need to give that a go, especially considering I love GT’s so much.
There are still problems with Forza’s force feedback that need addressing though:
I believe this is due to the fact Forza doesn’t really simulate anything below 13 KM/H, hence why no force feedback is present and it would also explain that low speed braking bug we’ve had for a while.
Pneumatic trail is nice in Forza but it’s only been modeled for 1 tire. Going from street to race tire compound, you don’t feel anything different in the wheel, just added or reduced grip.
If they fixed these two things the wheel would be really, really good. But there’s a lot of dumb things like somehow being in 2019 ahs not having at least 900° wheel animation on screen. Or even a FOV or POV slider. Things like that really irritate me.
In short, yes, a wheel is worth it for Forza alone if you can bear with 2 things:
The lack of basic features like FOV and POV sliders and the lack of an actual 900° animation on screen.
Not being as fast as a controller.
I’ve been using the same setup (TMX Pro with the 3 pedals} for about 2 1/2 years now.
Since Turn 10 has updated the Force Feedback in Forza 7, my wheel works very well now, even with the Default setting.
I only have to change a few settings.
Thrustmaster has an App that you download to your PC and then update the Firmware by connecting to a USB port on the PC.
For the Price, this may be one of the best entry level racing wheels.
I am hasndicapped with only 2 fingers on my right hand, but that doesn’t stop me from using a wheel.
I cannot use the controller to race with.
I’ve always used a wheel since Forza 1 and really like racing on Xbox.
I’m not real fast, but get the job done .
I was fast though on the Ovals in Forza 1 Through 4.
I was #39 in the World in Forza 3 out of a few million Oval racers.
You can get a lot more info on racing wheels in the Forums
Good luck and Happy racing!
IMO wheel is a must. So much better than a controller. I recommend get a wheel but not just for FM. Ultimately, it’s not the best title. Read few threads and you’ll get the picture. Still makes FM more fun but for propper experience try PC2 or AC. For me clutch is a waste of money since I race race cars and clutch makes you too slow. I’m using flappy paddles which most of these cars have anyway. For road cars I suppose it’ll add authenticity but not speed.
If you play on PC don’t go for a no name brand. FM support is not very good there at all. Seperate mixing of pedals for example is offen not possible - 2 pedals one axis is useless. Stick to main brands and you’ll be good.
In a nut shell, go for it!