Ive been playing Forza for a few series now and I decided to take the plunge and bought a Thrustmaster 458 Italia wheel and a nice stand to go with it… The set up looks great and it feels pretty good too. However I was expecting my times to really fall once I started using the wheel but this is not the case. I’m finding I’m having to relearn how to drive using the wheel… it feels very different to the controller and at the moment i’m 5 seconds SLOWER than my controller times (when I don’t skid off the track or dirty my lap that is!)
I’m a big fan of drifting in Forza and I think this is going to be very difficult using the wheel! ;-/
So my question is this -
Have any of you got a wheel that you use in Forza 5 and if so whats your views on it? All feedback would be appreciated
I’m in the same position as you mate, though Forza 5 is my first in the series.
Learning to use a wheel is difficult, and the best advice I can offer is that it takes time to get used to. I’ve been using a wheel for about 6 weeks now, and I wouldn’t have it any other way if I’m being honest; the game is just WAY more fun with a wheel than a controller in my view (i.e. I couldn’t imagine putting in 2-3 hour sessions into Forza 5 if it weren’t for the fun/immersive factor that a wheel brings over a controller).
That said, I was at a friend’s house (who only has a controller) yesterday, and I noticed my times were still faster with a controller than with my wheel back home. However, being a newbie to the series, I’m not sure if my slower lap times are from driving the ‘wrong’ cars (i.e. cars which aren’t fast enough), having the wrong tunes (I usually just download Tunes By Worm and don’t experiment myself), or the wheel itself (which I doubt is the reason to be honest).
Once you start using a wheel setup though, using a controller feels pale/boring in comparison.
It all comes down to practice, and how quick you can adapt to new things. You will also find you will get the hang of drifting on the wheel also, but that can take a bit longer. For drifting you have to pace yourself with the DOR (Degrees of rotation), so start at 360 DOR and work your way up to the big 900 DOR.
At the moment I use 900 DOR for normal road cars, 360 DOR for race cars (F1, GT, LMP), and 720 DOR for drifting at the moment (still working myself up to 900 DOR for drifting). You should also adjust your deadzone settings in forza’s controller settings page.
Thanks for your feedback guys. I’ve only used it for a few hours so like you say its just a case of practicing!
@Ialyrn ive got my settings to that - good to know those settings are working for other people. Ive got my FFB set to 75 at the moment to. And I think my DOR is 360. Ive not tried drifting yet with the wheel!
You should give drifting a go with it, its a lot easier to hold angle once you get used to it. Ive used various wheels over the years, but the TX is the first 900 degree capable wheel I have owned.
Try cranking the FFB down to between 40-50%. How much FFB to run is very subjective, but I find that turning it down helps you turn faster while still getting the advantage of the feedback.
I love using a wheel over a controller if it is a good setup. The hardest thing to for me is not the wheel itself but the pedals. You have to learn how sensitive they are and that takes practice. I hate using the controller but at the moment I can not afford a new setup for Xbox one. So I am having to learn all over again how to drive with a controller. With the controller not only do I have to learn how sensitive the gas and break triggers are I have to learn how to get a smooth turn on a thumbstick which is not the best input for a racing game. You can really tell in a replay who drives with a wheel and who uses a wheel. The wheel use with flow through a turn and a controller user jerks back and for through a turn. I know some people can be very smooth on there inputs but on the controller I am not there yet if I ever get there. No with the new controllers I did notice when my batteries were low the rumble feedback cut out. I ran the whole race without the rumble affects and I did miss it immensely. For a controller to provide the kind of feedback it did well when playing I may not have notice but it was a huge difference when it was missing. That is one thing that T10 and Microsoft seem to have gotten right. But if there is a good wheel that will be affordable and I get the money together I will still jump to a wheel in a heartbeat. It still in my mind provides the best control, feedback and immersion.
@GriffVulture: The TX is a good wheel, though I know some have had issues with their first (and for some second) wheels; the pedals on the TX are also a big step up from the MS wireless racing wheel pedals. I have had to put something behind them so they dont slide around, but they have a good feel to them (in my opinion), and feel I can control the braking a lot better than I ever could on the MS wheel (had to use the sponge under the brake on the MS wheel pedal set). Obviously though the T3PA’s will be better when Thrustmaster finally release them, couple that with the TH8A shifter and it should be a good setup. I will say however that I am pretty certain a higher end fanatec pedal set will still be better (at this time), and so will the Thrustmaster T500RS pedals. Someone has made an adapter so you can use Logitech pedals on the TX though, and apparently it works flawlessly. I also hear that someone is making an adapter for Fanatec pedals to be used on the TX as well, which will be interesting to see. If using the TX on PC though there are a lot more options available, since a lot pc racing games allow more than two controller inputs at the same time. This is why you can use a fanatec pedel set in USB mode, and a usb shifter to make the experience better. Plus if you are into drifting then you can use a USB joystick as a handbrake as well, so there is a lot more variation. There are even programs out there that allow you to use a USB joystick as a H pattern shifter, and if you are fairly handy you can modify it to make it look more like a shifter. I personally think it is worth the price tag, though I was able to pick it up for around £280 with next day delivery included, but only because Amazon had it on offer at the time.
I have noticed that my times are pretty much the same (give or take a .100ms here an there), and in some places I am able to find a better line with it. I didn’t find the MS wheel on the 360 all that intuitive, but with the TX I have turned off the racing line fully (Used to have braking line on, have done since FM1), and I am driving better than ever. I am also finding it better driving front wheel drive cars, I have an Integra in C class and it handles like a dream. Its built for handling, but with the added control with the TX I have been able to beat a few friends times with it.
It does take time to get a wheel setup and feeling comfortable.
The TX has been especially difficult with FM5 in my experience.
As has been said before get the deadzones set and reduce the force feedback.
Make sure you have Steering on Normal in assists - Simulation makes it un-drivable for me.
The main thing that takes time are the pedals… with the XB1 controller you get feedback on throttle and brake, all that is missing with the wheel so it takes time to learn to balance things.
You should get better. My times are getting better and better with the TX, I’m disappointed if I’m not top 150 in the rivals events and where I’m lower than that it’s normally because I have not put time into the tune rather than my driving.
I would recommend getting the settings right for you and then doing a good long session of rivals just going round the same track until you feel really comfortable.
I too came from having the Microsoft Wireless Racing wheel on the 360 and the TX is a huge step up from that. To me, the pedals feel great compared to the MS pedals and I’m sure once the T3PA pedals are released, they will feel even better. As for getting better times with the wheel, it just takes practice. Even for me, coming from driving already with a wheel in Forza 4, my times aren’t yet up to par with that of my controller times on Forza 5, but they are getting closer and I feel much smoother going through turns than I did with the controller. The biggest thing for me was learning where the optimum braking point on the pedal was. Now that I’ve pretty much got that down, it’s just getting faster and more comfortable going faster through turns with the wheel.
Just keep practicing and racing/hotlapping and eventually you’ll see those times come down. It just takes time. Once you get it, you’ll be even faster than before.
For my settings, I use 0-100 on all the deadzones, 63% FFB, 85% Rumble, and 360 DOR. I might try stepping it up to 540 and see how that goes.
I have the TM Tx, and it is the only way I’ll play with FM5, I just can’t stand the controllers, too much herky-jerky motion and I tried using them everyday for weeks (while I was waiting on my stand to show up).
I have some comments;
I use DOR 270 for B class and lower, 360 for A class and higher. I’m not sure I understand why others do it the reverse way (900 for lower classes, 270 or 360 for higher classes). In my opinion, in a faster car, you are entering corners much more quickly and therefore you are more likely to make mistakes on turn-in. It seems that you would want more room for error on turn in, although I can imagine that turning in quickly would be hampered by having a larger turn radius to move through. Thus, I use just slightly different DORs for the cars so that there isn’t much re-learning to do.
Thrustmaster states that their brake pedal give progressive resistance. I’ve absolutely not experienced this from what I can tell. The pedals both feels like a consistent pressure (not progressive). This is absolutely awful for me, since I have a difficult time determining how much to brake when I cannot even tell if the brake has engaged.
On my pedals, the Accel & Decel deadzones in Advanced Settings have no impact on the actual gameplay. When I turn on the telemetry while driving, I find that the brakes don’t engage until I’ve depressed the pedal about 20-30% and then it maxes out at about 70%. The throttle is similar, as it takes about 10% before I see any throttle, and then at about 70%, its is 100%. I run my deadzones at 1/98.
I run 1/100 on my steering deadzone, mostly I keep the 1 in there to avoid incidental input when centering the wheel. After calibrating, my wheel typically has about 5% counter-clockwise position, so I want to be sure I’m not at what appears to be center, and the wheel thinks I’m at about 5% clockwise (to adjust for the 5% ccw after it calibrates itself).
I’ve found that if you forget to re-set your DOR after having your wheel unplugged from your Xbox One, you can do it from the wheel (I’ve verified that this works even on the race track). Simply pause the game, so that you can do this without messing up your driving, and then use the Mode button + Left-Dpad as you normally would. 4 blinks = 900, 3 blinks = 540, 2 blinks = 360, & 1 blink = 270. Previously, I was thinking I’d have to exit the race and make the change from the Advanced Settings screen, but now I know I don’t, although I’m more restricted in what DORs I can choose.
I’ve been using a wheel since FM2 (a few different kinds, my current functional one is a MS Wireless Wheel). I’ve probably been spoiled by having a wheel for so long, but I don’t see how anyone can drive with a controller. To me, driving with a wheel is just like driving my real cars, so I don’t understand why people have difficulties making that adjustment, the only difference for me is that I brake left-footed in Forza, although I’ve started to brake left-footed in real life now to force myself to become better at it. As long as the DOR isn’t at 900, driving with a wheel is much faster for me, I can hit all of my lines more easily, I can drive closer to other cars without fear of touching them, I can maintain long sweeping corners easily, it is less fatiguing to my hands, I rarely need to rewind and in general I can just drive faster because as long as I know the track I don’t have to try as hard with a wheel.
Using rewind with the wheel scares me. It spins very hard and hits full-lock on just about any corner that you rewind through and it seems like it would damage the wheel. So, unless some jackwagon drivatar ruins a career race (and even then, I’d prefer to restart) for me, I don’t rewind.
From the moment I turned on the wheel the first time, my times were much better than with a controller. I was setting times 3-8s faster per lap on the first day. Also, getting clean laps was much much easier. For example, I recall it only took two laps on Bathurst before I started getting consistent clean laps there, whereas with the controller it would take me dozens and dozens of laps to get just one clean one and even then I had to drive over-cautiously.
Same as me. I tried racing myself in rivals (C-class) but I am losing 5-6 seconds to my ghost which was set using a controller. I was not expecting to be so far behind. I have previously owned the Official 360 Wireless wheel so the Tx is a big improvement for me personally . I just need to practice and experiment with the settings. I was hoping there was a post with people’s settings but I think that was on the old forums.
I am gonna reduce the force feedback settings to see if that helps, which is currently on 75% and I need to find a DOR setting which suits me. I have tried various settings but yet to find one that I am completely happy with.
So I would be grateful if the community could post some of their settings I could take for a test drive and I will try some of the settings that people have posted already.
Many thanks in advance…
This thread went a completely different way then I was expecting. Was thinking it was going to be another of those “is wheel faster than pad” or something of the likes thread. Good luck with the wheel op.
Any news on a slightly cheaper wheel in the near future?
I would like one, but £350 is near to totally unjustifiable to me (as I don’t really like the looks of the thrustmaster-which is slightly cheaper-, I much prefer the Mad Catz wheel).
The Thrustmaster wheel is currently £214 at Kikatek if thats any use.
I got my wheel from them just before Christmas for £250. Up until it stopped working (USB detection issue of sorts) it was pretty good although the pedals are a little disappointing)
turbohonda ej1 - I got an RMA number on Tuesday and they shipped a replacement on Thursday (along with a pre-paid UPS label for me to send them back the faulty base). This is Thrustmaster in Europe though.
I goofed around for about an hour on Silverstone last night with a controller and I could not get over how much harder it was than with the thrustmaster wheel.
I have always drive with Wheel and pedals in previous games, but had to start driving with the controller in F5, and I have never been so fast as I am now, so I’ve decided not to buy a new steering wheel and pedals, and it is much more comfortable to lie on the couch and play, at least in my age
