Hey all!
First post so be gentle on this old guy 
Was simply wondering if using a wheel will be beneficial to my lap times as I’m currently using the standard stick controller. I find that I’m very jerky around corners and nowhere near as smooth as others around each corner and track times seem to proof this. It’s very hard to be smooth around a large sweeper with a thumb stick.
What is everyone else using whether it’s a wheel, what type etc?
Thanks in advance team!
Regardless of the controller you use, barring tunes, practice is what will lower lap times. Wheels can be more immersive if set up properly, but does require more time to dial in the settings to your liking. If you see yourself playing numerous different racing games a wheel is a great investment, if you’re only going to play forza i wouldn’t suggest you bother getting a wheel.
I use a wheel, well i always played with racing simulators on pc before i bught an xbox one and i honestly can’t play with a joypad on a racing game… maybe i’m too old for a pad…
wrong… sorry… I was going to edit but i quoted myself…
There are a few things I can think of …
Turn all assists off except for the suggested Lines. In my opinion, suggested Lines is the biggest cheat provided by the Developers. You must follow the lines and hit the apex with your two right wheels when making a right and two left wheels when making a left turn. you must keep this in mind when entering every single corner at each and every single track. You must apply enough brake so you can run your tires on the apex just like the suggested lines is suggesting you should. The only way to learn this method is either in arrivals or test drive mode first.
Rivals is your best friend. Complete dozens and dozens of laps daily in rivals. This way you become familiar with all the corners.
For hand fatigue, you can invest in one of those Kontrol Freek thumb grips found on Amazon for less than $20
Make yourself familiar with all tracks in the game and braking points by test driving first in a slow car like D or C class cars before driving the fastest cars in the game.
You are going to have to dedicate your time if you want to get fast. Dedication and concentration during races is the key 
, my friend. Practice makes perfect.
Here is a cornering tips video made by RaceBoy77
The short answer: No.
The slightly better answer: You may think that buying a steering wheel setup will be better because it would be more true-to-life (since the control mechanism is the same as one in an actual car). However, there are many things a steering wheel rig doesn’t have that a real car does have (namely G-forces, full body vibrations, and 3-dimensional sound). Without these, the learning curve on a steering wheel is very, very high. You have to learn how to drive a car with basically visual and wheel feedback alone. It will feel very alien to anyone who has spent time in the driver’s seat of a real car.
But I would be neglectful if I didn’t also mention that it is way more fun with a steering wheel.
All the above points will help you get quicker - but I’m reading your post as Wheel v Controller.
Wheels are quicker due to the reasons you mention - with a controller, you’re generally always driving with full lock left or right, with a wheel its way easier to input small amounts of steering - same goes for the brakes and accelerator. They may be sticks on the controller with many degrees of movement, but trying to judge what 50% or 25% turning angle is nigh on impossible.
When I’m using a controller, I can “feel” the wheels scrubbing which is losing time (you can generally hear it too), you rarely get that with a wheel.
Racing online is a bit of a giveaway - its easy to tell from another cars movements whether the player is on a wheel or controller.
If you think you’ll enjoy it more with a wheel, then go for it. You’re trying to have fun, after all. Personally, I don’t think it’s a major priority for Forza titles, because
a) It’s primarily designed for controllers, and
b) Any racing title that makes you endlessly tinker with wheel settings in the hopes of getting it sorta/kinda right is probably something you can safely skip playing with a wheel, and tells you plenty about its qualities as a simulation. That doesn’t mean the game is bad; just that a controller will do perfectly fine.
No. It will not make you faster.
Better off getting an elite controller as you can be a bit more precise.
Depends on the game, I use a crappy 360 controller and I can still somewhat compete. In forza the answer to this question is no, the best device to use is the elite controller.
No.
If you get a wheel the chances are you’ll be a lot slower to start off with. You might be able to match your controller times but I know some people who just haven’t been able to match their controller times with the wheel. There’s a lot of hidden assists on a controller that you can’t toggle off which make it really easy and fast to play on.
You will be quicker around oval tracks on a wheel and you might be more consistent then a controller, that’s perhaps the only benefit of a controller.
Honestly, your best bet if you’re looking for lap times is either an elite controller or just a custom built controller. However, being completely straight, I’d invest in a wheel regardless. It’s much more fun, more immersive and more rewarding, plus in future installments no one really knows what will be faster until they come out. Plus that wheel can be used in other racing games too.
Forgot to mention oval tracks, due to how on a controller you generally can only do at a minimum 70-80% of anything, this results to a loss of speed on oval tracks. With a wheel you can go MUCH faster on oval tracks with precise inputs drastically reducing your speed loss. Other than that don’t use a wheel unless you are doing it for fun.
Good catch!
On oval tracks that you can take flat out you’ll definitely be quicker on a wheel. Everywhere else though, the chances are you’ll be slower until you put in an astronomical amount of practice and even then, considering how optimised the controller is there’s no guarantee you’ll be quicker.
I’ve never played the game with a pad even if i own an elite controller and Yesterday i gave It a Try… I’ m faster with my wheel. My suggestioni Is to use the device you are more comfortable with…
I only race with a wheel and suck with a controller. So GO FOR IT! I have had a lot of friends try my wheel setups and they love it despite being slower. To me its just as everyone else said, way more immersive and rewarding when you do well.
Fanatec wheel user, play seat, club spot handbrake and shifter, prepare to spend upwards to $1000 but in my eyes its money well worth spent because I only play racing games with my wheel and love it.
A car that feels good on 90 degree or close to it corners may be garbage for sweepers and vice versa. Your car, car upgrades, and tune are critical in this game. Some cars suck no matter what you do whereas others are pretty solid just about everywhere. If you want to be quick, it’s not uncommon to have 3 or more different setups/tunes for 1 car.
If you have large or small hands and/or large or small fingers, the controller may not be the best choice due to how you have to position your hands. With hand exercises, ice packs, breaks, and a light anti-inflammatory you should be able to adapt.
I have smallish palms which forces me to overextend with my thumbs. The longer I play, the worse i get. It hurts my consistency a good bit because I tend to grip hard to avoid thumb slippage. But I am able to work around it for the most part with modest success.
There is a chance that you could be faster with a wheel, but I wouldn’t invest in a wheel expecting that outcome.
If money isn’t an issue and racing video games are your hobby, get a wheel (research first) and an elite controller (not sure if the new version is out yet).
Pretty much sums it up well. The first thing you should do is focus on your tunes, after you get that down start turning off all the assists other than the suggested line and get all of those down. Once you’ve done that and you can use those well work on your lap times to see how close you can match LB times in those same cars and you’re good to go. You don’t need to match those times, but get as close as you can to them, preferably within a second or two for most people is good enough. Cut off more times if you can but know your own limits and work with them.
It honestly just takes a lot of practice, time and effort. people don’t just start playing a racing game and get good at it. First you have to master the basics then you work your way up from there and add real racing techniques to your driving. If I had to be honest I don’t think Forza is the best place to start since the racing here isn’t very etiquette most of the time and the physics are somewhat unrealistic as well. Honestly I would try a real sim where everything that you do can be easily replicated and practice there instead because a slight change in your weight transfer can completely mess up your line in forza making it a lot harder to learn and balance. Even the smallest of things such as your differential being imbalanced can completely throw the car out of whack on a corner.
I’d recommend using whichever you’re more comfortable with and just putting in the time to do it correctly and improving your speed from there.