Help a Sim Noob out Plz.

Hello,

I'm really struggling to set up my new wheel (Fanatec CSW 2.5) In particular the forces i should be feeling through my wheel provided by the Force feedback..

I have dug through many forum posts on how to set up the wheel for different racing sims but almost none of them make sense and feel right.

So i have decided to ask a question here in the hope that i can gain enough information to be able to tweak my FFB so it feels realistic and i understand the information the FFB is giving me.

So, as i have never raced in real life and certainly haven't driven the majority of cars featured in these simulators i was wondering if anybody could help explain or point me in the right direction as to what sort of forces i should be feeling from my FFB, How strong those forces should be and what do they mean.

Thanks in advance for any replies and help.
 
First of all I am not even close to an expert setting up...well just about anything. But speaking from experience take it slow and one adjustment at a time.

1. Watch the Fanatec videos on YouTube explaining the basic setting on the wheel itself

2. Set the wheel as suggested in the Fanatec manual. Watching the videos first will make this easier.
2.a. Once I set mine up I have yet to make a single adjustment to the wheel

3. Save the control settings within the Sim prior to making any changes. this way if a reset feature is not available you always have a base to work from if things go south

4. Select a single sim and start with the defaults. In most cases this will be sufficient to get you going and soon enough you will start to gauge how much strength you prefer and start tweaking that up or down
4.a. If you get to a happy place with your settings save as something other than the save you made in step 3

5. After you set the overall strength, there may be additional tweaks you want to do. I would suggest you change a single setting by a BIG margin say from 0 to 50 just to see what happens and then dial it in from there.

There are many people on this site that are very knowledgeable in all things sim and I am sure they can help with details. Good Luck, I think you are going to love that wheel.
 
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A lot of the Force feedback is unrealistic, which is to say it's artificially enhanced to help with the fact you're not moving. The effects are relating what the tyres are feeling through the feedback effects, which in reality many of these effects you wouldn't feel in a real situation.

The more you drive sims the more natural it all feels. Definitely look at other users settings as a baseline then make your own adjustments as everyone prefers difference feelings when it come to force feedback. Some people prefer light cues from the wheel, others want their wheel to feel like their wrestling a lion. It's part of the learning curve to find what works for you.

Also remember different titles deliver their own variants of force feedback, so no two games will feel quite the same. Indeed the same vehicle in different titles can feel very different too through the force feedback.
 
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My advice is to not add too much to the FFB. In terms of, leave most or all of the sliders labelled 'wheel slip, understeer, kerbs' etc at 0%. Most of these effects are 'fake' effects that are not generated by the raw telemetry from the sim. Run the DRIFT setting at 0 on the wheel. Turn the FFB overall strength in sims down to around 50-70%. I never used to run 100% in anything. Most sims have an option to adjust FFB in specific cars so if you feel that the strength in a certain car is too low, you can just adjust that car and not mess with the overall setting all the time. Make sure the minimum force % is at 0 as well, you should not need to boost the signal of the V2.5, it's strong and has very little dead zone. Damping is subjective but I used to feel a little damping is beneficial in most titles. Leave the damping value in the software at 100%. This just allows the wheel to have access to damping should you want it in the sim. It doesn't mean you have 100% damping. You can adjust the damping from the wheel also.

Really, the less you play with, the better the FFB should feel. I prefer titles like Automobilista in the way that they have a single FFB strength slider and that's it. No other settings. The telemetry and physics are responsible for all feedback. iRacing has this too but I am not a fan of the FFB in that title at all.

Your feedback should feel fairly intuitive and even though you haven't raced cars (neither have I) it should communicate with you fairly naturally once you spend some time with it.
 
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Thank you everyone for the replies and tips i really appreciate you taking the time to help me.

I tried Assetto Corsa on the default settings with also the default settings on the wheel and the wheel tried to rip my arms off.

After much playing i ended up with these settings.

CSW Wheel:

Sen = Auto
FF = 100
SHO = 100
ABS = OFF
DRI = 0
FOR = 100
SPR = 100
DPR = 0
BRF = 40

FEI = this is new to me but 50 feels ok.

AC Settings

GAIN = 10%

(if i have the gain any higher it feels like i have a weird deadzone in the middle, Like my wheel has a lump on the belt in that middle section)

FILTER = 0
MINIMUM = 0

SLIPS = 5
ROAD = 5
CURBS/KERBS = 2
ABS = 0

understeer and half FFB is unticked

In car i have everything the same as the main settings except the FFB strength varies per car between
70 - 80%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Ok well i'm going to keep playing around with the settings but again thank you all for the input and help.
 
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Try removing the Spring on the wheel, make that 0. Everything else seems OK on the wheel side. On the AC side, I would remove all of the slips road curbs and abs, put them at 0. 10% overall FFB seems awfully low, but feel free to start there and work your way up. I wouldn't see the need to run any less that 50% personally. Remember that individual cars have their own FFB setting, so check that these are at 100 MAX and then tune the overall FFB in the settings menu according to that. Then once that's done, you should have a feel for the strength of the FFB and if needed, you can tweak a car here and there depending if it's too weak or too strong.
 
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Ok, So i just thought I'd update here for future reference.

After testing out loads of different settings i eventually got frustrated and deleted Assetto Corsa from my Steam Library with all my mods, After almost instantly regretting this i re-installed the next day.

I decided to run a few laps with the stock version of Assetto Corsa ie no mods installed, Only DLCs provided by Kunos.
To my surprise, the feel of the wheel felt instantly much better.

Unfortunately i do not know if it was a MOD causing problems with my FFB and a rather lumpy feel in the middle section or centre of the wheel, All i know is it feels so much better now.

So i'm currently running these settings,

SEN = Auto
FF = 100
SHO = 100
ABS = off
DRI = off
FOR = 100
SPR = off
DPR = off

And in game,

GAIN = 100%

All other settings are off or minimum.

The wheel now feels absolutely fantastic.

I will begin the process of installing my mods again but this time i'll do it 1 by 1 and check the game each time so i can maybe identify which mod (if it was a mod) was causing my issues.

Anyway thanks again for the replies and help it was greatly appreciated.
 
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