Best Dakar 18 Settings for Thrustmaster TMX / T150
Dakar 18 is a very different style of racing game, putting an extreme emphasis on navigation, rather than pure driving. I was completely unprepared for this, and it took a long time to figure out how to get through a single stage. It's definitely not my favorite type of racing, but it has its own charm.
The Thrustmaster TMX and T150 work well, but the force feedback is largely just vibrations. There are other forces in there, but the wheel will shake constantly. Admittedly, this is realistic considering the terrain, but it can get tiring nonetheless.
In this guide, I will show you what you need to set in the Thrustmaster Control Panel, if playing on PC, and what to set in-game to improve the force feedback.
Thrustmaster Control Panel Settings
On the PC, Dakar 18 has no way to set the steering angle in game, so it must be done in the Thrustmaster Control Panel. Console version have the option in-game. I found 360° works well. A larger steering angle felt unnecessary, but feel free to adjust this to your personal preference.
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Rotation | 360° |
| Overall Strength of all forces | 100% |
| Constant | 100% |
| Periodic | 100% |
| Spring | 100% |
| Damper | 100% |
| BOOST | Off |
| Auto-Center | by the game |
Spring and Damper are not used by Dakar 18, so can be set to any value without issue. As a general rule, I leave them at 100% since there are some games that require them.
BOOST should always be turned off. For an in-depth look as to why, see my BOOST Force Feedback Analysis.
Dakar 18 Settings
In Options > Gameplay:
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Transmission | Manual Sequential or H-Pattern |
| Wheel Visibility | Complete / Invisible |
Transmission should be set to Manual Sequential or H-Pattern, depending on if you want to use an H-Pattern shifter or not.
Wheel Visibility depends on your personal preference. The wheel animation is only 180°. This can be distracting, so you might prefer hiding the wheel entirely.
As a side note, the Vibration setting has no effect on a wheel.
In Options > Devices > Thrustmaster TMX / T150:
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Device Type | Steering Wheel |
| Presets | Thrustmaster TMX / T150 |
You will need to select the preset for your specific wheel. I still needed to bind the buttons properly in the next section. This may have just been a quirk of my setup, so you may not have this issue.
In Options > Controls:
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Steering Sensitivity | 50 |
| Steering Linearity | 0 |
Steering Sensitivity at 50 and Steering Linearity at 0 will create perfectly linear steering.
In Options > Controls > Vehicle Controls:
As I said above, I needed to bind all the buttons and pedals, but this may be a side effect of having several wheels.
In Options > Controls > Feedback Options:
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Feedback | On |
| Feedback Strength | 50 |
Feedback Strength is the only setting to control the force feedback, unfortunately. There isn't a lot of force feedback in this game, but there are a lot of vibrations. The vibrations are much stronger than the actual force feedback, so I turned this down to get a reasonable vibration strength.
Conclusion
Dakar 18 is an interesting game. It's a unique style of racing, but I wouldn't say the game is well suited to being played with a wheel. It works, but it's clearly designed to be primarily played with a controller.
Let me know if you have any comments or questions.