Best KartKraft Settings for Thrustmaster TMX / T150
KartKraft is a karting simulator that works great with a wheel and pedals. Driving a kart is quite different from driving a typical race car. They have a very small steering angle (180°) which means a small steering input will have a big effect on the kart.
I was worried that the Thrustmaster TMX and T150 might have a problem dealing with such a small input range, but they actually work really well, though the default force feedback settings leave a lot to be desired. They make the wheel much too heavy and remove a lot of surface detail forces. Thankfully, this is easily fixed by modifying just a few settings.
With this game, I run the force feedback quite a bit higher than I usually do. Ordinarily, an overly strong force feedback resistance can become annoying when you have to make frequent large steering inputs. In this case, a lot of resistance makes it easier to make fine steering adjustments.
In this guide, I will first show the settings you need to set in the Thrustmaster Control Panel, then the in-game settings to improve the force feedback.
Thrustmaster Control Panel Settings
KartKraft will calibrate your wheel in-game to limit the steering angle to 180°, so it is fine to leave the Thrustmaster Control Panel at the maximum steering angle.
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Rotation | 900° (TMX) 1080° (T150) |
| 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 KartKraft, so can be set to any value without issue. As a general rule, I leave these 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.
KartKraft Settings
In Settings > Input Bindings:
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Force Feedback Gain | 90% |
| Force Feedback Filtering | 0% |
| Minimum Force | 6% |
| Force Feedback Deadzone | 0% |
| Force Feedback Invert | Off |
Force Feedback Gain is the overall strength of the force feedback. You can adjust this to your liking if you want the wheel to have a little more or less resistance. Setting this too high will start to overwhelm the force feedback motor, making the force feedback feel pretty dead in the corners.
Force Feedback Filtering smooths out the forces, especially small bumps in the track. As you set this higher, the track will start to feel a lot smoother. I like feeling the roughness of the track, but it might be a bit much for some people. Feel free to raise this (probably no higher than 50%) if you find there is a little too much shaking in the wheel.
Minimum Force sets the minimum value for all forces. These wheels have a problem reproducing light forces. Raising the minimum force makes sure that all forces will be felt in the wheel. I tested this wheel with the WheelCheck app from iRacing to find its minimum force value of 6%.
Conclusion
Learning to drive these karts has been a lot of fun. I wish there were a few more tracks in the game, but it is still in Early Access, so I'm sure more will be added in time. It's nice to see that these wheels work just fine even when the steering inputs are so small.
Let me know if you have any comments or questions.