Best Project CARS 2 Settings for Thrustmaster T248
Project CARS 2 plays great with a wheel, but there are some unfortunate issues with it when using the Thrustmaster T248. Annoyingly, you can't navigate the menus using the buttons on the wheel. While the force feedback works well, there is no soft lock, which detracts from the experience. Thankfully you can change the rotation on the wheel directly, but it's not a perfect solution.
The default force feedback doesn't deliver the best feeling of the cars through the wheel. Project CARS 2 lets you completely rewrite the force feedback calculations using a custom force feedback file. The community around this game has created several custom force feedback solutions now, all of which improve upon the base game. I found the one that works best for the T248. With this custom force feedback, you can feel what the car is doing and the details of the road much better.
In this guide, I will show you how to download and install the custom force feedback file, as well as the best on-wheel and in-game settings to use that work best with it.
Custom Force Feedback
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- Download Silver Project Custom FFB
This is a very nice custom force feedback file that drastically improves the experience.
Installation is simple. Extract the zip file and find the file named "MidLevel\ffb_custom_settings.txt" and copy it into your "Documents\Project CARS 2" folder, overwriting the original file.
You will notice that there are a couple of other options to choose from, but I found this one to be the best. Use the same procedure as above to try them out if you like.
Thrustmaster Settings
Since the soft lock doesn't work in Project CARS 2 for these wheels, you will have to set the rotation on the wheel. Unfortunately, every time you change the rotation, you need to recalibrate the wheel in the game.
| On-Wheel Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| ROT | Varies by car |
| FORCE | 4 |
| FFB | 1 |
FORCE at 4 bars with FFB at 1 creates a perfectly linear force feedback response with no clipping, which is the ideal for any racing game.
| TM Control Panel Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Rotation | Varies by car |
| Overall Strength of all forces | 65% |
| Constant | 100% |
| Periodic | 100% |
| Spring | 100% |
| Damper | 100% |
| BOOST | Off |
| Auto-Center | by the game |
Rotation and Overall Strength are identical to the ROT and FORCE wheel settings, respectively. Changing it in one place overwrites the other. Usually I recommend changing these on the wheel and ignoring the values in the Thrustmaster Control Panel, but we can't set 480° on the wheel itself.
Spring and Damper are not used by Project CARS 2, so their value actually doesn't matter. I keep 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.
Project CARS 2 Settings
In Options > Controls > Control Scheme:
There is no preset available for the T248, so you will need to set it up as a Custom wheel.
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Wheel |
| Make | Custom |
| Pedal Type | Separate |
Make sure to Calibrate the wheel and pedals (you will need to bind the controls before you can calibrate). Remember that when you change the rotation value on the wheel, you will need to recalibrate the wheel for the steering animation to work correctly.
Not all the cars will have a steering rotation that matches the few options available on the wheel. In these cases, you just have to choose the one that is closest.
In Options > Controls > Configuration:
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Steering Deadzone | 0 |
| Steering Sensitivity | 50 |
| Throttle Deadzone | 0 |
| Brake Deadzone | 0 |
| Speed Sensitivity | 0 |
Steering Sensitivity at 50 is a linear response.
Make sure to set the pedal deadzones to 0 to make use of the full pedal travel.
In Options > Controls > Force Feedback:
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Flavour | Custom |
| Gain | 60 |
| Volume | 50 |
| Tone | 50 |
| FX | 50 |
| Menu | 0.40 |
Gain is the overall strength of the wheel. You may have to adjust this for certain cars. This will be the hardest force you feel in a heavy corner. Setting this too high will cause a lot of clipping in those situations.
Volume controls the strength of the forces towards the middle of the wheel, effectively amplifying forces when the wheel is centered. You will want to adjust this depending on the car you are driving and according to your personal preference.
Tone controls the feeling of the road surface detail. You will need to adjust this based on the track.
FX controls the rumbling effect of the engine and some other smaller effects.
Conclusion
I found that using this custom force feedback file brought a lot of clarity to what I was feeling through the wheel. I don't have to fight the wheel and it gives plenty of information about the road and what the car is doing. Driving feels natural and it is easy to push the car harder as I have more confidence in the information I'm getting through the wheel.
Let me know if you have any questions or comments.