Best WRC 7 Settings for Thrustmaster T248

WRC 7, like most rally games, really shines when you play it with a wheel. For the Thrustmaster T248, the default force feedback isn't terrible, but it's pretty light and doesn't make you feel like you are connected to the road, creating an overall lifeless experience.

Thankfully, the game provides a great deal of customization when it comes to the force feedback settings. I found a nice balance that increases the details felt without making the wheel overly heavy. It turns a lifeless wheel into a very responsive one.

In this guide, we will look at the settings you need to set in-game, on the wheel and in the Thrustmaster Control Panel, when playing on PC, to improve the force feedback.

Thrustmaster Settings

WRC 7 does not automatically set the steering angle for these wheels, so you will have to set it on the wheel itself.

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.

Rotation and Overall Strength are identical to the ROT and FORCE wheel settings, respectively. Changing it in one place overwrites the other. I recommend changing these on the wheel and ignoring the values in the Thrustmaster Control Panel.

Spring is not used by WRC 7, so the value actually doesn't matter. Some games require Spring to be on for their force feedback to work, so I keep it at 100% as a general rule.

Damper is used for the Shock Absorber Force.

BOOST should always be turned off. For an in-depth look as to why, see my BOOST Force Feedback Analysis.

WRC 7 Settings

In Options > Controls > Steering Wheel > Axis Detection:

WRC 7 doesn't have any knowledge of these wheels, so you need to manually bind the steering, pedals and buttons.

The first thing you need to do is use the Axis Detection to tell the game about the hardware you have attached. You will need to individually detect the steering, accelerator, brake and clutch. This doesn't bind the controls, it just tells the game that these exist.

In Options > Controls > Steering Wheel > Button Bindings:

Once you have done the Axis Detection, you can actually bind the controls like normal. Bind the steering, pedals and all the functions to buttons on the wheel.

In Options > Controls > Steering Wheel > Settings:

This keeps the steering perfectly linear.

In Options > Controls > Steering Wheel > Force Feedback and Vibrations:

Force Feedback Level is the overall strength of the force feedback.

Level of Force Feedback Vibration controls the overall strength of the vibrations. This needs to be set very low on these wheels.

Spring Force resists the wheel turning, but lightens the wheel when you lose traction.

Shock Absorber Force acts like a filter for the force feedback, smoothing out the spikes and adding some weight to the wheel.

Constant Force provides feedback about the track. This is how you feel bumps in the road. This can be a very jerky force, so you don't want to raise this too high.

Friction Vibration vibrates the wheel when you are off the track.

Engine Vibration vibrates the wheel when you are near the redline and when you shift gears. I don't care for this too much, so I keep it quite low. You could set it higher if you like it.

Impact Vibration vibrates the wheel when you hit objects on the track.

Conclusion

Much of the fun of a rally game comes in how connected you feel to the car. If you don't feel as if you can control it well, the game simply isn't fun. It can feel more like guesswork than actual skill when you are speeding around corners. Once I got these settings dialed in, and with a little practice in how the game physics work, I was able to drive very naturally. I have really enjoyed the feeling of playing this game on these wheels.

Let me know if you have any comments or questions.