Does a wheel make you faster? Yes? No? My experience.

[Met Entso]

I switched from 2 years using a controller to a wheel recently, and this is what I think after the experience.

A wheel does not make you faster, but, it gives you the adequate conditions to become faster.

I know there are aliens that are competitive at high levels with a controller. I remember in Grand Prix Legends it was said that a guy won a competition using a joystick. You will always get people that can do extraordinary things.

For the average player I think the controller has a limit. Where this limit is, it's a matter of discussion, but probably some of them will be the filters that PD apply to make it so smooth and easy, the lack of precision in the steering, and the lack of precision when braking.

A wheel and pedals will give you the tools to go beyond your current level. But at first it will make you slower. Be prepared for that. In my case it's been a month, and still not really there in general, but in some tracks I am faster already.

Will be interesting to hear your opinions on this, it's something that is important when you are considering investing in a wheel. And, by the way, save money and go for the best set of wheel and pedals you can afford, it's totally worth it. Specially the pedals, controlling braking is crucial. I always read that but now I have experienced it, what a difference a good braking pedal makes.

 

[Hazel]

Yes, I agree. A wheel and pedals allows you to be smoother.
Being smoother stops the car from becoming unsettled which allows higher cornering speeds.
And I especially agree with your comment about braking, when I added a loadcell mod to my pedals I could immediately run without any abs on the car which in many games is considered a 'driver aid' which slows you down.
A proper sim doesn't penalise you for driving the car as it is in real life but some games reckon if you're not driving full manual with no TC or ABS then you get slowed.

 

[Ian JB]

Hi,

Most certainly quicker with a wheel here. It did take some time to get used to the idea and at one point I was ready for giving up.
I am a good 3 seconds quicker now on average.

My next investment will be the load cell pedal for a CSL Elite.

 

[TumeK5]

Also depends what you're doing.

I struggled a lot to be fast in the Tokyo 600 race as well as the Sardegna Windmills race. Both require a lot of wheel usage, but with the controller you can countersteer quicker.

 

[Nightwing24]

I don’t think it is rocket science or as controversial as we as the sim racing community make it out to be.

It’s distance traveled for the controlling device making the difference, and each person is different to respond. A controller you are working within the variable of micro millimeters in distance traveled for the gas pedal and break with triggers on controller, and with an analog sticks range of steering motion. Thus making it difficult to regulate the smoothness in controls as well as the precision. Game devs like PD then add assists in software to help those with less controller accuracy.

I’m in my 40s and didn’t pick up an analog controller until I was in my 20s with the Dreamcast and PlayStation. A person who picked up a analog controller in their formative youth will have more control and dexterity than I, unless I’m willing to put in the time to develop that level of precision and accuracy on a controller (which I am not).

I have been driving real cars since 14. A wheels movement, and the travel distance of pedals that have centimeters of travel give me personally more accuracy and precision due to my familiarity with them already.

Controller and wheel/pedals are completely different. You can become extremely proficient in either with practice. If you already have practice with a controller from being young and growing up constantly playing, it is probably easier for you to use controller. If you have more experience with real driving than playing games on controller, wheel/pedal set up is most likely going to be an easier adjustment than leaning to play with controller.

It is the person that is different in all these cases, and there is no uniform one right best way to go about it, and the faster driving method depends on the driver. Find a teenager who lives with great public transportation that has never driven a car or kart and is great at sim racing on controller and see if they can ever adjust and become faster with wheel and pedals. My money would be on no.

 

[RacingFan1]

Wheel and pedals allow you to have far better precision and smoothness... steering angle, throttle and brake input, it's so obvious.
They are designed specifically to play driving/racing games, whereas the controller is designed to play all kinds of games, so...

 

[0x15e]

I posted a huge wall of text about this to Reddit a while back as I was getting adjusted to the wheel and I agree with you.

I had to completely relearn every game but when I did, I absolutely was faster.

I think I went in with the expectation that since I could drive well IRL that it would translate directly to the game and I’d be instantly faster. Just like anything it took some time to learn it but once I did the whole experience became that much more gratifying.

 

[0x15e]

I don’t think it is rocket science or as controversial as we as the sim racing community make it out to be.

It’s distance traveled for the controlling device making the difference, and each person is different to respond. A controller you are working within the variable of micro millimeters in distance traveled for the gas pedal and break with triggers on controller, and with an analog sticks range of steering motion. Thus making it difficult to regulate the smoothness in controls as well as the precision. Game devs like PD then add assists in software to help those with less controller accuracy.

I’m in my 40s and didn’t pick up an analog controller until I was in my 20s with the Dreamcast and PlayStation. A person who picked up a analog controller in their formative youth will have more control and dexterity than I, unless I’m willing to put in the time to develop that level of precision and accuracy on a controller (which I am not).

I have been driving real cars since 14. A wheels movement, and the travel distance of pedals that have centimeters of travel give me personally more accuracy and precision due to my familiarity with them already.

Controller and wheel/pedals are completely different. You can become extremely proficient in either with practice. If you already have practice with a controller from being young and growing up constantly playing, it is probably easier for you to use controller. If you have more experience with real driving than playing games on controller, wheel/pedal set up is most likely going to be an easier adjustment than leaning to play with controller.

It is the person that is different in all these cases, and there is no uniform one right best way to go about it, and the faster driving method depends on the driver. Find a teenager who lives with great public transportation that has never driven a car or kart and is great at sim racing on controller and see if they can ever adjust and become faster with wheel and pedals. My money would be on no.

You might be surprised. Mine just turned 16, had never driven anything IRL, and used public transit or been driven everywhere. Up until I got my wheel setup and he got REALLY bored, he never showed any interest in driving.

When he did, he spent a lot of time in the wall at first but picked it up really quickly and now actually wants to get a license.

This also may support your point though. He went from no driving games to wheel driving games with no controller in the middle. He’d played lots of other games with a controller; just no driving.

 

[oqvist]

Doing circuit experiences now and I am certainly faster with the wheel. It´s just so freaking hard to be smooth and many cars in GT really require smooth input or you will fly off the track

 

[NevilleNobody]

With a controller, D-pad and X and square, all assists off except low countersteer, I ran a 1.49.3 and many laps under 1.50.0. With my T150, recently firmware updated., here's the result. ASM on, countersteer on high. Forget the first lap, start last corner of first lap, it's a complete fiasco, the rear end is so, so unpredictable....... i just CANNOT get the hang of it.

 

[Jump_Ace]

It's never the tools you are using that makes the difference, it's always how you use the tools.


Jerome

 

[oqvist]

With a controller, D-pad and X and square, all assists off except low countersteer, I ran a 1.49.3 and many laps under 1.50.0. With my T150, recently firmware updated., here's the result. ASM on, countersteer on high. Forget the first lap, start last corner of first lap, it's a complete fiasco, the rear end is so, so unpredictable....... i just CANNOT get the hang of it.

This seems so backwards? Why do you run all assists with a wheel that is designed for gamepads where you can´t be as smooth?

 

[RacingFan1]

It's never the tools you are using that makes the difference, it's always how you use the tools.


Jerome

It's both really.

 

[fastone371]

I wouldn't be able to play this game if I had to use a controller, my hands start to fall asleep after 10 minutes or so of use. When I got my wheel it took some time behind the wheel to find speed but I am way faster and way more precise with the wheel. I am also easy on tires vs many who use a controller.

 

[Greycap]

It's never the tools you are using that makes the difference, it's always how you use the tools.

Absolutely. The last time I put any serious effort into pad driving was in early 2006 and have completed every GT with a wheel since. My pad skills are about as rusty as they can be, but...

I did a test. A friend kept claiming I'm faster than him because I have a wheel - our difference is a second and a half, maybe two seconds depending on the track. So I grabbed the DualSense and went out to see if that's the case, turns out it isn't. The difference on Trial Mountain with a 600PP car, a slightly over two minute lap, compared to the same car driven with a wheel was about half a second and that was after a whopping 36 km of driving. Given even a full day of getting the muscle memory up and running would shave tenths off that.

Half a second is roughly half a percent of the lap time. And it's not like I'm a total nobody with the wheel - of the seven online time trials I've tried I golded six and the Super Formula at Fuji was silver by mere hundredths, to put the "control lap" into perspective. Chances are I would have got those six golds with the pad too.

In other words, I'd say that 99,5% of the lap time is knowing the lines, the braking points, just plain good driving. The last 0,5% is how well you use what you have. Anything over that is excuses.

 

[racingsnail]

I switched from controller to wheel 2 years ago. There was a transition period for me to get up to my controller times but for me it’s most definitely quicker, I find it far more precise in the entry and braking phase. The force feedback also adds so much detail that I know what the car is doing which the PS4 controller never gave me.

A huge gain for me is the experience in driving/racing with a wheel/pedals, i get far greater enjoyment playing GT7 using my g29 which has had a hard life since i bought it.

 

[shadow0460]

I don't know. I'd have to see if the driving Force works.

 

[TechnoIsLove]

Wheel definitely makes you more accurate and have better throttle/ brake control (switched from controller to Logitech G29 around 2 months ago) HOWEVER...

What I found is that the equipment you use, just like real life, makes a difference! With the Logitech, the wheel sensitivity and force is better than controller but since it has a weak torque, correcting a slide is very hard when you have to balance response and feedback.

The brake pedal is also not too great, not too good for fine, sensitive application. Tried a friend's setup (Fanatec) and the difference is incredible, but for me and at this moment, doesn't justify the €400 difference between his setup and mine.

It also depends on the car and track (for me) but overall, I'm around 1.2 seconds faster using the G29 than controller but if I make a mistake, I'm 80% less likely to recover with the wheel than I am with the controller.

Overall, wheel makes it more immersive so more fun 🙂 You just need to accept some disadvantages unless you're willing to invest over €800 minimum for a proper wheel/ pedal setup!

 

[NevilleNobody]

With a controller, D-pad and X and square, all assists off except low countersteer, I ran a 1.49.3 and many laps under 1.50.0. With my T150, recently firmware updated., here's the result. ASM on, countersteer on high. Forget the first lap, start last corner of first lap, it's a complete fiasco, the rear end is so, so unpredictable....... i just CANNOT get the hang of it.

This seems so backwards? Why do you run all assists with a wheel that is designed for gamepads where you can´t be as smooth?

Because without them I can't finish a lap, the car is all over the road.

 

[ILLEAGLE_34]

It's both really.

If your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.

 

[RacingFan1]

If your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.

I suppose you quote this saying in reference to those who stick to a controller.
You can be kinda good/fast with controller, but honestly, if you try a wheel, and you "master it", I don't think the controller has any chance.
And of course it requires some decent skill, no matter the tool you use.

 

[ILLEAGLE_34]

I suppose you quote this saying in reference to those who stick to a controller.
You can be kinda good/fast with controller, but honestly, if you try a wheel, and you "master it", I don't think the controller has any chance.
And of course it requires some decent skill, no matter the tool you use.

I agree with you an experienced the same thing when I got a wheel a few years back.(G29) and yeah what I was trying to get out with that quote was you could always use the right tool for the job/different problems require different solutions.🍻

 

[RacingFan1]

With a controller, D-pad and X and square, all assists off except low countersteer, I ran a 1.49.3 and many laps under 1.50.0. With my T150, recently firmware updated., here's the result. ASM on, countersteer on high. Forget the first lap, start last corner of first lap, it's a complete fiasco, the rear end is so, so unpredictable....... i just CANNOT get the hang of it.



Because without them I can't finish a lap, the car is all over the road.

You just need to practice more.
Counter steering, and throttle control. You should turn all the assists off except ABS so nothing will slow you down and you have to get used to it.
Also in several corners you dont take the proper lines and miss apexes.

 

[John Smith UK]

Yes, I agree. A wheel and pedals allows you to be smoother.
Being smoother stops the car from becoming unsettled which allows higher cornering speeds.
And I especially agree with your comment about braking, when I added a loadcell mod to my pedals I could immediately run without any abs on the car which in many games is considered a 'driver aid' which slows you down.
A proper sim doesn't penalise you for driving the car as it is in real life but some games reckon if you're not driving full manual with no TC or ABS then you get slowed.

Your points here are the issue I have with the game, I think the premise your quicker with a wheel over a pad Is 1000% correct, the ability to apply power earlier into a corner, to Brake later, allied to a manual box where you can use downshifts to help turn the car etc it is a big advantage.. I have asked a number of the big streamers could they replicate their times on any track with a controller And it’s a categoric NO

Polyphony have deliberately dumbed down the Auto boxes compared to a manual - the Auto doesn’t downshift, it doesn’t accelerate as well etc - this is because Poly felt obliged to include it not because they wanted to - in one of the last updates they have made up shifts slower again. The controller setup in GT7 is identical to what was in GT Sport they have done nothing to try and improve that.

on any race track with any car a TC enabled Auto car would be faster than the equivalent manual non TC car - look at Porsche road cars as an example - not one of their manual cars matches the performance of the PDK boxed cars - manuals are a romantic notion of driving back in the past and in the modern world - slower

wheels are faster that is true i would like to have an option not to race against drivers with wheels in the daily races but Poly aren’t going to do that are they

 

[shenfrey]

Yeah, problem is not everyone wants more big chunks of plastic in their living room outside of the consoles and controllers. I’m happy with a controller and a cup of coffee.

 

[fwyflyer]

For me, the wheel and pedals (and a decent dash view) are both necessary for immersion. Without them, it feels too much like driving a remote control toy.

 

[mattikake]

Does a wheel make me faster? Unknown since I've not use a controller since GT4. But it certainly makes me more consistently precise.

Either way I don't care. I have a wheel for immersion. A controller is not an option.

What is certain is that the game is going to gove controller users a heads up on forgiving inaccuracies. It has to. Cheat mode engaged from the start. But it has to. And I still don't care about that

 

[Biggles]

With a controller, D-pad and X and square, all assists off except low countersteer, I ran a 1.49.3 and many laps under 1.50.0. With my T150, recently firmware updated., here's the result. ASM on, countersteer on high. Forget the first lap, start last corner of first lap, it's a complete fiasco, the rear end is so, so unpredictable....... i just CANNOT get the hang of it.



Because without them I can't finish a lap, the car is all over the road.

I'm not understanding: are you driving with a wheel in 3rd person, or is this just the replay view? If so, you should definitely be driving in car, or bumper, using a wheel. This will automatically modulate your inputs.

Being an "old person" I have no skills with a controller, but 45 years experience driving a car IRL. Being competent with a controller would take hundreds of hours of practice - practice which I have no interest in doing, because it's WAY more fun & immersive with a wheel. It seems to me that the best controller sim racers are AMAZINGLY fast even without using a wheel. In fact, I think with some games/cars/tracks the controller may actually confer a slight advantage (although hard to be sure). Regardless, human beings are capable of impressive feats with enough training & practice.

 

[NevilleNobody]

You just need to practice more.
Counter steering, and throttle control. You should turn all the assists off except ABS so nothing will slow you down and you have to get used to it.
Also in several corners you dont take the proper lines and miss apexes.

I know the lines chief, I am a hair away from an A+ driving rating. Issue with the wheel is I can't get the car where I need to in time, I am all over the road. The steering either does nothing then suddenly turns too much, I cannot get the hang of it to save my life.

To answer another question, I use bumper cam to drive, I use chase for replays to see what the car is doing.

 

[RacingFan1]

I know the lines chief, I am a hair away from an A+ driving rating. Issue with the wheel is I can't get the car where I need to in time, I am all over the road. The steering either does nothing then suddenly turns too much, I cannot get the hang of it to save my life.

To answer another question, I use bumper cam to drive, I use chase for replays to see what the car is doing.

That Skyline is not exactly the smoothest car in the game and the handling is a bit poor but it's far from undriveable and you can drive it smootly. Maybe your wheel doesnt work well