So what are the best joypad controls

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Steering Sensitivity:   10
Throttle Sensitivity:   45
Brake Sensitivity:      45

Speed Sensitivity:      75
Controller Damping:     85

Driving Assists Menu
Opposite Lock:          ON
The two most important things are the opposite lock "assist" (which is not the crutch you might expect it to be), and the speed sensitivity of 75, which is the ideal setting for recovering oversteer, giving you just the right amount of countersteer almost every time, in almost every car. I narrowed that down after a bunch of testing.

The speed sensitivity setting can make the car relatively sensitive, which calls for a gentler input style than many racing games -- but not uncomfortably so (unlike PCARS1). I have tuned the steering sensitivity and controller damping to compensate for that sensitivity; those can be adjusted freely...
 
My setting hope one works for you :)

Project CARS 2_20191028214245.png
Project CARS 2_20191028214255.png
 
Im going to pick this up but I've read the controller settings are pretty bad. I dont use my wheel much anymore as I'm more casual now. I read the "stable" settings for controller are better. Will this fix most issues are do you really need to tweak custom settings. Has any patch helped this issue? The default settings are pretty bad and one of the big cons to this game I've heard. I've also read that settings need to be set specifically for each car. I would really like to just load up and play and not mess with settings too much, as from my understanding you cant do this during a race, you need to back out to adjust it which seems painful and not convenient, and a strange decision as tweaking on the fly is needed. Any feedback would be appreciated.
 
Im going to pick this up but I've read the controller settings are pretty bad. I dont use my wheel much anymore as I'm more casual now. I read the "stable" settings for controller are better. Will this fix most issues are do you really need to tweak custom settings. Has any patch helped this issue? The default settings are pretty bad and one of the big cons to this game I've heard. I've also read that settings need to be set specifically for each car. I would really like to just load up and play and not mess with settings too much, as from my understanding you cant do this during a race, you need to back out to adjust it which seems painful and not convenient, and a strange decision as tweaking on the fly is needed. Any feedback would be appreciated.

If you ask three different people what the best controller settings are you will get three different answers. To add to the replies above you, I use everything default except for Speed Sensitivity, which I set to 75. This works for me for most of the cars in the game, if I'm finding a particular car too twitchy I increase the speed sensitivity, if I feel like I'm not getting enough lock I reduce it - but 75 is the sweet spot for most cars.

You can adjust all the controller settings from the pause menu in game, no need to back out of the session.

Edited to add - ultimately only you can decide on the pad settings you like, but at the very least I would suggest you should see how you find the default settings for yourself before diving in and changing things wholesale.
 
I read the "stable" settings for controller are better. Will this fix most issues are do you really need to tweak custom settings.
That refers to default car setups, not the controller, if it wasn't clear. I use the "Loose" default setup on a number of cars without issue. It depends on the nature of the car.

Has any patch helped this issue?
The steering is substantially better than it was at launch. It was revised more than once, and then they added an opposite lock "assist" on top of it, which is kind of a band-aid that compensates for the steering's shortcomings. Not ideal, but worth using IMO.

I've also read that settings need to be set specifically for each car. I would really like to just load up and play and not mess with settings too much, as from my understanding you cant do this during a race, you need to back out to adjust it which seems painful and not convenient, and a strange decision as tweaking on the fly is needed.
I have not changed my controller settings since a few months out from launch, and I use one of the default car setups for almost all the cars I drive. I can hop from class to class and have more or less the same steering behavior -- having Speed Sensitivity at 75 is crucial for this, because not only does S.S. limit your turn-in according to speed, it also wrongly limits your maximum countersteer.

See, if you "loosen" the steering with a lower Speed Sensitivity setting, you'll find it easy to overcorrect, and if you "tighten up" the steering with a higher setting, you'll find it more difficult or impossible to correct oversteer. Across almost all the cars, 75 allows exactly the right amount of countersteer, neither too much nor too little. Paradoxically, turn-in sensitivity varies between cars on a given setting, but my other settings (Steering Sensitivity and Controller Damping) help cover that.

Nevertheless, some cars are extra sensitive than most for no defensible reason, to the point of being genuinely unplayable in a few cases (IMO). SMS had been fixing these, because I noticed a handful of cars were definitely tamed without any change to the base steering behavior, but no more updates means there are still a few bad apples (eg. the Radbul).

Also, as @gregc said, you can change controller settings from the pause menu, but as I recall you have to restart the session for them to take effect...but that's quicker than going all the way back out.
 
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No need to restart the race for controller settings to take effect, it's instant. Just pause, change & carry on.
 
I've just messed around a little bit (using all default settings except for speed sensitivity to 75) using mostly road cars and it seems VERY twitchy and hard to keep your car straight, the tiniest of inputs makes my car swerve. And it's difficult to thread the needle passing cars on each side or just in traffic. I absolutely LOVE the game so far, I just need to find a solution to the sensitivity. In GTSport I can drive in a straight line with small inputs left and right on the joystick no problem, its smooth, but on here its very twitchy and I almost spin out if that makes sense.
 
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@Organ-Donor -- Controller Damping will slow down the rate at which the steering responds to your input, and Steering Sensitivity controls the linearity of the input curve. This image I made a while back shows what Steering Sensitivity does. Values above 50 are more sensitive on center, and values below 50 shift that sensitivity closer to full lock. :cheers:

pcars2-ss-png.768325
 
@Organ-Donor -- Controller Damping will slow down the rate at which the steering responds to your input, and Steering Sensitivity controls the linearity of the input curve. This image I made a while back shows what Steering Sensitivity does. Values above 50 are more sensitive on center, and values below 50 shift that sensitivity closer to full lock. :cheers:

pcars2-ss-png.768325
Thanks, I'll try to adjust that next time I'm on. It just feels like a struggle to keep my car from twitching back and forth. Everything else in this game is great with all the features, options, car selection, etc., it's just the handling with a controller that feels like an uphill battle. If I can get that sorted out it will be great as I love the overall package of this game and what it has to offer.

Can you suggest a good controller damping and steering sensitivity setting for me if I feel like the cars are overly twitchy? I feel like I end up swaying back and forth even on straights if I put even the smallest amount of input on the joystick.
 
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No need to restart the race for controller settings to take effect, it's instant. Just pause, change & carry on.
Is this correct? Even in the settings it says changes won't be made until you back out or return to the menu or something like that, where as camera view settings change right there. Honestly it's so twitchy for me that I cant really even feel any changes so I dont know if the settings do in fact change without backing out.

Also is there not a reset to default option for alot of settings? I've only seen it for the controller settings tab, but that will reset everything such as the button mappings, there isn't a reset on each tab. But there is not any reset for any other options like audio, camera view, etc. I had to take screenshots for a reference for the defaults. Kinda weird considering there are so many option settings in this game.
 
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Can you suggest a good controller damping and steering sensitivity setting for me if I feel like the cars are overly twitchy? I feel like I end up swaying back and forth even on straights if I put even the smallest amount of input on the joystick.
First reply up top. :) With my settings you should be able to make small adjustments with quick taps, closer to how other racing games play.
 
Is this correct? Even in the settings it says changes won't be made until you back out or return to the menu or something like that, where as camera view settings change right there. Honestly it's so twitchy for me that I cant really even feel any changes so I dont know if the settings do in fact change without backing out.

Also is there not a reset to default option for alot of settings? I've only seen it for the controller settings tab, but that will reset everything such as the button mappings, there isn't a reset on each tab. But there is not any reset for any other options like audio, camera view, etc. I had to take screenshots for a reference for the defaults. Kinda weird considering there are so many option settings in this game.
Yes mate, trust me.
As a test put damping down to 0 (flick left/right) with the stick & watch how fast the steering wheel turns, then Chang it to 100 without restarting & watch how slow it is (again flick left right).
 
First reply up top. :) With my settings you should be able to make small adjustments with quick taps, closer to how other racing games play.
I'll try those and see if that helps
 
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@Wolfe @gregc I'm going to just ask in here because you both seem pretty knowledgeable. I was driving the C7.R on Daytona and the chase camera sense of speed is very bad, I was going 160+ mph on straights and it felt like I was going 50 mph. Is there a setting to correct this? I read someone say that setting chase camera to 85 helps. I havent done this yet. I know there are field of view minimum and maximum speed settings, I messed around a little bit and that only seemed to change when breaking or accelerating the camera gets closer/further away slightly, it didn't actually make it seem like the car was travelling any faster.
 
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@Organ-Donor I can't help with that I'm afraid, I play in VR.

I know field of view has a massive impact on sense of speed but it's not something I've ever needed to play around with.
 
@Organ-Donor I can't help with that I'm afraid, I play in VR.

I know field of view has a massive impact on sense of speed but it's not something I've ever needed to play around with.
Heres an example, this is on PC so I cant do this with chase camera, I'm on PS4. But mine seems even slower just on Daytona, I can't imagine how slow it would look going down the Mulsanne straight on La Sarth.

 
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@Wolfe @gregc I'm going to just ask in here because you both seem pretty knowledgeable. I was driving the C7.R on Daytona and the chase camera sense of speed is very bad, I was going 160+ mph on straights and it felt like I was going 50 mph. Is there a setting to correct this? I read someone say that setting chase camera to 85 helps. I havent done this yet. I know there are field of view minimum and maximum speed settings, I messed around a little bit and that only seemed to change when breaking or going faster the camera gets closer/further away slightly, it didn't actually make it seem like the car was travelling any faster.
I'm going to attempt to help you but I use helmet cam & I don't use speed sensitive fov either.

My fov is 75, it's what I'm used to regarding braking point's & hitting apex's. Whether that's supposed to be correct or not I don't care. (fov calculator thinks I should be at 50 ish)

Using the same car at the same speed will feel slower driving on Daytona than driving down the mulsanne straight because it's a massive wide oval with huge grandstands compared to a skinny road with trees & telephone poles.

It's like driving on a motorway at 50 feels slow compared to 50 around country lanes.

Onto the speed sensitive fov.

Once turned on set your initial fov (say 75 for now)
Underneath is minimum fov, underneath that is maximum fov, these are a percentage of your initial fov. So if you set minimum to 100% & maximum to 120% your fov range will be from 75 to 90.

If you set your minimum at 80% & you maximum at 100% then your fov range will be from 60 to 75.
(remember this is based off the initial 75 fov)

The above settings only work if you have set your minimum/maximum speed settings which I'll go through now.

Minimum speed is the speed at which your lowest fov settings will start from.

Maximum speed is the speed at which your highest fov will end at.

So if I set my minimum speed at 0 & my maximum speed at 200 my fov at a standing start will be 75 gradually increasing to 90 when I hit 200mph

If I set my minimum speed at 50 & my maximum at 150 the effect will be slightly more exaggerated as the adaptive fov will not start to increase until you hit 50mph, but you'll hit your maximum fov (90) sooner because you have lowered the top speed.

It's no good setting your minimum/maximum speed both at 100 or whatever because the fov minimum/maximum won't change regardless of the fov range you set.

If you really want a dramatic effect like some arcade game with motion blur you could go all out & do this.

Initial fov 120
Minimum fov 50%
Maximum fov 120%
Minimum speed 0
Maximum speed 100

This way your fov will be at 60 as you start the race rising to 144 when you hit 100mph, whoooooosh :lol:
 
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@Mr Grumpy thanks for that! I'll tinker around with it when I get on next. Using helmet cam can you set it to where you see inside of your helmet but can see your arms as well (as if your sitting further back)? I increased it and if I remember correctly it just made it where I could see my arms but couldn't see the inside of my helmet, there was just a glare as if there was the plastic shield over my face.
I suppose I could leave it to default but adjust the seat position back? I havent messed with seat position at all yet because I havent mapped it to buttons yet because they take up alot of slots. I've only messed with FOV.

Back on topic I hope I can get the controller sensitivity right using @Wolfe settings because I absolutely love this game, going back to GT Sport would be a huge step back in almost every regard except for the controller handling. I just got GT Sport as well because of black Friday sale, I was holding off because I've been pretty disappointed in development decisions since GT5, and GT Sport is almost a step back even further in alot of areas.
 
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@Mr Grumpy thanks for that! I'll tinker around with it when I get on next. Using helmet cam can you set it to where you see inside of your helmet but can see your arms as well (as if your sitting further back)? I increased it and if I remember correctly it just made it where I could see my arms but couldn't see the inside of my helmet, there was just a glare as if there was the plastic shield over my face.
I suppose I could leave it to default but adjust the seat position back? I havent messed with seat position at all yet because I havent mapped it to buttons yet because they take up alot of slots. I've only messed with FOV.

Back on topic I hope I can get the controller sensitivity right using @Wolfe settings because I absolutely love this game, going back to GT Sport would be a huge step back in almost every regard except for the controller handling. I just got GT Sport as well because of black Friday sale, I was holding off because I've been pretty disappointed in development decisions since GT5, and GT Sport is almost a step back even further in alot of areas.
If you use helmet cam then you can also use the look to apex, head tilt & camera tilt options aswell (these have no effect in cockpit view) however if you choose to display the helmet you will get the effect of seeing the inside of the helmet around the screen (time/era period pending) & your visor can become slightly misty, however the sound will become muffled as to give the effect of having a helmet on.

I personally use helmet cam but turn the helmet option off.

If you adjust your seat position to far back your head becomes detached from your body :lol:

Regarding controller settings only you can decide what you want, all we can do is advise, as you can see from the 1st 4 post's, me, @Wolfe & @Chikane all use different setups.

Personally I prefer the 1:1 direct feel, no dead zones, 50/50 sensitivity with 0 damping. that's just me, it's what I'm used to. I don't expect you to like it.

A lot of people will agree with the speed sensitivity around 75 though (me included) it does seem to be in the goldilocks zone, regarding enough turning ability & catching most oversteer moments.

As a suggestion, get your steering, acceleration, braking inputs & dead zones the way you want.

Set speed sensitivity at 75.

Now this might seem a bit odd at first but here me out as I am trying to help.

I've not played GTS so I don't know how heavy/light the handling feels, but if it's anything like GT6 then I did find that kind of heavy on a DS3.

Start with damping at 100 (you won't stay here for long) then just slowly drop it down (in increments of 5 at first if you wish) 95,90,85 etc until you get more comfortable. You may get to how @Wolfe has his & leave it or fine tune it either way to how you feel comfortable. But again around 75 does seem to be the most used setting by a lot of people (I'm just one of the odd ones that uses 0).

However, even with a wheel if you have a big enough moment in this game you will be punished, so don't be to hard on yourself when it happens on a controller.
 
@Wolfe for your controller settings listed at the top, only a few settings are listed. Does that mean all other settings are left to default?
 
@Wolfe for your controller settings listed at the top, only a few settings are listed. Does that mean all other settings are left to default?
Left to your preference, or the wear and tear on your device in the case of deadzones. :) I'm not sure why I even have the throttle or brake sensitivity settings on there, because they're more or less irrelevant to the help I hope to offer.

As a suggestion, get your steering, acceleration, braking inputs & dead zones the way you want.

Set speed sensitivity at 75.

Now this might seem a bit odd at first but here me out as I am trying to help.

I've not played GTS so I don't know how heavy/light the handling feels, but if it's anything like GT6 then I did find that kind of heavy on a DS3.

Start with damping at 100 (you won't stay here for long) then just slowly drop it down (in increments of 5 at first if you wish) 95,90,85 etc until you get more comfortable. You may get to how @Wolfe has his & leave it or fine tune it either way to how you feel comfortable. But again around 75 does seem to be the most used setting by a lot of people (I'm just one of the odd ones that uses 0).

However, even with a wheel if you have a big enough moment in this game you will be punished, so don't be to hard on yourself when it happens on a controller.
Great advice. :cheers:
 
@Wolfe @Mr Grumpy
So a few things. First off, road cars were a lot more twitchy than race cars, for example the C7.R didnt twitch nearly as bad as the Z06 or Mclaren 720s. I know a race car would handle and corner better obviously but I'm speaking purely about the twitchy response to the joystick inputs.

Secondly these new settings seem to really help, and I'm starting to get the feel for it, I appreciate the feedback.

Third and most important, does this game have tire temps that effect handling which could be causing the bad twitching on first laps when cold? When I first started playing I've been running custom races as I've been trying to get a hang of the handling and I've really only put 1 or 2 laps max before crashing and restarting...until just recently. I just did a 10 lap race and it seemed after the first 3 or so laps the car stopped twitching as bad and was more smooth in the inputs on the joystick. Is this due to the tire temps warming up? Because the car handles much better on lap 7 for example than lap 1.

Edit - actually I don't know if I'm just getting used to the handling or not because I just did lap 1 with the Z06 and it wasnt too bad so I'm confused but it might be due to this:
The few cars that I've used for testing (Mclaren 720s, LaFerrari, Enzo, Z06) do seem to behave better and less twitchy with the Driving assists set to Authentic. Is there a difference between Stability control: On vs Authentic for these cars because seems to make them behave differently, and in this case Authentic makes it less twitchy, unless I'm just imagining it. Or does Authentic just mean if the real life car offers Stability control it will be on, and if the car doesn't it will be off?

I dont usually use driving aids but I need to until I get the sensitivities correct.
 
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@Organ-Donor -- The Corvettes and the 720S are not among the nicer roadcars to drive with a controller, I think. Personally, I'm partial to the lower-horsepower end of the scale (Road E, F, and G) if you'd like to sample what the game's street tire model can offer. 👍

Tire temperatures matter. They matter way more in this game than any other that I'm familiar with, because of its four-season weather & climate simulation. Some combinations of tire compounds and track conditions are a just poor match, and the game gives you the freedom to have at it with essentially no warning. With racecars, you may have to open or close the brake cooling ducts in the car setup to maintain proper tire temperatures in hotter or colder weather. The game simulates thermal conduction from the brakes to the tires.

"Authentic" assists will set you up with whatever the real car is equipped with, yes. Maybe the difference you're noticing is an override of your ABS setting, rather than the stability control?
 
@Organ-Donor - As Wolfe says tyre and track temps matter. While you're getting to grips with the handling I'd say set your races/practice sessions to summer and use fixed clear/light or medium cloud. Anything else will lower the track temperatures, sometimes considerably. Also fixed or real time progression will stop the sun's position from affecting temps.

It also models the track getting grippier as rubber is laid down so you might be noticing some of that effect. Dirt/gravel on track is also featured so watch out for that!

I dont usually use driving aids but I need to until I get the sensitivities correct.
Nothing wrong with the aids, use them, that's what they are there for. They don't work the same as in GT for example, the ABS works like ABS.

Judging by your signature you seem to be used to some fairly wild cars so I'm sure you'll be able to tame PC2. :)


You've got me intrigued. As a very long time wheel user I'm going to have a go with the controller later to see how I get on. Since I love tweaking settings anything could happen. I'll report back!


eg. the Radbul
I must admit I might not try that with the controller, it's a handful with a wheel! :scared:
 
@Wolfe @Mr Grumpy @gregc @IfAndOr Thanks so much for your help, I really appreciate it. I think I'm starting to get the hang of it. And as what was said, the lower class road cars are much easier to drive than the Z06, 720s, etc. so I probably should have started with Road D, E, F, G cars. I finally stepped out of custom races for testing settings into career mode. I started the Ginetta Junior series, these little guys are fun to drive. I qualified on pole almost 2 seconds ahead of the next best time. Is the default opponent difficulty (right in the middle at 60 I believe) a good starting point? Can you adjust this along the way in career or is it set in stone once you start? Since these are more amateur series do the opponents get harder as you progress to pro series, without changing opponent difficulty settings?

I got GTSport and NFS Heat for black Friday and haven't returned to them since buying this a few days after. One thing I love about PC2 is the ability to use any car right away for custom races..I dont have much free time to grind both of those games to unlock cars so this is nice just jumping in and racing in any car.

Edit - just won 1st in the Ginetta series championship 👍
It was awesome driving in overcast skies and then heavy rain moved in. A nice touch is water puddles effecting driving grip, and having a semi dry racing line to follow.
Starting my GT4 class career now. I'm loving this game.
Again thanks to everyone that helped. Made a huge difference.
 
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@Wolfe @Mr Grumpy @gregc @IfAndOr Thanks so much for your help, I really appreciate it. I think I'm starting to get the hang of it. And as what was said, the lower class road cars are much easier to drive than the Z06, 720s, etc. so I probably should have started with Road D, E, F, G cars. I finally stepped out of custom races for testing settings into career mode. I started the Ginetta Junior series, these little guys are fun to drive. I qualified on pole almost 2 seconds ahead of the next best time. Is the default opponent difficulty (right in the middle at 60 I believe) a good starting point? Can you adjust this along the way in career or is it set in stone once you start? Since these are more amateur series do the opponents get harder as you progress to pro series, without changing opponent difficulty settings?

I got GTSport and NFS Heat for black Friday and haven't returned to them since buying this a few days after. One thing I love about PC2 is the ability to use any car right away for custom races..I dont have much free time to grind both of those games to unlock cars so this is nice just jumping in and racing in any car.

Edit - just won 1st in the Ginetta series championship 👍
It was awesome driving in overcast skies and then heavy rain moved in. A nice touch is water puddles effecting driving grip, and having a semi dry racing line to follow.
Starting my GT4 class career now. I'm loving this game.
Again thanks to everyone that helped. Made a huge difference.

Glad you're enjoying it, even if my controller preference wasn't for you lol :)

You may have already discovered this, but yes - you can change the AI difficulty level any time during the career. Be aware that if you go above 80 (I think - it's 80 or 100...) they will start using custom setups. The difficulty does ramp up a bit as you move up the career ladder, but there is also some variance depending on circuits - given the sheer number of tracks and layouts getting them the same across every one must be near impossible.

If you want a quick road car to have some fun with I have just (this week!) discovered the BAC Mono thanks to the CRAP Time Trials - and I have fallen in love with the thing. It can a bit tricksy but it's so much fun to fling around a circuit. I'm also a big fan of the Ginetta GT5 (the Junior with a bit more power) and the Formula Rookie (basically a Formula Ford - entry level single seater).

Here's a lap at Barcelona Club with the Mono...

 
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