Best Dakar 18 Settings for Thrustmaster T248
Dakar 18 is a very different style of racing game, putting an extreme emphasis on navigation, rather than pure driving. I was completely unprepared for this, and it took a long time to figure out how to get through a single stage. It's definitely not my favorite type of racing, but it has its own charm.
The Thrustmaster T248 has some issues with the game, at least on PC. You can't navigate the menus using the wheel, you have to use the keyboard. The driving works fine, but the force feedback is largely just vibrations. There are other forces in there, but the wheel will shake constantly. Admittedly, this is realistic considering the terrain, but it can get tiring nonetheless.
In this guide, I will show you what you need to set in the Thrustmaster Control Panel, if playing on PC, and what to set in-game to improve the force feedback.
Thrustmaster Settings
On the PC, Dakar 18 has no way to set the steering angle in game, so it must be done on the wheel. Console version have the option in-game. I found 360° works well. A larger steering angle felt unnecessary, but feel free to adjust this to your personal preference.
| On-Wheel Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| ROT | 360° |
| 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 | 360° |
| 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. I recommend changing these on the wheel and ignoring the values in the Thrustmaster Control Panel.
Spring and Damper are not used by Dakar 18, so can be set to any value without issue. As a general rule, I leave them 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.
Dakar 18 Settings
In Options > Gameplay:
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Transmission | Manual Sequential or H-Pattern |
| Wheel Visibility | Complete / Invisible |
Transmission should be set to Manual Sequential or H-Pattern, depending on if you want to use an H-Pattern shifter or not.
Wheel Visibility depends on your personal preference. The wheel animation is only 180°. This can be distracting, so you might prefer hiding the wheel entirely.
As a side note, the Vibration setting has no effect on a wheel.
In Options > Devices > Thrustmaster Advanced Mode Racer:
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Device Type | Steering Wheel |
| Presets | Thrustmaster T300 |
There isn't a preset available for the T248, so I used the one for the T300 instead.
In Options > Controls:
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Steering Sensitivity | 50 |
| Steering Linearity | 0 |
Steering Sensitivity at 50 and Steering Linearity at 0 will create perfectly linear steering.
In Options > Controls > Vehicle Controls:
As I said above, I needed to bind all the buttons and pedals, but this may be a side effect of having several wheels.
In Options > Controls > Feedback Options:
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Feedback | On |
| Feedback Strength | 50 |
Feedback Strength is the only setting to control the force feedback, unfortunately. There isn't a lot of force feedback in this game, but there are a lot of vibrations. The vibrations are much stronger than the actual force feedback, so I turned this down to get a reasonable vibration strength.
Conclusion
Dakar 18 is an interesting game. It's a unique style of racing, but I wouldn't say the game is well suited to being played with a wheel. It works, but it's clearly designed to be primarily played with a controller.
Let me know if you have any comments or questions.