Best F1 2019 Settings for Thrustmaster TMX / T150

F1 2019, like its predecessor F1 2018, plays great with a wheel, but has terrible default settings. The steering angle is completely wrong for an F1 car and the force feedback is way too strong, at least on the Thrustmaster TMX and T150. It's very important to get these settings correct, especially on lower end wheels like this, which can easily be overwhelmed with too much force feedback, leaving a wheel that isn't able to give you any information about the car whenever you are in a corner.

When you are trying to push the limits of grip, you need as much information as you can get through the wheel. In this guide, I will show you the settings I use and how you can modify them to your personal preference.

Thrustmaster Control Panel Settings

The steering angle in this game defaults to the full rotation of your wheel. This is way too much for an F1 car, which typically has a maximum 360° rotation, meaning you can turn the wheel 180° to the left and 180° to the right. You can set this in the Thrustmaster Control Panel, but if you play a variety of games, it gets annoying having to change it every time you load up a different game. I much prefer to set the steering angle in the game whenever possible.

Spring is not used by F1 2019, 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 in-game Wheel Damper setting.

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

F1 2019 Settings

In Game Options > Settings > Controls, Vibration & Force Feedback > Thrustmaster TMX / T150 > Calibration:

The steering angle is controlled by the Steering Saturation and Steering Linearity settings. To get a 360° rotation angle, turn the wheel 180° to the left and raise the Steering Saturation until the turn angle at the bottom of the screen is 100.

I raise the Steering Linearity to make the wheel less sensitive when the wheel is centered. When you raise the linearity, you also need to raise the saturation to maintain the 360° rotation angle. The linearity is really a matter of personal preference, so you may need to adjust this. Just remember to adjust the Steering Saturation if you do.

In Game Options > Settings > Controls, Vibration & Force Feedback > Thrustmaster TMX / T150 > Vibration & Force Feedback:

Vibration & Force Feedback Strength is the overall strength of the force feedback. Raising it too much starts to overwhelm the wheel, making the wheel feel heavy and lifeless. I find the range of 45-50 works best.

On Track Effects is the vibrations felt based on the track surface.

Rumblestrip Effects is the vibration felt when running over a kerb.

Off Track Effects is the vibration felt when you leave the track.

Wheel Damper makes the wheel feel heavier, which is unnecessary on these wheels.

Understeer Enhance drastically lightens the wheel when you start to understeer. I find this more distracting than anything. The wheel lightens so much when you start to understeer that it feels more like the wheel is broken rather than something that is happening to the car.

Conclusion

Once you get the steering angle set and the force feedback turned down, the game feels really good on these wheels. I can't imagine why they made it so difficult to set the steering angle correctly in game, but at least you only have to do it once. If you have a VR headset, you may be interested to know that F1 2019 works surprisingly well in VR using VorpX.

Let me know if you have any questions or comments.