Best NASCAR 25 Settings for Thrustmaster T248
NASCAR 25 isn't quite what I was expecting. Being developed under the iRacing Studios brand, I was expecting a more detailed simulation like NASCAR Racing 2003 Season. Instead, NASCAR 25 is basically the next game in the NASCAR Heat series. It's much more of an arcade-style game than a simulator.
The Thrustmaster T248 works fine with it, but the force feedback is a little underwhelming. The default settings make the wheel too heavy, which doesn't help. The adjustments I made help, but it's less detailed than I would like.
In this guide, I will show you the settings I use to improve the force feedback and what you may want to adjust for your own setup.
Thrustmaster Settings
NASCAR 25 is designed to use 270° as the steering angle. If you set the rotation higher than 270°, the game will only register input up to that point, but the force feedback continues past it, creating a jarring disconnect.
| On-Wheel Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| ROT | 270° |
| 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 | 270° |
| 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 is used by NASCAR 25 for the Centering Spring setting.
Damper is not used by NASCAR 25, so can be set to any value without issue. As a general rule, I leave it at 100% since there are some games that require it.
BOOST should always be turned off. For an in-depth look as to why, see my BOOST Force Feedback Analysis.
NASCAR 25 Settings
In Settings > Gameplay:
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Transmission | Manual |
| Brake Smoothing | Off |
I like to turn off all the assists. The physics are quite forgiving without them.
In Settings > Driving:
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Driving Aids | |
| Preset | Expert |
Again, I turn off all the assists, but you can always enable them if you like.
In Settings > Adv. Controls:
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Car Handling Config | Custom |
| Steering | |
| Non Linear | 0 |
| Dead Zone | 0 |
| Overshoot | 0 |
| Speed Sensitive Range | 0 |
| Speed Sensitive Non Linear | 0 |
| Reduce Dampening | 100 |
This disables any strange input settings that you don't want when using a wheel.
In Settings > Controls > Wheel:
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Rotation | 270° |
| Steering Range | 60 |
| Force Feedback | 100 |
| FF Leveling | 0 |
| FF Overdrive | 2-6 |
| FF Impact Boost | 50 |
| Centering Spring | Off |
Rotation needs to match what you have set in the Thrustmaster Control Panel.
Steering Range should be 60 to use the full 270°.
Force Feedback can be set to the maximum. We will control the force feedback with the next two settings.
FF Leveling raises the lighter forces. Setting this too high removes a lot of the dynamic feeling of the forces, as all forces become quite strong. Set this to 0 to get the most range of forces, and raise it a little bit if the wheel feels a little empty when you're not in a turn.
FF Overdrive acts as a multiplier to the force feedback. Setting this too high will completely overwhelm the wheel. This is the main setting you will need to adjust for each track. Start at 2 and raise it as necessary to get the amount of resistance you like for the track.
FF Impact Boost raises the collision effects.
Centering Spring simply pulls the wheel to the center at all times at nearly 100% strength. This essentially overrides the actual force feedback and simply makes the wheel very heavy.
Conclusion
I was hoping for more with NASCAR 25, but on its own merits, it's fine. I have seen some people say their wheels aren't recognized by the game. I haven't had that problem, so it's probably something specific to certain setups and will likely be fixed in an update.
Let me know if you have any questions or comments.