I've been playing RaceRoom for just over a year now using my laptop and an Xbox One controller. I'm considering making the jump to a wheel (something simple and reasonably priced like a Thrustmaster TMX Pro or TX Leather Edition). I know many on the forum use wheels but I was wondering if anybody had any comparisons having played with controller as well? I spent a lot of time playing SP but have recently been hooked by the WTCR ranked MP races, I often tend to place between 2nd and 6th depending on who's in the server. I'm wondering what (if any) improvement in control and pace I can expect making the switch to a wheel or if the improvement will be purely driving experience and fun factor.
Sounds like you are pretty good with a controller!! I used to race with a 360 controller, and I did try to compare it to using a wheel. Think it made me about 2 sec a lap faster using a wheel. But it's really hard to say if you will be quicker, you might need time to adapt to it. But using a wheel making it a lot easier to be smooth and precice in your inputs, and also adds a huge amount to immersion, driving experience and fun factor!!
I cant guarantee that wheel will make you faster but for sure its more precise (pedals and wheel rotation vs stick and triggers) and more informative (ffb). As @heppsan said, you gain a lot more immersion, driving itself is super fun. It's a good purchase if you plan to get vr at some point as well. I have T300 wheel, it's a good entry point and sweet spot quality/money wise imo
Great, thanks for your responses! I think my mind is made up, just waiting until either wheel comes back into stock with one of the UK retailers that seem to offer them cheapest and I get cashback with.
That's pretty true what heppsan and FeltHat write. You should not expect a "plug and play" experience - means: install the wheel and beat your controller played records on the first lap by 2 seconds. You may need some time to get used to the wheel (at least this was the case for me), apart from that you may need a fair amount of time setting up the wheel properly and fiddling with the force feedback settings. A wheel with badly set force feedback can make you slower than a gamepad. You should also check if you can mount the wheel properly - the table clamp may be not good/strong enough, or may not fit at all (I know someone who has a desk with such a thick board that he couldn't use the table clamp), the pedals may slide across the floor when breaking - best is to buy a wheel stand. Using a wheel stand may cause a larger distance to the screen, which may turn out to be too small.
Some people are fast with a wheel, others with a gamepad, and others are even faster by abusing weaknesses in the sim's driving and physics model or track design. I think that is not the clever approach to a simulator that wants to simulate the experience of driving a fast car. What you should expect when moving from pad to wheel, is a big rise in immersion. Maybe you are as fast with it, maybe faster, maybe slower. But the new control method certainly brings you a bit closer to reality in terms of realism. Driving via Gamepad NEVER has anything to do with realistic driving. And I say that although I recognise the gamepad steering in GTS as quite good - for a gamepad control scheme. But it is a completely different kind of doing the thing. It is no wheel and pedals.
I also used a game pad in the past and then switched to a wheel. You most likely will experience a lot of advantages by using the wheel and pedals. Fun and immersion is a big one but for me the biggest advantage was throttle control and brake control. With the wheel my driving improved a lot which made me faster. You def will enjoy driving more with the wheel than with the game pad.
I can't say about RRE, but I have about 500 hours of AC and 300 ACC on the xbox controller. At the end of December I bought the TMX PRO and I can tell you that I still do not get the same time for the controller (for example Nururgring GP - 1.57.xxx, Monza - 1.47.xxx). But it became more stable. And of course, it became much more interesting to drive. I never managed to run RRE with Xbox controller, it just did not work with this game. But there is a very nice FFB on the steering wheel (except for "road effects" on the straight - dev is doing it now). In general, I'm not going back to controller - that's a fact. And the fact that I'm faster on the xbox controller means nothing to me anymore - the main feeling of driving.
Thanks all for your input. My Thrustmaster TMX Pro arrived yesterday, until I can get it set up properly I've just had a quick go with it clamped onto my dining room table. I'll need to get a better setup as it isn't secure enough on the table and I'm sat too close to the wheel. I don't think I appreciated how much I'd have to learn, there's definitely some room for laptime improvement as I get used to using the wheel. I do find the wheel and pedals a better driving experience as it allows smoother and more progressive control and I seem to find traction a little better but felt I needed to switch from chase cam to bonnet cam to help me adjust. I quickly selected a few cars and tracks and did a lap using controller and a lap using wheel and pedals for comparison. Because I'm familiar with the Xbox One controller, I don't think I could have got that much more out of the controller laps and find I'm able to lap consistently within the same tenth of a second. I found the wheel and pedals more challenging for now and definitely think there is room for improvement which is promising when the laptimes were generally similar. Honda Civic WTCR (default setup) @ Slovakiaring Controller 2:14.804 Wheel 2:15.193 Honda Civic WTCR (default setup) @ Suzuka Controller 2:15.223 Wheel 2:15.300 BMW M4 GT4 (default setup) @ Silverstone Controller 2:15.959 Wheel 2:14.747 BMW M6 GT3 (default setup) @ Nurburgring GP Controller 2:01.974 Wheel 2:00.915