Wheel racing (and other) games for PC

ScottW75

Distinguished Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2003
Messages
4,828
Reaction score
951
Points
1,285
Just managed to pickup a fanatec wheel and clubsport pedals from the classifieds on here and i'm looking at what games to get for the best experience. I've played GT5 with a wheel and quite enjoyed it. I have F1 2013 and grid 2 (but it seems more arcade based so might not be as good with a wheel).

I've been looking at Assetto Corsa as my first purchase but wondered what everyone else recommended. I've never played any simbin games.

I'm also looking at Euro truck sim 2 gold (was £5 last week but i missed out on that).

Project cars looks good but it's a long way off :-(

Thanks for any replies.
 
rFactor 2 gives the best feel by far through a wheel, closely followed by Game Stock Car, but both games are a little niche. If you are coming from something like Gran Turismo then they are a bit of a culture shock. Still worth trying though.

Then you've got the older games like Race 07 and the original rFactor. Both have tonnes of content but look and feel dated now.

I would suggest Assetto Corsa and Raceroom Racing Experience. These are the most user-friendly and polished of the currently available sims, although the feel through the wheel of the latter still needs work in my opinion. Raceroom is also free to play.
 
A :thumbsup: from me for EuroTruck Sim 2.. It pops up in sales all the time Sheepking so you wont have to wait long for it to return.
 
The minis and go karts in game stock car 2013 look great so I might go for that. Rfactor 2 looks good as well so not sure which of these 2 to go for.

I will get assetto and truck sim 2 as well so the three should keep me busy for a while.
 
Try the rF2 demo and see what you think. It's a BTCC Honda at Silverstone.
 
Assetto Corsa is a must
NetKar Pro is a great sim and available from Game for £5
RFactor 1 is still a great sim with loads of mods available
Not tried RF2 yet but i am not a fan of the subscription based model
 
Try the rF2 demo and see what you think. It's a BTCC Honda at Silverstone.

Dont try the demo, put me right off going further with rf2. Looked fudgein awfull.

I still need to try game stock car. Will have to just buy and get in amungst it.
 
Got euro truck sim 2 gold from a charity auction for £8.

Hunting for a cheap assetto corsa key at the moment.
 
Dont try the demo, put me right off going further with rf2. Looked ****in awfull.

I still need to try game stock car. Will have to just buy and get in amungst it.

It doesn't look awful at all. Put the rF2 Silverstone up against the Assetto Corsa version and there is little to chose between the two. It's no Project Cars in the graphics department but with quality content it looks pretty decent. Admittedly you need a good PC to get the best out of it.

It's about the driving though, isn't it? That's where rF2 and GSC shine.
 
Not tried RF2 yet but i am not a fan of the subscription based model

That's not quite right. You can buy a lifetime or standard version. Standard is cheaper but you have to pay a small annual fee if you wish to race online. Lifetime is just one payment and gets you unlimited online play.

All car and track content is free, no paid DLC or anything.
 
It doesn't look awful at all. Put the rF2 Silverstone up against the Assetto Corsa version and there is little to chose between the two. It's no Project Cars in the graphics department but with quality content it looks pretty decent. Admittedly you need a good PC to get the best out of it.

It's about the driving though, isn't it? That's where rF2 and GSC shine.

I had to check it wasnt on low settings it looked terrible, i just put it down to a bad demo an deleted it.
Yeah its about the driving, but purely because of the shit demo, will not be buying the game.
Seen so many vids of gsc looks awesome have to get that soon.

Also agree on euro truck sim 2, brilliant.
 
Fair enough. Your loss.
 
I had to check it wasnt on low settings it looked terrible, i just put it down to a bad demo an deleted it.
Yeah its about the driving, but purely because of the poop demo, will not be buying the game.
Seen so many vids of gsc looks awesome have to get that soon.

Also agree on euro truck sim 2, brilliant.

If you were using an AMD cards either the latest build or recent drivers transformed rF2 from a slides how to running very smoothly.

Maybe that was the problem when you tried it GMC ?

Maybe try again with AMD 14.4 drivers ? Works brilliantly on my triple screens before and ran terribly before.

To answer OP's post - Assetto Corsa is obviously a must, I think rF2 is too although still a little rough the FFB does feel good Clios at Croft - lovely.
GSC 2013/Extreme great FFB and runs well - decent AI and playable only = actually pretty much the only complete sim at the moment !!

rFactor 1 has a wealth of free Mids and I think you can add those to the free lite version.

Also Raceroom via Steam is free - free weekly competitions where you can compete in the DTM cars and or GT3 cars against others in leaderboard competitions. Physics coming along and heading in more sim direction once again.

Race 07 and addons are worth it too if cheap via steam etc. Plenty of mods and playable AI and decent multiplayer.

If you are feeling brave - pick up a cheap offer for iRacing for a month or three. I went away from it for a while but have recently returned. Racing is always available against others and it counts towards your rating - people are encouraged to drive properly as it affects their safety rating - it works a whole lot better than public servers in other titles. Really enjoying physics and drivability of recent cars too - BMW Z4 GT3.

Otherwise look at some league racing in those other titles GSC, rF2 and AC - racedepartment run some friendly races as well as leagues. Better than public servers.

Cheers
 
I definitely need some more wheel games to play!

I've only got F1 2013 at the moment and that's hardly great!
 
Thanks for the advice so far folks.

Tried Assetto. It seems fun. The sensation of speed seems to be a bit less than raceroom experience but that game seems to have very little cars and tracks available from the off (i presume these are all in app purchases)

Still to try the rfactor 2 demo and still really like the look of game stock car 2013.
 
With Raceroom click on the competitions tab on the main menu. You will find some hot lap competitions that allow you to sample different cars and tracks. The ADAC GT and DTM competitions are good. Check the Raceroom thread and send out some in-game friend requests to compare lap times.

As for content, wait for the next 50% off sale like me.
 
Just tried the rfactor 2 demo. The feedback doesnt seem anywhere near as good or as strong as assetto. Is it meant to be more subtle or is there a setup issue?
 
It should be more detailed than AC.

You can adjust the FFB strength in the controls menu. Look for the FFB multiplier setting. Generally anything over 1.00 is overkill but adjust to suit. Also make sure FFB type is set to 'wheel'.

Another tip: set the FFB to 100 on the wheel itself and leave it like that for all games. Adjust FFB strength in-game.
 
For me rf2 has the best FFB but that could just be because it's the game I play the most. With the Civic (I'm assuming you got the Civic/Silverstone combo with rf2 demo) you lose the sensation of FFB on full throttle due to torque steer which can make it feel a little peculiar but being the only high Bhp FWD car in the game it is only felt here (& slightly on the Clios).

Not sure if you have FFB filter set to zero in-game but that will give you a 'purer' FFB feeling, also not sure if on the Fanatec wheel if you have a Force setting (For), try upping that to 120 or more.
I found with rf2 in the driver settings put dampening at zero & having (for CSW) LIn, dEA, sPr, & dPr all at 0. I prefer drI at 1 or 2 only because at 0 I find the centre feeling too dampened and getting no clear FFB response. Rf will give you a completely different feel to AC, lighter, load more subtleties but IMO really nice.
 
Thanks. The wheel is set to 100 so it has to be the in game settings. I'll have a look over the settings Marcus has posted when I'm next on my PC. It's a gt2 fanatec and club sport pedals.

On both assetto and rf2 demo I've had to setup the wheel and pedals manually rather than selecting a profile. Is this normal?
 
Thanks. The wheel is set to 100 so it has to be the in game settings. I'll have a look over the settings Marcus has posted when I'm next on my PC. It's a gt2 fanatec and club sport pedals.

On both assetto and rf2 demo I've had to setup the wheel and pedals manually rather than selecting a profile. Is this normal?

Yeah that's normal mate, but you should only have to do it once, settings will remain on subsequent plays.
 
@Sebastalona has the exact same wheel and pedals combo as you so he may be able to help.

My setup is very similar - Fanatec CSR + Clubsport V2 - and I generally find there is a preset profile for my wheel in most games. Regardless, it's often worth doing a manual setup to get things working as you'd like.
 
Another daft question. Do you connect the pedals to the wheel then 1 usb cable to the pc or do you just run a usb cable from each to the pc?

I just set it up with 2x usb but I wondered if it made any difference?
 
Connecting your pedals (v2 not sure about v1) via USB gives them a higher resolution than if they are connected to the wheel, it's a 10bit resolution via USB but not sure about when its connected via the wheel (gives a response that is quicker and more accurate.).
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom