When playing any racing game, you may have experienced a situation where the amount of steering you put into the wheel isn’t reflected correctly by the car’s steering wheel in the game. The reason for this is that you will likely have your steering ratio set incorrectly on the game settings. To understand this issue, we must first define the terms steering lock and steering ratio
- Steering Lock is the maximum angle of rotation applied through the steering wheel to get the maximum angle out of the car’s steering.
- Steering Ratio is the relationship between the angle of the steering wheel outputs changes to the wheel of the car. For example, if we have a steering ratio of 15:1 then a 15° turn on the steering wheel will give 1° of angle to the wheel of the car.
Getting the ratio between the game and your own steering wheel correct is what will allow you to have a 1:1 representation between real life and the game.
Although having your steering appear correct in the game can be beneficial, many drivers have these ratios set to a personal preference as such, there is no correct ratio to have your steering set to. Some drivers prefer a higher ratio, needing more steering lock to get the equivalent steering angle of a 1:1 ratio. Whereas, other drivers will have a lower ratio providing more response off centre within a cars steering range.
With this said one of the advantages to a correct steering ratio is to give the car in which you are driving the correct steering response to the real-life counterpart. You will likely find with most cars that the steering lock in ACC will be much less than the standard 900° that your wheel is most likely set to as default.
A second advantage that you will find with the correct steering lock is that you will avoid ‘scrubbing’ the tyres – this means that if you turn beyond the steering lock of the car, then you cause the tyre to generate additional heat and attempt to add more steering angle than what is actually possible. Whilst this can be beneficial for generating heat in the tyres, you will shorten the life considerably and ultimately ruin the grip levels.
*It must be noted for PC players in ACC that this setting will auto adjust giving your wheel a soft lock at the correct wheel rotation for the steering lock of each car. However, for console players or those who wish to set these themselves if you’re often only using one car you can find the correct steering lock values below.
GT3 Cars
| Brand | Model | Steering lock |
| Aston Martin | V12 Vantage GT3 | 640° |
| V8 Vantage GT3 | 640° | |
| Audi | R8 LMS | 720° |
| R8 LMS EVO | 720° | |
| R8 LMS Evo II | 720° | |
| Bentley | Continental GT3 2015 | 640° |
| Continental GT3 2018 | 640° | |
| BMW | M6 GT3 | 565° |
| M4 GT3 | 516° | |
| Jaguar | Jaguar GT3 | 720° |
| Ferrari | 488 GT3 | 480° |
| 488 GT3 EVO | 480° | |
| Honda | NSX GT3 | 620° |
| NSX GT3 EVO | 620° | |
| Lamborghini | Huracan GT3 | 620° |
| Huracan GT3 EVO | 620° | |
| Lexus | RC F GT3 | 640° |
| McLaren | 650s GT3 | 480° |
| 720s GT3 | 480° | |
| Mercedes-AMG | AMG GT3 | 640° |
| AMG GT3 EVO | 640° | |
| Nissan GTR | Nismo GT3 2015 | 640° |
| Nismo GT3 2018 | 640° | |
| Porsche | 991 GT3 R | 800° |
| 991 II GT3 R | 800° | |
| Reiter Engineering | R-EX GT3 | 720° |
GT4 Cars
| Brand | Model | Steering lock |
| Alpine | A110 GT4 | 720° |
| Aston Martin | V8 Vantage | 640° |
| Audi | R8 LMS GT4 | 720° |
| BMW | M4 GT4 | 500° |
| Chevrolet | Camaro GT4.R | 720° |
| Ginetta | G55 GT4 | 720° |
| KTM | X-Bow GT4 | 580° |
| Maserati | Granturismo MC GT4 | 900° |
| McLaren | 570s GT4 | 480° |
| Mercedes-AMG | AMG GT4 | 500° |
| Porsche | 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport | 800° |
Single Make Series
| Brand | Model | Steering lock |
| Lamborghini | Huracan ST | 620° |
| Porsche | 991 II GT3 Cup | 800° |
| Porsche | 992 GT3 Cup | 540° |
What settings should I use?
As noted above for players of ACC on PC these settings are pre-set within the game and will adjust accordingly providing a seamless experience for each car. This feature is known as soft-lock, what this does is the game will automatically apply a limit to the rotation of your wheel correcting the ratio without any changes needed. If any adjustments are needed there is a steering ratio setting in the car setup menu that can be tweaked to your preference.
However, for console players, the story is not the same as the individual lock setting needs to be set manually with the values stated above.
A quick chat with the Coach Dave Academy Setup Team (James Parker, Alleric Enslin, Gregor Schill) confirmed that they all use a steering lock rotation of 900°, allowing for ACC to then adjust it per car. With that being said, a safe bet would be to match these settings to allow for the best playing experience.
So as you can see steering lock can be a complex thing but once you understand a few key fundamentals you’ll be well on your way to finding the best setting for you. For more tutorials and guides on all-things Sim racing and ACC go to Coach Dave Academy tutorials. Also for any suggestions, join the Coach Dave Academy discord and let us know what you would like to see next.
