Automobilista 2 has a wide range of vehicles, from low-powered classics like the Volkswagen Scirocco to top-flight prototypes like the Porsche 963, and from heavy touring cars like the Stock Car Brazil machines to lightweight single-seater weapons.
Getting used to every one of them can be challenging for even the most seasoned sim racers, making your force feedback settings critical.
If you have them set wrong in-game, you could struggle to feel the details of what each car is trying to give you. This could reduce the amount of confidence you have in the car you’re piloting, affecting not only your consistency, but raw pace and enjoyment too.
This Coach Dave Academy guide will run you through the FFB settings available in AMS2, and how to set them up to achieve the best feeling possible through your force deedback wheelbase.
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FFB Profiles In AMS2
Before you get stuck into the individual FFB parameters that AMS2 has to offer, you’ll first need to select a base FFB profile. There are three selections available, and they are as follows:
- Default: The base setting that features minimal effects over the normal steering forces placed upon your wheel. Some damping and friction forces are applied to add more feeling to the wheel around the centre to make your base feel more authentic, with a small amount of ‘seat of the pants’ forces being used to help you feel the vehicle’s rotation. This setting is best for those who prefer a more realistic feeling through the steering wheel.
- Default +: This setting takes the normal Default setup and adds some extra forces. An understeer effect is included so that you can better feel grip loss from the front tyres as they lose grip, as well as more chassis feedback from weight transfer. There are also vibrations from the engine and drivetrain to add a little more immersion. This setting is suited to drivers who want to make up for the lack of feedback from not being in a real car, with the extra effects helping to fill holes you lack by not feeling real-life forces put upon you.
- Custom: This setting does away with all the add-on effects and only comes with the base steering forces on its own. It can then be edited by the user so that it fits perfectly to a particular taste/wheelbase, with control over every effect being available. This profile is great for those who struggle to get a good feeling from the two default settings, or who want to try other people’s values. Custom FFB files can be downloaded from places like the AMS2 forums, and then placed in your Documents/AMS2 folder so that you can use them
If you want to get the rest of your AMS2 install running perfectly before or after you tackle the FFB side of things, Coach Dave Academy’s AMS2 beginners guide is here to help!
Adjustable FFB Parameters in AMS2
Once you’ve chosen your profile, you can then tweak it further by using the various values included within AMS2’s input menu. You’ll likely not need to alter these settings when using a Custom profile, as these parameters should already have been dialled in by the creator.
- Gain: Controls how strong the overall FFB signals are through your wheel (Will generally be lower on higher powered wheels, and higher on lower powered bases). Each car in AMS2 also has its own Gain setting within the vehicle setup screen when you enter a race session, which allows you to keep your general FFB setup the same and not change it to suit different vehicles
- Low Force Boost: This setting boosts FFB forces that are already very weak, and can normally only be picked up by more powerful wheels that have greater overhead within their FFB outputs. The natural steering torque is generally affected by this setting, so it can help add a bit more feeling to lower-powered wheels like a Logitech G25/G27 that struggles to pick up lower-frequency FFB signals
- FX: This multiplies the extra forces that are added by the Default/Default+ profiles, such as chassis FFB and drivetrain vibrations. It’s useful if you feel the add-on effects are a little too distant, and your wheel is struggling to bring them to the fore over and above the standard steering forces
- Damping: This setting essentially dulls the FFB in favour of weighting up the wheel, which helps make it feel more authentic and tighter around the centre of the wheel rotation. It’s also useful for wheels that struggle with severe oscillation, as damping the FFB will calm them down
- Menu Spring Strength: This is the force that determines how strongly the wheel will return to its centre point when you exit a race session and return to a menu screen. Keeping this setting low on higher-powered bases is recommended to help prevent injury
Recommended Settings For Different Wheelbases
Depending on which wheelbase you have, the FFB parameters included within AMS2 will vary. FFB is, of course, subjective, so chances are you’ll need to tweak your settings individually to achieve the feeling you desire. These settings can be used as a good baseline setting to start off with before you dial them in closer to your preference.
Low-End Wheels (Gear/Lower End Belt-Driven Like Logitech G25/27, etc)
- Gain: 80-100 – (To make use of their lower power, but watch for clipping)
- Low Force Boost: 50-75 – (Lower powered bases will need a little help bringing these lighter forces to the surface)
- FX: 25-40 – (Try to keep it at the lower end to not muddy the FFB, but higher values can be used if you care more about these particular parameters)
- Damping: 0-15 – (These wheels already have a lot of resistance due to their gear/belt components, so they should only be used to tighten wheel centre/reduce any oscillation)
- Menu Spring Strength: 50
Mid-Range Wheels (Belt-Driven Like Thrustmaster T500/T248, Logitech G923 etc)
- Gain: 70-90 – (To make use of their power, but watch for clipping with higher values)
- Low Force Boost: 10-35 – (Shouldn’t need to be as high to achieve feeling, but some wheels will need this setting cranked up if you struggle to feel them sufficiently)
- FX: 45-65 – (Extra torque headroom will allow for higher values to help bolster FFB, but play around to find your sweet spot without affecting steering forces)
- Damping: 10-30 – (A bit of damping is useful to tighten the wheel centre, but try and keep as low as possible to prevent losing crucial detail)
- Menu Spring Strength: 50
Low-End Direct Drive Wheels (4-15 nm, like Fanatec CSL/CSW DD, Moza R3, Thrustmaster T8,18 etc.)
- Gain: 35-100 – (Higher-end wheels can be set much lower, less powerful models higher, but watch for possible clipping)
- Low Force Boost: 5-10 – (DD wheels should have enough fidelity to feel lower-frequency forces at lower LFB settings, so keep it as low as possible)
- FX: 25-60 – (Larger range can be used with extra fidelity made possible by DD technology; try to dial it in without losing too much steering force)
- Damping: 5-50 – (A little bit of damping is useful to stop oscillations due to the issue being more prevalent with DD wheels that naturally have less resistance, and it will also help prevent a light-feeling wheel centre. Minimise ultra-high levels to prevent losing too much detail, especially with lower-powered bases.)
- Menu Spring Strength: 20
High-End Direct Drive Wheels (15-35 nm, like Asetek Invicta, Fanatec Podium DD1/2, Simagic Alpha, Simucube Sport/Pro 2, etc.)
- Gain: 25-50 – (These higher-powered DDs will provide more than enough grunt at half or below their ultimate power; higher forces will start to hide lower-frequency forces and make the car harder to feel and hang onto)
- Low Force Boost: 0-10 – (More powerful bases will do a better job of conveying these forces through the FFB naturally, so you won’t need to force the game to amplify them)
- FX: 5-60 – (High-end bases will naturally amplify these forces, so lower levels should be sufficient to prevent them from oversaturating the FFB too much. Higher levels can be used for drivers who rely more heavily on these effects to feel the car.)
- Damping: 10-50 – (Oscillation can be a real risk with ultra-powerful DD units, so some preventative damping comes in very useful, as well as to reduce the effects of some stronger FFB signals)
- Menu Spring Strength:10
Wrapping Up
These explanations will help you get your wheelbase nicely dialled into AMS2 and allow you to better feel the vehicles that you’re piloting within the title. A bit of experimentation will be needed to feel fully comfortable, and you’ll likely need to save a few different control sets that better suit a particular style of vehicle.
Don’t forget to check the AMS2 forums too, as there are plenty of useful Custom FFB files that have been curated to specific wheelbases that could help you cut some corners on your quest to nail your FFB setup.
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Don't get lost in the data, instantly unlock lap time using our new real-time Auto Insights coaching. Elevate your braking, apex, and exit performance in record time.
