Any Sim Racers Use A Gamepad?

Sorry if this may have been asked but it would be good to have a sticky post about Gamepad not (Joystick as title says) Sim racing, or is this just not viable?

Your thoughts and setup?

Sorry dono why I put joystick, when I meant Gamepad

 

I tried it for a while but it turned out to be much to tiring in longer races >100km.
Gamepad is definately a better option.

In somethign liek Forza Horizon the keyboard works even better, since the game adapts your inputrelative to speed and the corner ahead.

 

I meant a gamepad. Dono why Joystick popped up in title etc, was a brain freeze moment.

Although using a Joystick must be pretty hard.

 

Gamepad is a viable playing option if you're willing to invest a bit of time to smoothen out your inputs. It's not the same as a wheel, but a good gamepad player will be quicker than an average wheel player 100% of the time. The only exception are ovals with the F-USA 2023 in particular because of the different rear tire sizes.

AMS2 in particular doesn't deal too well with tap steering technique, because the cars get quite twitchy that way. Gamepad support is not ideal but functional. Default settings for gamepad are not the best because they promote heavy understeer and also encourage non-sustainable habits.

For a beginner I'd recommend something along the lines of:
Deadzones: 0 (higher if using Xbox controller)
Steering Sensitivity: 35 (influences turning linearity; on 50 it's perfectly linear, below that you have a broader room for error turning in)
Throttle Sensitivity: 30 (works the same as steering sensitivity)
Brake Sensitivity: 30 (again, same)
Speed Sensitivity: 75 (limits the amount of turning available at higher speeds. Over the value 70-75, this limits steering too much and leads to violent slow corner understeer)
Damping: 25-35 (this is a compromise. You want to run this as low as possible as this is your steering speed and determines whether you can countersteer in time)

I personally run:
50
50
50
50
17
That's not recommended for beginners though, and also more a thing of habit.

This is gamepad gameplay when accustomed to the device:

 

Dicra

Thank you very much, so would you recommend Dual Shock Controller?

 

I think it's better because it has center resistance on the sticks, which makes it easier to have precise, subtle steering inputs. The XBox controller, who doesn't give you that "feedback" is to me much harder to control.

 

Indy 500 the sim from back in the 80's had mouse steering it was quite playable of course there were not road courses but, worked great for indy

 

I use Xbox 360 wired controller for all my racing games, realistic assists, manual transmission. Not as good as wheel and pedals but it works fine once you figure out a good controller setup for your driving style and practice.
Games such as AMS2, PCars1/2, and F1 games have some built-in filters that cannot be turned off and make steering slower and less responsive, while games such as AMS1, AC, ACC, R3R, rF1, rF2, and GTR2 let you fully adjust all settings to your liking and totally disable all filters/dampers and have full control of the car.

 

This should be disclaimered by the fact that there are very few (and I mean VERY few) people who can race this way with a controller.

I personally can but never would, because without any filters you're going beyond or at least towards the edge of the realm of what humans can precisely correct while still driving at the limit.

 

True, but all I'm saying is that in games such as AMS1, R3E, ACC, etc, the option to have full control of filter settings and fine tune them to your liking is there and those games cater to all kinds of controller players. That's something that would be nice to have in all racing games as opposed to having forced on filters & dampers. Personally I find it very frustrating to play games that have unresponsive/laggy controls, or when I can't take a turn properly because the game limits how much and how fast I can turn the in-game wheel.

 

I play AMS2 on my Steam Deck quite a lot and it works well. One thing I've noticed is that the 1.5 physics cars such as the formula Junior work noticeably better with gamepad control, and you can feel the weight transfer better somehow. I haven't played the beta on the deck, but I'm looking forward to testing out v1.5 on the deck if those physics improvements transfer to all the cars.
I just turn down the AI level a bit if I use a gamepad as I'm pretty clumsy on a pad compared to a wheel.

 

Imo that's the main difference between PCars2 & AMS2, controller support is basically the same for both games but in AMS2 the cars with 1.5 physics feel more predictable compared to cars in PCars2. I've been playing mainly F-Jr & F-Classic Gen3/4 lately and really enjoying them, their handling feels a lot more predictable than any of the cars I've driven in PCars2.