Am I correct that there is no way once loaded into an event (single- or multi-player race, etc.) to change the control preset without exiting and going to Options from the Main Menu? If so, this would be a very nice feature to add
Its a frequent asked feature, yes. I hope someday it would be a thing. A couple of patches ago they added alternate inputs to sort of workaround this issue. Specially if you've multiply shifters & paddles
Simhub is your friend. You can use an arduino as bridge and map all your inputs from different wheels to the arduino which sends always the same button number. eg shifter 1 up -> button 1 shifter 1 down -> button 2 shifter 2 up -> button 1 shifter 2 down -> button 2 you can do this for all inputs you have multiple wheels or button boxes for. that way you never have to change a mapping
