Driving the open world of beautiful, historic Britain using a racing wheel with Force Feedback (FFB) is one of the most immersive ways to experience Forza Horizon 4, on PC or Xbox One. This guide is intended to help you get the most out of your wheel setup.
FH4 features a totally new, more physically accurate FFB system, in conjunction with revamped
suspension and tire models. The force is now calculated using the alignment torque generated at the contact patch of tire and driving surface, combining both mechanical and pneumatic trail on all surfaces. As a result, altering the suspension setup results in force feedback changes. For example, increasing castor angle increases the mechanical trail of the contact patch resulting more steering alignment force in the force feedback.
It’s a cleaner, more simple system than what has come before it, yet results in a far more dynamic and nuanced experience with a wheel, which, together with revamped suspension and tire models in the game, makes you feel more connected with the car, and the car more connected to the road than ever before. That is, if your wheel is set up properly, and if you have a clear understanding of how to use advanced tuning settings in the game, and how car tuning can effect your experience with a wheel.
How you tune your car will also impact your wheel experience. Many players incorrectly assume that FFB system or settings make a car understeer or oversteer more. This is not possible. Oversteer and understeer happen to the car at physics level and can be tuned by the player through the car’s tuning setup, not through the FFB settings. FFB is what you feel through your steering wheel from those physics effects, and is what helps you feel what is going on at a physics level, it does not affect the car’s behavior. In short, is your car too oversteery when you lift the throttle? Raise the differential deceleration; is your car too oversteery at apex and exit of corner? Stiffen your front spring or antiroll bar or both. And so on…
The image below shows what pneumatic and mechanical trail do in the real world, the result of which is what you feel at the wheel. In game, the same thing happens. If you reduce the mechanical trail, the overall alignment torque is reduced, and the “peaky” aspect of the pneumatic trail only will get exposed.
