Here we will teach you how to set up your Fanatec CSL DD wheelbase and force feedback in F1 2021 to create the best racing experience.
Photo credit: Codemasters / EA
The Fanatec CSL DD wheelbase is one of the best of its kind and a popular choice among sim racers. If you were lucky enough to get your hands on one, there is only one thing between you and a realistic Formula 1 racing experience: the correct setup for your wheel. So, in this tutorial, we will tell you the key settings for your CSL DD wheelbase in F1 2021.
What makes the CSL DD base so popular is that it is basically compatible with every Fanatec wheel on the market. But if we’re honest, that also means it is hard to give out exact settings that are applicable to every wheel. We recommend you look at our suggested settings as a foundation to work from. In order to get the real best experience, keep on testing and adjusting our base setup to the behaviour of your wheel as well as your personal preferences.
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Fanatec CSL DD firmware settings
Before we get into the game, there are some settings in the Fanatec firmware to look at first. Open the software and go to the wheelbase tab. Fanatec themselves gave out a great set of basic settings for the CSL DD base in F1 2021, which we also recommend using. They are:
- Maximum Steering Angle: 360 degrees
- Force Feedback: 100
- Force Feedback Scaling: Peak
- Natural Damper: 25
- Natural Friction: 0
- Natural Inertia: 0
- Force Feedback Interpolation: 6
- Force Effect Intensity: 100
- Force Effect (FOR): 100
- Spring Effect (SPR): 100
- Damper Effect (DPR): 100
- Shock and Vibration Strength: 100
Setting up wheel buttons for F1 2021
After getting everything done in the firmware, it’s time to hop into F1 2021. The first things to adjust here are your button settings. Once again, we have to emphasize that these settings can be very different depending on the wheel you have mounted to your base as well as your personal preferences. But there are a few rules of thumb that can be applied to every wheel.
First, it is crucial to make sure that each important function you need to use during a race has its own button. You don’t want to open the MFD every time you try to open your DRS! Secondly, have all the key functions close to the natural position of your fingers so that you can easily access them during a race without having to look away from your screen. Fanatec’s wheels offer a lot of possibilities to create button schemes that fit your personal needs.
Wheel input settings for the Fanatec CSL DD in F1 2021
Let us now get to the calibration settings for your wheel in F1 2021. Since we decided to go for a 360-degree maximum steering angle in the firmware settings, we recommend to not use any deadzone. If you notice your car is heading towards to the left or right while you hold the wheel in its initial position at zero degrees, you can try adding a bit of deadzone value.
Since we are going with no deadzone, it can be useful to make your wheel a bit less sensitive for smaller inputs and more sensitive for bigger movements. Therefore, we recommend setting the steering linearity to a value between 10 and 15.
We already made the wheelbase very sensitive to our inputs, so we do not want to exaggerate things by using more steering saturation. Therefore, set this value to zero.
Force Feedback settings for the Fanatec CSL DD
After figuring out the input settings for F1 2021, let’s adjust the output. Force feedback is supposed to give you exact information regarding the track surface and the grip of your tyres. Having it set up correctly is the key to a successful race. You can find more information on this topic in our dedicated tutorial. For the force feedback settings, we recommend these values:
- Vibration & Force Feedback: On
- Vibration and Force Feedback Strength: 65
- On Track Effects: 20
- Rumblestrip Effects: 25
- Off Track Effects: 20 to 25
- Wheel Damper: 0
- Understeer Enhance: Off
This is everything you need to know when using your Fanatec CSL DD based wheel in F1 2021. As we mentioned before, these settings are meant to be a good basis. However, racing in F1 2021 only becomes truly immersive if you test and tweak the settings according to your own driving style.
What are your tips and tricks for the Fanatec CSL DD? Tweet us your opinion at @overtake_gg or leave a comment down below!
