Make sure you set your shifters correctly. If you are using the paddles, you will be looking for shift up and shift down. If you are using the H-pattern shifter, you'll have to set every gear individually. And make sure you set the reverse position on your shifter as reverse.
After setting these up, map your look functions to your D-pad, and set buttons for the various functions you'll use while racing. I think DRS and push to pass are handy to map, as are brake bias and traction control settings. Its going to take some trial and error, but once you have the buttons you regularly use mapped, they will become second nature while racing.
And map pit functions to something easy to reach, or on your keyboard where you can operate it w/o having to look at it. I use the number pad and the + and - keys.
