Clutch Bite Point Feature Explained

Being able to precisely control your car is crucial in racing. This not only applies to braking, cornering, etc., but of course also to get going in the first place. Standing starts and how well they are performed can often play a major role in the outcome of a race, so a perfect start is essential. The clutch bite point feature in Fanatec steering wheels can help you improve and optimize this key skill.

Simply speaking - the bite point of a clutch is where your car starts to move when engaging the clutch. Depending on which car you drive, precisely “hitting” it can be quite tricky, since it also differs from car to car. With Fanatec’s clutch bite point feature, you can fine-tune this, enabling you to immediately hit that point and get you off the line as quickly and smoothly as possible.

Click here to find out more about the clutch bite point and how it works in F1.

When your Fanatec steering wheel has analog paddles, you’ll be able to set a custom bite point in any game with an analog clutch axis. There are already some wheels that come equipped with them, without the need for additional modifications:

• CSL Steering Wheel GT3
• Podium Steering Wheel BMW M4 GT3
• Podium Steering Wheel Bentley GT3
• Steering Wheel for Gran Turismo® DD Extreme

If your wheel does not have analog paddles, you can upgrade some of them with the Podium Advanced Paddle Module. Aside from adding two analog paddles, this module also includes four more magnetic paddles for functions like shifting, DRS activation, ERS deployment etc. Find out which wheels are compatible here.

To be able to use this feature, you must select the correct mode. If your steering wheel has a dedicated hardware switch, change it to mode “A”. If your wheel does not have this switch, you can also set the analog paddle mode in the Tuning Menu via the Fanatec App, or directly on your steering wheel display.

There are two ways to set your clutch bite point – a simplified, and an advanced method:

• Press both clutch paddles simultaneously to a least 5% to activate, move both paddles up to 100%.
• Release one paddle whilst keeping the other fully pressed. The display will now show the percentage value of the released paddle while the car’s clutch is still fully pressed.
• Set the released paddle to the percentage where your car’s clutch starts to bite (recommended to evaluate by conducting multiple launch starts).
• As soon as the virtual start lights turn green, completely release one of the fully pressed paddles and the clutch will immediately be at the bite point.
• Release the second paddle once a suitable speed is reached for the optimum launch.

• Completely press and hold one clutch paddle.
• Press the FunkySwitch or D-pad up or down. “100” will be shown on the display. Rotate the FunkySwitch or press up or down on your D-pad in order to change the percentage of the bite point as desired to suit your car (recommended to evaluate by conducting multiple launch starts).
• Release the paddles to set and store the desired value. You can have an individually stored value for each Tuning Menu slot S_1 ... S_5.
• At race start, press both paddles again to activate the bite point mode, release one of the paddles and the clutch will immediately be at the bite point.
• Release the second paddle once a suitable speed is reached for the optimum launch.