One of the key advantages of the Fanatec Tuning Menu is that it can be accessed at any time via the steering wheel display, giving drivers the ability to customize the performance characteristics of their setup on-the-fly while driving, even on consoles.
Standard and advanced
The Tuning Menu allows adjustments to force feedback strength, steering sensitivity, damper effects, and more detailed parameters. Depending on the connected peripherals, it can also adjust their settings, for example the behavior of the Multi-Position Switches on a steering wheel, or the sensitivity of the load cell brake.
Modern Fanatec Bases offer a Standard and an Advanced Tuning Menu. ‘Standard’ limits the number of available options, and these default settings are suitable for beginners – stable, and a sensible starting point for most sims. ‘Advanced’ unlocks all the settings, allowing users to take full advantage of the available performance, and fine-tune the characteristics to their personal preferences.
Create presets
The Tuning Menu constantly stores 5 custom presets (of the entire set of options) in the Base’s internal memory. This means you can set 5 totally different settings and switch between them instantly, regardless of what platform you’re using. This is ideal if you like to set your hardware differently for several sims, or several cars within one sim, or if you just want to quick switch between two settings to feel the difference.
Why tuning matters
In an ideal world, the Tuning Menu wouldn’t be necessary, because all sims would provide roughly the same signal and offer all possible adjustments within their own menus. But most sims have different approaches when it comes to their physics engines and force feedback methodologies. Plus, there are so many variables that users like to adjust, and priorities can be different – some are searching for ultimate realism, and others are willing to exaggerate certain settings if it makes them perform at a higher level.
Key adjustements
The basics start with ‘SEN’ (sensitivity), letting you define the maximum steering angle. You can match the rotation to a specific car (for realism) or choose a lower angle for faster response (less realistic, potentially faster in some cases). ‘FFB’ adjusts the overall force feedback strength, while NDP (natural damper), NFR (natural friction), and NIN (natural inertia) let you fine-tune the weight and resistance of the wheel. To fine-tune the detailed feedback, options like INT (interpolation) and FEI (force effect intensity) smooth out or sharpen the raw signals coming from the sim.
Most enthusiasts try to find a balance between responsiveness and stability, while some ultra-competitive racers adjust every possible value to ‘most responsive’ and end up with a very communicative but over-active wheel, which can be unrealistic.
Experiment, methodically.
Don’t be afraid to make changes, but do it one at time, so that you can detect and understand the difference. You could even change one setting from one extreme to the other, to make the change more noticeable (note: not all values have an effect in every sim), before settling on a more balanced value.
The Fanatec Forum contains many recommended settings, for different bases and different sims, and many of these recommendations are now incorporated into the Fanatec App.
Further explanations about individual Tuning Menu settings can be found via this link.
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