The Horizon series often asks you to do far more than follow a clean racing line. One moment you might be drifting through 90-degree city turns, and the next you might be sliding sideways through mud in a forest, followed by a stunt jump from the top of a mountain, all within just minutes of each other. Because of that, setting up your wheelbase for a sim-cade title like Forza Horizon is a bit different from setting it up for a more traditional sim.

Because Forza Horizon demands all these crazy manoeuvres, the way the wheel returns to centre matters. If the “Center Spring” effect is too strong, the wheel can feel artificially stiff, making it harder to let the steering move naturally during slides, especially during manoeuvres where you briefly let go of the wheel. In this entry, we will look at how to fix “Center Spring” stiffness in Forza Horizon 4, 5, and 6. Let’s get started.

Across Forza Horizon 4, 5, and 6, the same general wheel-tuning logic applies, even if some setting names differ slightly between titles. If the steering wheel feels too “stiff,” as if it is being pulled back to the centre by an artificial force, this can often be remedied by adjusting two key parameters.

Images by Microsoft / Playground Games

Center Spring Scale

The “Center Spring” Scale controls the wheel’s centring force. Higher levels create a stronger pull back toward the centre position, while lowering it will lessen this effect. The reason you might want to set this to 0 is because of how artificial the effect can feel.

Mechanical Trail Scale

Adjusting Mechanical Trail Scale can give the steering a more natural weight through suspension geometry and caster feel. If “Center Spring Scale” is set too high, it can introduce that artificial steering feel and make it harder to perceive what the front tyres are doing. Instead of the wheel communicating tyre-related aligning forces and front-end grip loss through dynamic align torque, it can start to feel as if the main force is simply pulling the wheel back to centre.

Key Adjustments

To avoid the issues listed above, keep “Center Spring” Scale at 0 and experiment with the Mechanical Trail Scale value between 90 and 120, starting lower and increasing gradually if the wheel still feels too light. Just like adjusting Force Feedback levels is a matter of preference, try to stay within this Mechanical Trail Scale range if you are using a Direct Drive wheelbase.

For those using gear-driven wheelbases, such as the Logitech G29/G920/G923, we recommend turning the “Center Spring” Scale up to between 15 and 25, with the Mechanical Trail Scale between 100 and 115.

Wheel Damper Scale

Another preference point that can be adjusted to your liking is the Wheel Damper Scale, which, when increased, adds resistance to wheel movement. This does not control the centring force directly, but it can affect how stable or heavy the wheel feels as it returns to centre. Too much damping can make the steering feel slow or heavy, while too little can cause the steering wheel to oscillate from side to side around the centre position, which can significantly affect the steering.

For Logitech gear-driven wheelbases such as the G29, G920, and G923, this setting is usually best kept very low or turned off. For most other wheelbases, experiment with it using the two primary settings mentioned above. We recommend moving within the range of 5 to 20 to see what feels right for you. 

When to Contact SimStaff

Force feedback-related issues and their causes can be difficult to track down. Have you actually found the real source of the issue, or have you just fixed a symptom? When several settings affect the same steering behaviour, it can be difficult to figure out the cause, especially if the issue isn’t coming from the game itself but from the gear, firmware, software, or something else entirely.

That’s where SimStaff can help. Whether you need help getting started in the virtual racing world, need assistance with issues like the one mentioned here, or need to boost your event, we can help you get it sorted.

Reach out to us if you need help, and get back to attacking lap times instead of letting troubleshooting attack yours.