Yet another piece on our long-running series: The Logitech G27 Racing Wheel for Casual Racing Gamers. Here, I cover setting up your G27 racing wheel to play Formula 1 2011 PC. Developed and published by Codemasters, F1 2011 is a sequel to F1 2010 and features simulator-type open-wheel racing among all official F1 teams and drivers of the 2011 season.
F1 2011 races include dynamic weather and day/night cycles to add to single- and multi-player racing. The Logitech G27 quality sequential paddle shifters design are your only choice of gearbox, but that’s simply part of Formula 1 cars. No H-shifter usage here.
Force feedback and shift lights are always welcome, but I feel that both left me disappointed as a casual racing gamer. The force feedback effects were anemic by default, and turning them up in the game options felt like someone constantly banging a hammer on my car chassis at all times.
As for shift lights, the gears change so fast, they are either off or flashing at the red-line all the time.
Solid Tip: Looking for G27 drivers or Logitech Profiler software? Get it here.
Logitech G27 Solid Series Articles | |
---|---|
1. Casual Gamer vs Simulation Gamer | 10. Test Drive Unlimited |
2. Setting Up Your G27, Made Easy | 11. Test Drive Unlimited 2 |
3. Need For Speed: Carbon | 12. Burnout Paradise |
4. Need For Speed: Pro Street | 13. Race Driver: GRID |
5. Need For Speed: Undercover | 14. Split Second |
6. Need For Speed: Shift | 15. GTR Evolution |
7. Need For Speed: Shift 2 | 16. DiRT 2 |
8. Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit | 17. DiRT 3 |
9. Need For Speed: The Run | 18. Blur |
F1 2011 G27 Settings
- Plug in the wheel, of course
- Open the Logitech Profiler
- Select New > Profile
- Add F1_2011.exe as a new game
- Open Specific Game Settings
- Check ‘Use Special Force Feedback Device Settings’
- Raise ‘Overall Effects Strength’ to 150% (optional)
- Check ‘Use Special Steering Wheel Settings’
- Set ‘Degrees of Rotation’ to your liking
- Set ‘Report Combined Pedals’ unchecked
- Launch Game
- In game, go to MYF1 > Driving Controls
- switch ‘Keyboard’ to ‘Logitech G27’ preset
While F1 2011 has a G27 preset in its control options, it does require some extra tweaks to enjoy before playing. As always, I have you make a G27 profile above for your wheel. Not required, but it gives you more control. With a profile, you can have better force feedback response and customize your degrees of rotation.
Button Mappings
You can edit your buttons (and pedals if you are nuts) under Edit/Customise Profile. Once you change a button, the preset for the G27 will change to the word “custom.” This is normal.
The gearbox is set to automatic by default. Switch it left to Sequential to enjoy your paddle shifters. This setting is directly tied to the intrusive “Driving Assists” section also. For example, turning off all assists forces your gearbox to manual and easy forces it to auto.
Solid Tip: The gearbox setting can only be set during a race, and not in the game’s normal options menu. Don’t ask me why.
FFB off by default
You will want to enter the Force Feedback options before you race and turn it on. FFB is off by default. Additionally, the default effects were pretty weak. If you increase the sliders in the pic shown below, the result is unpleasant. That’s why I recommend the optional setting up above for Overall Effects Strength.
Driving Assists
All driving assists are fully on by default. This means you will have a big glowing line on the track everywhere you go, your car will shift itself, and you never have to break. That last ‘assist’ is the most maddening to your fun level. Your first inclination might be to turn all that junk off. Just remember that this isn’t Need for Speed, and will be much harder.
This menu is available in a race, not at the title screen. It is also where you set your transmission to auto or manual.
Hi
Just wanted to say thanks for running this series, it’s been a great help to me and just fun to go through as well. Also, any plans on doing one for Driver: San Francisco? 😉
Cheers
Riaan
Thanks. I haven’t played a Driver game since the very first one on Playstation 1. No plans at the moment for it, but if Ubisoft wants to provide a copy, I will definitely put it through its paces.
Hello,
Thanks for following my suggestion and producing an F1 2011 article. I was indeed curious about your recommended Force Feedback settings for this game; my previous set up on this one was giving me some weird locking behavior on the wheel, and I couldn’t figure out why. Somehow the new settings cleared that up. Thanks again!
Regards,
DrosophilaGenus
Glad it helped. You should know, though, that this is about as basic as it gets for setting up the wheel. Nothing fancy going on. Maybe you just didn’t have your game tied to the profiler.
Thanks a lot for all of your guides/tutorials!
Is there a possibility that you can make one for F1 2012. I know it might be similar to this, but, you never know.
Thanks you!
Best regards,
Cristian.