How to drive with only a keyboard

rFactor 2 is considered the hardcore simracing benchmark, yet it has a steering assist driving aid that takes track contour into account (not just speed sensitivity) to modulate the steering input to make it well playable with just a keyboard (this is also useful for gamepads), while not taking control away and without compromising the physics.

Quoting Geoff Crammond whose sims were famous for their keyboard playability.

I really took the point of view that negotiating a corner should demand the same sort of dexterity and thought process as it does in real life. and that is how I decided on how steering help would work.

Here are the settings I recommend.

Intro

rFactor 2 is the hardcore simracing benchmark, yet it has a steering assist driving aid that takes track contour into account (not just speed sensitivity) to modulate the steering input to make it well playable with just a keyboard (this is also useful for gamepads), while not taking control away and without compromising the physics.

Quoting Geoff Crammond whose sims were famous for their keyboard playability.

I really took the point of view that negotiating a corner should demand the same sort of dexterity and thought process as it does in real life. and that is how I decided on how steering help would work.

Here are some rFactor 2 keyboard videos I found on youtube illustrating how it works, although with my settings described here you can get the steering to be smoother.

And here some older rFactor 1 keyboard videos (ignore the low gfx settings)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1P09N9URok https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrI5YLslZeg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMuLojRSyiI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5UQjllUBVw

Below are the settings I recommend.

Controls

First load the preset called "AZ Keyboard" then do the following.

Steering Rate: Around 25-35, Don't go too low or you will loose counter-steer authority.
Speed Sensitivity: 100. Keep this as high as possible.
Keep Clutch, Steering, Brake, Throttle sensitivity on the default 100, which means linear.

Map your primary driving keys to something like this.

Throttle: A
Brake: Z
Steer Left: Comma "," <
Steer Right: Period "." >
Look Left: S
Look Right: D
Shift Up: Left Alt
Shift Down: Spacebar
Neutral: K
Clutch: Left Control
TC Override: Left Shift
Skip Formation: Backspace

Optionally you might want to turn off Vehicle Set below Steering Wheel Range to decrease the Steering Wheel Range if large on-screen steering wheel rotations bother you.

Difficulty

I recommend the following settings for a good balance between realism and fun. When in-game you can press the corresponding function keys multiple times to cycle between the values.

F1 - Steering help: I recommend Medium for low peak slip-angle cars and optionally Low for high peak slip-angle and off-road rally cars. The highest setting steers itself on rails like an AI car, that's not the setting you want. If you intend to play with steering help Off, which I don't recommend, then you might want to lower the speed sensitivity to between 90-95, or else you might not be able to steer enough during high speed corners.

F2 - Opposite lock: On, This makes sure that your current steering lock (including any speed sensitivity or other setting) is enough to point in the direction the car is going. If you already use a large steering lock, it's quite possible that it doesn't need to do anything, so it doesn't[isiforums.net].

F3 - Braking help: Off

F4 - Stability control: I recommend Off, but you could turn it on if you have trouble controlling the car.

F5 - Spin recovery: Off

F6 - Invulnerability: Whatever you like.

F7 - Auto shifting: I recommend Off for most control, but you can use any of the automatic settings if you prefer.

F8 - Traction control: I recommend High to start with and depending on car, skill, tire wear and situation, you could lower this to induce power oversteer. I recommend mapping this to an easy reachble key, such as "W".

F9 - Anti Lock brakes: I recommend High to start with and depending on car, skill and situation, you could lower this. I recommend mapping this to an easy reachble key, such as "E".

F10 - Auto Pitlane: Off

F11 - Auto Clutch: I recommend On, but you could try off for the extra challenge.

Garage

Optionally you could reduce the steering lock in the garage depending on the car and track.

You can do this by pressing the Garage button on the top right of the session screen, then press the General tab. In the Steering section, decrease the Wheel Range (Lock) / Steering Lock.

For staggered oval cars (that bias to steer left), I recommend you to increase the front Toe Offset in the Suspenion tab so that the car points straight on the straights.

How to drive

The steering help works smoothest when you keep the car on the limit during cornering. If you drive under the limit (too slow), the steering lock will increase and you will have to manually tap the keys.

Optionally

Optionally, you could also alter some extra keyboard settings that aren't exposed in the menus, but are in the "Controller.JSON" file located in "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\rFactor 2\UserData\player\"

"Keyboard Brake":0.5,
"Keyboard Brake#":"rate for keyboard\/digital brake (including front and rear handbrake) input",
"Keyboard Clutch":0.2,
"Keyboard Clutch#":"rate for keyboard\/digital clutch input",
"Keyboard Flags":1,
"Keyboard Flags#":"Try 1 if multimedia keys like the Windows key cause problems. Add to include flag: 1=foreground, 2=exclusive, 4=allow windows key",
"Keyboard Layout Override":1,
"Keyboard Layout Override#":"0 = old custom behavior, 1 = try Windows conversion (default), 2+ = attempt to use one of the existing supported keyboard layouts",
"Keyboard Power Demand":2,
"Keyboard Power Demand#":"rate for keyboard\/digital power demand input",
"Keyboard Release Func":1,
"Keyboard Release Func#":"How digital inputs are pulled towards zero: 0.0=classic linear method 1.0=non-linear method",
"Keyboard Release Rate":1,
"Keyboard Release Rate#":"Multiplier for how fast digital inputs are pulled towards zero: 0.1=slow 10.0=fast",
"Keyboard Steering":0.247981,
"Keyboard Steering#":"rate for keyboard\/digital steering input",
"Keyboard Throttle":0.5,
"Keyboard Throttle#":"rate for keyboard\/digital throttle input",

[Anthony Stuart]

This isn't just great for people without wheels or people just getting into sim racing, this is also a big help for accessibility for handicapped, disabled, and otherwise impaired people, I wish the more modern sims would include steering assist like this

[CatholicKavanagh]

Before I had a wheel I used a keyboard... I think my controls are superior to the ones in this post:
Clutch: Q
Shift Down:W
Shift Up: E
Throttle: Up arrow
Break: Down arrow
Turning: Left and Right Arrows

[Jimmy Markou]

Omg thank u so fucking much thx omggg

[The Legendaire]

Hello Associator. Just saw your guide here and its very informative. Howevr I jsut bought Stock Car Extreme and trying to put it on the mouse steering controls. But to no avail. I have the tools (Vjoy and Freepie) and I could get it to work partially. I mean when I have the game window (running in windowed mode), vjoy feeder window and VJoy monitor window opened, I can easily map the mouse x axis as steering as per this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaTrJvhTz3w

Then run the script (in video) in Freepie. That also successfully runs and I can see my mouse movements on the game window 'behind' the currently opened freepie and vjoy windows working in the controls tab of options.

The problems happens when I click on the background game window. When I do it, the script seems to stop running or something so that the mouse movements are no longer recognised by the game controls tab.

Any ideas man? I am ready to try any new way to enable mouse steering.

Thank you.

[-Ralff.]

Ok, thanks. I'll try it later. Bye.

[Associat0r]

You can find one here http://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/rf2-xbox-360-controller-settings.284/

[-Ralff.]

Do you have any settings for gamepad?

[hexagramme]

Ah great guide. Should prove useful to a lot of people.

I sure could have used something like this back in 2007 when I raced a lot of F1C and rF1 with a keyboard.

[Matt [Linux]]

this is great. :)