Feel free to skip this section if all you're looking after is how to tune your controller.

Like many games, your input is a mere suggestion.
There are filters put in place to provide a (hopefully) better experience to the player.
From slowing down how fast you can steer to limiting how much you can turn, there are many ways to filter the input from a gamepad, or keyboard, to make up for the lack of road feel and precision due to the limitations of these input methods.
By contrast, steering wheels run completely unfiltered but you're limited by how fast you can turn the wheel and the forces applied on it by FFB.

A good input filter is crucial for players to be able to enjoy a game and, sadly, WRC's input filter isn't the greatest thing around since it only does one thing.
WRC simply applies a limit to the steering rate, how fast the wheels can turn, and that's it.
There's no steering angle fall off as you speed up to aid in terms of stability as well as no countersteering assist to help you on keeping the car in a straight line.

While on loose surfaces this isn't much of an issue, it is clear that this game's missing something when you go on asphalt.
Driving on asphalt with a gamepad is incredibly twitchy and may take a lot of time to get used to, especially when switching directions and not wiping out.

I'd love to see the next game to implement a steering falloff, like the 2004 game Richard Burns Rally (speed fade, as it is called in that game).
A countersteer assist would be great too, just something to keep the car from completely losing control. Ideally this could also be tuned to the player's preference, if they want a stronger or weaker countersteer help.


The gamepad input setup in RBR

In this section, I'll go over what you can do in-game to tailor your input sensitivity by explaining what each setting does along with examples to help visualize their effect.


WRC's input settings

WRC separates your steering input in two, so you'll have to repeat this process twice. This is especially useful for deadzone since no controller wears out equally. The ability to set up linearity separately can also be helpful if you feel like you may have better precision turning one way but not the other.

So, going over each setting:

• This setting changes the input curve.
  
• A linear input curve means that your input is 1:1 with the car's steering. If you give it 20% input, the car will turn 20% of its steering range.
  
• Setting this value to a negative number will make the initial part of your input range less sensitive.
  For example, and depending on how aggressive you set the curve, If you give it 20% input, the car will turn 10% of its steering range, but to compensate for that as you approach the end of the stick travel your input will ramp up much faster.
  
• Setting this value to a positive number will make the initial part of your input range more sensitive.
  For example, if you give it 20% input, the car will turn 30% of its steering range, but to compensate for that as you approach the end of the stick travel your input will ramp up much slower.
  
• 0% and 100% will always be that, you can't cut off your total range, you just shift around its linearity, also known as sensitivity.

I personally prefer a less sensitive curve since, while at speed, you barely need any steering input to successfully turn the car. The faster you go, the less you need to turn.

The benefit of having a less sensitive curve is more control at high speeds since you don't need to be as precise with your input and risk turning too much resulting in understeer or oversteer.

The downsides of having a less sensitive curve are usually the lack of precision at low speeds since you have more grip available and need to turn more for slow turns, and less reliable countersteering since the curve ramps up faster at the end resulting in more countersteering than expected.

For a more sensitive curve, just think the other way around. Less control at high speeds but a quicker response at low speeds and, potentially, more precision when countersteering.

If you want a more twitchy car, go for a more responsive curve.
If you want a safer car, go for a less responsive curve.

This is pretty straightforward. Deadzone is the minimum amount of input required for the game to respond.

Setting the deadzone too high means you'll get less input range, and therefore less precision, and you'll need to move the analog stick more for the game to respond.

Setting the deadzone too low means the game will be receiving potentially unwanted input due to the way controllers work and wear, resulting in unwanted steering in this case.



Ideally you want to set your deadzone as low as possible while avoiding stick drift to have the widest range of input available for the best control possible.
This setting will mostly depend on the gamepad you're using, as well as personal preference.

This setting is basically like deadzone, but for the end of the input range.

Setting saturation to less than 100 will make it so the game reads maximum input before you reach the edge of the analog stick's socket.



This setting won't make your car turn faster.
There's this misconception that by cutting your total input range the steering becomes "faster". All this setting does is cut off your range and precision.

Unless you want the game to send a 100% input signal before you actually turn your steering input all the way, keep it at 100.
However, this can be used if your controller is faulty and you're not able to reach maximum input even though you've reached the limit of the stick's travel.

There isn't much to say about the next two settings.
These are usually used for compatibility in case your input isn't registering correctly.
In most cases, you shouldn't touch Rescale nor Invert.

The control gauge isn't a setting but it's extremely helpful when tuning your controller settings.
This is perfect to see if your input is responding according to your preference.
Deadzone and sensitivity are reflected here.

If the way you use an analog stick is similar to a d-pad, known as cadence steering, these settings are likely not going to change much.
The next section, however, might help you a bit more in that case.

After watching real WRC footage I noticed that the cars actually have a pretty small turning radius, something that isn't reflected in-game.

Simulators usually allow you to tune your car's maximum steering angle, but unfortunately that isn't the case for WRC.

A more restrained steering angle allows you to keep the same input range (wheel radius or, in this case, stick travel) without the car turning more than you need it to, resulting in better precision.
However if you don't have enough steering angle, especially in rally, you may not be able to countersteer certain slides, resulting in trouble.

A less restrained steering angle, on the other hand, allows you to turn more at the cost of precision.
Great for countersteering slides but bad for keeping the car going in a clean line.
While you may think that countersteering is more important in rally, do keep in mind that clean lines are still faster.

Although the UI has changed a fair bit, the names of the features you want to look for are mostly the same.
Just make sure to set change Deadzone from "None" to "Custom" to access some of the features mentioned on this guide.
If you want to use the old UI, create a shortcut for Steam and add at the end of "Target" the following string: -oldbigpicture
You must enter the Big Picture mode to access this UI.

Since you're reading this guide, you're likely playing on Steam and have access to this wonderful feature called Steam Input.
I won't go over how to enable this in this guide and I'm pretty sure you'll be able to find plenty of information elsewhere on how to do so.

With Steam Input you'll be able to limit your maximum input and, therefore, limiting your maximum steering angle.

If you're doing this, I recommend setting the in-game Sensitivity and Deadzone to 0 along with Saturation to 100. You should adjust these settings through Steam Input instead!
Not doing so will result in unexpected results.

1. To begin, connect your controller to your computer and this button should appear on the game's library page, like this:
   
   
   
2. Once you're in, head over to the stick you use for steering, in my case it would be the left one:
   
   
   
3. Finally, click on "Additional Settings":
   

You will only need to change a few settings here, which are:

To apply the changes, you may need to back out twice back to the page where you can see the image of the controller!

In order of how you should adjust these options:

1. Deadzone shape
   You should set this to either cross or square, just NOT circle. A circle deadzone means that you'll only reach maximum input on the very edge of the stick socket resulting in not reaching maximum input most of the time.
   Setting this to cross or square will create a sort of "safezone" meaning you don't need to perfectly hit the most outwards edge of the socket.
   You will lose a bit of input range but it's barely noticeable.
   
   
2. Sensitivity Horizontal Scale
   This is where you can set your maximum input range and consequently limit your maximum steering radius.
   Adjust this to your personal preference. Ideally, you'd want the lowest possible steering radius (lowest scale possible) while still being able to go around hairpins and correcting slides with enough ease.
   I personally go between 70 and 80, depending on the surface and location.
   
   
3. Stick Response Curve
   This is the equivalent of the "Sensitivity" setting in-game.
   You can pick between any of the presets or use a custom curve and tune it your way.
   Personally, "Extra Wide" gives me enough precision without becoming too finicky at low speeds and countersteering.
   
   
4. Deadzone
   
   • Deadzone Inner is the same as the "Deadzone" setting in game. Use this to eliminate stick drift/unwanted inputs.
     
   • Deadzone Outer is the same as the "Saturation" setting in game. Use this to reach maximum input before maxing out the stick travel.
     
   • Enable Deadzone may not appear for you. If it does, set it to "Configuration" so it uses the values set here.

Once you're done with all this, I recommend checking your trigger's deadzones too, since Steam Input usually adds a bit of deadzone which can potentially throw you off.

Too much sliding, and trying to correct it, is going to slow you down, so keep that in mind when setting up your steering range.
At first, you may feel like you aren't able to get out of tough situations but ideally you want to avoid getting into them, not getting out of them.

Do also keep in mind on what your objective is when setting up your steering range.
If your objective is reliability, maybe keep the steering angle a bit higher so you can get out of unexpected slides. You can also set a less sensitive curve to help counteract the lack of precision.
If your objective is pure pace, keeping the steering as restricted as possible is undoubtedly going to give you a whole lot more precision. Don't go too far though, or you may end up not being able to corner well enough.

Hopefully, by the end of this guide, you'll be now able to have better control over the highly responsive cars of WRC!

I'd love to have these settings in-game without having to depend on Steam Input.
This is especially bad for console players, or Epic Store users, who sadly can't customize their input as much as you can on Steam.

More games should implement settings like these so players can tailor their experience to their preference better.

Thank you for reading and have fun!