I run both iRacing and ACC on the same rig, in the same league nights, week in and week out. And while the hardware doesn’t change, how I set it up does — because the two sims ask for different things. If you’re bouncing between them and wondering why a setup that feels great in one feels off in the other, this is what I’ve learned from doing exactly that.
Same hardware, different demands
My rig is a mid-Nm direct-drive base, load-cell pedals, an aluminium-profile cockpit, and a couple of rims I swap between. None of that changes between sims. What changes is the force-feedback tuning, sometimes the rim I pick, and a few habits in how I drive. The two sims model the cars and the feedback differently enough that one set of settings doesn’t serve both well.
Force feedback: the biggest difference
This is where I notice it most.
iRacing has its auto-FFB tool that finds a non-clipping strength level for you, and it’s a genuinely good baseline. iRacing’s feedback is detailed and a bit clinical — lots of precise information about tyre load and slip, less of the “rumble and texture” some people expect. I let the auto setting set the level, then nudge it slightly to taste and otherwise leave it clean. The danger in iRacing is adding too many extra effects and burying the precise tyre information; I keep it lean.
ACC feels weightier and more organic to me, and it wants handling differently. I run the in-game gain moderate and do the fine-tuning with the per-car gain, because GT3 cars load the wheel quite differently from one another. ACC’s kerbs and road feel are stronger out of the box, so I’m more careful about clipping here — I tune for the heaviest corner and make sure the big kerb strikes still have headroom. ACC, dialled in, gives me more of that loaded-up, physical feel; iRacing gives me more pure information.
Neither is “better.” They’re different flavours, and the same strength number that’s perfect in one will often clip or feel sterile in the other.
Rim choice: it tracks what I’m racing
The sim partly picks my rim because the cars differ.
- ACC is all GT3 and GT4 for me, so I run a round-ish GT-style rim — the shape matches the cars, the hand positions feel right, and it’s comfortable for long stints.
- iRacing I drive more broadly — GT, some open-wheel, a bit of oval and rally. When I’m in a formula car there I’ll swap to a formula-style rim, because the flat-bottomed shape and the wheel-mounted controls suit open-wheelers and the driving position you sit in for them.
This is where the quick-release earns its keep: being able to swap rims quickly to match the sim and car makes a real difference to comfort over a league night. It’s also exactly why ecosystem and QR compatibility matter when you buy — you want the rims you’ll actually want to fit the base you’ve got.
Driving habits that shift too
Beyond the hardware, the two sims have retrained a few of my habits:
- Braking feel: ACC’s GT3 cars reward a firm, progressive squeeze on the load-cell brake with careful trail-braking. iRacing’s variety means my braking changes car to car far more — an oval stint and a formula stint want completely different feet.
- Seating: I don’t physically move the seat between them, but I sit “busier” in iRacing open-wheelers, more hand movement and correction, versus the smoother, more planted inputs ACC’s GT3 cars like.
What I’d tell someone running both
Don’t expect one setup to cover both sims. Save separate FFB profiles — most people don’t realise how differently the two want to be tuned, and they end up blaming the hardware for what’s really a settings mismatch. Tune each sim on its own terms: let iRacing’s auto tool set your baseline and keep it lean; run ACC moderate with per-car fine-tuning and watch your kerbs for clipping.
And if you race a real spread of cars across both, a quick-release and a second rim are genuinely worth it — a GT rim for ACC, a formula rim for iRacing’s open-wheelers. I covered rim shapes and quick-release fit in the best sim racing wheel rim guide. Set each sim up for what it actually wants and the same rig will feel right in both.