If you have shopped for a direct drive wheel, you have seen the torque ratings: 20Nm, 25Nm, even 35Nm. Then you boot up iRacing, dial in your force feedback, and run at maybe 8Nm if you are feeling dramatic. So what is the point of all that extra torque? The answer matters more than you might think, and it changes how you should shop for high torque FFB hardware.
Also See
→ How to Save FFB Settings Per Car in iRacing
What Real-World Steering Forces Actually Look Like
The short answer is simple: real race cars produce steering forces far beyond what most people expect. A GT3 car at 200 km/h through a high-speed corner can put 15-25Nm of torque through the steering column. Formula cars in high-downforce trim are worse. Some can exceed 30Nm at peak lateral load. Open-wheel drivers at fast circuits like Spa or Monza are genuinely working hard at the wheel, lap after lap.
Direct drive manufacturers build to those targets for a reason. Many customers are professional racing simulators, driver training centers, and race teams using simulation for actual race prep. For those users, proportional feedback at full scale is the point. A Formula driver using sim to prepare for race weekends wants forces that feel right. Scaling them down to comfortable Sunday levels defeats the purpose.
Consumer sim racing adopted the same torque ranges for two reasons: shared technology and falling costs. Many sim racers also want the experience of high loads. Whether that is strictly necessary for going fast in iRacing is a different question.
Why iRacing FFB Runs at a Fraction of Max Torque
iRacing models steering forces from actual telemetry and physics, and it scales FFB output to the wheel’s range. Most road-course cars in iRacing generate realistic peak forces of around 8-15Nm in the sim physics. A 20Nm wheel with max force set to 30Nm delivers about half its rated output at peak load. Turn the max force setting lower and you get more detail, but risk clipping. Set it too high and everything feels numb.
The practical result is that almost no iRacer runs their wheel at full rated torque. That is by design. iRacing’s FFB documentation recommends setting max force so the strongest in-game force reaches peak output without clipping. For most cars on most tracks, that lands between 20-40% of a 20Nm wheel’s rated output. On a 35Nm unit, even less.
Why iRacing Wheels Need High Torque FFB Headroom
Here is where high torque FFB stops being a spec sheet number and starts being a real driving advantage. Headroom is the key concept. When your wheel has more torque than you are using, several things happen simultaneously.
First, the motor runs with less effort at your actual output level. A 20Nm motor running at 8Nm is working at 40% of its capacity. A 35Nm motor delivering the same 8Nm is running at under 25% capacity. Less motor strain means less heat buildup, fewer thermal cutoffs, and more consistent force across a two-hour stint.
Second, you get better resolution in the lower torque range. A motor with 35Nm peak and good encoder resolution can produce very fine incremental steps at 6-10Nm. A cheaper 8Nm motor at its full rated output has nowhere left to go. Road texture detail, weight transfer, and understeer onset all come through more clearly when the motor has headroom to spare. Many iRacers describe this as the wheel feeling more communicative without necessarily feeling heavier.
Third, peak transient forces (sharp kerb hits, sudden understeer, big oversteer saves) benefit from instantaneous torque delivery. A motor near its limit may clip or soften those peaks. A motor with headroom delivers them cleanly. That difference is most noticeable in car classes with violent force spikes. Open-wheel cars at street circuits and dirt ovals are the clearest examples.
How High Torque FFB Changes the Driving Feel in iRacing
The jump from a 5-8Nm gear or belt-drive wheel to a 12-15Nm direct drive is immediately obvious to almost everyone. The jump from 15Nm to 25Nm is meaningful but more subtle. Beyond 25Nm, the difference for the average road-course iRacer is harder to notice without careful back-to-back comparison.
Where higher torque FFB still shows a clear benefit at the upper range is endurance racing and open-wheel cars. iRacing’s IndyCar content generates significant steering loads at high speed. Drivers doing multi-hour endurance stints in LMP or GTP cars report less fatigue on higher-torque wheels. Running lower force settings with full feedback detail is easier when you have headroom. Run a 25Nm wheel at 30% instead of a 12Nm wheel at 60% and you get the same peak output. The physical effort over two hours drops substantially.
Choosing the Right High Torque FFB Tier for iRacing
For most iRacers on road course, oval, and GT3 content, a mid-range direct drive in the 8-15Nm range is enough. It covers everything the sim will ask for. Brands like Moza, Simagic, and Fanatec all offer solid units in this range. They handle iRacing’s force demands cleanly with real headroom above peak loads.
The 15-25Nm tier makes the most sense for iRacers who run mixed content. That includes open-wheel series, endurance racing, or drift sessions where force spikes are larger and more frequent. The extra headroom buys cooler operation and better transient response. It costs you nothing in road course sessions where you were already comfortable.
The 25-35Nm range is where the value proposition for iRacing starts to thin out. Unless you run sim professionally or do extended endurance events, the gains are hard to notice. Some iRacers buy at this tier simply for the best hardware available, whether the sim can saturate it or not. For most iRacers, spending at that tier buys build quality, motor longevity, and prestige. Lap times and force feedback clarity at your actual settings will not improve dramatically.
What Most iRacers Actually Need
The most important buying consideration is not peak torque. It is encoder resolution, firmware support, and whether the base unit works well with iRacing’s FFB system specifically. A well-configured 12Nm direct drive outdrives a poorly set up 25Nm unit in every lap of iRacing. The bigger gains come from dialing in your FFB settings per car, not from buying more torque.
So why do wheels go to 35Nm? Because the technology exists, real race simulators need it, and some sim racers want it. For most iRacing use cases, the torque you need is considerably less than the maximum available. That is perfectly fine. The headroom you leave unused is doing real work even when you cannot feel it.
