SEN, short for Sensitivity, controls the steering angle of your wheel base—that is, how far the wheel can physically rotate from center to full lock in either direction. It's measured in degrees, and settings typically range from 90° to 1080°, with “AUTO” being a smart mode that allows the game to set the correct angle automatically.
How it affects gameplay
The steering angle affects how your inputs from your steering wheel translate to the in-game car’s steering. A higher angle (e.g., 900° – 1080°) gives you more rotation, which is ideal for road cars and drifting because they naturally have wider steering ranges. A lower angle (e.g., 180°–360°) means quicker, more sensitive inputs, which is useful for high-downforce cars like Formula 1 where real-world steering wheels only rotate 360° or less.
If the SEN value is mismatched with the game’s expected steering angle, you’ll experience oversteer or understeer behavior not due to car setup, but because your wheel is turning more (or less) than the game expects. That can make your inputs feel twitchy or sluggish.
Examples by game
- iRacing: Best used with SEN = AUTO. iRacing automatically sets the correct steering angle based on the car you’re using. Keeping it on AUTO ensures that a stock car has 900° while a Formula car might have 360°. You’ll get realistic, car-specific steering without any mismatched behavior.
- Assetto Corsa Competizione (ACC): Also works well with AUTO, but in some cases, users manually set SEN to 540°–900° for GT3 cars if the auto-adjust fails. ACC GT cars typically have 540° rotation.
- F1 23: Formula 1 cars use low rotation in real life, so you can set SEN to 360° or even 280° for quicker inputs. This lets you react faster in tight corners and chicanes. Some players prefer constraining the angle for performance, especially with tighter cockpit wheelbases.
- Drifting (Assetto Corsa with mods): Here, you may want SEN at 900° or 1080° to allow natural countersteering. Drifters benefit from wide steering angles for fluid transitions and smooth corrections.
Should you always max it out?
Not necessarily. While 1080° gives you the full rotation of the wheel base and is useful for realism in road cars or drifting, it's not optimal for every car or game. Constraining it can improve response and precision in fast-paced, tight-cornered racing like karting, formula, or rallycross.
Best practice
Whenever possible, use SEN = AUTO to let the sim control the rotation. If AUTO doesn’t behave as expected, manually adjust based on the car or driving discipline:
- GT/Street Cars: 540°–900°
- Formula Cars: 280°–360°
- Drifting: 900°–1080°
- Rally/Karts: 360°–540°
Getting SEN right is one of the easiest and most impactful ways to improve both immersion and performance in sim racing. Just a few degrees can make a big difference!
Pro tip: Run a few test drives using the cockpit point of view and a wider field of view (FOV) setting, making sure the in-game steering wheel is visible. During these tests, check whether the in-game steering wheel remains perfectly aligned with your Fanatec steering wheel. This alignment is essential for achieving maximum realism and responsiveness.