The closest I've managed to come to my AC setup is using the xbox controller default preset, lower the steering sensitivity to 20-30~ and make minor tweaks to speed sensitivity. I was just trying some different settings again, with the same result as before. The controller input mode afaik is just a bunch of presets < The deadzone on 3 making for less deadzone than 0 sounds strange but if it works I'm still hopeful of getting an actual 'wheel' preset configured for our 458 Italia wheel. Turnburgler, if you happen to stumble onto anything better, please post back here and let me know. I don't like that, but 'tis a minor annoyance for now. The biggest con I saw as a result of all of this was that when I'm in Time Trial mode, looking at 'Driver Network Ghost Selection', my times are displayed with a 'gamepad' as control scheme, even though I'm actually using a wheel. Then proceeded to have an absolute blast in Career mode racing the Formula Rookie car against the AI at Oulton Park. I was then able to control the cars comfortably, occasionally adjusting the steering sensitivity until I settled on a value of 20. This resulted in only a small (but manageable) amount of deadzone in the steering when in-game (in the car driving). Option '2' has a deadzone of '3', which I found to greatly reduce the huge deadzone I was having in-car, even substantially more than when I manually reduced the steering deadzone slider to '0' when trying other wheel presets. (I don't know much about what 'Controller Input Mode' does, but I did notice that different controller input modes result in different default deadzone values. On the 'Configuration' tab, scroll down to 'Controller Input Mode' and choose option '2'.

Go to 'Options'>'Controls' and choose 'Custom Controller' preset.I managed to stumble onto something that's not ideal but at least made the game driveable:

Best steering wheel for project cars pc