My 1st ever racing wheel - tips welcomed

I've received my racing wheel yesterday - it's GT3 RS by Fanatec and as I have absolutely no experience in using one I could use some advice from more experienced users of racing wheels - no matter what make you use.

1. My first question would be the calibration - I was asked by the game to steer the wheel full left. Of course I didn't know what does the term full left mean, so I decided to do a 180 degree turn. Is it too little, too much or just about right?

2. I've been doing only free practice and I don't know how to change the amount of fuel - as a result I can only do 4 laps because I don't have enough fuel to drive more. I've tried all the buttons but none seem to work. I've looked in the steering options to assign a button to do this but haven't found such a feature.

Probably more questions will come as basically I need to learn everything from the beginning. GP4 has become a completely new game with the addition of the racing wheel and so far I was driving only in Melbourne and after about 20 laps of crashing, spinning, missing braking points etc. I've managed a 1:38:796 lap...which I was very proud of

1. Full left means as far left as it can possibly go. Full throttle also means into the floor.

2. Amount of fuel is changed whilst in the pits: when the menu is showing on the steering wheel whilst in the garage, it should be highlighting 'GO TO TRACK' or something similar. Right at the top is fuel. So step on your throttle pedal so it goes up - braking will move it down the menu again. Select the FUEL item by pressing up gear change. Then increase your fuel by steering right and decrease by steering left. When done, press gear change again.

That's a very good lap for your first time. Trust me the start is a struggle.

Another tip: GP4 has a tendency to make some wheels feel too sensitive, especially on the straights. With my Formula Vibration Feedback I just set 'Low sensitivity zone' in the controller menu to 100%, works great for me, still sensitive enough.

A steering wheel won't necessarily make you faster, but it will certainly add more immersion to the game. Personally I find that having FFB effects cranked right up make for great immersion but at the expense of laptime because you're spending a lot of time time fighting the wheel itself instead of the car. So, a good compromise is needed.

Crank down the FFB effects so they're reasonably gentle and laptimes will improve. With a happy medium you'll be both competative and have a lot of fun. Steering, throttle and braking dead-zones can make a huge difference, but the biggest differences I've ever made with my wheel was altering the wheel settings in the windows control panel. Setting damping effects, spring effects, dead-zones etc make a big big difference. I have a G25 so don't know what's available for the GT3 in this respect.

I find 270 deg of rotation is good for F1. That's obviously only my own personal preference though.