1. A medical robotic system comprising: a manipulator having a motor driven joint for moving the manipulator; and a processor configured to control movement of the joint from a current position to a target position according to a control law from which a motor joint command may be determined using joint feedback and feedforward motor torque terms, wherein the joint feedback motor torque term is computed as a function of at least a position error computed as a difference of the current and target positions, the feedforward joint motor torque term is computed as a function of the joint target position, the feedback motor torque term is limited to a first programmable limit value, and the feedforward motor torque term is limited to a maximum motor torque value.