Force wheel ($114.95 plus $17.20 shipping from www.buy.com) to replace
my old Thrustmaster T2. It was the "new" wheel with stiffer springs and
Sports Car GT.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that it fit on my desk with no
problem. Like my T2, I can't close my keyboard tray, but that's no big
deal. From some folks' descriptions, I thought I might have to remove
the tray entirely.
I had some minor problems with the install, mainly due to my own
stupidity. I forgot to plug in the power supply, and the installer said
that it couldn't find any Logitech devices. The installer told me to
make sure everything was hooked up and then hit "Next". Well, after
I plugged in the power supply, USB and Plug and Play immediately fired
up and installed some stuff but then froze the screen, necessitating a
hard reboot. After rebooting, and being startled by the phantom driver
testing my wheel, everything seemed to be in order (the device was
present and working properly in the control panel and the Logitech
software was active in the taskbar). I then installed the latest
version of the Logitech software that in a rare moment of foresight I
had the good sense to previously download. That went flawlessly. I was
surprised at the strength of the effects in the test phase of this
installation.
On to GPL for a test drive. I set up my core.ini file and the settings
in the Logitech Profiler according to Alison Hine's recommendations and
fired up the game. When I was presented with the calibration screen,
for a second I thought that it didn't see my wheel because there was
absolutely no fluctuation with the calibration numbers. But, happily,
it was working fine. I set up the paddle shifters (right for shift-up
and left for shift-down), the buttons (top left for look left, top right
for look right, and button right for clutch). I also moved the
Linearity slider about 15% from the left edge (near full Linearity). I
went to Zandvoort in a Coventry for Training (mainly because I have an
online spec race this Friday with that combination, plus I love
Zandvoort).
Sitting in the pits I was thrilled to see not even the slightest twitch
in my drivers' hands. With my T2 hooked up to my Turtle Beach Montego I
soundcard (which has a digitial gameport), it looked like I badly needed
a stiff drink, even after installing a new potentiometer in the T2. USB
is great!
On to the track. I decided to bite the bullet and learn to left foot
brake. The pedals are definitely funky. The resistance was better than
I had anticipated from previous reviews, but the travel is too short.
I had to really concentrate on taking it easy with my feet (particularly
tricky with the brakes, since I have no experience left foot braking).
The wheel itself is fantastic! The paddle shifters are perfectly
positioned. The steering is very precise. I had several orders of
magnitude more car control than with my T2 and I haven't even shortened
the deadzone with the DXTweak utility yet. I couldn't believe how
effortless it was to position the car on the track. Despite this, my
first few laps were pretty ragged, mainly because of all the new things
I was assimilating - shifting with the paddles instead of the gear
lever, left foot braking, dealing with very different pedals then what
I'm used to, and the force effects. When I got the left foot braking
right - it worked really well. You can definitely balance the car
better using this technique. But it still kind of feels like trying to
play the guitar left handed. Oh well, practicing should be fun.
The force effects were fairly mild (using Alison's setup). But the
information conveyed seemed useful. You could feel the wheel go limp as
your front tires broke loose. Even the mild effects definitely add to
the immersion. I'll have to do some experimenting with the settings.
I only had time to run about ten laps. A good time for me at Zandy in
the Coventry is 1:29.00. I was lapping in the high 1:30's, but
I attribute that primarily to the left foot braking. I figure that once
I get a handle on that technique, I should be at least as fast due to
the precision of the steering.
Before work this morning, I checked out Eric Cote's Logitech setup pages
and made some tweaks to my Profile - mainly decreasing the sensitivity
of the pedals. I again drove about ten laps at Zandvoort in the
Coventry. This helped a lot. I could press harder without spinning the
wheels or locking the brakes. Again, not sufficient time to properly
test, but great fun.
I'll report back with more info as I go, but my first impression is -
money well spent!
Dave Ewing
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David A. Ewing
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