rec.autos.simulators

http://www.racesimcentral.net/

Dave
DmndDave

http://www.microsoft.com/products/hardware/sidewinder/wheel/default.htm

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Best regards,

Richard

David G Fisher skrev i meddelandet

There is also some stuff on *** sites about it. I had the chance to play
Monster truck madness two with the wheel. It was pretty good and
comfortable, but I didn't get to really use it because it was at E3 and
there were more people waiting to use it.

-/- Walk Walker

Rafael

http://www.microsoft.com/sidewinder/

It has an adjustable latch that should allow it to connect to most
table/desk tops.
Six buttons on the front for your thumbs.
Two paddles in the back for shifters.
One center hidden button (where a horn would be) to enable/disable force
feedback.
Accelerator and brake pedals.

Gripes:
The accelerator/brake assembly is fairly light.  I begged them to fill the
empty spaces with 'ballast to add weight.  Fortunately, this is a minor
complaint for me because of the angle of the pedals, you don't end up
pushing the assembly across the floor.

Driving with the hands in the 3:00 - 9:00 position I have experienced two
problems.  It is possible to get your thumb caught during an extreme turn.
It only happens once or twice and then you keep your thumb out of the way.
Also during an extreme turn, shifting takes some concentration as paddles
become a little more difficult to reach.  Not a biggie, but it will happen
to you.

DOS games must be run in Win95/98 for the wheel to work.

Likes:
QUIET FAN!!!!

All buttons are fully programmable except for the FF enable/disable button.
It is very easy to switch from F1RS to TOCA button setups or any other
setups.

Force Feedback is fun, but not overdone.

Comfortable feel.

Accelerator/brake can be setup as a single axis or double axis depending on
your needs.

Works with everything that I have tested.  On the last day of testing I
tried Nascar Racing 2.  It didn't work.  The calibration screen was jumping
everywhere.  I got with one of the driver writers and he tweaked the portion
of the driver that works with DOS games.  It now works, but I don't know if
the corrected DOS driver made it onto the CD.  If it didn't, it should be
available for download.  The developer told me that Papyrus was trying to
optimize their access to the game port.

It is digital.  Basically, if they want to know what the status of the
wheels and pedals are, the driver asks and gets immediate results.  With an
analog wheel, the capacitors have to be charged, then a loop is entered
while you wait for the capacitors to discharge.  Not efficient use of the
CPU.

Game that I have played it on:

N2 - great!!  Obviously no force feedback.
TOCA - a lot of fun.  The force feedback is really fun.
CPR - a lot of fun, also.  I begged the developers to make a separate
gas/brake axes, but this game only uses a single axis.  Despite that, the
force feedback is great.  Like TOCA, when you hit the edge of the track, you
know it.  Also, I have no problem driving a straight line or following the
line I want through a turn.
F1RS - great, but I never get any force feedback.  Other than that, no
problem.
GPL - great, but no force feedback.  Also, no other problems.
ICR2 - great, no FF.
ICR2 (Win95) - great, no FF
NHRA - of course the pedals don't work.... :-)
MTM2 - OK, I haven't really used it on this, but I know it works.

-Paul

Whats the point of using it with F1RS if there is no force feedback?

This must be a GPL demo that you tried right?

What about NFS2 or NFS3? Does it only have FF with Microsoft titles?
I have been waiting for a FF wheel that can give real car handling feedback
like
the arcade game Harddrive'n but haven't seen any yet.
Does this wheel even come close?

DSR#74 :-)