rec.autos.simulators

I have been considering buying a driving wheel.  I play (and love)
Nascar/Indycar 1/2, F1GP2, Whiplash, etc.  

What wheel would you guys recommend?
What would be a reasonable price to pay?
Are there any problems getting them to work with these games?
Are they very sturdy/heavy, or will I have to attach them to boards to
keep them from sliding around, etc.?
Do I need any other hardware, like 2 joystick ports or anything?
Any other general comments?

I really appreciate the help.

Thanks alot, and good racing :)

Brian R. Lohiser

Brian:

My advice is to get a TSW - Thomas Super Wheel. Check out their web site
at  http://www.racesimcentral.net/~thomas  

The TSW is hand-built (their site has several photos of the
manufacturing process depicting what goes into each unit).It will take
as much abuse as you can give it, and usually the most you will have to
do is replace the potentiometers - a pretty easy job. If it needs any
other repair work or maintenance, the TSW guys can arrange it. Customer
service is a priorty. In fact, Trevor Thomas visits this newsgroup
often, and he will answer your e-mail promptly. (BTW, Trevor - love the
new photos of the TSW in production!)

The wheel works with everything you mentioned, in addition to Screamer,
Need for Speed, etc. This is because the wheel acts just like a
joystick, in that there are no separate inputs for the pedals as some
wheel/pedal combos have.

The wheel base clamps to your desk, so it's not going anywhere, and both
the wheel base and pedals have *** pads on them to protect the desk
and floor surfaces and to prevent slipping. This is in contrast to my
other wheel/pedal setup (my "backup," which I've never had to use), a
MadKatz, which has suction cups on the bottom of the wheel base!

Please don't let the price discourage you (it's close to $300). In the
long run, I think it will be a wise investment. It is VERY sturdy and
well built (and pretty darn heavy when you take it out of the box the
first time!).

Good Luck!

Tom

You can expect to spend around $300 for this system
It depends on what options you include with it.  From the
games you listed, I would expect that you would like the
paddle shifters that are mounted on the wheel.  I believe
it will still give you a shifter mounted on the control unit
too, for your Nascar sims.

I have only used mine on Nascar 1 & 2, and Indycar II.  I didn't have
any problems with calibration.  The TSW works as a single joystick,
so it doesn't have the problems that some other systems have with
these sims.

The TSW is built like a Sherman Tank.  I am fully confident that I
won't need to use my Lifetime Warranty that this unit is backed by.
The steering unit clamps firmly to your desk, and the pedal unit is
very sturdy.  The whole unit combined weighs like 22 pounds.  I
do have to use a piece of  1/4" plexiglass to act as a block between
the pedal unit and the wall.  I would think that on a hard floor this
may not be necessary.  It does tend to want to slide on my carpet....
but so did the Thrustmaster T2 I previously used.

Not with the TSW, like I mentioned, it works as a single axis
joystick, thus eliminating the problems with some other Steering/
Pedal systems.  It also uses 100k pots, additionally elminating
further problems.

All I can tell you is if you plan to (or do) spend alot of time
working on your racing/driving sims.  The money spent on the
TSW is well justified.  My first purchase was a Thrustmaster T2.
I spend *alot* of time working on Nascar setups, practice, and
online racing.  The Thrustmaster just isn't made to take the
continual workout that I gave it.  I had to regularly replace the
throttle "spring" and the steering bungee.  I wasn't impressed
with Thrustmasters design of the throttle and brake springs, they
just can't hold up under heavy use.  I must say however, Thrust-
master is very good about sending replacements parts upon
request w/o any charge.  But, if you want to put aside the worry of
spring breakage during a race.  The TSW is worth investigating.  
There are some other wheel/pedal units out there, but they can
run as high as $600 dollars.  And IMO I doubt they are manufactured
any more solid than the TSW is.   I just wish I would've put my
initial $130 investment of the T2 towards the TSW in the first place.

I hope I was of some help to you.  I would suggest you go to the
TSW homepage and take a look at this system.  Trevor Thomas
has put up some very good step by step photo's of the TSW
manufacturing process.  Believe me, the extra "honey doo's" that
I had to do to get the TSW in past the "warden" :)  was well worth
it.  The Thomas Super Wheel hompage is at;
          http://www.ia.net/~thomas

Shawn Wise
S_Wise on Hawaii

Shawn:

I had the same problem with my TSW pedal unit slipping on the carpet. I
went to Radio Shack (the source of a LOT of good stuff to keep the TSW
in working order, like pots, cleaner, etc.) and bought some *** pads
and nailed them to the bottom of the pedal unit. I don't remember the
catalog no., but they are the thick 1/2" square pads that come eight to
a package. Now the Monte Carlo is the only thing "slippin' & slidin'"!  

Tom C.

I use a Thrustmaster Formula T2. It probably isn't as sturdy as a more
expensive model but it get the job done. It cost me around $130.

Kerry Grant

On Fri, 21 Feb 1997 13:23:49 -0500, Thomas Costello

       Wow, I finally got a post to make it to the rest of the group.

I've been posting on this board for months, but they weren't
making it past my ISP.  Glad they really got it fixed.
       Anyway, thanks for the info on the *** pads.  But this
piece of plexiglass I cut works superbly.  I had actually cut
it for the old T2 I had.  I cut it the exact width of the base, and
measured it out from the base unit  to the wall at the most
comfortable leg distance for me.  It transfered over to the
TSW very nicely.  It's very stable....I can really get carried
away with braking/accelerating at tracks like Martinsville
without any concern of the pedal unit moving at all.

Shawn Wise
S_Wise on Hawaii

Thanks all for the input and help.  I will definitely check into this
TSW.  It sounds cool.  Does it have the problem like the joystick
does, that after a while there is a 'loose' spot in the middle because
the springs have stretched?  And I also wondered about the brake and
the throttle, can u sort of use them both at the same time, or does it
only take one of those inputs at time..?

Thanks again,

Brian

That's the v1 h/w. They've recently started advertising the improved
CDS 2 on their web pages which have been tweaked to include support
for using the brake and gas at the same time, on different axis. An
upgrade was made to the original v1 in fact to allow this, but the v2
model includes other improvements.

Poke your WWW browser at:

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/extreme

Or contact:

John Pribble
Extreme Competition Controls, Inc.
P.O. Box 80231
Minneapolis,  Minnesota, 55408  USA

They're a great company to deal with, even thousands of miles away!

Stuart

--
Stuart Booth
Somewhere in Oxfordshire, England, UK

Note: My email address is in disguise! Remove trailing Z

Not sure what you're looking for on this one, but if I'm on the
throttle and hit the brake, the car will definately lose speed.

Regards,

Shawn Wise