wheels I thought I'd bow to public pressure and write a review.
So far after 6 days of ownership, I'm very impressed with the wheel. Its
very substantially constructed. Unlike the review I've seen at
www.mgprs2.com the wheel only has one***to clamp it but that, coupled
with the four suction pads, is plenty to keep it under control.
The steering wheel itself is a perfect thickness for my hands (about 1"
diameter). It is made of a solid, slightly flexible, *** material which
feels just right. The angle is perfect. Much less upright than other
wheels on the market. It sits at about 10 degrees from the vertical,
exactly the same as most sports cars. It has a very smooth action with no
sticking or clicking that other FF wheels seem to have. There is also no
automatic centring spring when the wheel isn't being driven which gives a
better feel in my opinion.
The paddles shifters are relatively flimsy and need quite a lot of movement
to shift. I prefer to use the gear lever on the right hand side for
changing gear. It gives a much better response and feels more realistic in
Grand Prix Legends and Rally Championship which are the two games I play
most.
The wheel has two additional analogue paddles which can be used in place of
the pedals if they are not plugged in. Unfortunately, when the pedals are
plugged in they are disabled. It would have been nice to have pedals and
analogue paddles so that you could use them for a clutch as in formula 1
cars but I suppose you can't have everything.
There are two buttons, a four way button and an 8 way hat switch on the face
of the wheel providing plenty of modes of input to your favourite games.
The pedal unit is also well made. The pedals have both have 3 inches of
travel. I would have preferred stiffer springs but the ones supplied are
adequate. They are precise and you always know where the pedal is even if
you have to be fairly light on them.The foot plates on the pedals are swivel
mounted so you can get a decent foot angle. I can comfortably get both feet
on them without feeling squashed. Your heels rest on a saw tooth pattern to
provide support. This means that you really have to wear shoes, slippers or
thick sock to use them. I found my Teva sandals were particularly
comfortable. In GPL, the brake pedal give 4 times the calibration range
than the accelerator pedal. I'm not sure why but it does make it very
sensitive which is a good thing.
Installation was a breeze. I just plugged it into the USB port and I was
prompted to install the software for it. It can also be connected using a 9
pin serial port and this also installed with no problems. The driver
software is well written. You can set the pedals to operate separately if
you want. I did find that this would not work in Colin McRae but for GPL
and Rally Championship there were no problems. The only problem I have had
is that the wheel doesn't work in GPL when it is the second device and my
Gravis XTerminator is the first device. Also when it is the second device,
you can't set the pedals to work separately. This is a minor gripe however.
I've saved the best for last. The force feedback is excellent. It is very
powerful but also has the ability to be very subtle as well. A good
combination certainly. In the driver you can set overall device gain,
spring gain and damper gain. You can also set the default spring for
non-forcefeedback games. There is no facility to alter the deadzone and
self-centring. Also you can't increase the forces beyond 100% unlike other
wheels. This is a shame as I'm sure the wheel could take more force
although I'm not sure if I can.
In Rally Championship the FF is excellent. You can feel every bump and roll
of the road. In GPL it is also very good and responsive. In Colin McRae is
isn't quite as vigourous although this is probably due to the game. I
haven't tried it with other games.
Unfortunately I still can't make up my mind what FF setting to use in GPL.
At the moment I'm using:
[ Joy ]
allow_force_feedback = 1
force_feedback_latency = 0.02
force_feedback_damping = 5.0
max_steering_torque = 330.000000
I'm still not happy with these settings though and I'm continuing to
experiment. I would appreciate any suggestions from more experienced users
of the game since I've only been playing it for a month and with an FF wheel
for 6 days.
In conclusion I am very pleased with the wheel and can certainly recommend
it. At a list price of 89.99 ($144) it is good value for money compared
with the competition (in England the Logitech Wingman Formula Force costs
120/$192). I give it 9 out of 10.
Cheers
Phil
--
http://www.racesimcentral.net/
100% Magpie