rec.autos.simulators

Dave,

    I can't believe you said that the TSW is very poor quality. Your the 1st
person to have ever made that statement since I've been reading this
newsgroup.

    I just ordered a TSW2,and it got great reviews from every online mag
that tested it.

Joel Willstein

Tore

I wouldn't worry too much if I were you, chances are very good that you
will be pleased with your new wheel, I'd bought one myself if it wasn't
for the long delivery times :-)

--

Beers and cheers
(uncle) Goy

"Team Mirage" http://www.teammirage.com/
"The Pits"    http://www.theuspits.com/

1.  The TSW and the ECCI bat in the same league for functionality.
Compared to the plastic wheels they are cousins.

2.  The ECCI is slightly smoother and looks enormously more polished.
Some ECCI models have unique features, such as a nonlinear force brake
pedal.

3.  Both are easily customizable and repairable (although both seldom
if ever need repair and are superbly backed by their manufacturers).

4.  The TSW is a true bargain at about 1/2 the price, since _most_ of
the difference is in appearance rather than function.  The ECCI is the
best, but you pay for that pride, as well as for the quality.

       bob (TSW2 modified + paddle shifters = $500, including clutch)

        "The TSW works good, but is very poor quality..........."

So it boils down to what you mean by "quality".

Anyone who's been on one of those company training courses about
"quality" knows that the key definition of quality is "fitness for
purpose", and is specifically NOT about stuff like polished gold finish
etc. unless that is an integral part of the purpose.

So, a statement such as "The TSW is very low quality" is pretty
meaningless, IMHO, unless you make it clear what your criteria are.

There seems to be a pretty clear consensus that the wheel is good in
operation, robust and easily customisable, but is not particularly
pretty.

Maybe we should just leave it at that!  ;-)

There's also the ACT Labs RS/PDPI combo -- this features an ACT Labs
RS wheel and a PDPI L4 digital game card, plus a PDPI cartridge for
the RS wheel.  Nice pedals, solid feel, digital controller, no spikes,
possibly the SMOOTHEST input you can get, all for about $139 or so.

Then there's the PDPI L4 game card itself ($59) -- works great with
all controllers that are non-digital (this means Thrustmaster products
work great, too).  I use a PDPI L4 game card with my TSW wheel, which
means that in addition to being built like a tank, the controller is
also spike-free, like a digital controller.  

Reviews of the Andretti Racing Wheel, the TSW2, and the PDPI L4 card
are available at The IRL Insider Sim Hardware Review Web site:

http://www.racesimcentral.net/

Enjoy!

-- JB

We have some reviews of these wheels up already, and several more are
currently underway.  Check it out at:

http://www.racesimcentral.net/

FWIW, I acquired the TSW on my own when I spotted a "for sale" post on
the Web -- the TSW2 is so durable, I thought it would be great to have
two such wheels on-hand for head-to-head network play.  Sim racing
novices are REALLY *** the hardware, and I've cringed many times
when a guest or a friend has slammed the NASCAR Pro wheel harder than
I would ever dream of doing -- and now with the TSW and the TSW2
on-hand, I don't ever have to worry about it! <G>

-- John Bodin
   Publisher, The IRL Insider Magazine
   http://www.racesimcentral.net/

    I figured that the middle of the summer would be the slowest time of the
year for sim racing,so major purchases like wheels would be low. And it
looks like I was right. TSW has a 30 money back guarantee,so I'll have time
to evaluate it.  If they didn't offer that,I would have passed on it.

Joel Willstein

The only thing I can see that lets' these wheels down a bit (having
never actually used one of them) is the looks, you can see that they're
a bit "homemade", but that is reflected in the price as well, if it
looked and felt like an ECCI it would probably cost like an ECCI too,
you get what you pay for most of the time, and to me the TSW looks like
good value

I'm currently looking at the F1 Sim though
(http://www.interactiveracing.com), as I know a couple of people who
have just bought themselves one (one of them bought his second wheel
from this company, the previous one had lasted him 3 years of extensive
use, but the design has now changed and the stuff that wore out on his
old wheel is now changed and shuld probably last forever), and ther's a
review of it at "The Pits", looks very promising

--

Beers and cheers
(uncle) Goy

"Team Mirage" http://www.teammirage.com/
"The Pits"    http://www.theuspits.com/

Adam