rec.autos.simulators

So what is the best FF Wheel on the market right now.

I looked at several at Best Buy the other day.

I liked the feel of the Logitec (the one with the red wheel)
and I liked the V4 from Interact with tons of buttons and a 8-way d-pad

I've heard the Thrustmaster sucks and the Sidewinder is good (but expensive).

Then I just got done reading a 5-star review on the new Race Leader 3D Force
Feedback which is still in preorder status.

So what is everyone using and what do you like/dislike about it.  I want to get
a FF wheel soon for games like

Powerslide
Viper
NFS3 (and the new 4)
GPL

Thanks for any feedback.

I use a Logitech, and I love it.
You can get more info on FF wheels at the "discussion" at
http://www.force-1.com/

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I'm using the Saitek R4 FF wheel.  This uses the MS Sidewinder FF wheel's mechanics
but it also has a seperate gear stick.

I really like it.  I preferred the feel of the wheel to the MS one.  My only
problem is that I can only get self-centering OR FF effects to work in Colin Mcrae
Rally but I've heard that other FF wheel users have had problems with CMR as well
so I don't think that it is a Saitek problem.

All other sims that I've tried, which support FF, seem to work fine.

I could be wrong, but I think the Saitek wheel uses Microsoft's Force
Feedback software technology ( a programming standard that anyone is free to
adopt). As I recall, their packaging, amusingly, promotes this fact. Their
hardware (the "wheel's mechanics") is completely different from the
Sidewinder.

I have and tried MS FFW only, but it is really good wheel.
It has the most accurate and durable handling wheel, and most
comfortable to tread peddal unit.

 Force Feedback will give you whole new presure, like first time
to use 3D hardware accelerator.

 I got the Logitech FF wheel a couple weeks ago. This wheel is simply
amazing.  It really feels like you are driving a race car. I play N2 a lot,
and NFSIII, The feel is so much better then the MS FF joystick I been using.
NFSIII is especially good for the force feed back. My lap times also are
much better on N2, and I don't wreck as much.
I bought it at Best Buy for $180.00 on 12/31, but now there selling it for
$150.00, but I got a credit for the thirty bucks. Now i'm going to try out
Viper Racing.
One game I do worse at though is Powerslide. I can hardly get around the
track with the Wheel., but on the joystick I kick ass. Oh well its a arcade
game anyway.
One more thing. Its both USB and serial. If you computer supports USB its
the best thing since the thong bikini. Just plug it in and play.

Mike

You may well be right.  This was the impression that I got from what I'd read
and from what Saitek had said but I'm happy to stand corrected.

You were able to get a proper calibration in Nascar Racing 2 (a DOS game)
with the Logitech stick? I guess I am sort of surprised at this. But you get
no jittering in the joystick calibration screen? No jittering/spiking or
drifting
while driving? It is common knowledge that Nascar Racing 2 does not like
digital gameports or digital (including Windows ONLY) sticks.

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I could be wrong too, but I read in a German magazine that Saitek also
uses Microsoft hardware. Of course its software interface is fully
compatible to Microsoft's, too. Additionally, on the wheel there's a
logo that says "Powered by Microsoft Force Feedback technology" - if
the hardware wasn't from Microsoft, then why should it be printed _on
the wheel_? And it really feels exactly like the MS FF...just
guessin'...

Daniel

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    Daniel Lichtenberger, Vienna/Austria

On Wed, 20 Jan 1999 09:29:50 +0000, Graham Goodwin

Strange, because I get nice FF effects with the CMR demo on my Saitek
R4 FF...

Daniel

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    Daniel Lichtenberger, Vienna/Austria

We should create a site for storing these magical calibration files :)

-Larry

LIke the wheel.  Could never, ever live with the pedals :(

-Larry