I just wanted to let everyone know that the new CH Products Force
Feedback joystick looks very promising. A guy in my office just got
it, and we ran a few laps on Need For Speed/SE. Now as some of you
know, I'm an ICR2 guy who uses a wheel, and office compatriot is
pretty new to racing. He's a NASCAR2/joystick boy, and we haven't had
the chance to try this technology with the Papyrus or Microprose stuff
yet, but NFSSE gave me an idea for what we might expect.
Some observations based on a few laps on NFSSE (we're at work, so we
won't be able to bang on this thing for real for a few more days)
1) This thing has an amazing setup program. It appears that we will
be able to configure it to games that don't necessarily support it
out-of-box. I will report more on my success with NASCAR2 in the next
few days.
2) The force is surprisingly strong. You won't tear a rotator cuff,
but you will experience fatigue in a fairly short amount of time.
3) The reaction time seems quite fast. I couldn't detect any lag
time whatsover.
4) The placement of the buttons might be a problem. There are
several placed on points of the joystick that could accidentally get
pressed when "fighting" this thing.
5) There is a bit of friction that I can feel that is clearly a
"plastic-on-plastic" effect. It is very slight, and should not in any
way discourage anyone from purchasing the joystick, but I would
recommend a higher-end, more-expensive model with oiled, metal
bearings at whatever point in the housing from which this friction is
originating.
6) The base is absolutely huge by joystick standards (roughly the
size of the T2 housing.)
We'll be trying this a little later today with Rocket Jockey
(incidentally, the MOST FUN GAME I've played, possibly ever), with an
attempt at NASCAR configuration possibly late tomorrow.
Just thought you'd all like to know...
Cheers,
Pooch
O-iiiii-O