rec.autos.simulators

http://www.racesimcentral.net/

Looks like Microsoft will no longer be making it's line of Sidewinder
joysticks, gamepads, and wheels.

I bought 3 or 4 different sidewider controllers over the years, and they all
went back to the store because they sucked.

I bought 3 or 4 and several years later they all work better than
stuff I paid 4 times as much for did out of the box.

Jason

I must second that... I have 2 joysticks (one FF, one not) and a gamepad
pro, and they are all a couple of years now and still works very well (not
said that i love MS but their sidewinder series are god IMO)

Peter

Yeah, my MSFF is over 4 years and counting. I had to replace the plug
the goes from the pedals to the wheel once though.

--
Olav Malmin
remove .spam when replying

Jul 2003:

From the above:

"A Microsoft representative said the decision is a result of the
continued decline in sales of all PC game controllers and the fact
that most PC games are designed specifically to be controlled with a
mouse and keyboard."

Hmmm. Doesn't bode particularly well for the future of PC racing
sims, then, does it? In my out-in-the-sticks neck of the woods, many
shops didn't sell any PC wheel except the MS ones. Gah.

--
Above address *is* valid - but snip spamtrap to get me to *read*!

Support the world's oldest motorsport venue!
http://www.shelsley-walsh.co.uk/future.html

This has been my experience too, in the UK at least. This is one area where
PC World are very good though, with a variety of products from different
manufacturers and decent pricing.

Malc.

You'll notice in a thread below that Tim Ferrell has the same prob w. a MS
Sidewinder wheel (the new one, with the 2-tone wheel rim) and N2003 that I
do: the wheel unaccountably loses FF.  You have to swap drivers,
recalibrate, relaunch and other nonsense to get FF back, only to find it
missing the next time you go to play the game.  I doubt that this is Papy's
fault; their controller routines are bulletproof, the best in the industry.
Typically, MS is stonewalling the complaints.

In fact, the hardware was quite good. Not the most feature-rich, but
well designed and constructed.  I own a sidewinder FF joystick since '98
and a wheel since '00. Both have been through a lot of abuse (read: were
used by small kids) and still perform flawlessly.

The software (drivers, keymapping...) was so-so.  MS support on software
was abyssimal. (Thinking of MS mouse, keyboards) Hey, do I see a pattern
there ?

Microsoft: a very decent hardware company.

Regards,
Mr S.

I'm hoping for a big clearance sale at Best Buy so I can pick up a couple :)

Larry

Ditto.

The software was growing a beard though.

-Larry