MS Sidewinder Pro Experiences?

I'd like to hear from folks who've used the MS Sidewinder Pro as their racing simulator controller. I can't justify the purchase of a steering wheel and pedals, but I'd like to find a good joystick that will work reasonably well with racing simulators as well as flight simulators. I'm considering the MS Sidewinder Pro because: * It's not terribly expensive * It emulates both the CH Flightstick Pro & Thrustmaster 4-button sticks * It has a "hat" switch * It has a throttle control * It's digital, which _someday_ will supposedly make it superior when used with Win95 games What do you think? Thanks, Ralf Grisard

I'm using it, and I like it a lot. However, I'm way off the pace of some of the people who post here, so I don't know that you will want to rush right on out and buy it because of me. I previously had a thrustmaster and I would MUCH rather have the sidewinder pro. It works well for IndyCar II and Need for Speed as well. Have fun. Scott -- I have seen the enemy, and it is my registry...

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>I'd like to hear from folks who've used the MS Sidewinder Pro as their >racing simulator controller. I can't justify the purchase of a steering >wheel and pedals, but I'd like to find a good joystick that will work >reasonably well with racing simulators as well as flight simulators. I'm >considering the MS Sidewinder Pro because: >* It's not terribly expensive >* It emulates both the CH Flightstick Pro & Thrustmaster 4-button sticks >* It has a "hat" switch >* It has a throttle control >* It's digital, which _someday_ will supposedly make it superior when >used with Win95 games >What do you think? >Thanks, >Ralf Grisard

Ihave been using Sidewinder Pro with no problems in 95. It is a great stick, but Ido find my hand aches after a few hours. Do not buy the Fury 3 package because the game is awful. Ian

Im using the pro, its very good, quick and responsive and the buttons on the left hand side off the stick are brill for fast gear changes go buy it vic

Well I can say that I'm very happy with my MS Pro, I've been using it with Longbow, ICR2 and GP2. I find it to be an extremely satisfactory joystick. I especially like the CH Pro and Thrustmaster emulation mode in DOS.

> >I'd like to hear from folks who've used the MS Sidewinder Pro as their > >racing simulator controller. Just thought I'd post a quick summary of the responses I received to my original posting. I heard from 7 people who are using the Sidewinder Pro with racing sims and 1 person who's using it with a flight sim, and their opinion is unanimous -- they all like it a lot. Reasons for liking it included its sensitivity, smoothness, ability to emulate the CH Flightstick Pro, and rudder control (I'm not clear how this applies to racing sims). As for me, I'm convinced -- I'm gonna get me one [asked for it for my birthday, but didn't get it 8-( ]. Thanks to all who responded! Ralf Grisard

I have the Sidewinder Pro and it seems to work very well for Nascar. However, I have no baseline to compare it to. The biggest weakness is digital responses for brake and gas....it's either all the way on or all the way off. That makes it difficult to tap the brakes going into corners and feather the gas coming out of corners. But I've been told having a steering wheel doesn't necessarily add speed to your laps, but it will be easier to handle in traffic and it makes the longer races comfortable. Brian

On Fri, 09 Aug 1996 09:01:59 -0400, Ralf Grisard

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>> >I'd like to hear from folks who've used the MS Sidewinder Pro as their >> >racing simulator controller. >Just thought I'd post a quick summary of the responses I received to my >original posting. I heard from 7 people who are using the Sidewinder Pro with >racing sims and 1 person who's using it with a flight sim, and their opinion >is unanimous -- they all like it a lot. Reasons for liking it included its >sensitivity, smoothness, ability to emulate the CH Flightstick Pro, and >rudder control (I'm not clear how this applies to racing sims). As for me, >I'm convinced -- I'm gonna get me one [asked for it for my birthday, but >didn't get it 8-( ]. >Thanks to all who responded! >Ralf Grisard

Make sure that you find the one that includes MECHWARRIOR 2 with it... it'll cost approx. 10-20 bucks more... but you'll save a bunch..... Blaine Bett

Uhh, hate to inform you of this, but your SideWinder isn't working in digital mode when you play Nascar. There are only a couple of games written with the coding to allow digital joystick and Nascar isn't one of them. The stick automatically goes to analog when playing games like Nascar. So don't blame digital for your lack of brake response.

The Sidewinder will use digital responses only in windows, and with games designed to use it. ( ie. new win95 games ) Am I confused? I thought analog was the "all on or all off" and digital was supposed to allow steps. Or is it that digital is supposed to be more precise control? Either way, I love the stick because it doesnt "drift" between calibrations like every other stick ive used.

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> >I have the Sidewinder Pro and it seems to work very well for Nascar. > >However, I have no baseline to compare it to. The biggest weakness > >is digital responses for brake and gas....it's either all the way on > Uhh, hate to inform you of this, but your SideWinder isn't working in > digital mode when you play Nascar. There are only a couple of games > written with the coding to allow digital joystick and Nascar isn't one > of them. The stick automatically goes to analog when playing games > like Nascar. So don't blame digital for your lack of brake response.

I have trouble with IndyCar and Falcon but most of my other games are fine. The Y axis does not calibrate properly it jumps all over the place in the negative. Microsoft told me it was my game port but it's not. I've tried two others. Anyway I can get it to work by move the the stick slightly forward when calibrating. You have to pull back the whole way to back but at least the brakes are'nt on when I centre the stick. Try it it might work.

> I have trouble with IndyCar and Falcon but most of my other games are fine. > The Y axis does not calibrate properly it jumps all over the place in the > negative. Microsoft told me it was my game port but it's not. I've tried > two others. I've had trouble with the SideWinder's calibration a couple of times (GP2, MechWarriorII, etc.). However, since I re-installed the joystick and drivers (via Win95), I've had no problems with it. I'm using a Gravis UltraSound PnP for the gameport. Rob -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Rob Hounsell Bell-Northern Research | | Cornerstone Network Controller Devel. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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>Subject: RE: MS Sidewinder Pro Experiences? >Date: 23 Aug 1996 11:10:08 GMT >> >I have the Sidewinder Pro and it seems to work very well for Nascar. >> >However, I have no baseline to compare it to. The biggest weakness >> >is digital responses for brake and gas....it's either all the way on

Remove the Brake and Gas from the joystick. You will get better response from the keyboard on these two options. I use the CRTL=Brake, and ALT=Gas on left side of keyboard. This also solves the one-button-at-a-time-problem. (All spelling errors are intentional and are there to show new and improved ways of spelling old words. Gramatical errors are due to too many English classes/teachers)