What Driving Wheel? - Please help.

I have been considering buying a driving wheel. I play (and love) Nascar/Indycar 1/2, F1GP2, Whiplash, etc. What wheel would you guys recommend? What would be a reasonable price to pay? Are there any problems getting them to work with these games? Are they very sturdy/heavy, or will I have to attach them to boards to keep them from sliding around, etc.? Do I need any other hardware, like 2 joystick ports or anything? Any other general comments? I really appreciate the help. Thanks alot, and good racing :) Brian R. Lohiser

Brian: My advice is to get a TSW - Thomas Super Wheel. Check out their web site at http://soli.inav.net/~thomas [address restored] The TSW is hand-built (their site has several photos of the manufacturing process depicting what goes into each unit).It will take as much abuse as you can give it, and usually the most you will have to do is replace the potentiometers - a pretty easy job. If it needs any other repair work or maintenance, the TSW guys can arrange it. Customer service is a priorty. In fact, Trevor Thomas visits this newsgroup often, and he will answer your e-mail promptly. (BTW, Trevor - love the new photos of the TSW in production!) The wheel works with everything you mentioned, in addition to Screamer, Need for Speed, etc. This is because the wheel acts just like a joystick, in that there are no separate inputs for the pedals as some wheel/pedal combos have. The wheel base clamps to your desk, so it's not going anywhere, and both the wheel base and pedals have *** pads on them to protect the desk and floor surfaces and to prevent slipping. This is in contrast to my other wheel/pedal setup (my "backup," which I've never had to use), a MadKatz, which has suction cups on the bottom of the wheel base! Please don't let the price discourage you (it's close to $300). In the long run, I think it will be a wise investment. It is VERY sturdy and well built (and pretty darn heavy when you take it out of the box the first time!). Good Luck! Tom

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> I have been considering buying a driving wheel. I play (and love) > Nascar/Indycar 1/2, F1GP2, Whiplash, etc. > What wheel would you guys recommend? > What would be a reasonable price to pay? > Are there any problems getting them to work with these games? > Are they very sturdy/heavy, or will I have to attach them to boards to > keep them from sliding around, etc.? > Do I need any other hardware, like 2 joystick ports or anything? > Any other general comments? > I really appreciate the help. > Thanks alot, and good racing :) > Brian R. Lohiser

>I have been considering buying a driving wheel. I play (and love) >Nascar/Indycar 1/2, F1GP2, Whiplash, etc. >What wheel would you guys recommend? I would *HIGHLY* recommend the TSW You can expect to spend around $300 for this system It depends on what options you include with it. From the games you listed, I would expect that you would like the paddle shifters that are mounted on the wheel. I believe it will still give you a shifter mounted on the control unit too, for your Nascar sims. I have only used mine on Nascar 1 & 2, and Indycar II. I didn't have any problems with calibration. The TSW works as a single joystick, so it doesn't have the problems that some other systems have with these sims. The TSW is built like a Sherman Tank. I am fully confident that I won't need to use my Lifetime Warranty that this unit is backed by. The steering unit clamps firmly to your desk, and the pedal unit is very sturdy. The whole unit combined weighs like 22 pounds. I do have to use a piece of 1/4" plexiglass to act as a block between the pedal unit and the wall. I would think that on a hard floor this may not be necessary. It does tend to want to slide on my carpet.... but so did the Thrustmaster T2 I previously used. Not with the TSW, like I mentioned, it works as a single axis joystick, thus eliminating the problems with some other Steering/ Pedal systems. It also uses 100k pots, additionally elminating further problems. All I can tell you is if you plan to (or do) spend alot of time working on your racing/driving sims. The money spent on the TSW is well justified. My first purchase was a Thrustmaster T2. I spend *alot* of time working on Nascar setups, practice, and online racing. The Thrustmaster just isn't made to take the continual workout that I gave it. I had to regularly replace the throttle "spring" and the steering bungee. I wasn't impressed with Thrustmasters design of the throttle and brake springs, they just can't hold up under heavy use. I must say however, Thrust- master is very good about sending replacements parts upon request w/o any charge. But, if you want to put aside the worry of spring breakage during a race. The TSW is worth investigating. There are some other wheel/pedal units out there, but they can run as high as $600 dollars. And IMO I doubt they are manufactured any more solid than the TSW is. I just wish I would've put my initial $130 investment of the T2 towards the TSW in the first place. I hope I was of some help to you. I would suggest you go to the TSW homepage and take a look at this system. Trevor Thomas has put up some very good step by step photo's of the TSW manufacturing process. Believe me, the extra "honey doo's" that I had to do to get the TSW in past the "warden" :) was well worth it. The Thomas Super Wheel hompage is at; http://www.ia.net/~thomas Shawn Wise S_Wise on Hawaii

Shawn: I had the same problem with my TSW pedal unit slipping on the carpet. I went to Radio Shack (the source of a LOT of good stuff to keep the TSW in working order, like pots, cleaner, etc.) and bought some *** pads and nailed them to the bottom of the pedal unit. I don't remember the catalog no., but they are the thick 1/2" square pads that come eight to a package. Now the Monte Carlo is the only thing "slippin' & slidin'"! Tom C.

I use a Thrustmaster Formula T2. It probably isn't as sturdy as a more expensive model but it get the job done. It cost me around $130. Kerry Grant

> Brian: > My advice is to get a TSW - Thomas Super Wheel. yup good advice. anything lower than the TSW is cheap and a bad deal in the long run. My T2 just broke and now I wish I had bought the TSW to begin with.

On Fri, 21 Feb 1997 13:23:49 -0500, Thomas Costello

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>Shawn: >I had the same problem with my TSW pedal unit slipping on the carpet. I >went to Radio Shack (the source of a LOT of good stuff to keep the TSW >in working order, like pots, cleaner, etc.) and bought some *** pads >and nailed them to the bottom of the pedal unit. I don't remember the >catalog no., but they are the thick 1/2" square pads that come eight to >a package. Now the Monte Carlo is the only thing "slippin' & slidin'"! >Tom C.

Tom, Wow, I finally got a post to make it to the rest of the group. I've been posting on this board for months, but they weren't making it past my ISP. Glad they really got it fixed. Anyway, thanks for the info on the *** pads. But this piece of plexiglass I cut works superbly. I had actually cut it for the old T2 I had. I cut it the exact width of the base, and measured it out from the base unit to the wall at the most comfortable leg distance for me. It transfered over to the TSW very nicely. It's very stable....I can really get carried away with braking/accelerating at tracks like Martinsville without any concern of the pedal unit moving at all. Shawn Wise S_Wise on Hawaii

Thanks all for the input and help. I will definitely check into this TSW. It sounds cool. Does it have the problem like the joystick does, that after a while there is a 'loose' spot in the middle because the springs have stretched? And I also wondered about the brake and the throttle, can u sort of use them both at the same time, or does it only take one of those inputs at time..? Thanks again, Brian

>Thanks all for the input and help. I will definitely check into this >TSW. It sounds cool. Does it have the problem like the joystick >does, that after a while there is a 'loose' spot in the middle because >the springs have stretched? And I also wondered about the brake and >the throttle, can u sort of use them both at the same time, or does it >only take one of those inputs at time..? I personally invested in the Extreme Competition Controls Inc's "Competition Driving System" (ECCI CDS) kit, which, IMHO, is fabulous. It's expensive but it absolutely oozes quality; all the way from its weight (~16lbs for the wheel I think, and ~12lbs for the pedals, both of which are made out of stainless steel), through it's awesome build quality (built to LAST, believe me!), incredible looks (a 3 spoke, 11" diameter wheel, clad in hand stiched suede leather with 4 thumb switches situated above the central, horizontal spokes, within EASY reach of your thumbs; 2 on each side), right the way through to its smoothness: there is no centre notching and you get excellent control over the car. That's the v1 h/w. They've recently started advertising the improved CDS 2 on their web pages which have been tweaked to include support for using the brake and gas at the same time, on different axis. An upgrade was made to the original v1 in fact to allow this, but the v2 model includes other improvements. Poke your WWW browser at: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/extreme Or contact: John Pribble Extreme Competition Controls, Inc. P.O. Box 80231 Minneapolis, Minnesota, 55408 USA They're a great company to deal with, even thousands of miles away! Stuart -- Stuart Booth Somewhere in Oxfordshire, England, UK Note: My email address is in disguise! Remove trailing Z

>Does it have the problem like the joystick >does, that after a while there is a 'loose' spot in the middle because >the springs have stretched? Nope, I haven't had any problems like this. I've been putting my TSW under heavy use since like October. The T2 however, produced some noticable "slop" with usage. Not sure what you're looking for on this one, but if I'm on the throttle and hit the brake, the car will definately lose speed. Regards, Shawn Wise