Well, My T2 controls broke several times this week while I was practicing
with new car setups. I guess everyone in racing has a 50c part end their
race once in a while. In any case, I ordered a Nascar Pro Racing Wheel (and
pedals) to replace the old unit that, in truth, Had served me well and
didn't owe me anything. I have finally fixed them to where they're as good
as new, but, they're still just a backup unit now.
Once again they advertise that the unit will fit ANY DESK. My old unit had
flimsy little arms underneath that ended up getting replaced with steel ones
and an entire jig for mounting to "MY" desk that has a 2 inch bevel on the
front of it. Probably half a days engineering to make me happy with the
stability of the mount.
Enter the NP Racing wheel. Even with the 2 inch bevel on my desk, the quick
lock handles they have on this thing really do fit almost any desk. It's
solid as a rock with just the hardware they sent and it attaches,
realisticaly in about 10 seconds. The bevel on my desk ends up meaning that
the first two inches of the underside of the wheel unit never touches
anything. Even so, it's very stable. On any normal desk, this thing will
work like a champ.
The wheel seems to have a mushy center response. I don't mean to say that
the force to turn the wheel is not consistant, the amount of response is
less. I'm not quite sure if the steering is progressive with this unit but
it seems that way. The pedals almost seem to be the same way. Half
throttle is only quarter throttle and full throttle is full throttle. That
may be my imagination, but with the steering it sure is limp in the center.
I would guess thats so you can turn up the steering lock in your car setups
a little bit (ie, actually get out of your pit stall without hitting the car
ahead of you or backing up.)
All in all, I like the steering very much. The wheel seems to have a lot
more feel to it than the T2, but mine was pretty well hoofed and that might
be just because this one is new. It also seems to have a lot less play in
the steering shaft.
The Shifter is NOT AS NICE as the T2. Yep, its more compfortable. The
travel is much greater on the NPRW's shifter. I say, "much greater". The
shifter is about 3/4" longer than the T2 shifter and seems to require a
little more force to register as well as more travel. I don't like
hammering on the shifter and that might be an Exaggeration, but I'm sure
that after a few hours in front of it, I'll be tired of shifting.
The pedals have a lot nicer feel. Braking is vastly improved. Again,
perhaps there's a progressive linkage on the pedal, but it just works nicer.
There's probably not a lot more pedal pressure on the NPRW than the T2, but
the feel is a lot different and it seems a lot more natural when you're in a
race.
The 2 Buttons that used to be on the dashboard on the T2 are now on the
steering wheel near your thumbs. For as often as I use them I really don't
care. They aren't in the way ever, so, i just figure this as an asthetic
change. They are NOT where they are on the F1 Racing wheel by thrustmaster,
they're slightly more inboard on the steering wheel.
The last big plus to the NPRW, when you want to disconnect the wheel
assembly from your desk, there is a DB15 connector up underneath the
dashboard unit that unplugs so you can disconnect it without getting behind
your computer. For many people that's no big deal (like myself 2 months
ago), but since I moved my computer desk, I had to get behind it to get the
wheel disconnected and that got old real quick. The cable is permanantly
attached to the pedals and plugs into the underside of the wheel. Then
there is another connector in the middle of the cable that connects to the
gamecard/soundcard. With a little more forsight, they might have made BOTH
Connectors the same so you could choose the order of connection on the cable
that best suited your desktop arangement, but perhaps that'll come.
Overall, I'd call it a vast improvement over the T2 Controls. Asthetically,
it shows that it's newer and looks a little sleaker too.
For those of you who wonder about the pedal springs, they are a similar
design to the T2's springs but the wire diameter is smaller and the travel
is shorter. The brake has 2 springs on it while the gas has only one. The
way they look, the are a little less stressed than the T2 springs and I'd
guess they will last longer. I'll let you know if they break. They
certainly don't look as easy to replace.
All things considered, it looks to be a pretty well constructed peice. It
is pre***ly plastic but seems to be pretty well reinforced.
One complaint. The arms that reach under the desk to clamp the unit seem to
hang down an inordinate amount. About 2-1/2 inches. Perhaps the T2's did
too if anyone used em. I made my own out of steel strap and put them thru a
metal-brake to angle them to fit my desktop jig. They took almost no room
at all. These aren't too bad and certainly do what they are expected to.
I'd have no problem with modem racing 500 laps at Bristol feeling confident
the wheel would be where it started when I finished.
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Williamsport, Pa. 17701
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