Virtual racing steering wheel

[Balschoiw 0]

I know there is the PC thread but I don´t think the issue I´m confronted with currently would fit there right.

I am currently looking for a mid-price steering wheel. My Momo is broken and to be honest I wouldn´t want to buy one again. They are a bit cheaply fabricated and don´t hold up long with racing.

My current 2 favourites are:

The Logitech G25

and the Fanatec Porsche wheel

<img src="http://www.pckoloji.com/attachments/haberler/3651d1209639160-fanatec-porsche-911-turbo-kablosuz-yaris-direksiyonu-4-30-08-porsche-wheel

.jpg" border="0">

Both seem to have their Pro´s and Con´s.

The G25 wheel is too thin, the shifter seems to be whacky and the pedals allow no hip-toe driving.

The Fanatec wheel comes with a sequential shifter and a h-shifter box, the pedals seem to be made of plastic and the shifting unit at the wheel seems to be a bit small (as it is in the real Porsche) and there seem to be FPS deficits with the wheel.

I´m looking for experiences with both wheels to make it easy for me to decide. Right now I´m favouring the Porsche wheel as there will be a deluxe pedal unit and a porsche cockpit available soon.

Do any of you have that wheels and can tell me something about the ingame performance, the handling, the sound of the units and the quality of the products ?

I´m using the following software:

GTL, GTR, GTR2, GTR Evolution, Race 07, GPL and Flatout 2

[sparks50 0]

You can heel-toe the g25.

[Maddmatt 1]

I know there is the PC thread but I don´t think the issue I´m confronted with currently would fit there right.

I am currently looking for a mid-price steering wheel. My Momo is broken and to be honest I wouldn´t want to buy one again...

As someone who's bought several things from Logitech before including the Momo, a joystick and 5.1 speakers - and had problems with all, I would avoid that brand completely

Momo - bad design, opened up the pedals to fix the accelerator. Even though I'm no expert, the design flaws are obvious when you look inside.

Jostick (3D pro something) - piece of crap. Tiny movement range, incredibly sensitive and not smooth.

5.1 speakers - design flaw that made them crackle or pop due to things nearby like light switches being used. Got a refund on them which they offered to evreryone who bought them. Despite that serious design flaw, I still see the X-530s for sale. It's not a problem for everyone though I guess.

Only one I'm still using now is the Momo, for GTR Evolution/Race 07  

For when I'm willing to spend the cash, I'm looking at that Fanatec wheel.

The features on the site are here. Sounds impressive to me.

The pedals look like they are part metal. Although I'm not bothered either way, metal can get very cold  

I've got no actual experience with the two good wheels mentioned, so I'll be interested in the answers here too.

[Balschoiw 0]

Quote[/b] ]The pedals look like they are part metal.

They are plastic.

Fanatec is working on a fully adjustable metal-pedal unit for the wheel though.

Clubsport pedals

Funny thing is that I know the CEO of fanatec but only recently dicovered that they make such nice hardware

It´s not far from here, so maybe I should just go there and check out their products.

[[aps]gnat 28]

Got a G25 ... love it!

Just wish I had a bigger desk lol

[sparks50 0]

I returned my Fanatec because of it having no table mount for the "gearbox". Tried changing gears and drifting in LFS, and the box was going all over the table. This made H shifter unusable for me.

Also, while the gearbox does provide more resistance than the G25, it feels inaccurate and the resistance feels random.

If they fixed these issues, it would be a great wheel.

The actual wheel of the fanatec is noticeably better than the Logitech counterpart. You can really feel why this wheel is more expensive than the G25 when it comes to the feedback.

So if value isn't very important to you and you don't plan on using the H-shifter, it could be a good buy. I would recommend the G25 over it though.

[kegetys 2]

I can heel & toe quite well with the G25:

. You can also easily swap the wider pedal face from the clutch to the accelerator to make it a bit easier, or even take the whole pedals apart and build an inverted mount for them as the pedals itself are individual metal things separate from the plastic "box".

I haven't tried the Fanatec wheel but from what I have read and heard I have the impression that the G25 a bit better overall. The lack of buttons in the G25 wheel part sucks though.

[kavoven 4]

The last PC-Games tested the Porsche Wheel, perhaps you should take a short look in a magazine store. (I already threw the mag away and can't remember the result)

[Balschoiw 0]

Quote[/b] ]I returned my Fanatec because of it having no table mount for the "gearbox".

Hmm. I thought it was firmly attached to the wheel by two sidebars .

I read at a recesim forum that people sometimes had problems tightening the coin screws but when they fixed them the shifter was firmly attached.

The pedals delivered with the fanatec wheel seem to be kind of a weak spot unless you buy the new pedals that are fully customizeable. As far as I understood Porsche insisted on the debut design to make it close to the real thing. Even the pressure on the brake pedal with 3.5 cm way is the same as it is with the real Porsche.

I have my issues with the g25 shifter as it´s simply a bit sluggy while the fanatec shifter seems to work better, more precise and seems to produce a solid *klack* when gears are selected.

In another forum people complain about the G25 pedals very much. There seem to be issues with longlivity, sensors and springs. This made a lot of people switch to real racesim pedals that alone come at a price of 300 dollars. Don´t get me wrong, but that´s nothing for me. I´m a racesim fan but no freak who invests that much money for pedals alone. There also seem to be loadcell mods for the G25 pedals and other extensions that make them better and more durable.

I thought about building my own pedals a while ago, especially after reading some things on a taiwanese racesim-geek board as I´d like to have "hanging" pedals apart from the regular ones.

The custom pedals from fanatec come with that feature but for now I don´t know the price of them.

What also seems to be a pro for fanatec is that the wheel itself is bigger and the it has more thickness compared to the smaller g25 wheel.

@kegetys: Thx for the video demonstration. It seems to work quite well. Apart from that you´re insane

I felt a bit reminded of this video when looking at yours:

Walter Röhrl at Portugal 1985

Enjoy

[[aps]gnat 28]

lol ... both videos are cool !

and btw, they those people completely insane?!

[mr burns 132]

G25. It´s simply state of the art for a very reasonable price.

Had some races in (GTR2 based) M3 Challenge against evers from our forums and despite my leet drunk skills he always got me because of his G25 and it´s fine trickery (wider angle, clutch, etc.). imho there´s no better alternative for someone who isnt totally nuts and goes off buying a pedal set for 300€, or racing seats or whatdoiknow..

Using Wingman Formula Force GP btw. and even if it doesnt totally suck, im not going to buy it again. Once it´s broken G25 will be the choice.

[abs 2]

Yea, I have the G25 as well. It's a really nice, quality steering wheel. All my friends and I love it.

Abs

[the_shadow 0]

G25 it´s rock solid!

[Journeyman 0]

The problem with all pedal sets that I've had to date is that I have had to bolt or strap them down to part of the desk or floor to stop them from moving all over the place when using them!

Is this still a problem with the G25 pedals? How is it secured or does it weigh at least 25kg?!!

[Rhodite 3]

I have heard nothing but glowing reviews from owners of the G25 wheel, from what I understand it is simply the best on the market at its price.

[sparks50 0]

The problem with all pedal sets that I've had to date is that I have had to bolt or strap them down to part of the desk or floor to stop them from moving all over the place when using them!

Is this still a problem with the G25 pedals? How is it secured or does it weigh at least 25kg?!!

I think it could still be a problem, but my desk is facing a wall that the pedals rests towards, so its sort of hard to tell.

[the_shadow 0]

same for me...

it´s not difficult to move with your feet and it isn´t very heavy.. but if you rest it against the wall or put it on a carpet it shouldnt slide..

[Journeyman 0]

Ok thanks folks! I guess it's 'a wedge it into a corner job' then. I usually find a way around these things!

Just out of interest though, how many driving games are there out there that actually support both a clutch pedal and also a H shifter?  

[sparks50 0]

Well all the serious modern simulators supports it, the list  of more arcade games are much shorter.

From logitech, all games supporting  six-speed  shifter, 900-degree steering, and force feedback.

   *   rFactor™

     by ImageSpace

   * GTR2

     by SimBin

   * Test Drive® Unlimited

     by Atari

   * Live for Speed

     by Scawen Roberts, Eric Bailey, Victor van Vlaardingen

   * Need for Speed™: Carbon

     by Electonic Arts

   * Need for Speed™: Undercover

     by Electonic Arts

   * RACE: The WTCC Game

     by SimBin

   * RACE: Caterham Expansion

     by SimBin

   * RACE 07: The WTCC Game

     by SimBin

   * Project Torque

    by Invictius, added by sparks.

In addition to this, a lot of games supports the clutch, so you can use the shifter as a sequential shifter.

[Balschoiw 0]

Quote[/b] ]The problem with all pedal sets that I've had to date is that I have had to bolt or strap them down to part of the desk or floor to stop them from moving all over the place when using them!

I´m using pedals on a carpet and I had the same problems. The pedals just kept moving away. I found a rather cheap solution though. Don´t know the english name for it though.

It looks like this:

I put it on the base plate of the pedals and the grip on carpet floor is 100 percent. If you have a floor that is blank simply use this in combination with a stripe on the carpet to fix it.

[Journeyman 0]

Thanks for that list sparks50. Do you know if Euro Truck Simulator would fit in here also? I'm guessing there could be a problem with the 6 speed shifter here though as most trucks have at least 9 speeds!  

Also how many of these games will allow you to actually stall the engine if the clutch was lifted to quickly? ... Now that would make me want to buy a game! (I need to get my wife out of the automatic! )  

Quote[/b] ]The problem with all pedal sets that I've had to date is that I have had to bolt or strap them down to part of the desk or floor to stop them from moving all over the place when using them!

I´m using pedals on a carpet and I had the same problems. The pedals just kept moving away. I found a rather cheap solution though. Don´t know the english name for it though.

I put it on the base plate of the pedals and the grip on carpet floor is 100 percent. If you have a floor that is blank simply use this in combination with a stripe on the carpet to fix it.

Looks like stick on Velcro! Thanks for the tip!

[sparks50 0]

All games except the Need for speeds, Test Drive, and Project Torque I think.

Euro Truck Simulator supports the clutch but only sequential gears.

[Journeyman 0]

All games except the Need for speeds, Test Drive, and Project Torque I think.

Euro Truck Simulator supports the clutch but only sequential gears.

Thanks! I want to be able to teach my wife to drive a 'non automatic'. If I bought the G25 wheel which driving game would be a candidate for a good tutorial?

Criteria would be for a proper working clutch (one which allowed stalling! )   .. and a H shifter!