Steering Wheels for game sytems - Which are da best?

[Anthony1]

Basically, I'm thinking from the days of NES forward. Which Steering wheels for various systems are actually pretty damn good, and actually enhance the game play of various racing games for that particular system? For example, which Playstation 1 steering wheel is the best? Which games work best with it? What about Sega Saturn? What about the SNES and Genny? Did either of those systems get a good steering wheel? What systems never got a steering wheel? As far as I can remember, I don't know of a steering wheel for the TurboGrafx-16. Or for the Atari Jaguar. Anyways, I'm just curious as to which steering wheels over the years, for whichever systems, are actually pretty damn good, and should be tried.

[davidbrit2]

For PS1, you're best off just using an actual NegCon, or some wheel that acts like one (maybe the Interact V3 or something).

On the Saturn, Sega's official wheel works well, though it doesn't actually have pedals.

I have yet to find a really excellent one for N64, though the Interact Concept 4 is quite solid. It's just that most games have absolutely terrible control when paired with a wheel, because developers still didn't understand the concept of proper analog sensitivity curves.

I'd assume the Concept 4 is excellent on the Dreamcast too, but I only have the cheap MadCatz one. And Daytona controls just as terrible as with a gamepad, so whatever.

XBox, I'd vote Logitech Nascar Wheel, since it's the most solidly constructed. The pedals have a really short throw range, but everything else is good (except that the vibration motors don't work with most games, for whatever reason).

PS2, probably one of the force feedback wheels. The Driving Force EX is both USB and Dual Shock compatible, so it should work with pretty much every game. The Driving Force Pro is USB only, but any games worth playing support it anyway. ;-)

And I don't think I've really seen any decent wheels for consoles prior to the PS1. Any that got released were likely just a novelty with bad control, since these systems didn't have analog input anyway.

[InsaneDavid]

For PS1, you're best off just using an actual NegCon, or some wheel that acts like one (maybe the Interact V3 or something).

Also check out the Jogcon for R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 and Ridge Racer V, some people swear by it but I perfer the neGcon for R4 myself.


On the Saturn, Sega's official wheel works well, though it doesn't actually have pedals.

You have to try one of these. It's shaped like most modern day Formula-1 wheels (the MacLaren F1 2005 wheel is nearly identical strangely enough), has decent resistance, and microswitched butterfly shift paddles. If only this could be rigged to play Virtua Racing Flat Out on the PS2.

For the PS2 I have one of the first release (before the gamepad was thrown on there) GT Force Feedback wheels from Logitech. Although other wheels have come since, I simply like the original GT Force far too much. Works with GT3, GT4, Tokyo Xtreme Racer Zero, NASCAR Heat 2002, F1 2001 and so forth. It'll rip your hands off driving the Group-C cars in GT4. LOL

[davidbrit2]

Tokyo Xtreme Racer Zero,

That game annoys me. Almost every GT Force game is also compatible with the Driving Force and DF Pro, but not this one.

[InsaneDavid]

Tokyo Xtreme Racer Zero,

That game annoys me. Almost every GT Force game is also compatible with the Driving Force and DF Pro, but not this one.

LOL Well it kind of grew on me. I had this shiny new GT Force wheel but Gran Turismo 3 hadn't yet been released so I played TXRZ until it's launch and became addicted to it, heck, I still play it.

[davidbrit2]

Yeah, it looks like a great game and all, but I refuse to play racers with a Dual Shock anymore. I make certain exceptions for Sega AM2 products. ;-)

And yeah, I think I'll have to go with the Interact V3 for PS1 games, or a Negcon. I found the Japanese Colin McRae and Gran Turismo 2 at Software etc. (???), and McRae drives real nice with the V3. The only drawback to the V3 is that it doesn't have the analog L trigger, but I can't think of any game where 3 analog buttons were necessary. Oh, and it doesn't work for V-Rally 2, for some reason, despite the game working fine with a Negcon.

[Trumpman]

Which controllers are good for GameCube? I always wanted to experience F-Zero with a steering wheel controller. The Logitech one looks ok, but I want someone else's opinion.

[davidbrit2]

I doubt you'll be able to find any steering wheel that will let you play a decent game of F-Zero. The most glaring issue is that F-Zero also requires you to move the stick forward and back to pitch the front of the craft up and down. I can't think of any wheels that will let you do this, unless Interact released their Concept 4 for the Cube (I doubt it), since it's got a Y-axis thumb slider. Also, most Cube wheels will probably have the pedals mapped to the L and R buttons, which would make you slide rather than accelerate. Unless the wheel has extensive button relocation features, it almost certainly wouldn't be useful for F-Zero. You might be able to get away with using the PS1 Concept 4 with an adapter, but I have a feeling it would still be pretty awkward.