Racing wheels for consoles: awesome or useless garbage?

[Az]

At some point or another I've either owned or used most every peripheral controller you can use on consoles; dance mats, light guns, 3D glasses, guitars... the usual stuff. Never once have I had any experience with a steering wheel setup for console racing games. To be fair my experience with racers is limited to Sega arcade racers or kart racers so by no means am I big into the genre.

For those that have used them, what's your opinion on these setups? I'd assume like most peripherals a decent first party controller is probably better than a low quality peripheral, but what about those mid and upper priced options? Do they really immerse you into the game more or bring your performance up?

I dug out the Saturn version(s) of Daytona last week and finally tried them out with the 3D controller. Huge control difference (all for the better) that even for me as a guy who never plays racers noticed immediately. For a brief moment I entertained the idea of buying a first party Sega racing wheel, but I don't own too many racers for the Saturn, and even then it's limited to digital control on the gas pedal which seems like it would be a dealbreaker if you're going all out for a realistic driving setup.

What's your experience with these?

[Gamevet]

I only have 3 racing wheels. The most frustrating part about using a racing wheel is finding a stable surface (a desktop setup works best) to mount it to. I've tried using a TV tray, but it wasn't the best option. I would really like to have a good racing wheel for the Saturn, but the only wheel I know of is the cheap official one that Sega released.

Here's what I have:


The official Xbox 360 racing wheel. It has a nice soft rubber grip, good force feedback and fairly accurate analog control. I've only used it with an Xbox 360 that I have connected to a PC display on my desk.

Logitech Driving Force Pro. This was the official Gran Turismo racing wheel for the PS2. I've also used it with the PS3 and the PC. It really is an outstanding racing wheel for its price. Yeah, there are much more expensive wheels that offer a clutch pedal and heavy duty pedals, but this one is a lot of bang for the buck.

Concept 4 Racing Wheel. This Dreamcast wheel is pretty decent. You get rumble feedback, but no force feedback like the other 2 racing wheels. The wheel has a nice soft rubber grip like that of the 360 wheel, and the analog control feels just right. I had to use this wheel with a Dreamcast connected to my PC display, so that I could mount it to my desk.

[Leo_A]

I debated posting since it's going to be a lengthy read by forum standards, but here goes...

In earlier console generations, wheel support was very spotty. Few of the minority of games that even supported such accessories really shined with a wheel and even the best rarely had adjustments to tune to one's personal preference or to account for variations in wheel offerings from different producers.

It tended to be at most just passing support to be able to have an icon on the back of the box or case insert. Most wheel/pedal users thus gravitated towards the PC which is where the games that could best utilize them were exclusive to anyways (Simulations like Grand Prix Legends). Most console wheel products were shoddy and even at best, worked only halfway well out of the box and did not stand up to prolonged usage. Generally was best to stick to game specific accessories like the Indy 500 controller for Indy 500 or Namco's products for their PS1 era racers, with most of the rest a waste of time.

Things started to change for the better with the PS2. This console supported popular Logitech PC offerings at the time that many sim fans on the PC were buying for games like the Papyrus titles. We started to see developers pay attention to this and start to offer support like the first instances of wheel support in Sony's Gran Turismo series, although the situation remained as poor as ever on the Xbox and GCN (No force feedback on the Xbox, for instance of the severe limitations).

It really started to shine with the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, but alas, quality wheels demand high prices and one can expect to pay an amount roughly equivalent to the price of a new console for something like a Fanatec. And on the 360, only approved products were allowed to work unlike the PS3 situation that still allowed popular Logitech models to be supported. But this is where wheel support become commonplace on consoles and became a basic requirement for most racing games.

The situation has held steady on the XB1/PS4, with the caveat that last-gen wheels essentially were unsupported and a tightening of the reigns by Sony unlike the freedom offered on the PS3 that allowed PS2 era wheels to be carried forward. But it has established itself as a popular niche option and consoles are finally seeing true full fledged simulations with Dirt Rally perhaps the best example that caters to the dedicated fans that have spent $300 or more for the necessary accessory to fully enjoy such games.

The days of the best that a console could see in the realism department being a simcade like Forza or GT that had to be fully enjoyable with a gamepad with the necessary numbing down to make that possible is now in the past. I expect most traditional PC racing simulations to make console appearances in the future, with PC exclusives relegated to premium subscription based offerings like iRacing.

[otaku]

my folks got me one for mario kart 64 that i loved as a kid and i've been eyeballing a ferrari branded one for forza 6 recently as long as its under 100 bucks and i can figure out a comfy way to use it i think wheels are great

[Graham Mitchell]

I've had a couple, and they can be fun (I loved it for Outrun 2 on the 360) but they're tough to set up comfortably, especially if you're sitting on a couch. You have to literally clip it to the edge of a tale, then put the foot pedals...somewhere? In order to have a really good experience you have to basically build a chair for it. I had a friend who was nuts and made an apparatus out of a desk chair, it was awesome but it takes a lot of dedication to set something like that up.

I ended up not using my wheels much after the novelty wore off, and I don't think I'll get another one.

[Leo_A]

The easiest way is to use them at a computer desk. That's typically what manufacturers have in mind.

[Gamevet]

Yep!

A desktop is really the easiest (best) way to use a racing wheel.

[WCP]

It would be super awesome if somebody made a racing wheel that was actually a full sized wheel like from a real car. Every single racing wheel I've tried has always been much smaller. Some of them are like 50 percent as big as a real car, some are like maybe 70 percent as big (if we're lucky), but I've never seen one with an actual real sized wheel. If they ever make one with a real sized steering wheel, with all the force feedback, and the 900 degree turning and everything is totally perfect, I would probably want to try something like that, and I might be willing to pay as much as $500 for something like that, but I'm guessing the type of thing I would want would probably cost double or triple that.


I'm screwing around with VR, and eventually it would be awesome to have a wheel for VR, but there are a number of problems with racing games and VR that can't simply be solved by a wheel. First of all, ideally the wheel itself would actually be tracked by the tracking system, and I don't think there is anything out yet that does that. The other HUGE problem that can't be solved right now, is the disconnect between what you see in VR and what your actual body feels in VR. The thing about driving a car, it can be simulated almost perfectly in VR, but they can't make you feel the inertia, or the force of your body being moved around like in a real car. Everything you see and everything you hear can be super awesome, but when you take that turn really sharply, your body isn't feeling the inertia of that, or the force of that, and that disconnect can make people sick. I haven't played a racing game in VR yet myself, but from the comments I've seen it's like half the people that try it can't play them because of this.


Now, if you were a millionaire, I could imagine at some point there will be a motion simulator rig that you could buy for about 10 grand that could perfectly simulate the force and inertia of riding around in a real car. Unfortunately, I'm not a millionaire yet...

[Leo_A]

I went with a full size wheel on my TSW but eventually swapped it out. It worked nice for high speed ovals, but wasn't as desirable for road course racing.

Most racecar wheels aren't full size though like your passenger sedan has, so it's prototypical that they're smaller. Even in stockcar racing where they proliferated for generations, smaller size wheels seem to have become commonplace in the 2000's.

[retroman]

I say junk, but that is just my opinion. I like a regular controller.

[Ze_ro]

I vote useless. They're always way too small, thus ruining the immersion they're trying to provide in the first place. "Motion sensing" crap like the Wii Wheel is even worse.

I have the 360 wireless wheel, and it's designed so that you can hold it on your lap instead of bolting it to a desk... this seemed like a great idea, but the positioning totally doesn't work and spoils the immersion even more.

Personally, I think something like the Jogcon would be a better idea. You get the improved sensitivity of a wheel without the clumsiness of a fake steering setup.

--Zero