Ever since it was announced, I have been drooling over the thought of Microsoft’s recently released and much talked about wireless racing wheel. Earlier this week I had a chance to put it through its paces both on and off the track. How does it perform? How does it feel? Will it make you drive faster? Read on to find out.

The Hardware

The first thing you notice about this marvel of technology is how well it is constructed. The wheel feels like it belongs on a high end sports car rather than on my low end lap. Nice simulated leather grips, and dome brushed steel add to the effect. The thing screams sexy. The nicely molded front white cover looks like a sleek bullet train on your lap. You can tell the designers of this thing put heart and soul into making a wheel built up to standards to satisfy race fans everywhere.

The wheel fits nicely onto your lap via an integrated lap mount. At first I wasn’t too sure how well this would work but surprisingly it doesn’t slip and you are able to drive around without any real problems. Of course the ideal way to play would be to use the included table mount, and mount the wheel onto something really solid.

The paddle shifters (mapped to Right and left Bumper) are a nice touch on either side of the wheel, and are very easy to reach should you need them. Just be sure to keep your hands on the wheel when you don’t need them, otherwise you may find yourself hitting them by accident.

 

The guide button is nicely positioned in the middle of the wheel, with the Dpad to the left, and your standard face buttons to the right. It’s very easy to navigate menus, send messages, and generally do all of the things you are used to doing via the guide. A headset jack is integrated onto the wheel if you aren’t lucky enough to have snagged a wireless headset yet, and the headset wire never really gets in your way.

In order to get Force feedback to work, the wheel needs to be plugged into an AC outlet via the provided adapter. You would think this would detract from the whole “wireless” racing thing, but just plug it in somewhere behind you and your pet donkey can still walk between you and the TV without tripping on anything. The difference between using force feedback vs. plain old rumble is very noticeable though. A good thing is that you can use your existing rechargeable battery pack if you want or pop two AA batteries into the provided battery housing.

 

The pedal base is nice and heavy as well. Both the gas and brake pedals have a unique texture and shape to them that only adds further to the professional look. The key feature of the pedal base is the hole cut out for your ankles to rest on the ground and hold the base in place. This works fairly well as you work your way around the track. The only problem is that if you want to drive with one foot for both the gas and brake this may prove difficult. You basically need the right foot for the gas and the left foot for the brake. No worries though, as this is how I’m told the pros race.

The Games : On track action

So the wheel looks and feels great, but how does it actually work when you get out on the track. I managed to test it with the newly supported force feedback version of PGR 3 (included in a nice paper case or soon to be available as a download for current pgr3 versions) as well as tested it with some “unsupported” games such as Test Drive unlimited and Need for Speed Most wanted.

 

First, PGR3. The force feedback works great. Let’s get that out of the way right off the bat. The moment my car was on the starting grid, the wheel tightened up, and I knew I’d be in for a new racing experience. Hitting the gas, my car lurched forward. Two hands on the wheel and I felt like I was driving. Even the slightest turn left or right requires some force as it is designed to simulate actually steering a car. Go over a set of rumble strips and the wheel bumps back and forth a bit as you would expect. Oversteer into a corner and you need to compensate by lurching the wheels in the opposite direction. It all feels very intuitive, and the nice 270 degree range of motion only serves to further enhance this. Now, many people are thinking they’ll be able to instantly race better with a wheel then with a controller. The bad news is that most likely this assumption is false. There is a definite learning curve involved here, especially if you learned how to play PGR3 with the standard 360 controller. Getting the hang of taking those perfect corners the way you used to will require some practice. The cool thing is, that practicing with the wheel is actually fun. After a few laps I was able to pull of some sweet maneuvers I didn’t think even I was capable of. Mind you I wasn’t winning platinum’s, but I was starting to go faster than before. The better set up you are though as far as seating comfort, wheel position, and pedal position the better you should be able to do. Basically, make sure the environment is right for racing and go to town.

Other games

I also popped in XCL favorite Test Drive unlimited. TDU supports a wheel option via the menu, not specifically Force feedback. You are able to adjust the steering sensitivity and linearity though, and by tweaking these setting, I was able to get a sort of simulated force feedback that made driving around the island quite fun. The level of response you get from the wheel won’t be like that you get out of a game like PGR3 designed for the wheel, but nonetheless, the response felt a little tighter than as if I were just using the rumble feature alone. I didn’t find myself spinning out a bit more but that could have been due to the crappy Camaro I tested with as opposed to the wheel. But there is cause to rejoice. Scoping out the xbox.com racing wheel page, TDU is listed as supporting Force feedback soon via a patch. Once that releases, the driving situation in Oahu should improve significantly.

I also tried Need for Speed most wanted. Apparently the wheel has full support for the recently released Need for Speed Carbon (at least that’s what the sticker on the box implies), but I wanted to go back to an old school favorite and see how it worked. I would say the results were mixed. This could be due to the odd handling engine already present in NFSMW, but using the wheel felt a little loose and sloppy. It could be the drift mechanics at play here, and with some tuning of the car I was able to get a fun, yet not sim like at all, experience out of the wheel.

 

Overall, PGR3 was the best experience with the wheel, and obviously the upcoming stunner Forza 2 will take the experience to the next level.

So is the wheel worth the money? I would say right now if you can’t stop thinking about it go out and get it. Playing through PGR3 should be an entirely new experience plus you will be ready once the 800 pound gorilla aka Forza 2 hits shelves next year. Results with other unsupported games are mixed right now (for instance, I have no idea how it would feel playing Burnout with the wheel) but its fun to experiment.

 

Race fans rejoice though, the wheel you’ve always been dreaming of is finally here.

-Jaken Bear