Race Car steering wheels

[Grandpa Troll]

I have been contemplating purchasing NASCAR 08 for my XBOX 360.

I was also thinking of purchasing a steering wheel and was wondering if they are worth a darn and if so has anyone had a good experience with a particular one

Thanks

Gramps

[DrSpike]

Good thread as I have been wrestling with the same problem. The reason is the best steering wheel by far for the Xbox 360 is the Microsoft one - almost everyone praises it's design and force feedback, and the lack of connection to the console necessary.

But it's £80-£90 here, which is much more expensive than in the US, so it's pretty pricey. And until PGR4 comes out there's only really Dirt and Forza 2 to play. For older games you could quite easily use one of the cheaper wheels.

[Grandpa Troll]

Well, I broke down and shelled out $ 134.00 and some change and picked up the XBOX 360 LIVE Wireless Racing Wheel with Force Feedback and it is sa-weet!!

I picked up NASCAR 08 as well and just did a little practice this evening as our two grandson are spending the night with us.

I'll post a picture of it and its sweet, it comes with a table vise mechanism to lock the steering wheel to a table and also a pedal setup with Brakes and accelerator.

Great play from what I could see and seems very realistic.

The actual game is awesome as well, shows draft coming off the car in front and also where you have damage if you pick up some


Gramps

[DrSpike]

I'm getting close to breaking as well - it's the same wheel I've had my eye on for a while, but it's $160 or so here.

I wont be getting NASCAR though - all the reviews have been that it is lazy and not that good (like most of these sports franchises). Forza2 is the game to get for a driving sim, and Dirt looks decent for a more arcade style game.

[Grandpa Troll]

Originally posted by DrSpike
I'm getting close to breaking as well - it's the same wheel I've had my eye on for a while, but it's $160 or so here.

I wont be getting NASCAR though - all the reviews have been that it is lazy and not that good (like most of these sports franchises). Forza2 is the game to get for a driving sim, and Dirt looks decent for a more arcade style game.

Forza is like F1?

Dirt like off road Ivan Stewart type ?

[DrSpike]

Dirt has rally style off-road racing but also has a range of different styles.

Forza is all race-track racing, with a range of cars from 'normal' ones to supercars. Obviously you drive against other drivers in this one.

Both have demos available from Xbox Live.

[Grandpa Troll]

Originally posted by DrSpike
Dirt has rally style off-road racing but also has a range of different styles.

Forza is all race-track racing, with a range of cars from 'normal' ones to supercars. Obviously you drive against other drivers in this one.

Both have demos available from Xbox Live.

Thanks

[DrSpike]

Hmm, as luck would have it I saw a glut of the wheels on ebay and decided to try my luck. Picked one up for £50 including a force feedback enabled version of PGR3.

Pretty good deal.

[Grandpa Troll]

Originally posted by DrSpike
Hmm, as luck would have it I saw a glut of the wheels on ebay and decided to try my luck. Picked one up for £50 including a force feedback enabled version of PGR3.

Pretty good deal.

Congrats!

Let us know how it plays out

GT

[Grandpa Troll]

Picked up DIRT and its awesome..only thing is I have to adjust the steering and need some documentation.

It is all over the place.

I'll look around web

You can adjust the "Deadzone" of the steering and the Linear and the saturation, not sure what each means

Anyone have suggestions jump right in

Thanks in advance

Gramps

[snoopy369]

dead zone = how long you have to move it for the wheel to start registering a turn. IE if you just bump it a little it won't say you turned at all. Increasing that means little bumps won't be as likely to make you turn it.

Linear I think is just how much a turn causes you to turn.

Not sure about saturation, but most that i've seen say 100% saturation.

http://community.codemasters.com/forum/showpost.php?p=2792878&postcount=60

may be helpful...

Basically, linearity around 30%, but adjust that primarily as your "how well does this steer" factor. Saturation 100%, dead zone 0.

[DrSpike]

The best thing to do is to search the Xbox forums for wheel settings that suit particular games.

[Grandpa Troll]

Originally posted by snoopy369
dead zone = how long you have to move it for the wheel to start registering a turn. IE if you just bump it a little it won't say you turned at all. Increasing that means little bumps won't be as likely to make you turn it.

Linear I think is just how much a turn causes you to turn.

Not sure about saturation, but most that i've seen say 100% saturation.

http://community.codemasters.com/forum/showpost.php?p=2792878&postcount=60

may be helpful...

Basically, linearity around 30%, but adjust that primarily as your "how well does this steer" factor. Saturation 100%, dead zone 0.

Thanks Snoopy369, I'll give it a shot.

[Grandpa Troll]

Originally posted by DrSpike
The best thing to do is to search the Xbox forums for wheel settings that suit particular games.

Thanks

I have been testing settings for an hour.

So far have had some decent results in practice, at least, in keeping control of car, Dead Zone -0-, Saturation 30, and tweaking the linear, which goes from -50 to Plus 50.


Ill post some results after I get some better feel

Gramps

[Grandpa Troll]

Ok, here is a setting that appears to have very decent control, and this is figuring the rough terrain, but still you have some control above and beyond what the default setting were

Dead Zone -0-(Far left)

Saturation 100% (Far right)

Linear on -0- (Middle)

Gramps