• Home
    • About OnlineRaceDriver
  • Racing Game Car Lists
  • Wheels & Pedals
  • Esports
  • Trackipedia Race Sim Track Lists

OnlineRaceDriver

Sim Racing News, Tips and Guides

  • Forza
    • Forza Motorsport 7
    • Forza Motorsport
    • Forza Horizon 4
    • Forza Horizon 5
  • Gran Turismo
    • Gran Turismo Sport
    • Gran Turismo 7
  • iRacing
  • rFactor 2
    • rFactor
  • GRID
    • GRID Legends
  • RaceRoom
  • Assetto Corsa
    • Assetto Corsa Competizione
  • DiRT
    • DiRT 5
    • DiRT Rally 2.0
  • Wreckfest
  • Automobilista 2
    • Automobilista
  • ATS
  • ETS 2
  • F1 22
    • F1 2021
    • F1 2020
    • F1 2019
  • KartKraft
  • Project CARS 3
    • Project CARS 2
  • Test Drive Unlimited
    • Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown
  • More Racing Games
    • MotoGP 21
    • TrackDayR
    • MotoGP 22
    • Overpass
    • SnowRunner
    • RIDE 4
    • Spintires

Making racing games wheely good

July 9, 2010 By TomBowker 1 Comment

Last updated on January 3rd, 2020 at 02:03 am

I’m planning to prepare properly for this Autumn. The release of Gran Turismo 5 and F1 2010 are important to me. The dates are in my calendar, my time is booked off work and I intend to get all my affairs in order beforehand – including the writing of a will. It also means that after few months under the bed gathering dust it will soon be time to once again break out the polish, oil up the pedals and bring out my trusty USB steering wheel.

Classic Car Steering Wheel by pmarkham (CC Licence)

Classic Car Steering Wheel by pmarkham on Flickr (CC Licence)

Most racers that don’t use a steering wheel complain that they don’t feel quite right and that they can play the game perfectly well with a controller. First of all, that’s fair enough. Wheels are a real pain in the ass to have around in the living room – there are cables everywhere, you need something to attach it to, need an extra plug socket and will probably have to calibrate the thing every time you want to use it. Having pedals attached to a wheel presents an entirely different problem – they need to be up against something solid and heavy to avoid you pushing them to the other side of the room as you race. During an online race when its impossible to pause the game you can end up on the floor half way across the living room. And then there’s how they look – using a wheel can look so geeky that should a potential partner walk into the room unexpectedly and see you using one you’d wish for the ground to open and swallow you up instantly. You may as well have been making ‘vroom vroom’ noises with your pants on your head and be sitting in a puddle of your own wee.

Yet whilst USB steering wheels can have the knack of making the user feel quite silly driving their ‘pretend car’, when you actually use one you begin to understand why they are increasingly popular. First of all it ‘feels’ right. Funnily enough it feels like driving a car, and doubters should note that games have now developed a level of sophistication not present in earlier wheel-based games such as arcade classics Outrun, Sega Rally and Daytona USA. Using a wheel can also give the discerning online racer a much greater degree of precision. It’s much easier to precisely position and slide the car, which in a full-blown simulator like Gran Turismo can make the difference between winning and losing, and in online racing using a wheel can give you a distinct advantage.

My own wheel is not a particularly fancy one. It’s not very new, the buttons are a little sticky and it doesn’t turn all the way around but I still love it and feel it has enhanced my gaming experience back from the ‘Grand Prix’ series through to Gran Turismo: Prologue. Of course there are hundreds of wheels now available and I’m tempted to upgrade. I really want one with 900-degree rotation, like the Driving Force GT Steering Wheel – complete with “24-position realtime adjustment dial” which allows fine tuning of the “brake bias, traction control and damper settings”. Sexy. There are other good wheels already on the market such as the GT3 RS Wheel – Alcantara – EU (PC/PS3), Thrustmaster Ferrari 430, and Logitech’s earlier G25 model which comes complete with a gear stick and clutch – despite most modern racing cars having semi-automatic gearboxes with flappy paddles on the back on the steering wheel, as pioneered by the Williams FW14B in 1992. Go on Nigel.

Will I get the new one? Probably not – the best ones are pushing £150 and my old one still works perfectly well. Oh, what was that? It has an illuminated horn button? Sold.

Share this:

  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Blog, FeaturedContent, pc, Playstation 3, Sim Racing Wheels and Pedals, Xbox 360 Tagged With: driving force gt, f1 2010, g25, gran turismo, gt5, logitech, steering, thrustmaster ferrari, usb, wheels

Comments

  1. Imbue says

    July 19, 2010 at 7:55 pm

    Yes with a good set of peddles you can end up spending £350 pounds (about $500) and for me I am after months of practice still .5-almost a second slower with the wheel. Now I understand there is a learning curve but I passed the stage when I “got it” but when your improvement drops off and you go into a good race series, how can you sacrifice that amount of time?

    I have thought about blowing the bucks on an all singing all dancing wheel bu, a bad workman can’t blame his tools, prings to mind. Yes using the wheel is so much fun and imersive but I am so miffed at just how much it takes to master.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Social

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Categories

Latest Videos

Team ORD Return For The TRL RLTC Season 2

Team ORD Return For The TRL RLTC Season 2

Preparations are getting underway for the first race of the season as Team ORD … Watch now

2023 iRacing Daytona 24 Wins For Williams and Apex

2023 iRacing Daytona 24 Wins For Williams and Apex

With a total of 16,651 drivers across 85 races, the weekend saw 2023 iRacing … Watch now

Spa and the Mercedes-AMG GT3 Confirmed For Rennsport

Spa and the Mercedes-AMG GT3 Confirmed For Rennsport

In addition to details of the ESL R1 esports series, we've also seen Spa and … Watch now

ESL R1 Rennsport Sim Racing Series Details Announced

ESL R1 Rennsport Sim Racing Series Details Announced

The format, team and prizes have been confirmed with the ESL R1 Rennsport sim … Watch now

The Crew 2 Season 7 Episode 2: Blizzard Rush Begins

The Crew 2 Season 7 Episode 2: Blizzard Rush Begins

There's a brand new Motorspass with 50 tiers of rewards, a country-wide illegal … Watch now

More Videos

Subscribe to the weekly ORD Newsletter and never miss Sim Racing news

* indicates required

View previous campaigns.

Powered by MailChimp

Popular Posts

  • How to perform stunts in MX vs ATV Alive
    How to perform stunts in MX vs ATV Alive
  • VRC Tourers Pack Released For Assetto Corsa
    VRC Tourers Pack Released For Assetto Corsa
  • The Full Official WRC 9 Car List
    The Full Official WRC 9 Car List
  • Could The MXGP Games Be Ending With No MXGP 2022?
    Could The MXGP Games Be Ending With No MXGP 2022?
  • Complete Official Wreckfest Car List
    Complete Official Wreckfest Car List

Useful Links

Sim Racing Game Car Lists
Sim Racing Game Track Lists
The Best Sim Racing Wheels For Beginners

Categories

Connect with us

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

© 2023 Hot Mod Media · Design & Marketing TWOTW · Disposable Media · FPSPrestige · OnlineRaceDriver · The Guitar List · Rescars · Rescogs

Go to mobile version