Driving Wheels

  • Thread starter Thread starter zPhoenix
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zPhoenix

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From the threads I see that many people are very happy with the DFP, some were unhappy with the quality when they first came out (but that seems to have been fixed by now), and some are just as happy with the older Logitech wheel (mostly because of the price). Comments on other brands seem to be totally mixed.

But one thing that I have not seen in wheels is a "realistic setup", at its most basic:
- Accelerator/Brake/Clutch at the pedals.
- A realistic stick shift, with one of the variations for the normal positions for the various gears, including reverse - for example, 1st up/left, 2nd dn/left, 3rd up/middle, 4th dn/middle, 5th up/right, etc and reverse wherever that is... I can't remember right now. In real life the stick shift would be right of the knee, but I think that's asking for too much since it would involve a complete chair rig, right and lower than wheel would be close enough.

Does any manufacturer make such a beast?

Does it work with GT4?

Is the price reasonable?

And... does it fall apart within a month like many of the off-brand PS2 accessories?

I hope that the answers are "yes" (except for the last one of course), but I'm not holding my breath.

Thanks. :cool:
 
GT4 doesn't support a clutch pedal, so, nope.
 
Sage
GT4 doesn't support a clutch pedal, so, nope.
Click to expand...

Wow... that is strange, considering that GT4 labels itself as a simulator. I can't imagine that clutch support would have been that difficult to do.

But then again, if their main market is the USA then it is not surprising... the vast majority of people here don't know how to use a clutch and they would hate the game. The mighty dollar always speaks loudest.
 
Think of the manufacturing costs for a real gear shifter and clutch, it wouldn't be worth making it or buying it. The DFP is an expensive unit as it is.
 
Ikari_San
Think of the manufacturing costs for a real gear shifter and clutch, it wouldn't be worth making it or buying it. The DFP is an expensive unit as it is.
Click to expand...
I was really thinking about the software support... that would be trivially cheap considering the volume of sales.

As to the hardware, typically most products like this are expensive early on because the companies are trying to recoup the research costs... enough volume of sales and the prices drop drastically. I'd be surprised if the "straight manufacturing" cost of the current DFP was more than $20-40. Once you come up with a truly good wheel design, it could sell for years and work for ALL driving games... it would be very expensive at first, but after a year or two the companies could still make a decent profit selling them for around $100.

So, even if I can't find a wheel that I like enough for now, I keep my hopes up... sooner or later someone will make one... and I might even be able to afford it.
 
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