- 24,344
- Midlantic Area
- GTP_Duke
Well, in curiosity today, I bought a wheel. I did buy the Driving Force PS2 unit, just wondering if they had fixed the shifting bug yet. They haven't. It should be fixable with firmware, because it's not a physical thing. I deliberately calibrated it at 70% turning lock, and it still wouldn't downshift while turning tightly under some circumstances. Not enough to render it useless; just annoying.
FWIW the red Logitech Wingman was exactly the same price, which is what prompted me to get the DF wheel anyway.
I was expecting the shifting problem. I was expecting to be several seconds slower. However, I wasn't expecting to be so under-whelmed by driving with the wheel.
Maybe part of the problem was that I couldn't get comfortable with the wheel set up. I have a great chair in my living room that offers perfect driving position for the DS2, but it was difficult to make it work for the wheel. The pedals walk around, even when used gently; though they operate pretty well. It's also VERY noisy, which is bad because I usually play after the rest of the household is in bed.
Yeah, driving with the wheel is more realistic. I guess. I was expecting more subtlety and more consistency. For instance, on the final chicane of Trial Mountain, at track out on the left side of the front straight, under the overpass, there is apparently a large curb. It's not really visible, and I never even noticed hitting it using the DS2. With the wheel, it yanked in my hands quite aggressively, making it very difficult to maintain smooth momentum across the finish line. Yet pingponging through the rock-walled gorge between the tunnels yielded hardly a nudge from the wheel. I also expected steering effort to disappear at the first tunnel exit, where the big crown in the track unloads the suspension before that next right. Nope - just like driving across a parking lot. People talk about this wheel being subtle enough to indicate tuning changes? Maybe after you've been using it for months.
But is it more fun? I'm not sure. It's definitely more work. It's probably more realistic. I can forgive its flaws, I can figure out how to get comfortable, and I can get over being slower - IF the game is more fun using the wheel. Unfortunately, after more than hour of seat time using my favorite cars on my favorite tracks, the jury is still out on that question.
FWIW the red Logitech Wingman was exactly the same price, which is what prompted me to get the DF wheel anyway.
I was expecting the shifting problem. I was expecting to be several seconds slower. However, I wasn't expecting to be so under-whelmed by driving with the wheel.
Maybe part of the problem was that I couldn't get comfortable with the wheel set up. I have a great chair in my living room that offers perfect driving position for the DS2, but it was difficult to make it work for the wheel. The pedals walk around, even when used gently; though they operate pretty well. It's also VERY noisy, which is bad because I usually play after the rest of the household is in bed.
Yeah, driving with the wheel is more realistic. I guess. I was expecting more subtlety and more consistency. For instance, on the final chicane of Trial Mountain, at track out on the left side of the front straight, under the overpass, there is apparently a large curb. It's not really visible, and I never even noticed hitting it using the DS2. With the wheel, it yanked in my hands quite aggressively, making it very difficult to maintain smooth momentum across the finish line. Yet pingponging through the rock-walled gorge between the tunnels yielded hardly a nudge from the wheel. I also expected steering effort to disappear at the first tunnel exit, where the big crown in the track unloads the suspension before that next right. Nope - just like driving across a parking lot. People talk about this wheel being subtle enough to indicate tuning changes? Maybe after you've been using it for months.
But is it more fun? I'm not sure. It's definitely more work. It's probably more realistic. I can forgive its flaws, I can figure out how to get comfortable, and I can get over being slower - IF the game is more fun using the wheel. Unfortunately, after more than hour of seat time using my favorite cars on my favorite tracks, the jury is still out on that question.
. then i used the wheel at a mates house and it was no way as fun.
