I've used the madcatz for a few days (old neighbor lent me his). While it was a nice wheel, it definately needs to be anchored to something, as the "clamp it between your thighs to hold it in place" theory doesn't allow you to operate the pedals effetively.
In the short time I used it, I didn't play with the feedback option much. All things considered, it will add to the enjoyment of the game. Not neccesarily give you a few more seconds, but likely slow your times a bit. The shifting knob worked well, but it seemed to have an issue with synchronizing everytime you powered it up. Then again, that was nearly a year ago.
As for the bug on the Force feedback wheel, run it on auto and you won't have that probelm. But seriously, I picked up a new one 2 months or so ago, and it still had the bug.
Good luck.
AO
