F1 2010 Steering wheel for F1 2010 and other racing games

F1 2010 The Game (Codemasters)
A few questions for you guys with a lot of experience in steering wheels:

Firstly, is the clamp easily loosened, so the wheel can be moved aside when doing things like typing? It would be a real chore to have to remove the damn thing every time you need to type something and the arrangement of my desk means if the wheel is in place, it's going to get in the way all the time - so an arrangement where it can be easily loosened and slid to one side is essential.

Secondly, could I get a wheel for £50 that has decent pedals (not spongy, but not too hard to press down either) that grip the carpet properly, has decent force feedback/rumble and has a gear stick as well as a couple of paddles? If not, how much would I have to pay? I don't see the point in spending £30 or so on something that breaks in two minutes, and have to spend an additional £50 - £100 on a decent one.

Thirdly, are PS3/Xbox 360 wheels compatible with the PC? If the wheel's wireless, does it have a charging dock?

Finally, can you get replacement parts for them if say the gearstick goes wrong? Especially if you end up spending more than £100, you don't want to have to buy a new one every few years - after all, it's just a video game peripheral - and a very specialised one at that.

Thanks in advance!
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is the clamp easily loosened, so the wheel can be moved aside when doing things like typing? It would be a real chore to have to remove the damn thing every time you need to type something and the arrangement of my desk means if the wheel is in place, it's going to get in the way all the time - so an arrangement where it can be easily loosened and slid to one side is essential.

I have a Logitech G25 (had it for 2 years now using it in GTR2, GTR Evolution, iRacing and now this game) and yes it is relatively easy to loosen the clap where the wheel is attached to my desk. There are times (like right now) when I am driving a lot where I just keep the wheel attached to the desk and type around the wheel and there are times when I know I am not driving a lot when I take the wheel off of the desk. Six of one, half a dozen of the other.

Secondly, could I get a wheel for £50 that has decent pedals (not spongy, but not too hard to press down either) that grip the carpet properly, has decent force feedback/rumble and has a gear stick as well as a couple of paddles? If not, how much would I have to pay? I don't see the point in spending £30 or so on something that breaks in two minutes, and have to spend an additional £50 - £100 on a decent one.

There are a lot of good wheel/pedal sets out there. But don't waste your money buying the cheapest product as there will be some physical wear and tear to these wheels. I am happy with the G25, but do a little googling research and find the right one for you.

Oh I have a piece of wood wedged between my pedals and the wall. The pedals grip the carpet a little but without the wood there would be movement when I brake. But now with the carpet and the wood, there is no pedal movement.

Finally, can you get replacement parts for them if say the gearstick goes wrong? Especially if you end up spending more than £100, you don't want to have to buy a new one every few years - after all, it's just a video game peripheral - and a very specialised one at that.

The G25 comes with a detached gear shifter, but I don't use it. I shift using the paddle shifters attached to the wheel and (knock on wood) they are well constructed and I can't see the need for them to ever break under normal use. Oh I still have the detached gear shifter attached to the desk since there are buttons on the device that are occasionally used.

There are some simmers (especially in iRacing) who have gone down the slippery slope of building themselves some fairly complex driving rigs. I have not gone down that slippery slope yet, my wheel is still only attached to my desk. But I can't imagine myself ever going back to a driving game without wheels and pedals. As I said there are some good products out there and you will not go wrong with any of them if you don't cheap out and by the cheapest product on the market. Do some research, spend your money wisely and you will be happy with your purchase.
 
Here in sweden the G25 isnt sold any more, and it havent been listed at logitech.com either for quite some time. If you can find a flawless G25 on the after market it will surely be your moneys worth.

If you want a new wheel i recommend the G27. Also the wheelstandpro.com could be interesting for you. I own one of those for my G27.
This will give you much more natural and adjustable driving position than most tables can.
Depending on money you might wanna look at the ClubSport Pedals from fanatec, they use a seperate usb port and software so they work with any wheel, hypothetically even with a game pad although I wouldnt recommend it ;)
 
The G27 is around £189 - that's way out of my budget - what's the least I could expect to pay for a decent wheel? To be honest, build quality and durability would be the primary things I'll be looking for - up to now I've been driving with an Xbox 360 pad, so pretty much any wheel has to be better than that, no?

To UK members - are there any stores you know of in London where you can try wheels out? That would be a big help in deciding which one to go for - especially if I end up spending a lot of money, I want to try it out first.

There are a lot of good wheel/pedal sets out there. But don't waste your money buying the cheapest product as there will be some physical wear and tear to these wheels. I am happy with the G25, but do a little googling research and find the right one for you.

I definitely won't be going for any second hand ones - you have no idea how much they've been used. Nope, it's gotta be new. :)
 
The cheapest I could find a G27 here is 270£.
Well a wheel that cost you the same or just a little more than a game pad would probably be a piece of crap, and you'll be better off with a game pad TBH. At least imo.

But it's much a personal preference also off course. But for me, I wouldnt buy anything cheaper then a logitech momo. Thats about 160£ I think.
 
Thanks for your replies.

Has anyone got this one?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Thrustmaste..._2?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1292014444&sr=8-2

No stick, but I'm sure I could get used to using the paddles for gearshifting - and less than £100. With my current desk setup, I imagine I'd be better off with a smaller wheel (a real F1 wheel isn't huge anyway, is it?)

Speaking of which - funny that no-one has released an F1 style wheel - that would be sure to sell (regardless of quality).

Edit: I'd never buy one that costs a similar amount to my Xbox 360 pad - that would be inviting trouble! No - absolute minimum would be £50.

Edit: Forget that: I just read this review:
Ok so I bought the wheel and it worked for a couple of months, and today 5 minutes into a race I started to smell burning, directly after noticing this the force feedback died. If I touch the wheel it feels incredibly hot so I unplug it instantly. then the smell died down. I am going to try to return this ASAP
What the hell?

The wheel will in all likelihood be used mainly for F1 2010 (and 2011, 2012 etc) - so getting one that seems to sit well with this game in particular would be good (also, I've got DiRT 2 which is a Codies game as well).
 
What about the Logitech Driving Force GT? As far as I know it's compatible to PC. It's a little bit above your price Range, but I think there are no real alternatives below the G25/G27 or the Fanatec wheels.

That's the one I've decided on - it's just over £100 at play.com. :) I've got no intention of spending £200 on a peripheral - the GT should do nicely. Thanks for your help. :)

Edit: Can you vary the ease or otherwise with which you turn the wheel/press the pedals - is that all set up in game?
 
Can you vary the ease or otherwise with which you turn the wheel/press the pedals - is that all set up in game?

There is a variety of software adjustments you can make to these wheels both in the game as well as outside the game using the drivers provided by the manufacture. It becomes a personal preference thing as to how you want your wheel setup. You can even get an add-on devices for many pedals (I know of an electrical one called a "Bodnar") that you install in your brake cylinder that gives you a more realistic feel when you are on the brakes. For this game it is over kill but many people in iRacing like it. Also I don't like the wheel's force feedback feeling I get in this game compared to iRacing, so I have actually disabled it here. But I do use the force feedback in iRacing since it is important to feel what the tires are telling you in that sim.
 
Just watched a youtube video review of the Logitech Driving Force GT wheel used on PC and it looks great. However, the guy said that some buttons don't work on PC - but he didn't say which ones. So, to those of you using it on PC, do the important buttons like the gear shifters (and the stick shifter itself) work OK on PC? Maybe Logitech have since released a patch for this?
 
Yes, I've heard a lot about the pedals; they should do me as I'm not exactly a hardcore racing gamer but, if they don't, is it possible to buy separate pedal sets later on - would there be any issues getting them to work with the Driving Force GT and how much would they cost? I don't need one with a clutch.

I've also heard people talking about various ways to make the pedals feel more realistic, such as putting some sort of sponge underneath them, so I'm sure I'll find a balance to suit me. The first thing will be to get used to driving with pedals and a wheel - as I'm so used to driving with a gamepad - but I've seen videos of people driving and it looks like a lot of fun. :)
 
All those adjustments you will need to make later on only add to the price :) Better do it right and buy a G27 at once, saves you some coins.

I don't see the link between decent metal pedals and a hardcore racing gamer btw :) I am not a hardcore simmer either and enjoy my G25 already for almost four years without any issues. Best investment ever if you see how long it lasts. (EUR 226 when i bought it, devided by roughly 1600 days makes a cheap 16 cents per day for something I enjoy for multiple hours a week)

Cheap = plastic crap = fragile = expensive buy in the end. EUR 100 for plastic wheel will last for a few months before the first issues start (100 EURO : 180 days = 55 cents per day)
 
£229 in one go though! For a flippin' video game peripheral - that's what it boils down to. And I've also read a lot of reviews that say they prefer the Driving Force to the G27. Most people who have a bit of a downer about the pedals are complaining about their size and the space between them, but my feet are not exactly big so I don't think that'll be an issue. The video review I read said that they're 'adequate' but aren't on the same level as the actual wheel itself.
 
Just watched a youtube video review of the Logitech Driving Force GT wheel used on PC and it looks great. However, the guy said that some buttons don't work on PC - but he didn't say which ones. So, to those of you using it on PC, do the important buttons like the gear shifters (and the stick shifter itself) work OK on PC? Maybe Logitech have since released a patch for this?

The buttons that don't work are the menu buttons on the left side and the red dial. From what I understand those are the only ones.
 

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