F1 2011 Best steering wheel/cockpit to buy

[dragons9cal]

I've been looking at cokpits/steering wheels for F1 2011 as a christmas present. I was thinking from £100-£400 as a price range. I was looking at the Thrustmaster Ferrari F430 wireless cockpit and I was set on buying this one as soon as I saw it and expected the features to reflect on what I was thinking it had. I was wrong... no force feedback, no 900 degrees steering & despite being wireless, it is powered by batteries. However despite this, I'd have it on my list as back-up. Now I'm considering purchasing the
Playseat Rookie as a chair and the Logitech DFGT to be my wheel and pedals. Having looked at the actual seat, the bar between
the legs would not effect me. And the wheel has all of the features I mentioned the Ferrari cockpit not having. I believe that these together will introduce a true cockpit experience.

Do any of you have experience with the two wheels and chair and give me some advice on whether I should purchase them. Thanks.

 

[Paul Lock]

I cannot pass comment on either, I would love a playseat, and I hear the DFGT is a damn fine budget wheel - but if you got £400 to burn, I would carefully consider whether spending £300 on a seat and £100 on a wheel is really investing your money in the right thing.

 

[Gav Elias]

The Playseat is actually only £169 at the moment. Also, you can get the Logitech DFGT from Argos for about £80, so that'd be £250 for this setup.

The wheel is the one I have. I have a comfy leather chair and a perfect height desk etc, though I would like a proper seat. The wheel is absolutely amazing though. I bought mine pre-owned for a bargain £55 with 12 month warranty from CeX and cannot fault it!

Here's the link to it for cheap if you don't mind pre-owned: http://uk.webuy.com/product.php?sku=SPS3LOGE004

 

[Paul Lock]

The Playseat is actually only £169 at the moment.

Oooo thats cheap - goes to look at site

Whilst I know a lot of people with DFGTs and they are solid wheels, I think if OP has between 100 to 400 spends, maybe a G27 shouldnt be out of the equation.

 

[speedometer]

http://www.extravaganzi.com/thrustmaster-ferrari-f1-racing-wheel/

i would buy something like this one.

 

[Paul Maher]

I use the DFGT and love it, but I'd agreee that wheel is your primary input to the game, and so if you have £400 to burn, pehaps that's where you should be spending the lion share of your moolah, not on a seat. G27 or Thrustmaster T500 RS FTW

 

[HROAndi]

I use the DFGT and I am very happy with it. I'm sure you can spend more money on a wheel, but you don't really have to if you get the DFGT. Though keep in mind that it takes some setting up and some forum reads to make it work nicely with F1 2011. Also, not all of the buttons available on the wheel can be assigned when used with a PC. having that said, for F1 2011 the buttons that can be assigned are sufficient.

 

[Leo31291]

I have a DFGT and I love it. I've had it for a year now and the pedals are starting to stand out like a sore thumb though and I have looked to upgrade but the prices are ridiculously steep

 

[Michael Wadsworth]

http://www.obutto.com/simracing.html

http://www.logitech.com/en-us/gamin...mc_id=AMR_DR_Test_Q3_FY12_SERP&WT.srch=1&ci=0

 

[Engage]

Thrustmaster FERRARI F1 WHEEL INTEGRAL T500
Why, because they only build quilty controlers, look at the Thrustmaster A10-C warthog
Looks even better sitting on my desk and so will T500 by xmas
Regards
Engage

 

[David Ignjatovic]

DFGT's are low end POS these days, even with all the new Thrustmaster and Fanatec wheels, the G27 still DESTROYS a DFGT.
DFGT have possibly the worst pedals of any racing set, G27 have one of the best, heavy steel construction mounted into a heavy plastic base with strong spring tension compared to DFGT.

DFGT's paddles are pissy little buttons, G27 has full sized paddles that you can slam into gear.

DFGT's sequential shifter is about as cheap as a modern product can be made, G27 has a much better 6speed shifter that's heap more immersive.

I wouldn't recommend a DFGT to my worst enemy.

 

[Alex Llopi]

Hi!!

Here's my opinion, I own a DFP I bought it like 5 years ago it was coming with Gran Turismo 4, is a great wheel I enjoyed a lot specially if you play with PS3 in F1 from codemasters to choose the tyres and the petrol is really usefull the pad that this wheel brings.
As someone said the but of this product are the pedals, not really good position and the poor feeling of pressing a gas or brake.

So I decided to upgrade to G27, and I have to say that I'm really pleased, the pedals are amazing and you can do a lot of modifications with them, the wheel is really nice, awesome force feedback, rpm lights, doesn't make noise when you're using it!

The Thrutsmaster, I never tried but it seems that is an amazing wheel(forcefeedback and pedals) but is really expensive and the paddle shifts doesn't move with the wheel as the G27.

G27, you can find it in pixmania for 185 punds.
http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/875...48&nopopup=1&gclid=COWg8pv24KoCFUkf4QodqlPv7Q

And about the playseat, the Rookie, I just see the pictures and the specifications, is a plastic seat and it has to be on the floor, I think is not worth the 169pounds, I would prefer a nice playseat evolution o alcantara, i know it's double price, but you're seated in a proper seat.

I hope this helps!!

I'm trying to save money for a replica F1 wheel for G27 or F1 playseat!

 

[Paul Maher]

Or, carrying on from above, get yourself a proper classic racing style seat from an actual car!

Found this below for £90 on e-bay, either leave it on the ground as-is, or with a wee bit of tinkering, you could have a seat set-up that would be totally bespoke and look great!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cobra-Sty...arts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item2314bc31ed

I cant see why anyone hasn't taken car seats from classic sports cars in a breakers yards and tuned then into brilliant bespoke sim-racing seats..............*Lightbulb*

 

[Paul Lock]

Yeah I wasnt really struck with that Rookie playseat tbh - plus IIRC there wasnt even a pedal mount, so they would still need to go on the floor, not sure how comfortable that would bewhen you are sat low to the ground.

Like the posts above, either get a good playseat around the 300 sniff mark, or get yourself a nice car seat and go DIY.

Ah if only I still had the old Recaros from my RS Turbo

 

[HROAndi]

You may want to consider this http://www.wheelstandpro.com/ as an alternative to a playseat. It's relatively cheap and can be folded away. Works well for me, but ofcourse it's not a playseat

 

[Hakana]

Just that
http://www.thrustmaster.com/product.aspx?ProductID=241&PlatformID=5

 

[speedometer]

if i would buy a new one i would deffinitly buy this one altough expensive but a beauty

 

[Barry Blocker]

I use the DFGT and I am very happy with it. I'm sure you can spend more money on a wheel, but you don't really have to if you get the DFGT. Though keep in mind that it takes some setting up and some forum reads to make it work nicely with F1 2011. Also, not all of the buttons available on the wheel can be assigned when used with a PC. having that said, for F1 2011 the buttons that can be assigned are sufficient.

All of the buttons work with the latest PC drivers. The DFGT is great. FFB is close to the G27 and all of the buttons really come in handy. If it wears out, it's reasonable to replace.

The weak point is the pedals. They're pretty bad, have low resolution and not built very well. I have ECCI pedals and they are great. A set of Fanatec Clubsports would go nicely with a DFGT and would probably fit in your budget.