Community Question | Your First Sim Racing Wheel

[Paul Jeffrey]

Us sim racers tend to quite like our toys... from rigs, to wheels, pedals, button boxes, VR headsets, apps, software, PC's and plenty of stuff in between.... and for those of us lucky enough to own a wheel, I'd love to know which one was your first...

Not everyone runs with a wheel and pedals, but of those of us that do, I'd like to know which one was your first, and what you thought of that hardware and how in impacted your experience playing racing games and simulations.

For my part, my very first wheel was the little white plastic Microsoft Xbox 360 wireless unit - I thought that was the absolute pinnacle of technology back in the day. Oh, how the hobby got serious after that!

Although ownership of a racing wheel came late on for me, I also clearly remember playing IndyCar Racing over at my mates house using a really old, spring force PC wheel. That piece of kit brought the whole experience to an absolutely unthinkable level of immersion. The passage of time has dulled my memory of its name now, but suffice to say I was very, very envious of that bit of hardware...

Anyway, have fun reliving days gone by in the comments section below!

 

[Sparaks]

Here my first racing wheel. With Crammond's Grand Prix 2 of course

 

[sardokard]

View attachment 365217

My first wheel back many years ago. You would push/pull the steering wheel shaft when driving to simulate the gas/brake pedal. Very nice design would fit into any office drawer.

Since then ran i have used Thrustmaster, Thomas Superwheel, and now Fanatec wheels.

Wonderful ! Thanks for founding this "thing" (buit in 1992 !)
That what i'm talking about in my previous post !
My first "wheel". I don't think it s correct to name this SimRacing
I remember it doesn't woks very fine.
If you strap the mouse too tight, it doesn't work, same thing if it's not too much
I remember also my friends mocking me but it s the first time i can turn a wheel and see the result in a game.
Before that, i have to "drive" with keyboard !
Is anybody remember how it s fun to change speed in test drive 2 ?
You turn and accelerate/brake with the keyboard (A/D and W/X) and to change gear, you have to push "space" : clutch and then to choose gear with the numpad (1 for 1, 8 for 2, 2 for 3, 9 for 4 and 3 for 5).

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

blows my mind! amazing. imagine being the chap/the gal who has THAT idea! and then finessing it bit by bit to the point where it actually works! dumbfounded

 

[gamer19]

blows my mind! amazing. imagine being the chap/the gal who has THAT idea! and then finessing it bit by bit to the point where it actually works! dumbfounded

Yes.
What's even more puzzling is that we never heard who that actually is. I mean...
he didn't get as nearly big as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg did, right ?
Which proves once more we have a very niche hobby.

 

[Tova]

This is my first wheel and diy cockpit built for pc and GP1. (about 28 years ago...)
If you look behind the seat there is a big bass speaker for audio vibrations feedback with equalizer. Vga monitor 14''' . After I put a big fresnel lens in front of the monitor and I have a 3D vision with a 55'' wide.........

 

[Tova]

This is my first wheel and diy cockpit built for pc and GP1. (about 28 years ago...)
If you look behind the seat there is a big bass speaker for audio vibrations feedback with equalizer. Vga monitor 14''' . After I put a big fresnel lens in front of the monitor and I have a 3D vision with a 55'' wide.........

I remember that the first first wheel was a Commodore 64 paddles modified with a kart wheel attached over and the 2 button wires put in two lego pedals for brake and gas. I used it with REVS....36 years ago. Preistoric simulation

 

[mikeae1]

Yes - very interesting, look at my comment here in this Threat .
Nice to stay so long times for this hobby.

 

[F3S4T]

I still use my dad's Microsoft Sidewinder FFB from 1998 for Assetto Corsa and it's been working for over 2 decades now, the only problem I've had is that the downshift paddle seems to be mushy but the button still works!

 

[Shoc23]

Wonderful ! Thanks for founding this "thing" (buit in 1992 !)
That what i'm talking about in my previous post !
My first "wheel". I don't think it s correct to name this SimRacing
I remember it doesn't woks very fine.
If you strap the mouse too tight, it doesn't work, same thing if it's not too much
I remember also my friends mocking me but it s the first time i can turn a wheel and see the result in a game.
Before that, i have to "drive" with keyboard !
Is anybody remember how it s fun to change speed in test drive 2 ?
You turn and accelerate/brake with the keyboard (A/D and W/X) and to change gear, you have to push "space" : clutch and then to choose gear with the numpad (1 for 1, 8 for 2, 2 for 3, 9 for 4 and 3 for 5).

View attachment 365401
View attachment 365402

Remember dirty mouse balls cause crashes.

 

[Thomas Lambaerts]

Had the same without FFB. Worked for decade

Mine actually still works. Squeeks a lot but still works on an old windows computer

 

[Benutzername]

Mine actually still works. Squeeks a lot but still works on an old windows computer

You are right, mine works fine aswell. I still have it in some cupboard

 

[prostetnik]

Logitech WingMan Formula GP:

No FFB, but improved massively on my lap times in GTR2 in comparison with the keyboard.

That was my first wheel, too.
After that I got a Logitech Momo, a Logitech G25 and now I'm on a Thrustmaster T500RS.

 

[Stackpipe]

Mine on ps1 View attachment 364443

Same, MadKatz for PS1 in past century

 

[romain delombaert]

Logitech driving force gt for me , is the best for my heart ...lul

 

[Glaniu]

MOMO FORCE RED

 

[stenovitz]

The 1999 Guillemot Thrustmaster Ferrari Force Feedback (can't find good pictures of this exact device)
The one with a H-shifter and 4 sidepads on the wheel, the two lower pads with variable input, i.e. could be used as gas/brake and two upper as gear shift
This setup came to benefit on more occations
1: when lazy and just quickly wanted to mount only wheel while girlfriend was away in a short while
2: bad/loose connection to the pedals (before fixing it)
3: At a time I broke my wrist - but decided with no preparation to compete in a 2hr rFactor1 Nordschleife online event..and actually won it

Miss that wheel, but after several creative repairs I had to change to my G27 on January 2nd 2012. It still works fine, but mainly due to not used frequent in years 2014-2018 with small children in the house (100% keyboard player and only in short 30min races)
In a "simracing career" spanding from a late teen in 1985 with C64 and Ace joystick until now, two wheels in all ain't seems as much.
Now getting into sim with my G27 more frequent again and once in a while looking for maybe Fanatic and VR solutions. But building an analog sound system up on my setup, the joy is still with my G27, so not in that a hurry. I even stil yet play keyboard controller 50% of the sim-time

I still now and then miss my first wheel, mainly due to the variable-input sidepads.

 

[mimaximax]

At the time I was not sure about the difference between simracing and arcade. That Mad Catz steering wheel for Nintendo 64 was the first steering wheel I owned and I remember of an awful experience pairing with Lamborghini 64. Both felt quite broken while new ; very far away from the experience you get at the arcades and from what seemed advertized. I do not recall of the steering wheel working at all with other games like Mario Kart 64, Diddy Kong Racing or Extreme G. There was a bay to insert rumble pack (to enable vibrations) that did not seem to work with my third party accessory or the games I owned. Using the wheel and (ON/OFF?) pedals was a big challenge (in a bad way). Even managing to navigate through menus and select your car before entering any race was an achievment by itself...

The box took quite some space in the TV room, and I end up selling it since I was barely using it. As a kid I did not know much about life but felt abused ; moreover the store bought it back as "used" for very very cheap. I felt very sorry for my mother buying what I kind of dreamed in order to make me happy and sorry for myself for being this stupid. I do not think it is entirely Mad Catz's fault, maybe this wheel was better on PC and they do not have enough ressources to make an equivalent experience on N64. It could have been a better experience if we were better informed.

The very next wheel I got (many years after) was a Logitech G25, a totally different story!

I almost forgotten all that, thank you Paul Jeffrey making me to remember!

 

[thedjhouse]

t150, great entry point

Me too Haha

 

[alvarito14]

buenas yo acabo de comprar el t300 ferrari integral y playseat challenge a probarlo

 

[Tova]

Yes - very interesting, look at my comment here in this Threat .
Nice to stay so long times for this hobby.

I read it !!! When the passion for simracing is for life and began in childhood !
My only regret is that I never turned it into a job. I built many cockpits, many pedals and steering wheels only for passion and only for my use. If I had a little more courage today I would be rich.

These are just some of those built many years ago ..... and now many professional pedalboards have taken over some of my ideas such as the load cell on the brake pedal and other similarities ......