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!

 

[josepmaria]

People ... I still use my first "wheel"

Interact's UltraRacer PC from ... more than 20 years ago !!!
I have also a proper wheel (quite "vintage" also ... a Logitech DFP), but as I have not many place in my desk table I must remove it after driving, so when I have not many time to play I pull my good old UltraRacer from a drawer, swich on my gameport to USB converter and thats all !!!

 

[2112]

My first was a Logitech that fit between the legs. It had a shifter on the side and pedals but no force feedback, only rumble. I used it to play GT2,3,4 and F1 2001. I got rid of it when it broke and went into COD and COD MW. When my ex broke my laptop I used to play COD on I hijacked my sons xbox and played forza and F1 2013 with a controller.

When I got into serious sim racing I started with the x box controller but my kids bought me a Logitech G27. That really pissed my ex off as she hated me doing anything that she thought would cause me to ignore her (guitar playing and reading fell into that category).

Well...Duh!

I now have a full rig with a Fanatec CSL elite and triple screens. My GF knows my schedule and plans around my sim racing. She also likes to listen to me play guitar.

 

[alejandro carmona]

mi primer volante (con force feedback) un g27 para ps3 , que buenos recuerdos del gran turismo salvo por su internet de mierda

 

[gkef8]

My very first was a Saitek r220 when I was 12 for playing ONLY Euro Truck SImulator, about a year ago that simulator itch started and i bought a Thrustmaster Ferrari T150. The best bit of the story is that the awfully cheap Thrustmaster's gas pedal spring broke about a month ago, so until TM sends me the replacement spring my old and trusty Saitek is connected on my pc and provides the pedals while I use the T150 wheel...

Photos are taken from the interwebs.

 

[CobraCat]

Thomas Super Wheel, long ago before FFB matured.

 

[eSEA One]

The virtual driving bug started many moons ago arcade consoles at the local cafe or arcade.
The main reason as a teenager was to do babysitting next door where they had on of the early Atari consoles, play with the kids get them to bed, then the consol was all mine!! Hey what do you know I got payed for it! It was a long time before I got my first wheel of note due to life taking me to sea till the late 90's Then I got this BiG BEN wheel and pedal set. I have moved on since then, so has the wheel and pedals they have been recycled into buton boxes , switches and the rumble motors used on my later pedal sets. In other words it is still around.

 

[nemo_15xd]

t150, great entry point

mine was hori xbox one wheel

 

[Zero7159]

I started in 2009 with the Microsoft Wireless Force Feedback Xbox 360 wheel, which I bought from Target for the ghastly sum of $100. The box had dust and dirt on it, which suggested to me it had been sitting on the store shelves for a while. I used it for Forza 2, Forza 3 and Project Gotham Racing 3, great wheel and fun.

 

[Patrick Dontigny]

Here is my SIM RACING chronology:

1. Thrustmaster T2
2. Logitech Wingman Formula Force
3. Logitech MOMO Force
4. Logitech G27
5. Logitech G27 + ECCI 6000 Pedals
6. Fanatec DD1 PS4 + ECCI 6000 Pedals
7. Fanatec DD1 PS4 + Heusinkveld Sprint Pedals

 

[JohnnyH3]

1. Logitech Wingman Formula Force GP (Red) & cd of Sport Car GT - one day it broke, so I took a hammer to the base (to look inside). :-D
2. Thrustmaster Ferrari Experience - aching left shoulder after every online league race, one day the stiffness broke...it was a bungee chord!
3. Logitech G27 - modified with Red electrical tape to show wheel centre, 2x GETIHU magnetic cell phone holders (1 on base, 1 one bezel).

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

finally, a cell phone put to good use!

 

[mikeae1]

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 ......

It seems very progressive, from which decade it was ?

Fantastic Mechanic, i havent the talent, too do this !
Best greetings mike

 

[RobertR1]

Easy. OSW 20nm.

 

[BrunoBæ]

The 1999 Guillemot Thrustmaster Ferrari Force Feedback (can't find good pictures of this exact device)

Probably this one - because I wondered if I should buy one exactly because the thr/br flappies behind the wheel

 

[stenovitz]

Probably this one - because I wondered if I should buy one exactly because the thr/br flappies behind the wheel

View attachment 366746

Exactly this model - the text at the button right I don't remember to have noticed in the manual - but discovered just as I was in need for full hand-control. Thanks

 

[Ade067]

Well I started off with a Mad catz wheel for the PS1, Although I'm fairly sure I had some sort of a wheel for my old ZX spectrum back in the day but the old brain box aint working too well this morning hehe, I then had an xbox360 wireless wheel which should still work fine, for the pc I had a Thrustmaster Ferrari wheel with the throttle/brake levers on the back of the wheel which worked great until the throttle snapped, I repaired it with a metal bracket which was ok for a while until the whole thing snapped off the spindle so then I treated myself to a Logitech Momo wheel which I thought was awesome, that poor wheel took so much abuse and was used extensively for sims like GTL, GTR 1+2 etc etc I still have it and as far as I know it should still work.

I bought a Thrustmaster TMX off a friend to use on the Xbox one (and pc) but the actual wheel rim felt very cheaply made to me and what with me being a heavy handed old ape i decided to just use that on the Xbox and upgraded the pc wheel to a T500rs and the T3PA triple pedals which I'm very happy with for the foreseeable future, maybe one day I'll treat myself to a Fanatec of some sort but for now I'm happy with what I have.

 

[BrunoBæ]

Exactly this model - the text at the button right I don't remember to have noticed in the manual - but discovered just as I was in need for full hand-control. Thanks

Hehe you are welcome

I can remember I waited a few years and did buy this high end (at that time) Thrustmaster F1 FFB instead of yours.
Because it was the only quality FFB wheel that could also be used fully handcontrolled.
Problem was that its impossible(IMO) to manage any fine control for thr/br with your fingers - if the FFB is at the same time allowed to make its "bursts of movements" on the wheel.

But because the wheel looks so extremely nice I placed it as a personal exibition item in a exhibition glass montre on one of my shelfs.
Im enjoying the look at it almost every day
You are supposed to laugh here - but Im serious.
Not kidding

 

[oscarfaraday]

I saw this thread and I was thinking my first wheel was the G25 I bought back in 2008... And then I remembered! THIS was my first wheel when I was a kid, a McLaren Playstation wheel by Skream(I had to google the brand) for my PSX.

I spent so many hours with this thing playing Gran Turismo 2!! So much fun. The handbrake was a nice addition! I wonder if it’s still somewhere in a box...

 

[lorenzo13084]

Logitech WingMan Formula GP:

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

ive still got mine, i tried using last month but eith no ffb its difficult

 

[RJMik]

I was rocking the CH Products back when I started sim racing. Started in 1989 when I stumbled across Indianapolis 500 - The Simulation at a Babbages in Clearwater Florida on Christmas break. Only had the "wheel" for a while and drove with the buttons on it. You were either full on the throttle/brakes or full off. I added the pedals a few years later and I thought I was in a whole new world of control!