As a birthday present for her father, Leora has had the brilliant idea of getting her father a steering wheel for all his car games (or probably just the one, which he always plays for all eternity - Need for Speed: Most Wanted).

I have absolutely no idea what I'm looking at really, they all look round and interesting, but that doesn't really help me in my Quest.
A few things that we need. Firstly we need the gear stick (or handbrake or whatever the stick is configured as) to be on the right. And by right, I mean on the left, the right side.
The British (and incidentally, Australian) way.
You know what I mean.
(Or moveable of course)
And secondly, USB is preferred, but I think they're all like that anyway.
Oh, and thirdly, a price/quality ratio would be fabulous.

Has anybody got any experience behind the PC wheel? Any suggestions welcome. Ta cheers, catch ya later (And hugs from Leora).

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The only thing worse than beating a dead horse is betting on one.

I think they are all for USB nowadays.

I never got excited enough to buy myself one, but from my research and experience with input devices I would say the following developers can be trusted:

1. Logitech
2. Hama
3. Thrustmaster
4. Saitek

I think the Thrustmaster Rallye GT looks most promising although I always thought the Thrustmaster stuff looks a bit cheap and to easy to break. The king on the road seems to be the Logitech G25 Racing Wheel, although the most expensive one too. It has also the advantage that the gear shift can be placed left or right because it is an independed device. For the others you may have to look if they have a device with the stick on the "right" side.

I have yet to see a device with a handbrake designed as stick though. The stick that is integrated in those things is usually the gears shift. Although I think one could of course configure it to be the handbrake via the profiling software or within the game if it allows it. A handbrake stick would be cool of course, especially for games like Colin McRae Dirt or RaceDriver Grid which are to be honest the best racing games out there right now in my opinion.

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Everyone should boycott Ubisoft and their new Online DRM for PC games. This has gone too far in the reduction of the rights of users and I am sick of it! It is not made to fight piracy, but to control the customer.

Alternatively, you could just remap the steering keys to be on the top row of the keyboard, and use a roll of sticky tape that you run across them as a steering wheel. Job done

Actually, there was a really early racing game for the ZX Spectrum called Chequered Flag that suggested you do this in the instructions. I kid you not...

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I don't trust steering wheel controllers but I recommend Logitech.

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minimaster58:

I don't trust steering wheel controllers but I recommend Logitech.

Did a steering wheel ever steal some money from you or something ?

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matneee:

Alternatively, you could just remap the steering keys to be on the top row of the keyboard, and use a roll of sticky tape that you run across them as a steering wheel. Job done Actually, there was a really early racing game for the ZX Spectrum called Chequered Flag that suggested you do this in the instructions. I kid you not...

That might be our Last Resort. Birthday is growing nearer and every single damned steering wheel costs an arm and a leg and probably other more unmentionable parts of my anatomy.

Thanks Quaseman. I've been looking at what Saitek and Logitech have to offer. It's like finding a keyboard though - they're all flippin' American style. I WANT AN ALT GR KEY AND POUND SIGN OVER THE THREE DAMMIT.

Sorry, went off on one there, forgive me.

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The only thing worse than beating a dead horse is betting on one.

maggot:

minimaster58:

I don't trust steering wheel controllers but I recommend Logitech.

Did a steering wheel ever steal some money from you or something ?

No, what I meant to say was I've never got a game steering wheel that worked but my friend has a Logitech one.

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