Do Steering Wheels Make That Much Difference?

[DanB7290]

At uni today there was a promotion on where you had to drive 2 clean laps (i.e. not making the timer go red) with an Audi R8 on Trial Mountain on GT5 using a G25 wheel and pedals in order to claim a prize. Easy, I thought. Watching others trying to keep it in a straight line was amusing, and then it came to my turn. I asked the guy if I could have it set to manual and the TC off, but he wouldn't let me. Still, on my first lap, even when I misjudged the banked left hander towards the end of the lap and spun, still counted as a clean lap as the timer stayed white, I was nearly a full second ahead of 2nd place from the day. 2nd lap I was a full 5 seconds clear of anybody else, so won. Even then I was trying to get some nice powerslides going, rather than going for the overall best time. So that either shows that a) I'm distantly related to Sebastien Vettel, or b) people at my uni suck. As much as I would like to think it is the former, judging by watching the others have a go, it is definitely the latter.

I decided to see, with TC off and manual gearbox selected, how fast I could get it to go at home. Drove a perfect lap but was 6 seconds down on my go with the wheel, the only difference being I don't have a steering wheel at home, so use the trusty DualShock 3 controller. Does a steering wheel really account for 6 seconds? As mentioned before, I drove perfect laps, no spinning, not even any sliding going on. Methinks I may need to invest in a nice wheel sometime soon if it does.

[vescaegg]

Makes a world of difference. I really cannot drive with a controller anymore.

[jacobpalmer05]

I really can't believe a wheel made a 6 second difference, maybe there is a difference in the settings? Either way I played with a neighbors £300 ish wheel and pedals and it is absolutely amazing, I personally wouldn't bother with a cheap wheel, but a real one, with proper feedback to the point it almost "throws" your hands off the wheel if you mess up is totally worth it!

ETA:

I think this was the set up : http://www.fanatec.com/html/index.php?id=210

Edited by jacobpalmer05 on Thursday 8th November 19:40

[paulm3]

I used to have the Logitech gt5 wheel, was really good, much better to play gt5 and f1 with as u could feel better, turn more precisely and feather throttle etc much better than the controller can.
Just a pain getting it out and setting it up but when the oppotunitt arises I'd like to go the whole hog with chair & decent wheel set up.

[S3_Graham]

jacobpalmer05 said:

I really can't believe a wheel made a 6 second difference, maybe there is a difference in the settings? Either way I played with a neighbors £300 ish wheel and pedals and it is absolutely amazing, I personally wouldn't bother with a cheap wheel, but a real one, with proper feedback to the point it almost "throws" your hands off the wheel if you mess up is totally worth it!

ETA:

I think this was the set up : http://www.fanatec.com/html/index.php?id=210

Edited by jacobpalmer05 on Thursday 8th November 19:40

That's what I've got.

[Otispunkmeyer]

I can see a wheel being better on the ps3. The dual shock is horrible. Well mine is. The response from the sticks is anything but linear... Makes driving games and first persons shooters very difficult as you get barely any movement then suddenly lots of movement and you're now looking at the sky or something.

Playing dishonored at the moment and I spend most of the sword fights looking at either the floor or the ceiling because there is no prrogressiveness in the controller. Awful.

Wish I'd kept the Xbox, their controllers are very good by comparison.

[satans worm]

I have a fanatec and play seat set up, however i think its a bit of a mixed bag on your times.
The ability to feather the brake and gently push the accelerator is a plus, however lock to lock for speed you can beat a hand controller for the real twisties.
i think over all im a bit slower, however for enjoyability, its a white wash for the wheel and seat set up, would never go back if i could help it

[Chris Stott]

Some people are stupidly fast with a pad, but once you get used to it, a wheel will be quicker for the vast majority.

Today, I ran a few laps of the GTPlanet weekly TT... Calsonic GTR at Suzuka on race mediums. This is a really easy car to drive even with the pad as it's got almost unbreakable traction. I ran some laps with the pad, then flipped to the G27... I was 2s faster with the wheel.

The harder the car is to drive (ie; more power/less grip), the more advantage you'll get out of a wheel.

[DanB7290]

That's the weird thing, it was the Audi R8 that was chosen by the uni competition folks, not a particularly difficult car to drive; and given that he wouldn't switch off the TC and let me use manual gears, it was about as easy as breathing. When I've done the online challenges, I've tended to be around 5-8 seconds down on the best times, so maybe for me a wheel would be a good idea. I'm thinking the Logitech Driving Force GT (the GT5 'official' wheel), as pretty much all the racing games I use don't have the need for a clutch pedal, plus a G25 or G27 is a little overpriced for me. Now all that's needed on top of that is a nice racing seat setup, and either a massive 7.1 surround sound system, or a wireless headset (which would probably be of more use as I play a lot of FPS games). Then there's the small problem of fitting it all in my room at uni

[Aiten]

I don't think they are overpriced. These are very niche products that won't sell a lot. I just cannot justify the cost as they are too expensive for me. Would love a proper set up though. I I may consider it for the next console generation (as no doubt the new xbox will require a specific wheel etc that isn't compatible with the 360)

[Chunkychucky]

DanB7290 said:

That's the weird thing, it was the Audi R8 that was chosen by the uni competition folks, not a particularly difficult car to drive; and given that he wouldn't switch off the TC and let me use manual gears, it was about as easy as breathing. When I've done the online challenges, I've tended to be around 5-8 seconds down on the best times, so maybe for me a wheel would be a good idea. I'm thinking the Logitech Driving Force GT (the GT5 'official' wheel), as pretty much all the racing games I use don't have the need for a clutch pedal, plus a G25 or G27 is a little overpriced for me. Now all that's needed on top of that is a nice racing seat setup, and either a massive 7.1 surround sound system, or a wireless headset (which would probably be of more use as I play a lot of FPS games). Then there's the small problem of fitting it all in my room at uni

The official GT5 wheel is the Thrustmaster T500RS, an expensive but very well-made piece of kit. Fanatec GT2/CSR are worth a look, as long as you have the Clubsport pedals as these are by far the best pedals i've ever owned. However all these will set you back comfortably over £300 new, so up to you - the Logitech DFGT is a great wheel, I still have mine and prefer it sometimes to my GT2 Fanatec

[DanB7290]

Sorry, just to clarify; I didn't mean overpriced, as I have no doubt a G25 or G27 is good enough to warrant the £300 odd asking price, I mean it's out of my price range, sadly I'll struggle to go over £100.

[hornetrider]

In back to back tests with and without wheels, a friend and I couldn't get within 2s of a controller laptime using a wheel. This is on a 360 with Forza.

[EDLT]

I've got a DFGT, it is a bit noisy but the force feedback is good an there is loads of lock if you ever feel like playing Bus Simulator.

If you download the drivers, it can be used on many PC games too.

[davepoth]

hornetrider said:

In back to back tests with and without wheels, a friend and I couldn't get within 2s of a controller laptime using a wheel. This is on a 360 with Forza.

Sounds about right. The place where a steering wheel really helps is on long curves - with a wheel you can apply the correct amount of lock very easily and hold it, with a controller it's much harder.

[john7]

I'm using a Thrustmaster F430 Force Feedback on rFactor. For less than £100 I'm quite happy with it.

[hornetrider]

davepoth said:

Sounds about right. The place where a steering wheel really helps is on long curves - with a wheel you can apply the correct amount of lock very easily and hold it, with a controller it's much harder.

With practice that isn't so bad on the analogue 360 controller. I've found that on fast tightish sections you can end up sawing at the wheel quite a lot, as opposed to turning in solidly and finding the optimum line by flicking the controller.

[weyland yutani]

I find cars easier to control on the limit with a wheel and its just more fun generally. Downside is you look like a tt

[Chris Stott]

DanB7290 said:

I'm thinking the Logitech Driving Force GT (the GT5 'official' wheel), as pretty much all the racing games I use don't have the need for a clutch pedal, plus a G25 or G27 is a little overpriced for me. Now all that's needed on top of that is a nice racing seat setup, and either a massive 7.1 surround sound system, or a wireless headset (which would probably be of more use as I play a lot of FPS games). Then there's the small problem of fitting it all in my room at uni

DFGT are great wheels... I actually prefer the way the steering feels on a DFGT to my G27, but the peddals and shifters on the G series wheels are in another class. If you do get a DFGT I'd suggest looking at a brake mod for it as the peddal has far too little resistance as it comes.

As an alternative to a seat, have a look at a 'wheelstandpro'. I've had mine for 4 1/2 years now and it's a great bit of kit. You can use it with pretty much any seat/chair/couch, it's very stable and folds away flat when you're not using it.

[DanB7290]

Chris Stott said:

DFGT are great wheels... I actually prefer the way the steering feels on a DFGT to my G27, but the peddals and shifters on the G series wheels are in another class. If you do get a DFGT I'd suggest looking at a brake mod for it as the peddal has far too little resistance as it comes.

As an alternative to a seat, have a look at a 'wheelstandpro'. I've had mine for 4 1/2 years now and it's a great bit of kit. You can use it with pretty much any seat/chair/couch, it's very stable and folds away flat when you're not using it.

Cheers, I'll take a look. I was looking at the Fanatec Porsche wheels and the pricier Thrustmaster wheels earlier, so much want, so little money.
Just googled Wheel Stand Pro, looks like the same thing the uni promotion people were using, looks like a viable alternative to gutting out my room in student accommodation (who needs a bed anyway?). My seat for gaming tends to be the edge of the bed, as I have about 15" of space between there and my desk, and something doesn't quite feel right about lying on the bed 9 feet away. Probably buggering up my eyesight no end though!