Question Decent PC steering wheels?

[caLLous]

I've been messing around in Dirt Rally (which is fantastic, for the record) and I've decided I would be a whole lot better with a better input device than my old Cordless Rumblepad 2. As well as other games like Project Cars that I've shied away from after dabbling.

I'm looking at the Logitech G29/920 or something from Thrustmaster (the TX Leather Edition looks nice). It needs 3 pedals, not fussed about a gear changer (they both have flappy paddles - as long as they rotate with the wheel - and I know I can add a separate changer later if I want to).

Ideas?

 

[Raven]

If the build quality on the Logitech G29/920 is as bad as their mice and keyboards I would avoid like the plague. They have gone to the wall in recent years. I had a thrustmaster a few years ago for my PS3 and it was great.

 

[caLLous]

All reviews that I've seen/watched seem to think the build quality is top notch.

 

[ECA]

You're a bit of a twonk, because wheels were available on/after black friday at great prices.

I'd recommend the T300RS , BUT the pedals it comes with are wank, so you need the T3PA at a minimum.
They were available for £200+£65 over black friday weekend :/ now they're £270+£75.

The G29 has a new exterior, but the interior is the same as the now ~10 year old G27 pretty much.

 

[caLLous]

In my defense I didn't know I wanted a wheel until about 24 hours ago.

Does the T300RS come with that shitty-looking dual pedal base? The T3PA looks good but the invertableness of the T3PA Pro looks even better. The TX Leather Edition looks perfect apart from I'd rather have the Pro pedals but having said that, I would rather buy one set than start building one from Thrustmaster's custom bits, that looks like it could get expensive very quickly.

 

[ECA]

Yeah the t300rs comes with really crap 2 pedal base, the issue isn't the two pedals - it's that they have massive deadzones on depression and where you think the travel would end, so if you want to do light braking or pull off the brakes a tiny bit, you have to negotiate the deadzones and I just found it impossible, so I ordered the T3PAs to go with it.

The TX wheel is XB1/PC compatible - the T300RS is PS4/PS3/PC compatible.

 

[caLLous]

Thanks chief. TX Leather Edition (the console compatibility means nothing to me) incoming! I saw there were complaints about the original TX wheel feeling plasticky and lightweight but the leather one is supposed to be much more lovely. Dirt Rally is about to get even more awesome I hope.

 

[ECA]

Dunno how much you paid/etc, but T300rs is on sale again tomorrow.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00NOJJQ...m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_r=0J5W5FSZXJANXK5W82WN

It was £200 when it was on sale previously. and t3pa around £75-80.

 

[caLLous]

Bleh, if it goes down to those prices again I'll be miffed. I paid more than that but from what I've seen, I'm getting a lovely wheel in the Leather 28 GT and the T3PA pedals included. It's annoying that they charge so much individually for the parts but knock so much off as a bundle. The TH8A shifter is going to be € 150 if I ever go for it, and the T3PA Pro pedals (which I will probably never go for) will be another € ~160.

 

[caLLous]

Yeah so I'm still shit at Dirt Rally.

I think I need a stand for it all, the edge of my desk is kinda tapered at the top and the wheel just will not lock down securely (i get a bit of up/down movement, especially when doing something frenetic or fighting the force feedback). Do you just clamp yours to the desk @ECA? I saw good things about the Wheel Stand Pro V2 Deluxe... It has a bit for the gear shifter too...

 

[ECA]

Mine is fairly secure clamped to the desk.
It took me a while ~1-2 hours to get used to the wheel when I started using it, probably the same for you.

 

[caLLous]

Yeah I'm hopeless. I'm doing ok in arcadey stuff like GRID Autosport (lots and lots of time trial laps so far) but I'm a long way off proficiency in Dirt Rally, Project CARS et al. I don't know what wheel you have on your T300 but the flappy paddle gear shifters on the Leather 28 GT are divine.

 

[ECA]

Yeah the flappy paddles are great. I just have the standard T300rs + T3PA pedals.

If you really want to git gud at racing, then I'd strongly recommend getting on iracing, unfortunately it's a subscription service, but they have deals on a consistent basis so annual membership is around £30, but you get real matchmaking for races and it has a strong penalty system so you get clean no contact racing ( most of the time - once you progress beyond the rookie series ), but it aint cheap in general, you get a good amount of free cars/tracks, but you have to pay for additional cars/tracks, you could easily spend another £100 just on tracks/cars to let you race in official series.

Here's a 3 month free promo code if you want to give it a whirl, but I warn you it's hardcore racers. You will be shit for a while. ( Although that'll lower your rating and you'll be racing with other spastics as slow as you after a few races where you get pooped on ).
www.iracing.com
PR-RINGEXPO2015

 

[caLLous]

Ta, I'm going to have to get a *lot* better before I start doing anything competitive (I'm even embarrassed to compete against AI atm ).

 

[ECA]

This is a really good vid for the basics.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQRmYMlmdqM

 

[caLLous]

Thanks. This guy on reddit also knows his shit (more specific to rally driving).

I'm holding off on serious play until the stand arrives - the wheel is too high without it and the rocking up and down thing isn't helpful. I am getting good in Autosport though (although the default FF settings made my arms hurt ).

 

[ECA]

I turn the FFB down quite a bit.

 

[caLLous]

Never playing a driving game without a wheel again. I got the stand just before Christmas and it's perfect, it's possible to set the wheel up in ways that just aren't achievable on a desk-edge (especially if you can't clamp the wheel to your desk-edge because your desk-edge is stupid ), like tilting it or having it lower down. It's also nice to have both wheel and pedals secured to one thing so nothing is ever going to slip and it all feels really solid. I'm still crap at Dirt Rally but working my way through Dirt 3 again, very successfully.

Ages ago, on here somewhere, I remember saying I preferred a controller over a wheel for rally games because of the quicker response times and whatever. Load of rubbish. Wheels are brilliant.

 

[ECA]

The TX/t300rs are much better wheels for the price range they are in than anything else though, it used to be Driving force GT was the entry level and G27 was the midrange, with fanatec/direct drive stuff above that. Now the T150 is the entry wheel and the TX/t300rs are the midrange and then actually fuck fanatec because their QC is in the toilet right now, and the tx/t300rs are pretty damn good unless you wanna drop £1k+ on a direct drive wheel/load cells brakes.

 

[Embattle]

The Logitech G920/G29 has dropped to £160 at Currys/PCWorld.

 

[ECA]

The Logitech G920/G29 has dropped to £160 at Currys/PCWorld.

I'd still recommend the TX/T300rs that have been £200-210 on amazon regularly on deals.
It's definitely worth the extra money.

 

[caLLous]

I have no frame of reference for the feel of the wheel on the standard TX set but the 28 Leather GT wheel is lovely. I had a Logitech Momo wheel about 10 years ago and this one is leagues ahead. That one felt like it was made solely from plastic all over (which it probably was to be fair) and the force feedback was feeble...