Racing Wheel Compatibility

Hornet

Hornet

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Oct 4, 2005
Messages
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This is my first time getting a racing wheel for PC, so I'm total noob here :eek:

After looking around, I found the Logitech Driving Force GT which fits nicely into my budget. I hope it's good enough for a newbie.
http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-PlayStation-Driving-Force-Racing-3/dp/B0015HYPOO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1378043852&sr=8-1&keywords=Driving+Force+GT

So anyway one thing I'm wondering about is the compatibility of these racing wheels with games. Does it require each individual game to support that particular model for everything to work fine including the force feedback feature?

I'm primarily playing an older game at the moment, F1 Challenge 99-02, with some TOCA Race Driver 3. These are old games by today's standard so I'm worried about its compatibility, if indeed it's something to be concern about at all.

Thanks
 
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I don't have that wheel or those games but it seems as if this is dependent on the producer of the game. Even some newer games don't work well with my Fanatec wheel and pedals. If it doesn't work buy a newer game and you will be golden.
 
Looks like toca 3 can work. linky

I bought a refurbished DFGT for lot cheaper and would recommend that way if you can find one.

It was my first wheel also. Got it playing in grid. I will say I have a large disconnect with the wheel as it never returns to center like a real wheel does coming out of turns. This is very disorienting while driving fast as "feedback" is not truely feeding back.

Still want to try it for GT5 on my PS3 though.
 
Gents,

Last time that I checked, Cadillac's iRacing Cup promotion link was still working.

https://cadillaccupracing.com/

It will give you a free 3 month base iRacing membership, and 3 paid tracks (which I had to buy). (6 cars, 9 tracks)

The current default tracks are,

Lanier National Speedway
Lime Rock Park
Oxford Plains Speedway
Summit Point Raceway
South Boston Speedway
Charlotte Motor Speedway
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca
Centripetal Circuit (skip pad)
Thompson International Speedway
Okayama International Circuit

free paid tracks with the Cadi promo, mid ohio, mosport and infineon

The current default cars are,

The Street Stock Camaro
The Legends car
The Cadillac CTS-V
The Mazda MX-5 Cup and Roadster
The Pontiac Solstice
The SPEC Racer Ford

If you're just starting your simracing career, here are some links..

Field of view in racing sims, and understanding FFB clipping
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1776085

Surviving the iRacing Rookie Series, (accident avoidance, for any sim)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqsKm8irA7U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7gH_rfWRqs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwndH_kWfoE 
 
After joining iRacing I started racing in the Skip Barber Racing series. Real world techniques transfer over to sim racing as well.

There are many, many things to learn in this video. Probably the two most important are to use every inch of the track, and the meaning of "Slow in, Fast out".

"remember, 10 feet earlier on the power typically means a tenth of a second, while 10 feet later on the brakes usually means only a hundredth." The longer the straight following the turn, the more this rings true.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQRmYMlmdqM
 
Thanks for all the replies and links :)

RogueTrip said:
It was my first wheel also. Got it playing in grid. I will say I have a large disconnect with the wheel as it never returns to center like a real wheel does coming out of turns. This is very disorienting while driving fast as "feedback" is not truely feeding back.
Click to expand...

That's something I've been wondering about too. From the customer's feedback I've seen online, most people seem to touch on how the steering feel over bumps and gravels but rarely anyone talks about how the well steering return to it's center position.
 
To the OP, I bought that same wheel this summer. I had gotten hooked on Euro Truck Simulator 2, and wanted to try a wheel with the game (had never played a driving game before). Only game I've used the wheel with, but it works nicely, though there was a learning curve to get the wheel set up, which may be the case in any driving game. I bought mine off of craigslist. If you're in an area with an active CL, I'd check it out to see what you might be able to find there. Often you can get them heavily discounted off a retail, and a much less expensive way to give this or some other wheel a go. I paid about 50% off new retail for mine.
 
Hornet said:
This is my first time getting a racing wheel for PC, so I'm total noob here :eek:

After looking around, I found the Logitech Driving Force GT which fits nicely into my budget. I hope it's good enough for a newbie.
http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-PlayStation-Driving-Force-Racing-3/dp/B0015HYPOO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1378043852&sr=8-1&keywords=Driving+Force+GT

So anyway one thing I'm wondering about is the compatibility of these racing wheels with games. Does it require each individual game to support that particular model for everything to work fine including the force feedback feature?

I'm primarily playing an older game at the moment, F1 Challenge 99-02, with some TOCA Race Driver 3. These are old games by today's standard so I'm worried about its compatibility, if indeed it's something to be concern about at all.

Thanks
Click to expand...

I have a Driving Force GT as well and it's a good solid wheel. Well it was solid until I got way too rough with it (Call of Duty is a hell of a drug). Luckily I was able to fix the cracked circuit board traces. Let me know if you ever need help fixing the thing.

Works like a champ in Need for Speed Shift.

The only real difference between the Driving Force GT and the higher grade Logitech wheel is that the upgraded wheel has an actual clutch pedal and shifter gates.

I don't think you'll have much trouble getting games to work with it. Logitech is a pretty standard company nowadays and I think if anything Windows will just pick up the wheel as a USB steering wheel/game controller even if you didn't have special Logitech drivers.
 
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Commander FAT said:
The only real difference between the Driving Force GT and the higher grade Logitech wheel is that the upgraded wheel has an actual clutch pedal and shifter gates.
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Actually a G27 is much better than a DFGT by every criteria, but especially the pedals.
Tbh, a DFGT sux, it's okay as a console wheel but for PC sim racing a G27 is the best place to start.
 
Ignore the haters, DFGT is definitely acceptable for entry level sim racing. Ditch F1 99-02 ASAP and get rFactor so you can play the best F1 experience that exists right now. So many good free mods and rfactor runs great even on old hardware. Check out the gpc 1979 mod with classic wing cars, mvcrf 1985 mod with twitchy turbos, and FSONE 2008/2009 and CTDP 2005/2006, to name just a few of the best ones. And that's just F1 mods! There's mods for almost every genre of racing in rfactor, and they're all free! DRM, Group B Rally, NASCAR, Indycar 1994, gokarts, whatever the hell you can think of, almost certainly there's a mod for it.

I own rfactor 2, Project CARS, and most simcade titles (grid, toca, f1 by codemasters, et al) but rfactor is the only racing game I play every day.
 
requiem99 said:
Ignore the haters,
Click to expand...

Normally I'd object to being called a hater, but in this case you're right, as the DFGT was a complete waste of money, money that should've been used to fund the far superior G27.

DFGT has horrid paddle shifters, a softcock sequential shifter and the cheapest and nastiest pedals ever made, the PEDALS really are utter garbage.

The G27 has a leather wrapped wheel, decent paddle shifters, an adequate 6 speed shifter with reverse, strong and smooth FFB and an extremely good set of PEDALS+ a clutch.

I can move the pissweak DFGT brake pedal with my little pinky as there's no resistance and this will lead to all sorts of braking problems without ABS, however the G27 has a very firm and heavy duty brake pedal and also a far more precise gas pedal.

I strongly encourage people to buy a G27 over the cheap and nasty DFGT, as this is a case where you definitely get what u pay for.
 
You get what you pay for. But, like it or not, some of the fastest sim racers around run a DFGT.
 
Hornet said:
This is my first time getting a racing wheel for PC, so I'm total noob here :eek:

After looking around, I found the Logitech Driving Force GT which fits nicely into my budget. I hope it's good enough for a newbie.


So anyway one thing I'm wondering about is the compatibility of these racing wheels with games. Does it require each individual game to support that particular model for everything to work fine including the force feedback feature?



Thanks
Click to expand...


Don't worry about compatability, most games simply key off of Axis and Buttons.. the Wheel is just an X asis for the Steering and either a Y or Z-axis for the Brakes/Gas.. Some combine the gas/brake axis into one and some split it between the Y and Z axis..


also spend some time configuring your axis sensetivity and deadbad etc in each game if they have the customization.. i was finding it exteremely difficult at first to play racing games with my wheell until i spent some time and tuned it.. before that i could tell some games had the Axis configured more for a joystick or game pad (like X360 controller)..


If you tune it well then most any wheel you'll have blast with.
 
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