Steering wheel advise?

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Bedevere
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Joined: 20 Apr 2017 01:15

Steering wheel advise?

#1 Post by Bedevere » 21 Apr 2017 01:28

I have had ETS (1 and 2) and ATS since they came out and am pretty proficient at keyboard driving, but its not as fun as it could be with a steering wheel. I am going to pony up for a wheel, but is its near impossible to really understand why one wheel is better than another or why I would want to pay in excess of $300 for one. Since most of you, I assume, are using a wheel and pedels I want to know what you recommend. I am looking for legit suggestions in the $150-$200 range (although a well reasoned more expensive one isn't out of the picture). Bonus points if it is also XBOX One compatible so my son can use it too.

Please, no steering wheels that are not made any more. I know everyone loved the old logitech but if they are not for sale anymore whats the point?

PS: if you know a legit comparison that isn't some industry BS article I would appreciate that too.
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Axel Slingerland
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Re: Steering wheel advise?

#2 Post by Axel Slingerland » 21 Apr 2017 07:13

While I agree that you definitely need a wheel, I personally think that you need a moderately good one. In that respect, all I can suggest is this Thrustmaster Force Feedback Racing Wheel from Amazon for $200.00. A friend of mine bought one and he seems to like it. A Shifter is available separately for a whopping $160.00. It is Xbox One compatible.

If you can spring $300.00 for a better one, they have a Logitech G29 Racing Wheel, which is not the G27 it follows, nor a Driving Force GT that it is more similar to. I would rather have a G27 or a DFGT. But the G29 is what Logitech has now, and it is $100.00 less than Logitech wants from their website. Like the shifter for the Thrustmaster above, you can also get a Shifter for this wheel separately for $60.00.

If I bought either one, I would pass on the shifter. I have a G27 and both the Shifter and Pedals are still sitting in the box unused... [ external image ]
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Bedevere
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Re: Steering wheel advise?

#3 Post by Bedevere » 21 Apr 2017 15:51

Thanks for the reply. I was wondering if people skipped on the shifter if they use automatic, but havng driven manual much of my life I like the idea of shifting. Although $150 for a shifter is steep.

As a funny idea I wonder if anyone has used the Logitech Gaming G Saitek Farm Sim Controller in either ATS or ETS2. It has everything nessisary....
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Tigerclaw
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Re: Steering wheel advise?

#4 Post by Tigerclaw » 21 Apr 2017 19:39

It's very hard to give people advice based on budget really. I don't know the prices of all the available options, and I'm too lazy to go and research it all for someone else, sorry.

So I'll try to advise based on logic. First you must decide for yourself what it is you actually want. i.e. If you drive manual, you'll be more "comfortable" with THREE pedals, not two like some wheel kits offer. There's nothing worse than having a manual shifter, but no clutch "pedal" to push with your foot. Same applies with the shifter, if you want to drive manual, you DO need a shifter.

Force feed back? I don't really use the in-game force feed back, I use the ffb plugin instead. But this only appears to work with Logitech wheels. It does give a more realistic feeling however.

Rotation? I believe the game now supports 900 degrees of rotation, so getting a wheel with 200 degrees is rather pointless. (Meaning, DON'T under any circumstances be tempted by a "cheap" wheel).

Then you need to look at HOW you are going to secure it, some have really good clamps, some don't. I had a "cheapy" that kept moving when I turned the wheel. That wasn't good.

Thrustmaster do some really good wheels, pedals, shifters, but they aren't cheap. The T300, T500 look really good to me, the T500 being the most expensive out of those two. Even the Logitech isn't cheap really, but I guess it must be as good as the older G27. Personally, I'd wait longer, saving my money until I could get something decent.

I KNOW none of this is at all helpful to you, but maybe it will persuade you NOT to go for a cheap option. It really would be a waste of money. I know this for a fact, because I've been there.
Tony
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Axel Slingerland
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Re: Steering wheel advise?

#5 Post by Axel Slingerland » 21 Apr 2017 21:17

Bedevere wrote:I was wondering if people skipped on the shifter if they use automatic, but havng driven manual much of my life I like the idea of shifting.

I don't use it because I'm diabetic and have neuropathy in my feet that drives me batty all the time, and it's much worse when I use the pedals. So I set up my accelerator and brake on the wheel paddles and use the automatic transmission instead. It wastes the pedals and shifter but it saves me a lot of pain, so the trade off is worth it to me in the end.
Bedevere wrote:Although $150 for a shifter is steep.
So is the wheel. And if you add them together, the price for both wheels and shifters end up costing the same. So if it was me, I would buy the Logitech. I bought mine from the Logitech website. But in this case, when Amazon wants $100.00 less for the wheel, I would go there for that. However, they want the same for the shifter as Logitech does. So I would do what I did when I bought my G27. If you have a credit card and a bit of patience...

Go to the Logitech website and register for an account. Then put the shifter in your "shopping cart". But don't check out and pay for it yet. Just close the website and leave it be for awhile. The next day, if they do the same thing as they did with me, you should get an email saying you didn't complete your purchase, and offer you a 20% discount to do so. That will drop the price from $60.00 to $48.00. Which may not be much of a savings, but it's better than nothing. Try it...

Good luck!
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Bedevere
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Re: Steering wheel advise?

#6 Post by Bedevere » 22 Apr 2017 01:22

Tigerclaw wrote: So I'll try to advise based on logic......
Force Feedback - not important
900 degrees - yes it is
Three vs 2 pedals - I actually hadnt thought about it and you are right. I guess Im not opposed to gettinga wheel and going automatic to start and adding on later, but it might be better to simply go full bore from the start. It really depends on how much I am willing to fork out and thats entirely my issue.

Securing it....I am thinking of building my own stand that folds. I have been looking at the ones and I could easily engineer soemthing myself. Also, I am 6 foot 5 inches so likely a store bought stand would be too small anyway. Nothing is built for hairless gorillas like me.

I just hit the Thrustmaster site and yeah they make decent stuff. I like how you can mix and match platforms and they clearly tell you what set works with them.

Axel Slingerland wrote: Go to the Logitech website and register for an account. Then put the shifter in your "shopping cart". But don't check out and pay for it yet. Just close the website and leave it be for awhile. The next day, if they do the same thing as they did with me, you should get an email saying you didn't complete your purchase, and offer you a 20% discount to do so. That will drop the price from $60.00 to $48.00. Which may not be much of a savings, but it's better than nothing. Try it...
That is awesome! Im going to try this everywhere....


I think I am going to have to admit I will end up spending $300 to $500 to get a decent wheel and not be upset at what I get.
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Axel Slingerland
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Re: Steering wheel advise?

#7 Post by Axel Slingerland » 22 Apr 2017 08:22

Bedevere wrote:That is awesome! Im going to try this everywhere....
Believe it or not, my Missus saw that trick on CNN News. When I bought my G27, the 20% discount saved me $60.00. Plus, I used a $55.00 statement credit from a new American Express credit card, and that (in effect) lowered the price to $185.00. But I have tried it at Amazon, and they don't do it. When they state a price, that's what you have to pay or go elsewhere.
Bedevere wrote:I think I am going to have to admit I will end up spending $300 to $500 to get a decent wheel and not be upset at what I get.
I thought the same thing about my G27 until I plugged it in and started using it. Then all the stuff people told me about buying a quality wheel proved to be absolutely correct. As the old saying goes about many of the finer things in life, once you have one, you'll never be happy without one again...
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