Racing Wheel Controllers

Does anyone collect and enjoy playing racing games with a good wheel/pedal setup? I have to say that racing is probably my favorite gaming genre, but steering wheel controllers have been hit and miss as far as making the playing experience better. My favorites are the N64 Cruisin' games played with an interact wheel/pedals controller. Some that I don't think control well are games that have touchy steering mechanics to begin with. If you find that the analog stick steering control on a PS2 or Xbox game is overly sensitive, I have found that a racing wheel controller only magnifies the problem.

Any thoughts?

I have only played the Colecovision and N64 Interact but was pleased with both.
Guess you could count the Atari Indy 500 controller also.

I have heard a lot of other people complain about some of the Playstation and Xbox steering wheels.

Anyone recommend a good steering wheel for any system?

I have a Nascar racing wheel that I use with my computer to play, well, a Nascar racing game.

Word of warning: All Playstation racing wheels do not work with all racing games on PS2. I have one that looks like a few pins are missing in the connector and it obviously was designed for PSX games and consoles. It works with PSX console fine and every PSX racer I throw at it. I plug it into my PS2 consoles and some racers work fine (Ridge Racer, NASCAR 2001, Gran Turismo 4), but others will not even register a single button click (Ford Racing, NASCAR Heat 2002). I have another multi-platform wheel (PS2, DC, GCN) and it performs with every PS2 racer I throw at it. In looking at the Playstation plug on this one, all the pins are present.

So, be wary. Just because a racing wheel has a Playstation plug, make sure to look at the pin count to know for certain whether it is a PSX or PS2 controller. PSX wheels will work with some PS2 racers, but not all and it is very hit and miss to the ratio. When they work with a PS2 racing game, all buttons and pedals work great, but it is just trying the games to see which ones register and which ones do not.

Thanks for that info sloan.

How do you like the multi-platform wheel?

Well, talking about racing controllers, I just got this one for my Vectrex, the Overdrive Controller:



It works both as a paddle controller and as racing controller. I just tested it this weekend and it works very well. The positioning of the black buttons works perfectly because it allows the player to shift gears with the thumb while still steering.

Now that's a piece of ancient tech I didn't know existed. Racing in vector graphics, who would have thought?

sloan wrote:Now that's a piece of ancient tech I didn't know existed. Racing in vector graphics, who would have thought?

Oh yes, Pole Position, Hyperchase, and a couple of new homebrew games are being developed as well.

Looks like it would fit the Vectrex experience. Does it?

onthinice wrote:Looks like it would fit the Vectrex experience. Does it?

Yes it does, and quite well.

My review of the Overdrive Controller is up on RVG: Overdrive Controller

Great Review! Funny thing after all these years that someone is providing a steering controller. That is a good thing!

I doubt the folks who originally designed these consoles ever expected them to be still be "alive" thanks to the efforts of fans of said consoles.

Well written review, even if I know basically nothing about Vectrex. Always a fan of vector graphics arcade titles like Battlezone and Tempest, I did know of the Vectrex. I should say that the small display screen (is that a 10"monitor?) is a deterrent for me.

sloan wrote:Well written review, even if I know basically nothing about Vectrex. Always a fan of vector graphics arcade titles like Battlezone and Tempest, I did know of the Vectrex. I should say that the small display screen (is that a 10"monitor?) is a deterrent for me.

Thank you! The display screen works just fine for the system. You are not sitting to far from it when you play. A much larger screen would be impractical because of the overlays used to colorize the games.