Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel

This is the second Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel I have purchased. I enjoyed the first one so much I needed to get this for my wife. We use them for Forza 3. We race online with 5 other friends and family members. Positives: *The "force feedback" provides a feel reasonably similar to the tension on a steering wheel in a real car. *The pedals provide a more accurate way to adjust speed (other than stop and full) than using the trigger on standard controller. *The wheel provides far smoother control of the car than a standard controller. (one of our friends uses a standard controller and we can all visably see him making jerky adjustments compared to ours = big advantage). *The surface of the wheel is comfortable to grip, even during long races. *Our first Wheel is over a year old now and has stood up to a lot of use without breaking. It is a piece of electronic equipment so I don't suggest physically abusing it, but it has been sturdy for me. Negatives: *While it is not as big as a real steering wheel, it is still quite big and you need to have room to store it. *On occassion during a race, the software will screw up and the wheel will automatically stick in a turn one way or another. You can finish the race, but you have to fight the wheel and over correct, it will reset immediately after the race is over no need to do anything technical to fix it. This is very rare, maybe 1 race out of 100, but annoying when it occurs. *Need a stand to put it on. A standard TV dinner stand will work perfectly, it has a clamp that won't damage furniture that will hold it securely. It is also designed to be used on your lap: don't bother it is not comfortable and won't be the proper distance from your shoulders to make holding the wheel comfortable. Need to know: *To use the force feedback you must plug the controller into a wall jack for power. The power cord is sufficient in length for most situations. You can use batteries instead, but force feedback will not be available, and that is pointless. If you are going to race on an Xbox 360, I suggest you track one of these down. Unfortunately they are out of production, but they are the best controller for racing. *This review is biased by one factor: our group is all 30+ years old. We have many years experience in driving real cars. Because of that the wheel is intuitive for us. If you are not of driving age yet and have been using a standard controller for years, then it may not be as intuitive as a standard controller might be for you.

Reviewer background- Mid-20s grad student with quite a range of gaming experience (consoles and computer games, I play racing, fps, and RTS games). I bought a used wheel to see if racing games would become more realistic/enjoyable and I didn't have super high expectations. Just started playing Forza 3 and Project Gotham Racing 4 on the Xbox 360. Pros- Easy to setup Wireless connection to Xbox 360 Force feedback helps quite a bit with driving ability after some practice, feels awesome, and makes Forza 3 so much more enjoyable and rewarding Brake and acceleration pedal provide some resistance which somewhat simulate real pedals Cons- I've heard that the force feedback can break within a couple months and that the calibration can get messed up... I don't know if this is true yet or not, but I will update my review if my wheel breaks or has issues. As of now, it works just fine. Suggestions for using the wheel- 1. In Forza 3, you can adjust the force feedback in the advanced controller options. Mine is currently set at 35% of max, this allows just enough force feedback that I can feel when the tires lose traction around turns or when they gain grip after hard acceleration. Force feedback at 100% was detrimental to my driving ability, since it prevented me from making sharp turns quickly enough. Also, I adjusted the inside turning deadzone to about 5% (originally 0-2%) to prevent my car from swerving on straight aways due to minor turning adjustments and the outside turning deadzone to 80% (orig 100%) to assist in making sharp turns without having to turn the wheel 90 degrees left or right. Basically, make sure to play around with the settings to see what works best for you. 2. In Project Gotham Racing 4, I couldn't find any advanced options for adjusting the force feedback or deadzones. So far, I haven't enjoyed using the wheel for this game. Perhaps the game isn't realistic enough or maybe its because I don't like force feedback at 100%, either way, just realize that the wheel performs differently between games. So read up before you buy the wheel based on what racing game you have or will be using and see if it is necessary to play around with the sensitivity/controller. 3. When you first use the wheel, start with a slow car and work your way up. You will hate your wheel and think its useless if you jump in a supercar and expect everything to go flawlessly the first time. Need to know before you purchase- 1. Force feedback only works with the AC adapter plugged into the wheel. The official AC adapter has 24V, 1 amp output; however my wheel didn't come with an AC adapter so I have been using a 12V, 1.5 amp output adapter which works just fine. 2. If you use the AA battery pack, you don't get vibration of force feedback. I found driving very difficult without any vibration or force feedback, I didn't know when I was losing traction, if the car was swaying or not, or if my counter steering was correcting enough. 3. Not all sellers include the AC adapter, read the item description to see if you will need to purchase one. Final thoughts--> I would purchase this wheel again for $70 but I am not sure if its worth $125-150. The value kind of depends on the long term durability of the product, which I cannot comment on, and how much you want vibration and force feedback. For $70, it has enhanced my racing/gaming experience tremendously. It is now addicting to play Forza 3 with the racing wheel. I like the solid feel of the wheel and pedals, and I don't feel like either of them will break anytime soon due to daily use.

It seems a bit overpriced for what it is (which is why i purchased a used unit). For most people it will only work with the few racing titles they have. All i have is Forza 3 -- so i didn't want to spend $100 for something that i could only use with one game that i don't play very often. Possibly because i'm playing this with Forza, i'm wanting the experience to be as realistic as possible, which means sitting the wheel on my lap just won't do. It slides around and hops off my legs with quick turns of the wheel. But clamping it to my desk creates other problems. Typical desks and chairs are way too high, so it ends up feeling like you're sitting up in a van or big truck -- not a race car, which generally sit very low and flat. So then the pedals needed to be propped up on something, but also anchored so they don't slide. You start to see the reason for these mounts and exotic racing seat rigs on eBay and elsewhere that mimic the wheel and pedal positioning of a real car. Of course you'd be spending several hundred more dollars for that experience. It's a shame that you basically have to put more money into to make it work like i feel it's supposed to. I experienced an odd "bug" with the set where the pedals do not work in the Xbox Dashboard. The left and right pedals are supposed to map to the left and right triggers on the standard controller, but for me at least, they did nothing. That meant i was not able to enter my Xbox Live Passcode, so i wasn't able to sign in to Live and play online. I'm kinda hoping i was just overlooking something, because as far as i could find, no one else has reported this issue. The pedals worked as intended inside Forza. So once i was actually driving around in Forza, the wheel felt great. Going from a thumbstick with 1 inch of travel to the wheel means so much more room and precision for your inputs. No, it doesn't quite feel like a real car, but it's close enough when combined with the visuals and sounds from the game. The force feedback gives a sense of weight to the car and relays tactile feedback about the road surface (bumps, gravel, etc). The "feel" can be tuned in some games -- i found some preferred input settings on the Forza forums. The pedals work, but are slightly less impressive mainly because they do not offer force feedback. So the pedal feel cannot be adjusted -- if it feels too soft or light to you, that's just how it's gonna be (unless maybe you hack it with stiffer springs). The position can't be changed either -- they pivot from the bottom, when most car pedals pivot from the top. I found i could benefit if they were angled up a bit (think the "feet" that raise the back of most computer keyboards). If you're serious about racing on Xbox 360 (or prepared to spend a lot for a great driving experience), this is probably for you. If not, look for a used unit on eBay or craigslist for 50 bucks or less, or passing altogether and pumping quarters into the arcade.

GET ON THE ROAD TO DRIVING NIRVANA! I got the XBox Racing Wheel along with Forza 3 for Xmas. I have never really gotten into racing sims because they always seem very arcady and racing a car with a button controller is not like driving. This wheel and the Forza 3 game has made a believer of sim racing out of me. With the Forza 3 behind the wheel view and the driving wheel you are really racing. I feel like I can experience pretty much what a driver would experience in a real car and real race track. I have the wheel attached to a heavy folding TV dinner table and the foot petals fit underneath. It's workable but not a racing car like position (I plan to remedy that soon-see below). After a few minutes of wiring together the foot pedal with the wheel and plugging it in the XBox wheel connected seamlessly with the XBox console and the Forza 3 game. Then it was a few test track races with the assists on. Right away I was winning races and soon I was removing the assists one by one. I really attribute the instant enjoyment and fast progress to the wheel since I was never that good with the controllers. After a few days I am braking, driving manual transmission and still winning races. I have ordered a Bob Earl Virtual Racing Chassis but not received it yet but I anticipate that will make the racing experience even more immersive and fun. I will update this with a review of the wheel once I get the VRC. Update: I received my Bob Earl VRC. WOW! It takes the racing to another level. If you race with the wheel you HAVE to get a racing seat for it. You will not be disappointed. The VRC is very low profile and I like that better than the Playstation seat which seems more like a chair. The XBox Steering wheel is easy to attach to the VRC. You use the clamping mechanism that comes with the steering wheel to apply it to the support. A spacer is included with the VRC for the clamp since the support is too thin for the clamp to work alone. With the spacer it is "pretty" stable but I think I may purchase a support made by playstation for the XBox wheel so it is more stable. But it is very usuable with the clamp and spacer. The brake and accelerator piece is applied with two sided velcro table which so far has been working very well. All in all I would highly recommend the XBox wheel on a VRC for outstanding virtual racing experience.

Do not buy this for more than $80 brand new. This wheel is made with cheap plastic parts and WILL fail within a few months of use (the warranty is only 90 days). I have owned 5 of these wheels and experienced a 100% failure rate. It is fun to use, but not worth the price these sellers are asking. For $500 you can get the far superior Fanatec Porsche GT2 wheel and a set of Clubsport pedals.

I had been playing Forza and Need for Speed games for a while before I finally decided I needed a wheel to get the most out of it. I bought this one because of the good reviews, the force feedback, and lack of other options. I expected a racing wheel that would deliver some feel like you would find in a real car and that force feedback would make it feel a bit more lively. The good parts: The pedals work fantastically for modulating the gas and brakes The wheel is fairly responsive Not too big or bulky Now the bad parts: The wheel is too small making it uncomfortable to use. Force feedback is absurdly strong and can not be turned down or off (in the games I have played at least). Many people said that it feels fantastic just like a real car and blah blah blah. It doesn't, not any car I or my roommate have driven (Supra, Celica, Golf, IS300, Beetle, Tacoma, ect.) resistance should at the very least be uniform and at best increase as the limits of grip are reached. This wheel goes very light as soon as you try to turn back to center and about half a second later pushes hard in the opposite direction and if left alone will wobble back and forth. It is just way too slow so it is fine for slow changes but if you try to make small or quick adjustments it freaks out even at low speeds. This is made all the worse by the really tight steering, (as it should be for a racing wheel) small adjustments are difficult and it seems like only 40% of the available range is used. I have had no trouble using it just on my lap but you do have to white knuckle it a bit in any car at any speed. Given enough time you kind of get used to it and it becomes pretty manageable if annoying. The game changes when you use the wheel. In Forza 4 I encountered a few instances where commands from the wheel yield different results than commands from a controller would. Most immediately obvious is the fact your steering inputs will do nothing while braking. Anytime you get at least one wheel off the road steering becomes diminished so that you must turn the wheel to a fairly extreme angle for a very small change in direction to get back to the road where steering returns to normal and that extreme steering angle has you driving across the road rather than on it. Also when another car hits yours, as they love to do, steering becomes basically useless from bumps that wouldn't have been much more than annoying with a controller. This all contributes to a feeling that the wheel doesn't always listen to you which is very frustrating. I found the whole experience much less enjoyable and no more rewarding than using a controller. If the force feedback was faster or could at least be turned down and the the controls felt more direct it would be fantastic. Still plenty of people enjoy using the wheel so I would suggest trying your best to test one out if possible before you buy.

Let me start off with one of the most important settings that must be right to enjoy this product: the view. I got this wheel and had a terrible time using it when I was in third person view (looking at the car from behind). I had always used this view when steering with the controller. I found myself constantly oversteering and flying off the track. But when I switched to first person view, the level of control was amazing, and felt extremely close to real driving. I could actually feel the back end of the car trying to come around and compensate for it before losing control. This worked on FM2, FM3, and NFS: Carbon. It's like they all came alive again after over a year of playing them (except FM3, which I just got). I'd been struggling with the last Exhibition race (Nurburghring) on FM2 and was finally able to best it. Same for NFS: Carbon - there was one last Race War event that I could never beat, but won the second time trying with the racing wheel and using first person view. FM3 is amazing when using this wheel and the Interior view. Sit close to the screen - not so close that you'll go blind or get your mom mad at you, but close enough to get immersed in the track flying by. The product itself is very high quality, but not perfect in terms of functionality. This is probably easiest to see in a pro/con list: Pro's: *Gives New Life to Old Games, if played first person *Lap Mount allows you to use it without a table *Force Feedback gives a very realistic experience *Easily Connects to the Console *AC Power means no batteries have to be used (some call this a Con, but I like not buying or recharging ANOTHER set of batteries) Con's: *Not all buttons came over from the handheld controller (shoulder buttons) - can be painful switching between them to get settings adjusted in a game *The configuration of the power cord and where it plugs in causes the EMI ferrite (that big bulge on the DC end of the cord) to sit on you leg - irritating *The pedals slide a bit - but this will happen with all pedals so it's not unique to MS. You have to put a weight in front of it or come up with some other way to keep it still Overall the Pro's far outweight the Con's and this product really does make racing/driving games a lot more fun so I'm giving it the full 5 Stars. Happy Racing!

no one can imagin how glad I am of have had some bucks on this toy!!!... im 24 years old, I was very doubtfull, but I dare to buy it!!!... and here i am, telling you that theres nothig to be afraid of... nice product First, Just turn it on, procede whit the usual recognazing metod of any Xbox 360 wireles control, put you racing game in the plate, run it, and enjoy, i had not to install, update or setup anything!!!!... i haven't even check the demo disc that comes in, if i feel i'll do later... The feedback... sweet, feels very strong oposition while close turns, i'm able to add that to my evaluation, may be a 7 or 8 years old kid would find it to strong... thats what i tink, the sistem makes a very good use of the ground textures of the diferent games, you can feel the road, the experience of any of you old games change 360º!!!... just pluge it to the wall and DONE!!!... Well, whit Dirt 2, it jumps a lot, so your legs are a provitional option but not the best... the wheel becomes a whild stalion!!... the materials, no words, obviously is a product to adoult costumers, very strong body... CONTRA: the only is that the right analog stick is missing, and you losse some of the functions, like turning the pilot head in some views. In conclusion, i recommend it, I dont think you could find anything better at that price rank!!!!... Even my girld friend loves it, now she understand me.. jejeje...

Muy correcto Es de la calidad señalada Es exacto a la descripción marcada Estoy satisfecha con la compra q hice

Item arrived early, was exactly as described and worked perfectly. Hats off to the seller!!

Great product. Fast service . Well worth the buy

El producto es de muy buena calidad, tal y como me habia comentado el vendedor, No pongo cinco estrellas, por que estaba un poco sucio, pero por lo demás, genial de momento.... Espero no usar su garantia XD

Works great