Steering wheels and gearsticks and all that stuff

[peanutbutter]

Do you have one? What're they like? Are they fun or something the novelty wears off with pretty quickly?

[Cold Meat Platter]

I have the force feedback one for the old xbox 360 and to be honest it's fucking fantastic. Hard to go back to using a controller for the racing games.
Also love hooking it up to the PC for a bit of Outrun and Chase HQ on MAME. And Euro Truck simulator :)
Would love one of the newer Logitech ones for DIRT Rally etc. but not within budgetary constraints.

[Wonderful Butternut]

I've been using them for the last 5-6 years, so the novelty hasn't worn off them for me yet. I'm on a Thrustmaster TS-PC currently, previously I had a Logitech G27.

I use mine for racing sims that attempt to be 100% accurate in terms of physics to real life, the endorphins come from the immersion aspect and racing against other people. It's hard to describe, sometimes you just get a car & track combo that feels really good and you can pound out laps all day, dancing right on the edge of the point where the car tries to kill you. I also still play less  'heavy duty' stuff that doesn't necessarily need a wheel, like Forza Horizon 4 when I just want to drive flashy cars around a pretty map. Have a bit more accuracy vs. a controller (or especially a keyboard) and can knock a few assists off. FFB is a bit 'floaty' compared to full hardcore sims, but it's still a lot of fun.

Where to start in terms of getting one depends on what platform you're on and what games you're going to play with it.

@ Cold Meat - The current G29 / G920 is actually no significant upgrade on the old G27 if you want to see what the 2nd hand market for them is like. They're reliable too, the only thing that ever went wrong with mine is dust getting into the potentiometers that control the pedal input. And you can fix that by opening the pedals up and blowing the dust out with one of those air dusters and then spraying contact spray in there. Logitech Driving Force GT is still serviceable too, but I don't think 2nd hand ones are easy to find atm, and the pedals that come with it are a bit weak.

[bomb_dog]

Logitech Driving Force GT is still serviceable too, but I don't think 2nd hand ones are easy to find atm, and the pedals that come with it are a bit weak.

Quite happy with my one. Lots of trucking on this. I guess as I've not used the fancier ones to compare against, it's good enough for me and didn't cost the earth on ebay.

[Wonderful Butternut]

Now that I think of it though, the G27 is not officially compatible with the PS4 or PS5, although I think you can get a third party thing for it. That might be a consideration if you have a PS4 / PS5.

Can't edit the old post anymore.

[peanutbutter]

are the gearsticks generally not worth bothering with? Has anyone tried any in VR?

can absolutely see myself nabbing a G29 on ebay at some point, but I don't even like real world driving much at all, do like racing games usually though. Figure I'd be able to figure out some setup to use the controllers okay without buying a dedicated seat thing.

[Wonderful Butternut]

Gearstick depends on what you drive. Most modern race cars and high end sports and hyper cars, and thus the majority of stuff that's simulated, use sequential boxes with paddles so you don't need the gearstick, and some sims won't actually let you use a h-pattern gearstick on a car that's meant to be a sequential box.

Now if you're into driving road going hot-hatches and sports cars or stuff like classic Touring Cars, pre 1990s F1 etc. then yes, it's a nice thing to have. Clutches on racewheels have no feel though. The best you can do is slighty short calibrate them and learn to change up with a quick stab of it and throttle blip to rev match on the way down so you can brake with your left foot.

My G27 worked fine clamped to a desk and I don't think the G29 is any more powerful in terms of FFB, so it shouldn't work itself loose from the desk and you'll be okay without a dedicated playseat. You may want something to put the pedals up against though, the carpet catcher doesn't always stop them from moving.

Haven't tried VR. Fair bit of chatter about it on sim communities, some people say it's a game changer, others aren't bothered.