Joysticks and Wheels: The Winter 2002 Collection

Installation Without Tears

No problem with installation. The wheel is clamped in the usual way with two screws, which may not be the most practical method, but, once in place, the wheel does not move at all. The generic Thrustmaster drivers are easy to install with any operating system, including XP, and the wheel is detected immediately. With the Thrustmaster you can adapt your wheel to a specific game. The only drawback is the icon which installs itself without asking and makes strange searches without asking every time you boot your PC - it is a real pain.

We Can't All Be Schumachers!

This wheel feels pretty strange at first. You can't hold it at the top, and the space for the hands is rather small without much leeway. The world champ must have really slender hands! The angularity does not make the wheel very pleasant to touch. Of course we must remember that this wheel was designed for Formula 1, and in real life never makes a lot of turns. It has no lack of buttons and even has a direction hat for things like views. The pedal set is comfortable, ergonomically positioned, and the travel long and resistant enough, so no trouble there. By the way, if you don't want to use the pedals, there are analog levers behind the wheel you can use perfectly well for braking and accelerating, as long as you are in automatic.