Customer Reviews

Playstation 2 Driving Force EX Racing Wheel

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Although the wheel has quirks with both the PS2 & PS3, the wheel is still definitely worth its price! With a full day of trials & errors, I was surprised that the force feedback was equally inconsistent with the PS2 and PS3. Sometimes I started the game and the wheel worked fine with force feedback; sometimes the wheel worked but the force feedback didn't; sometimes the wheel only worked for multiplayer mode but with no force feedback; and sometimes the game didn't work at all - all this for the SAME game. As you can see, quite frustrating, but when it did work, it's was SOOO awesome that I decided to experiment all day with it. I did more testing with the PS3, so I'll focus on that. For the PS2, some games do state that you must plug the USB into the top port (for older systems - for newer PS2 systems, I don't know which is the preferred port). Similarly, the PS3 has a preferred port.

THE BEST CONFIGURATION FOR THE PS3 IS: 1. plug the USB into port #3 (port #1 also works, but I had more success with #3), 2. turn on the system manually - DO NOT use the PS3 controller to turn it on! This allows for the wheel to be assigned to controller #1 - MOST driving games can not be played in single-player mode when the wheel is assigned to controller #2. Unfortunately, the wheel does not have a PS button to re-assign the wheel or quit the game. If your system was on and a controller was previously assigned to #1, then the wheel usage will be inconsistent. Therefore, it's best to plug in the USB in port #3 and turn on the system manually. This way, I was able to reliably play games with the wheel with force feedback.

GAME COMPATIBILITY: Currently, I only have 8 driving games. The most reliably were Burnout 3: Takedown and Midnight Club 2 (I would assume later games in the series would also work, but not sure about earlier games). Gran Turismo 4 and Need for Speed 2 also worked fine, but it sometimes took several attempts to start the game. Like plugging new USB devices into a computer, sometimes the drivers load correctly, sometimes they don't, so try several times. These 4 games all worked with the wheel with force feedback.

MotoGP3 and Tourist Trophy worked with the wheel, but without force feedback AND it required Pelican's PS2 USB adapter ($15) to be plugged in also. Pelican's PS2 USB adapter is worth it though 'cause it was the only way I could adjust the sensitivity of the wheel. Once the sensitivity is adjusted, it should remain the same as long as the system is on (you can change games and have the same sensitivity). However, I am not sure if the wheel returns to default sensitivity once you turn off the system.

Dirt for PS3 worked wonderfully - great force feedback and a joy to drive! However, World Rally Championship was the MOST inconsistent (even though Logitech stated that it's compatible). Sometimes it worked with the wheel, and sometimes it didn't (actually, when I got this game to work, Gran Turismo didn't work).

You can see the full list of supported games (up to end of 2005, they haven't updated the list) on Logitech's website. The manual really sucks.

As for people deciding between this wheel (EX) and the Driving Force Pro, the main difference is that the Pro has 900 degrees turn for SOME supported games (see Logitech's site). While 200 degrees turn for the EX model is arcade-like driving, 900 degrees turn is kinda overkill. Some purists say that 900 is like simulating a race car, but you can only comfortably turn the wheel 270 degrees in each direction (try it for yourself and you'll see) - therefore, 540 degrees would have been more ideal. I think this is a practical observation since several reviewers indicated that it was hard to adapt to the Pro wheel. Besides, the blue rubber of the EX model looks cool and the stick shifter of the Pro model looks bulky (EX's paddle shifter works fine). The final difference between the 2 models (besides price), is the vibration/ resistance motor. The EX model weighs in at 9 lbs, while the Pro weighs in at 15 lbs - that 67% heavier because of it's stronger motor. You may get better vibrations with the Pro model, but many reviewers complained that it was noisy. I did not find that problem with the EX wheel.

I recently bought this wheel for use with my PS3 and have been delighted with its performance. It makes a world of difference in GT HD and DiRT making them much more immersive. The force feedback is good, especially in GT, and that games shows how effective a good FF implementation can be - I can't wait for GT5.

This wheel has all the buttons of a PS3 controller except the PS button so compatibility is excellent. It only supports 200 degrees of motion compared to the 900 degrees supported by some wheels but I don't consider that a significant loss. Racing cars have much faster steering ratios than road cars and 200 degrees lock to lock just feels right in racing games.

This is probably the best wheel for the money. It is awesome. THe pedals slide around a little. But that is such a small thing compared to the realism of this wheeel. You feel the bumps and everything. It is awesome.

My neighbor got the Driving Force Pro, which is a great wheel. It's also extremely large and bulky and he had to mount it on a 2x4 in order to use it properly. There are some cheaper wheels out there as well, but reviews of them have not been kind. The Driving Force EX shares the quality of its more expensive Logitech brethren while being smaller and more practical for the average gamer who doesn't have one of those dedicated gaming chairs or the gumption to build some sort of frame (or the desire to pay $150 for a game controller).

The EX wheel is a bit smaller than that of the Pro, doesn't have the separate stick shift (it does have shift paddles, which are hard to see in the photo), and weighs about half as much, although it still feels pretty solid. I have a lightweight folding TV table (the kind you use to eat while watching TV, not the kind you put a TV on) with metal legs and a plastic tray, and the EX clamps to it perfectly. The Pro would be way too heavy for the table -- it would tip right over.

The EX also has only 200 degrees of turn as opposed to the 900 degrees of the Pro. However, the 900-degree turn is tough to use unless the wheel is mounted *very* securely. It's just not practical for most people. As a relatively casual gamer, I actually prefer the 200 degree wheel because I can just keep my hands on it at all times.

The foot pedal assembly will slide just a little bit on a tile floor, but remains absolutely stationary on carpet (I tried it both ways). I'm very pleased with its performance. It's also more solid than the pedals that come with cheaper wheels (i.e., less likely to break).

So far I've tried it with F1 Championship, Ridge Racer 7, and the DiRT demo on my 60 GB PS3, and it worked great with all three (note to self: do NOT try to play DiRT right after playing RR7, because the physics are completely different!). The single cable has both PS2 and USB connectors on the end. I don't know whether the wheel would work with PC games via the USB connector, but I suppose it's possible.

Note that the EX does not have a PS3 Home button, so I keep a regular controller handy in case I need to use it. I plugged the USB cable into port #3 and turn the console on using the button on the console rather than the button on the controller, as suggested by another reviewer, and that seems to be working fine.

Overall, I am very pleased with this purchase (and less jealous of my neighbor!).

I play nascar 2002 on my pc with this wheel. It works really good and it only took a second to be up and running.

We bought this for our boys (5 & 8) years old. They absolutely love it!!! It works very well with the NASCAR game.

I purchased this for my 14 year old daughter because she loves everything electronic. I was very surprised when my 5 year old son started playing and really got the hang of it quickly. I'm not into the whole video thing but this kept my children entertained for hours and that was worth its weight in gold.

So far I have only used this for Gran Turismo 3 and 4.

This thing is awesome. It makes it so much easier to put in the kind of input you want. For example, starting from a dead stop in a high power car with TC off is pretty difficult to do without burning out using a DS2. With the pedals, this makes it a piece of cake. Likewise, courses with big sweeping corners, like Tsukuba, are a breeze because the wheel lets you turn just a little bit instead of tapping the direction you want to turn. It did take me a little while to get used to it. Its weird because it was like getting used to something that was already more familiar to me. After about an afternoon though, I had it down. Definitely a great buy.

It is the most realistic feeling wheel I have used in a long time. I would reccomended to everone.

Handeling and responsiveness is great -- makes using my driving games work so much better!!!