Customer Reviews

Thrustmaster Ferrari Universal Challenge 5-in-1 Racing Wheel - Wheel and pedals set

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4 star:		(2)
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1 star:		(3)

 

 

I recently purchased this product due to my interest in playing Need for Speed: Shift, which by the way is a great game. So far, it has been completely plug and play compatible with my Windows 7 PC, and I haven't had any compatibility issues as of yet.

CUSTOMIZATION ABILITY 6/10

For the price of $32.99 before tax, this product isn't half as bad as I had predicted it would be. Customization was a bit scarce as there was no software that came with the device itself, but a little tampering with windows and research into the product gave way to some light at the end of the tunnel.

In Windows 7 you can customize the device itself by going to the Devices and Printers and right clicking on the icon for the peripheral, but calibration or "middle-finding" is pretty much all there is for the wheel and pedals. Thrustmaster's site is also bit hard to find, but what little technical support that can be found is located at [...]. You can download the calibration software from that website and it is leaps and bounds better than the Windows 7 option. Note that when entering the device model in the matrix of products, the only thing that will pop up is a manual. Use any other more expensive model and the software should pop up and should be compatible with calibrating this base model.

Default calibration of the wheel and pedals is horrible once you start a game, and advanced calibration through this software package is definitely a must to make the peripheral purchase-worthy. Almost no sensitivity was available by default for the pedals which made turning and drifting a pain at best. The wheel was customizable through the in game menu, and there weren't too many problems with that.

QUALITY 4/10

The peripheral itself feels cheap, and you pretty much pay for what you get. Since obviously at this price point force feedback and rumble/vibration are not available, the more cost effective method of using a bungee cord in order to center the wheel after turns leaves considerable play between left and right turning. If your aim is to play any real life simulation type of racing game, you will probably want to opt for a $100+ dollar wheel if you consider yourself a serious player. It is noteworthy to mention that turning was still accurate enough to get the job done, and the shift pedals on the wheel served there purpose fairly well.

After about 6 hours of game play, the right/up pedal shifter did break without excessive force, which was to be expected the way the pedal is designed in my opinion. Not many options are available at this price point, so I just glued the thing back on. If you tend to tighten your grip while playing racing games like I do, you may want to take preventative measures because one of the pedal shifters will most certainly break on you at one point. Some duct tape or excess super glue at the connection point of the pedal shifter should suffice for most people.

After calibration of the pedals, nominal acceleration and braking weren't exactly a chore. There was about 5 percent of play in both the accelerator and braking pedals, and being made of completely plastic, extra care has to be taken into consideration in feathering the pedals for optimal accuracy in your speed.

The plethora of buttons found on the wheel serve their purpose without a hitch, and I found that they came in great use for switching views and using nitrous etc...

DESIGN 5/10

The wheel came in a paltry 8", which by any standards is pretty underwhelming. Once you get the feel of the wheel, it isn't completely detrimental to the game play experience, but you do feel a bit separated from even the most engaging of race simulations due to this. The pedals were also extremely light and with smooth thread carpeting, sliding will almost definitely be an issue. Some double sided tape or velcro of some sort may come in handy if your situation is of the like.

The clamping mechanism is fairly obtrusive in design, but does its job well. In a matter of 10 - 12 seconds or so, you can have it clamped down and ready to go without even using any extra material to compensate for movement even on the smoothest of desk tops.

As stated earlier, pedal shifters are horribly designed and the buttons found on the wheel do their job well.

Overall, the purchase is sound at the price point, and I would actually dare to recommend it for light use. I have thus far tested it on my Wii, PS3, and PC and have yet to have any compatibility issues, which is always a plus and a concern with a wheel this cheap. The main thing is not to have your expectations too high, and to take preventative measures for the "wear and tear" of the device that becomes quickly evident even after your first night of intense race line hogging.

I paid $49.99 plus shipping from Amazon.com. First thing of note is that this wheel is notably small at 8" compared to the Logitech Momo and G25 (11"). That being said, I got use to the feel of it. The Bungie Cord system brings the wheel back to center every time. It auto installed and auto-calibrated itself on my Windows Vista computer, so those of you who have Vista need not wonder if this wheel will work for you. Due to my desk dimensions, I used Velcro Tape to secure the wheel to my desk and the pedals to the bottom of my desk and they are stable. The 8 programmable buttons plus D pad are a God send because the right side upshift lever broke after 25 hours of use, so be prepared to remap up and down shifting to the two top buttons on your wheel when this happens. Once I adjusted to shift re-mapping, everything was fine. Have only had it for 5 days, so we will see if it holds up over the long haul.

I bought with the Ferrari Game for Wii , but the Wheel is not compatible with the game, it's very important that in specifications show the games compatible with this accesories. Now I'm trying to find the games compatibles.

Do not buy..unless you are buying it for your 4 year old to play driving and dont want him behind the wheel of a real car!!Ive Had this thing for 2 years! I had gotten it to play ps3 games and it does not function properly! The pedals controlled everything but the gas and brakes. Its been in my closet since like the month after I GOT IT! collecting dust, not too long ago i decided to give it to a friend. A few days later he was putting it in the trunk headed to GoodWill

I purchased this wheel because I received several (PC) racing games for Christmas. First off, I'd like to mention just how obnoxiously fast Amazon (TigerDirect?) got this to my door. I ordered it yesterday afternoon and it arrived on my doorstep this morning around 8 AM.

My first impression of this wheel was that it is really small. I expected that based on the other reviews I read here, and I'm here to confirm that it is indeed small. It is exactly 8" in diameter. However, this doesn't really bother me as I thought it would. I have extremely large hands, yet I can still use this wheel without much trouble.

The reason why I took a star away is because the wheel feels a little sloppy, especially when you're only turning it a little bit. The flappy paddle shifter has a nice click to it, but don't pull on it anymore than you have to because it feels a little flimsy. The pedals are fine, but they barely have any resistance. My biggest issue is the deadzone in the wheel and pedals feels a little bit bigger than it needs to be, though I never have problems with it centering in game.

Pro's:

Only $20
Most games detect the wheel no problem
Works with my nephew's Wii
Much better than a keyboard

Cons:

Feels like it only costs $20
One out of 3 games had key mapping issues (NFS: The Run)

Overall I would recommend this wheel at this price point. If you can afford another $10 or $20 on a wheel, get the next model up. This is a budget wheel.

It does what it is supposed to do and I have no complaints but I had one other one and it quit working about 6 months after purchase. So the quality may not be there.

Well, I bought this hoping it would work for F1 2009 on the Wii, but it doesn't. So, I'm stuck w/ it. That's really all I can say about it so far. Supposedly, it will work for Mario Kart, but I haven't tried it. If you are buying this for the Wii, do your homework on what games it will work w/. I would think that a wheel/pedals that would work on various systems would be good. I only have a PC & Wii.

i think the steering wheel and pedals would be fun if it would be normal size!! this is a very small steering wheel and the pedals are even smaller.. i think the dimensions where in the product info. but i dint check.. i paid like $30 for this item and i wouldnt pay $5. before you get this make sure that you know this is a very small set.

I tried to get this thing to work with Grid, and Dirt II, and 64 bit windows 7. Windows does some basic recognition of the device, but it doesn't get recognized by either game. Thrustmaster doesn't provide windows 7 drivers for this wheel either. I have been able to find at least one other person that has had this problem, buy I think others have been able to get this to work with XP.

we would have loved to use this product, especially since it always being paired with the ferrari game by wii. the wii ferrari game is not capable of using this product. it is false advertising and they should put it out there. advertise for what games can be used with this product.