Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

First off, I'm a racer. I've been racing since I got my hands on Test Drive III in 1990. Stunt Driver, that same year... followed by the birth of the NFS series. I bought a PS solely for Gran Turismo. Marathon races baby! Anyway, my point bringing up my past is that we've been racing with keyboards and controllers for over 20 years, wheels are a relatively new thing (unless you count that one that clamped to the desk and you strapped a mouse to it). So take that into consideration when you say, "It's hard, the controller is better!" That being said... it's actually not. I owned a Fanatec Speedster 3 for the Xbox and the learning curve on the Speed Wheel was much much shorter. I had the Speed Wheel down in under half an hour (although some games I'm still fine tuning it... just to tweak it out)... More like 3 races. Think about how long it took you to learn how to control a car with the analog stick! The responsiveness of this thing is immaculate. I was greatly impressed. There is ZERO lag. There was a video on youtube I watched before I bought this and it showed like half a second lag... well the dude's editing must have been off, because it's 1 to 1. (in fact... I'm gonna go leave a comment on that guys video telling him it's BS!) The lack of bumpers? I haven't experienced a game* where this matters (in-game), most games that support the wheel allow remapping of buttons. A few games assign the bumpers to shifting, but since they aren't sims it doesn't really matter. Which brings me to the next section, the games (note: I didn't include most of the sims because they've pretty much been covered in other reviews): ++Grid: The first game I tried. Performance is incredible and blew me away. It was hard to put it down to continue testing the other games!!! Setup is precise, allows for remapping of buttons and configuration of wheel's: deadzone, saturation and linearity. Allows changing of config IN-GAME (as most Codemasters games, I found out). --Pure: Not supported. 180 degree deadzone basically, no bumper for special move, no Y-axis for certain moves. ++FlatOut Ultimate Carnage: Beautiful integration, full configuration of wheel. Buttons are choice between 2 presets (one assigns gas and brake to bumpers... you don't want that one!) . Small glitch is saturation is very low... I had to turn it all the way up (or down according to the slider) just to get decent handling... but decent is an understatement. Two other very small setbacks include; no in-game config and no rumble feedback. -NFS Most Wanted (2005): Not supported. 60 degree dead-zone. 7 different button presets for regular controller. +NFS Undercover: Support, no config. Bumpers as shifting. Standard handling is jittery and too sensitive (although it's like that with the controller also, this game is meh) ++NFS Hot Pursuit: Total button remapping. Uber-decent handling... actually I had sworn this game off as I really disliked how sluggish the controls were using the regular controller. The wheel brought this game back to life for me! +NFS The Run: Supported, but no setup. Remappable buttons. Decent standard handling, although sharp corners require lots of twisting. +Sega Rally Revo: Supported as Force Feedback Wheel. Only customization is amount of feedback (which I assume translates to rumble). Bumpers assigned to gears. FYI, glitch in game: don't exit a race mid-vibration of the wheel... it won't stop. I started a new race and it went away. I could have also taken the batteries out I suppose. Handling decent, I never liked this game that much though. --Full Auto: Dead in the water. Not even recognized as a controller. You need RB to access menu anyway. +PGR3: Recognized, but no customization. Sluggish handling and drifting is hard (but possible... I'm sure after an hour I'd have gotten it down). +PGR4: Support and 3 button configuration options. That's it. Some sluggishness like in PGR3. 10 degree dead-zone. +-Burnout Revenge: No support, and 50 to 60 degree deadzone... however for this game it actually isn't half-bad. It just feels like I'm in the arcade! (btw, after-touch after a crash works with the D-pad) -Blur: No support. 45 degree deadzone. Bumpers assigned to either drop or change powerup. Powerups can be fired backward with the D-pad. Not too bad, I'd stick with the controller though. ++Midnight Club: LA: Support and works well, no wheel config however. Buttons can be remapped. Menus that require bumpers can be navigated with D-pad. Handling impressive! --Driver SF: No support. 180 degree dead-zone... assuming you can even get in a car. "Ghost-mode" requires use of Y-axis. ++Sonic & Sega All Stars: The Mario Kart of the Xbox!!! Take that Wii! Wheel works great (no config aside from vibration). Super fun! --Cars 2: No support. 180 degree dead-zone. Crap handling indeed. --Split/Second: No support. 180 degree dead-zone. Disney seems to not like the wheel! +Test Drive Unlimited 2: Support and auto-recognized... well all the ones that do, do. But in TDU2 you can't get to the controller menu config because you need bumper use (check in the discussions below how to get around that). But it's not that important as the default settings are pretty decent. --Burnout Paradise: No support. Need bumpers to access some menus. Dead-zone 50 degrees, not bad for not being recognized... but gameplay still suffers (not like in Revenge). --Fuel: Huge dead-zone 180 degrees. Needs bumpers for vital menu nav. Nail'd, MotoGP and the MX vs. ATV games also don't work. I'm really really really sad there's no decent off-road arcade game that works with this (I'm not counting Dirt, that's more sim-ish). Excite Truck was one of the few reasons to own a Wii. FlatOut comes the closest... and now with Bugbear developing Ridge Racer Unbounded, I'm curious as to how awesome that will be! I'll revisit this review later and add NFS Shift 1&2. I've read they are supported but I'd like to know the extent considering the other NFS games don't allow wheel sensitivity settings. I'm only assuming they do since they're sims. In fact I'll add the other sims too just to make this review all encompassing. F1 2011 is FUN... turning the sensitivity up and zero deadzone and you got a twitchy responsive little zoom-machine of awesome! BTW... I got this thing earlier today. I'm already leaving a review. That's how awesome it is. I just put in 10+ hours testing all these games so I could leave this review and shut down all the haters as well as inform all the skeptics and anyone curious as to whether or not their favorite game would be supported by it. If you have any questions or if there's a game I might have and forgot to test, leave it in the comments. I'll get at you dawg. *worthwhile game P.S. I'm not just some fanboy jumping on the bandwagon of 5-star reviews. If this thing blows up in my hands or something later on down the road... I'll change my rating. Best believe. Till then: 5 solid stars earned. P.P.S. Another reviewer said something about his arms getting tired... well I lean forward and rest my arms on my knees, not only does that avoid fatigue, but it allows greater accuracy as well. Edit 3-27-12: +NFS Shift: Works, buttons not configurable. Steering wheel settings accessible in game menu, (not race menu). +NFS Shift 2: Works, buttons remappable. Steering wheel settings accessible in game menu via bumpers. ++WRC2: World Rally Champion: Works well, total customization and configuration. (not mid-race) ++Dirt 2: Works beautifully. As previously mentioned, wheel config accessible mid-race. Great for tweaking minor settings and getting it set up just the way you want. ++Dirt 3: Ditto. Despite this being the least impressive of the Dirt series. I need to get my hands on a copy of Dirt 1 again. I miss Rallisport Challenge 2. ++F1 2011: Total support. In-game config of everything. This is where the response of the wheel really shines. I grip the thing so hard when I'm racing the plastic creaks! White-knuckle racing!!! Edit 4-2-12: +Ridge Racer: Unbounded: Not recognized but supported. Good standard handling, button config of 2 presets (one assigns stuff to bumpers, one leaves bumpers unassigned). This makes up for the wheel not working in Split/Second and Blur... Way to go Bugbear! Edit 11-24-12 + NFS Most Wanted (2012): Works great. No fine tuning of the wheel sensitivity but default settings are pretty nice. Buttons are customizable (except the d-pad, so button assignment is pretty much limited to the 4 buttons and the triggers). EDIT: No Rumblz. ++Forza Horizon: Works awesome and full customization as expected from a Forza title. Bumpers not an issue unless applying decals and painting your car (no biggie). Rumblz. Edit 12-17-13 +-NFS Rivals: 45 degree dead zone, menus need bumpers. No configuration or recognition. But it makes the car turn so technically it works. ++Grid 2: as expected from Codemasters, full support. Everything bueno! Edit 1-12-14 -Mayhem 3D: Huge deadzone, still playable if you want a cardio workout from steering. No bumper assigns so no issues there. I don't know if it's Grid 2 or the controller but several times during play the controller would lose connection (while still on). Haven't had the issue since I got frustrated with Grid 2 (still fine tuning the steering controls, not having good luck: it's very wonky and over-sensitive) or in other games. Also I noticed if you rap the controller hard on the right side it turns off. Will update if the problem persists. Edit 1-19-14 -Dirt 1 aka Colin McRae: Dirt: FINALLY found this game after the awesomeness which is Dirt 2. I was hoping but alas was let down. Buttons are totally customizable but there is no wheel recognition. Big deadzone, may be able to adapt but you'll get lots of cardio in the process. --Farming Simulator 2013: hahaha yeah, I thought it would be fun. Unfortunately the bumpers are massively utilized in this game. Driving is fun however, but the wheel is not recognized. Edit 10-11-15 - Forza Horizon 2: Same as 1, recognition and nice config. Bumper issue though! It supposedly switches menu nav so you can use D-pad instead of bumpers when you have the wheel plugged in. However, although the graphic changes the function does not and you cannot navigate pause menu without switching to a regular controller. Sorta important if you want to change cars or access your garage in the middle of free roam. Shouldn't flaws like this and the others be able to be updated and fixed with soft-patches or updates since... you know... internet and all? Eh, probably not anymore. They're hardly even releasing games for the 360 anymore. RIP updates to my review. Oh yeah! WRC 5 just came out and as soon as I pick that one up I'll leave a final edit.