Logitech G25 Racing Wheel
by Logitech
|
Our Price: $549.98 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $234.00 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
|---|
Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Logitech G25 Racing Wheel
Customer Review: Good features/quality for the price, but could be improved
Summary: 4 Stars
I've been using this wheel for about a week now after Logitech DFP. Overall, the impression is very positive. This wheel was worth every dollar, especially given the price I got it for from Amazon and free shipping. I'm still only giving it 4 stars because of a few gripes, and I'd happily paid a little more for a product without them.
First the positives.
The wheel is much nicer than DFP, which in itself is a decent device. G25 is about an inch larger, making it feel more "real" and easier to control. The feel of leather compared to rubber or whatever DFP is covered with places G25 in a different league--much less of a toy and a pleasure to use. Force feedback feels smoother and responds much faster, again producing a more realistic experience. The motors are noticeably quieter too.
The pedals are a leap forward compared to DFP. Made of metal, they look and feel much nicer--again, less of a toy. The springs offer varied resistance similar to a real car. The brakes are the heaviest, and the added resistance makes it easier to modulate braking in a game. And of course there is the clutch!
I quite like the short throw of the H-pattern shifter, reminds me of the Honda S2000 shifter.
Overall as a package, it's not even a question whether you should get a G25 if you can afford it. The price premium over the wheels of DFP caliber is well worth it.
But now the disappointments.
The biggest for me is the pedal placement, and that is the area where the designers absolutely shot themselves in the foot. It seems that the point of providing three pedals and an H-pattern shifter was to appeal to the racing sim crowd. I myself got the wheel so that I could do proper heel-and-toe downshifting. Now, an easy and natural heel-and-toe requires a particular pedal setup, with the brake and the throttle close together and the brake higher, so that in a depressed position they are about equal height. (Of course, there is another issue that real brakes have more of the "pressure" and less of the "travel" type of response). The G25 pedal setup fails miserably: the pedals are equal height, and the brake and the accelerator are spaced almost a foot width apart! What a pity to be within reach of the Right Thing and then blow it like this.
My second most serious disappointment is the clamping mechanism, already mentioned by other reviewers. Some kind of rubberized lining on the wheel and the shifter, and more substantial clamps reaching further under the desk would be extremely helpful. If your desk has slippery surface, curved edge, or beveled edge (or all three of the above like mine), you may have to be inventive to make the clamps work for you.
The shifter, while nice and short, could really use a more distinctive "click" in gears, and just a tad more heft in travel between the gears.
As mentioned in other reviews, a few more buttons on the wheel might come in handy, though I'd rate that as minor compared to these other points.
To sum it up, I believe this is a great product well worth the price--however I'd be willing to pay a few dollars extra for something with the problems above fixed. Especially the pedal setup issue.
Customer Review: The best available...Could have been a little better.
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a minor addition and variation on a very thorough review by Ravi "travi_74"
I have been using several Logitech Wingman FF Reds (plastic version of the original red one) in a home network for the last 5 years. I had been waiting for some time for this wheel since that other company went out of business. (The one that the original GTR worked with) I have known about these better wheel and pedal setups, but just couldn't justify parting with 400-600 dollars for a toy. (Translation: My wife would not be pleased) Now that Logitech has made a high quality set for a more reasonable price, I gave it a try.
This review is from the point of a driving enthusiast. Real driving practice without the wear and tear. Real driving aside, I have enjoyed numerous driving games that were fun but not simulators, until GTR and GTR2. Add this wheel and that's as close as you get to real driving dynamics and road response.
All setups have a learning curve. This one is no exception. It was very easy to adapt to though. Once you adjust for preference, you will find it hard to use any other wheel again. The feedback is very accurate and essential for best track times.
Set-Up: I love and hate the auto calibration. Some times it flakes out and requires re-plugging of the USB cable to get it right. On rare occasions between track changes their was some loss of road feel, but quickly remedied with a return to the garage and start again. This may only be the GTR2 game. Not often enough to ruin the experience.
Look and Feel: Wheel and Pedals, strong enough to play without fear of breaking it. Tight and responsive gearing and paddle clicks.
Major Gripe: The Shifter and those buttons are another story entirely. I agree with Ravi "travi_74" on the good for maybe teaching someone to drive stick before they grind a real clutch. It is difficult enough to compete in simulation games with anything other than paddle shifting. The realism factor of gated shifting is lost here. The tiptronic shift mode is easy enough to simulate, but who uses that. Not in the cars I like drive. There are so many things wrong with this from a realism perspective. Putting aside all the physical problems with a tiny laterally mounted short shift, gears that are too easy to shift and the springs that are way to weak to prevent missed shifts, I could put up with that. But the sensors are not up to snuff. If you pull it out of a gear, it still registers as in gear. That is a seriously flaw in realism. WHERE IS NUETRAL?
Maybe this is only in GTR2. Since that is the only program I have used with the G25. I have my doubts though. I don't even want to talk about the button placement. Sheesh. The button short-cuts are a necessity, but the placement really couldn't have been worse. I never expected to use the gated shifter in competition, but it would have been nice for the occasional drive through the country.
Overall: Well worth the investment. And the Amazon Pricing is always competitive.
Logitech G25 Racing Wheel
Customer Review: Best for the price
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought my G25 in February 08 and have been using it very frequently since then. The games I play with the G25 are GTR2, RACE 07, Live for Speed, and most recently Gran Turismo 5 Prologue on the PS3.
The wheel itself is great, and although it only has four buttons (including the paddle shifters) there are a lot of buttons on the shifter.
The pedals are equally solid. Some reviewers have commented that the brakes are not realistic. The simple fact is that threshold braking is always going to be harder because you're not in a real car. There's no g-force to give you a sense of how hard you're braking. There's no "feel". For what it is, the brake pedal provides great resistance so threshold braking is as realistic as it can get. The clutch requires minimal effort and is very short. You won't confuse it with a real car's clutch. When properly supported, it's very realistic. You obviously can't feel it bite, but in Live For Speed it's easy to hold the car on a hill using the clutch (although why you would do this is beyond me). It's not an on-off switch. Unfortunately Live For Speed is the only game with proper clutch support that I have played. Gran Turismo is the worst, with it being very much on/off.
Compared to a real car pedal placement is a bit lousy for heel and toeing because the accelerator is close to the brake pedal even though it's spaced farther than the brake pedal is to the clutch. Still, you get used to it and once you know where to place your foot it's as easy as it is in a real car.
The real issue comes with the shifter. Very minimal effort is required to shift, and combined with very short throws means it feels toy-like. It can be flicked into place with a finger. It doesn't feel satisfying when the gears slot into place. Still, it works and is apparently quite durable even though it feels flimsy. It still works even though I get a bit "spirited" with it when I'm immerssed in a race. Still, this is nit-picking to be honest. I have to mention that it's poorly made, but I wouldn't return it for my money if given the chance. The bottom line is that when driving I enjoy myself much more than I did with paddles and auto-clutch.
This might seem like a lot of money for a wheel, but when you consider what you get when you pay for your money compared to other wheels it's a great product. The force feedback is excellent, the wheel itself is nice and large with 900 degrees of rotation (2.5 turns lock to lock), the paddles are more solid than on some cars, and the pedals are the best there is. The six speed shifter isn't really a big deal.
Customer Review: Simply Awesome
Summary: 5 Stars
The Logitech G25 is nothing short of incredible. Right from the box you realize that unlike other wheels, it is a leather wrapped, metal wheel. Right away, it gives a better sense of realism than most wheels. It takes only a few minutes to set up and plug in, and before long you will be addicted to the simplest of racing games all over again.
Before you buy, you will want to make sure you have a sturdy place to mount it. The force feedback is not rip your arm off strong, but it is enough to shake and break flimsy desk like mine to bits. You will also need to consider a spot for the 6 speed shifter, because whether you use it or not, all of the buttons but 2 are located on it. My shifter is located next to my wheel on the desk, which is an awkward way to shift.
The force feedback of the wheel is one of its greatest qualities. It has the usual ability to vibrate like crazy. More importantly it has precise and strong force feedback. The force feedback allows you to tell how each corner of the car is acting like a real driver by simulating forces on the steering column. Not only does this increase the realism of your driving experience dramatically, it is a competitive advantage that an experienced sim racer wouldn't drive with out. I must point out though that the force feedback is only as good as video games make it; it is up to the game to tell the wheel what these forces should be. Some games don't provide realistic feedback or any at all.
I do have a few specific complaints about the wheel though. When you turn it quickly, the ffb motors generate quite a bit of noise. When you really get sawing on the wheel, your wheel will be noisier than your speakers. While very durable (I can yank left and right till my desk breaks without hurting it) the shifter feels very flimsy. After spinning the car and angrily smashing the shifter into reverse, I manged to break reverse gear. Now every time I go for reverse I get 6th. The pedals are also way too close. I can drive without a problem in socks, but in shoes my clumsy feet find everything but the brake.
Overall it is a great wheel. I have had it for 2 years and still enjoy every second on the track with it. If you are really in to simulation racing and have the money, go for it. It is a quality product. Arcade style racers will find less use for the features and miss having twelve buttons on the wheel itself for nitrous and super backflip ejecty thingy buttons, but it is still one of the best wheels on the market. For a sim racer it is a great buy and you will love it.
Customer Review: Good choice for PC but abandoned by most PS3 developers
Summary: 4 Stars
Formula 1 2007 for PS3, even with its limited steering lock and 720p resolution, is a ton of fun with this wheel and the main reason I bought the G25. This is a very nice wheel and way better than the XBox 360 wheel (the G25 wheel shaft does not wobble), but unless you play PC games, SAVE YOUR MONEY because XBox 360 will not support the G25 and most PS3 game developers are ignoring the G25. The G25 has 900 degrees of steering lock, which is supported by only a handfull of PS3 games including: Codemaster's "GRID" for PS3 and Gran Turismo HD (obsolete), Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (not mentioned in the manual, so I don't know if it really works), Midnight Club Los Angeles (haven't played it), Need for Speed: Undercover and Need for Speed: Shift. Many of the Electronic Arts games for PS3 also support the 6-speed shifter, and force feedback, but I don't think that any of these games are rendered at a resolution higher than 720p while their counterparts on the XBox 360 are sporting 1080i and 1080p (apparently Sony has yet to grow a spine.) The force-feedback is VERY strong, but there's no rumble effect and the 6-speed shifter is junk because it does not sense the position of the shifter knob (there is only a button at the far end of each of the 6 shifter positions) so you can put it into gear, but if you don't hit the button at the back of the slot, the game doesn't know that you shifted. Only one game I've tried so far (Need for Speed: Shift) actually makes use of the clutch pedal. There are many PS2 games that support the G25's 900-degree and force feedback functions (according to the Logitech website), but I haven't tried any of them. Perhaps Gran Turismo 5, if it's ever released, will make full use of this wheel.
The multi-platform (PC, PS3, XBOX 360) Fanatec Porsche 911 Turbo S wheel is now in limited production and can force many games currently with limited steering lock into 540 or 900 degrees of steering lock. This means that like DIRT 2 will drive more like an off-road game and less like a Formula 1 game. If you're like me, and already bought a G25 and/or the XBox 360 wheels, don't dispair, you can always use them as spares when your buddies come over.