As close to real as you can get

For my birthday a couple of weeks back my lovely wife got me the Gran Turismo 4 game for my Playstation 2. I have long been a fan of the game and really hoped to get it for my birthday. Shortly after that I got a card from G'ma with some birthday $$. It turns out it was just enough to allow me to get this set on eBay.

I knew I wanted a more realistic interface with the game. Driving a car with my thumbs just didn't quite cut the mustard for me. I started looking at other wheel sets and I had a difficult time wading through all of the hype. Considering the price ranges went from $20 - $200 I knew there had to be some definable difference between them all.

Choosing
In order to choose which unit I wanted I went to a couple of electronic superstores so I could see the different options face to face. I wanted to touch and feel them. I wanted to know what they were made of and know how they felt in my hands. After lots of hands on testing I knew I wanted something that had a realistic feel in my hands. The texture on the steering wheel had to be good, not some cheap plastic or rubber. The buttons had to have a good 'click' or feel to them. I wanted to get something that would be able to stand up to a full grown man using them. The only real choice out there that met these requirements was the Driving Force Pro.

Features
There are many features that I have found I like with this set. First off is the wheel feel. It has the same texture and grip of an authentic racing wheel. I know - I used to drive them. The size was spot on for a racing wheel as well. For those who have not had the chance to race a car around a track most steering wheels for race cars are considerably smaller than the wheel found in your pedestrian car. This is done so the driver has better feel with the road. The texture was a high quality textured neoprene/rubber that maintains its grip even when your hands start to sweat. All of the normal PS2 buttons are located somewhere on the steering wheel - the triangle, square, circle, and 'x' buttons are on the right side of the wheel and the 4 way 'd' pad is on the left. This makes it easy to navigate the menus of the game you are using. The 'Start' and 'Select' buttons are on the bottom spoke for pausing and accessing menu features. The L1 button is behind the steering wheel on the back of the left spoke and the R1 button is behind the right spoke. These are perfect positions for quickly pressing them without taking your hands off the steering wheel. By default in GT4 these are your up shift and downshift buttons. I think Logitech calls these 'paddles' but they really are not - they are just long buttons. That's OK - I like these better than paddles. The two other 'L' and 'R' buttons are on the face of the wheel near the top (2) and near the middle (3). All of the buttons had a nice feel to them. They were not plastiky or clunky - they had the same feel as the standard PS2 controller which - in my opinion - is a superbly designed controller.
Attached to the steering wheel on the right side is a shift knob for shifting the cars. This acts much the same way as the sport-shift transmissions found in many of today’s sporty cars. Tap the shift towards you to downshift and tap it away to up shift. I haven't used it too often since it requires you to take your hand off the wheel to shift - I'll just stick to the paddles.
The last part of this is the brake and gas pedals. At first glance there really isn't much to them - a smallish platform with a couple of pedals sticking out of it. After using it though you realize that Logitech put just as much thought into this part of the system as they did the wheel. The brake pedal feels a little spongy - like a car. The resistance felt more linear than a simple spring attached to the pedal. It also felt sturdy enough to stand up to the pressure of a big guy stomping on the brake to keep from hitting the wall after that straightaway. The gas was properly shaped and has enough resistance to tell the driver when they are pressing on the gas. This is BIG. Without enough feedback down there it would be hard - if not impossible - to feather in the gas or the brake. Without doing that you loose precious seconds in your lap times. The bottom of this pedestal has a retractable row of small spikes that grip a carpet quite well keeping the pedals in place while driving. Frankly it ruins the simulation if you have to pause a race to reposition the brake pedals. One last thing - the pedals are placed close enough together to allow for heel and toe braking if you desire. I do not see much of a need in current games, but perhaps in later versions this might be necessary.

This wheel has the force feedback feature which is really well done. This feature employs a motor and clutch to put pressure on the driving wheel to correspond with the game. What this means - when you are flying down the road and start a turn the wheel will fight you a little - just like your car does. If you take the turn too hard and start to loose control the steering feels mushy and starts to force the wheel in the opposite direction - just like in a real car. When you cut that corner a little too tight and clip the rumble strips on the side of the turn the wheel vibrates. When the road surface you are on is a little bumpy there are short jerky movements of the wheel. I guess the best way to illustrate this is by explaining the real life feel of flying down a long straightaway in a race car. As you increase speed the aerodynamic forces on the car literally try to suck the car into the air like an airplane. When that starts to happen your steering becomes easier and easier because there is less weight on the driving tires. You can even feel THIS with this force feedback system.
As any driving nut will tell you it is EASY to mess up the sensations of driving in a computer game. Even more so when you add feedback in your input device (like the wheel). It is precisely this feedback in real cars that tell professional drivers what their car is doing and it is the key sense to driving fast. If it is not dead on it simple detracts from the simulation. I have purchased - and returned - several steering wheels because this aspect of the simulation was not accurate. This one IS.
Often part of the force feedback system is a noisy clutch or motor. While using this I have heard NOTHING from the internal workings of this wheel. The last part of the features is the much hyped 900 degree turn radius. Sure enough the steering wheel will make the same number of turns as your personal car. I only see one problem with this - with most racing games (as in real life) unless you are parked or in a parking lot you have NO NEED to turn the wheel that much. And it is hard to have fun playing games where the car is in the parking lot.... I have found that the most I ever turn the wheel while racing is about 90 degrees. If I have to take my hands off the wheel to continue a turn something is already badly wrong.

Setting Up
Setting this unit up was pretty easy. It consists of three plugs. One goes from a wall outlet to the steering wheel. One goes from the foot pedals to the steering wheel. The last goes from the steering wheel to the USB port on the PS2. I chose to mount my steering wheel on a wooden TV tray I got at a garage sale for $2.00. I got a matching (sort of) metal folding chair and adjusted the height of the TV tray by cutting the legs off to make it a little shorter. This set up cost me less than $10. If you want to go hog wild you can find other setups for $800 - $1000. I thought that was a little overboard....

The foot pedals stay in place quite well with the carpet grips down and the wheel clamps to the table with ease.

Impressions
My overall impressions are favorable. I really like the look and feel of this unit. I think some parts of the wheel look better than they actually work (the shift knob for one) but overall this is a well thought out product and the implementation of the features (like force feedback) is impressively spot on. It is well constructed and should hold up to heavy use from your average adult.

Notice that I said "use" and NOT "abuse". I do NOT think this product is right for children or - unless they are really mature - most teenagers. It is a precision device and abuse, neglect, or misuse could damage this unit and make it behave erratically. That being said I think that if you are honestly in the market for something like this you can't go wrong with this set. Logitech said in some brochure I read about this that their target audience is males between 22 and 35. After all - who else would be willing to spend $150 for a GAME??? For me - I can't think of a bigger bang for my buck. Factor in the cost of the game ($50) and this wheel ($150) and divide that by the number of hours I will loose myself in enjoyment I can't think of a cheaper form of entertainment.