Sim Racing steering wheel round-up

The Logitech MOMO is a budget wheel and pedal set that was sold by Logitech. It is one of the cheapest sets around that is still decent quality. Unfortunately it is only available used as Logitech has stopped making them, but it is still a very good buy at under $100. The wheel features a sequential shifter and plenty of buttons on the face of the wheel and has a rotation of 270 degrees. The pedal set includes a gas and a brake, no clutch. The force feedback is good, not great, but at the price you cannot do any better. The biggest complaints users have about the MOMO is that the pedals are not the greatest and lack the feel that better pedals have. Despite this, it is a great wheel for more arcade type racing games such as Need for Speed, GRID, or DIRT 3 where pedal feel is not as important and the 270 degrees of rotation will not hurt your performance.

The next step up the ladder is the Logitech Driving Force GT. It is sold for slightly more than the MOMO and features the same pedals, but a much better wheel. It also can still be purchased new, meaning you will get the full manufacturer warranty from Logitech. The Driving Force GT is usable on both the PS3 console and PC, making it perfect for those PC gamers who also like to play Gran Turismo 5. The wheel is much improved over the MOMO. There are more buttons, allowing you to map more controls to the steering wheel so you can play without worrying about reaching for your keyboard or other controller. The buttons themselves are higher quality as well. Force feedback is still not great, but is more detailed than the MOMO wheel. The Driving Force GT offers a full 900 degrees of rotation, making it much more precise than the MOMO. The pedals are the same as the MOMO, so still not the greatest and not recommended if you are going to be using the wheel for sim racing or other competitive play.

If you are more serious about your sim racing, especially if you race on the PC, the Logitech G27 is what you want. While it does cost nearly twice as much as the Driving Force GT, the improvements are numerous. First off, the wheel is much higher quality in every way possible. The build quality is superb for the price, featuring leather and aluminum construction. The force feedback is strong and accurate and consists of two motors with helical gears instead of the traditional straight cut gears. This makes the force feedback quieter and smoother, which can help you be more consistent as a driver. The wheel has 900 degrees of rotation, just like the Driving Force GT.

The G27 also comes with a 6-speed H-pattern shifter complete with a D-pad and many additional buttons. The pedals are a huge improvement over the MOMO and Driving Force GT pedals. A clutch pedal is included and the brake pedal is much more life-like, though not as good as a load-cell brake. The pedals are also built better, having aluminum faces instead of plastic like the cheaper pedals.

The G27 is definitely a popular choice among sim racers that are serious, but cannot afford spending a small fortune on a wheel. Many of the best sim racers in the world trust the G27, as it is no slouch when it comes to consistent performance while being backed by Logitech's top-notch customer support.

The third big name wheel manufacturer is Fanatec. They offer several wheels for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. There are many different configurations so they will be looked at as a whole. Fanatec is well known for having many options and mods you can buy from the official website and install on the wheel, making your wheel stand out from the crowd.

The basic wheel is the Porsche 911 GT3 RS V2 with the normal pedals. The wheel itself is on par with the G27. It is not built quite as well, but offers better, belt driven, force feedback. While not as good as the force feedback as the Thrustmaster T500 RS, it is still very respectable.The pedals are in between the Driving Force GT and G27 pedals.

Now, there are two methods of upgrading this setup. First, you could go for a better wheel, the Porsche 911 GT2 Wheel. This wheel gives you more buttons, better build, and better force feedback. The more popular upgrade is buying the Clubsport pedals. The brake pedal is much like you'd find in a real race car. It uses a load cell and is very life-like in feel. The gas and the clutch also offer much more resolution than the stock pedals, allowing the user to be much more precise with their inputs. The one knock on Fanatec is the customer service can be spotty at times and a replacement wheel can take a long time to ship.

If not even the G27 will satisfy you, then you may want to take a look at the Thrustmaster T500 RS. The Thrustmaster, while expensive, is better than the G27 in several ways and is compatible with the PS3 and PC. The wheel is of higher quality aluminum as is also detachable if you want to replace it with Thrustmaster's new F1 wheel for example. The wheel also offers 16 bit precision instead of 8 bit like the Logitech wheels. Force feedback is among the best on the market. It is belt driven instead of gear driven which leads to quieter operation and more precise and detailed feel through the wheel. Rotation is an impressive 1080 degrees.

The pedal set is also a step up from the G27. It has the gas, brake, and clutch just like the G27 but the build quality is better all around. The whole assembly is metal as opposed to the G27 pedals, which feature some plastic as well as metal. The pedals can also be flipped over to the suspended position if you so choose. The downside of the T500 RS is that it does not come with a separate H-pattern shifter like the G27 has. If this is an important factor for you, then you may want to consider the G27 instead.

In a nutshell, the T500 RS is in a class by itself when it comes to wheel and pedal combos, unless you want to spend close to or over $1000.