I’m not particularly into racing games, serious ones at least. I played Forza 3 to death but that’s about as far as it goes for ‘driving simulators’. I do however like arcade racers. It’s a genre that, despite the supposed ‘death of the arcades’ and massive popularity of serious racing games like Forza and Gran Turismo, hasn’t gone away. My current console of choice is the 360 and between retail games like Sega Rally Revo and XBLA titles like Daytona USA, Outrun Online Arcade and Hydro Thunder Hurricane there is quite a selection of games available.
A lot of ‘serious’ racing game fans will tell you that to get the full experience you need a wheel. Perhaps they’re right. For games like Forza and GT you don’t really get the whole simulation aspect by twiddling a thumb stick. But what about us arcade fans? From our point of view, enhancing realism isn’t really an issue but there is a good argument for using a wheel. Even arcade racing games use a steering wheel, so you could say that using one gives you a better arcade experience.
The question then becomes about the value of investing in a wheel. A good steering wheel like the now discontinued official Microsoft Racing Wheel will set you back over £100. Sure there are cheaper 3rd party options available but they generally have a reputation for flimsy build quality and generally being unfit for purpose. I would rather go without a wheel than get one of the 3rd party options and I can’t justify the expense of a good wheel to play a few XBLA titles. So what are we left with?
The Wireless Speed Wheel is what.
At about the price of a retail game it’s quite affordable and has the kind of build quality you’d expect from an official product. It’s much sturdier than you’d expect something so goofy looking to be. But is it any good?
Yes…mostly.
I got one a month or so ago and I didn’t really want to make my mind up about it until I’d really put it through its paces. I’ve tried it with a good selection of games and it’s really responsive. I’m not used to using a wheel so I found it very tricky to use at first but when I tried it with Forza 3 in cockpit view, the driver’s hands on-screen matched my actions very closely, so it was clear that any handling issues were down to the lumps of ham I call hands. I’ve gradually become accustomed to using it, even beating a few of my own times in Daytona with it, so I think I can use it just about as well as a controller now.
Even though I’m better at using the wheel it’s still very tiring to use. This is perhaps one of the wheel’s biggest flaws. Holding it out in front of you unsupported really gets your back aching after a while. This unfortunately isn’t the only flaw with the Speed Wheel. Not all games I tested it with worked as well as Forza and Daytona. Crazy Taxi for example was damn near unplayable with it, although it doesn’t specifically support a wheel and has no sensitivity adjustment so really that’s the game’s fault. In fact there are quite a few games that aren’t 100% compatible with this device due to what seems to be a truly award-winning oversight. It has no bumpers. Considering so many games use LB and RB for gear shifting and don’t allow you to change the controls, missing these buttons out seems like a questionable decision at best.
Out of my own game library this means I can’t play Sega Rally Revo with manual gears or Hydro Thunder Hurricane at all as it assigns the boost to the right bumper when it detects a steering wheel.
Despite this, I’m happy with the performance of the wheel overall. For arcade racing it’s a good compromise between the expensive wheels and the 3rd party rubbish. For me the bumper issue is annoying but not a complete deal breaker, but I know that for some people it will be. In fact it might become an issue for me further down the line if more games come out that don’t work with this device. But for now, I’m happy with it.
I think this device raises two questions. ‘Why are there no bumper buttons when so many racing games use them?’ and ‘why do some racing games not let you customise the controls?’
