Out of the way Schumacher this is my road! (Microsoft Sidewinder Precision Racing Wheel)

Member Name: Del_Boy

Product:	Microsoft Sidewinder Precision Racing Wheel
Date:	29/10/01 (1492 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great feel of weight, Easy setup, Works brilliantly

Disadvantages: Squeaky Pedal

Yesterday I thought I would treat myself, so off I wondered down to 'Game' and purchased myself a Microsoft Sidewinder Precision Pro Racing Wheel.

Here is my review of it, please note that I will update this review next week and occasionally thereafter to reflect how it is working with other games.

Included in the package is:

Instruction manual (very brief dealing with the bare essentials)
Driver CD
Wheel & Pedals

Setting up the wheel
********************

Setting up the wheel was simplicity in itself. First of all you attach the pedals to the wheel via a small cable. Then you attach the Wheel to a suitable desktop - attaching it to the desktop is done via a vice like device. Though you don't have to tighten it up all the way; once it's nearly fully tightened up, you simply press the clamp at the front of the wheel down. It will then not move an inch during game play. Microsoft should be applauded for the design of this mechanism.

When you are finished playing the game you simply just pull the clamp back and remove it without having to un-tighten the wheel. As long as you continue to use the same desktop to play on, you should never have to re-tighten the wheel again.

Installation of drivers
***********************

Simply plug in the wheel - using the attached connector, which can either, be USB (which I own) or Game port. Once the wheel is plugged in, you need to install the drivers off the CD.

Worthy of note is the first time I tried to install the drivers it wouldn't read a certain file of the CD. I am certain this was due to the CD rather than my drive. Anyways, when I rebooted my computer I was prompted for my Windows CD to reinstall a file that was needed for the controller. After I installed it and pointed the installation at the correct file all was well.

My issues may have been rare, so I will not down mark the Wheel due
to this minor niggle. After installing the wheel, you then install the game controller software this worked first time and didn't require a reboot in order to work. From within this software you can calibrate the wheel to your personal preference, how much dead zone you would like on the wheel and how sensitive it is. You can make profiles for different games; you can also program multiple key commands onto one of the Sidewinders 8 buttons.

The wheel itself
****************

Solid and sturdy construction, the wheel is not overly heavy but there is a good weighty feeling behind the steering. If you want to put full-lock on the wheel it will get a little harder to steer, this is nice and realistic and endears the wheel to me even more.

There are 6 buttons on the main facia of the wheel all of which can be programmed to do, as you desire in game via using either the game controller software or the controller's option within many games.

There are also 2 buttons on the back of the wheel easily accessible whilst you are driving. The 2 buttons on the back are also slightly more elongated than the other buttons so these 2 buttons act as gear shifters. Though of course these can also be assigned to do other tasks - if you are like me, and always use automatic gearshifts.

Pedals
******

The base on which the pedals sit are very nicely weighted and doesn't seem to slide about at all; playing on a carpeted surface of course helps. There are two pedals, which are normally configured as Accelerate and Break.

What is unusual is that when both are pressed simultaneously they do not cancel each other out, as is the norm with these type of pedals. They both send a separate signal to the computer; this means that you can break and rev the engine at the same time. This allows you to break late into corners then keep the revs high enough to accelerate out; vital seconds are saved using this.


There is an option however to configure the pedals to operate as normal ones do, this is there mainly for compatibility reasons - some games get confused with the new type of pedals.

One thing which needs mentioning is that, little more than a few hours after starting to use the pedals the accelerator started squeaking quite loudly. It is very annoying and very off putting. I have looked around and found this problem not to be very rare, though it is far from common.

I am giving the pedals a few days to wear in and hopefully stop squeaking, however if they don't I will return the wheel and ask for a replacement.

Games I have tested with this wheel
***********************************

First and foremost - F1 2001
****************************

At first I hated this game with a vengeance, reasons why will be in my review of this game to come later in this week. One of the reasons was that the controls were virtually impossible to use. However with this wheel the game comes alive and suddenly goes from a 2 star game to a 5 star one.

Every little nuance of F1 seems to be faithfully recreated, whilst the steering is an absolute delight - very natural and un-game like.

Colin McRae Rally 2
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Playing this with an analogue controller was perfectly playable, however with the wheel this game again takes on a new lease of life. Perhaps the force feedback version of this wheel would be the more ideal peripheral to use; however the model, which I use, is excellent still.

This game does take a bit of time in order to get used to it though.

I will update this op, as and when I test out new games with it. I will also keep you all up to progress with the squeaky pedal situation.

Kev

Summary: