[Review] Logitech G27 Racing Wheel
When I was given the opportunity to drive a car for this review, it would’ve been rude to say no! The Logitech G27 Racing Wheel is a simulator-grade experience for the PC and PS3. It’s lifelike features make this racing wheel a must for hard-core racing simulator gamers alike. The fact that it is USB-powered means it is supported for PC and PS2/PS3. Plus, it comes with a manual transmission gearshift and pedals as well! What’s not to like about it?
Well, the price point for one. At an RRP of $500, you should/would expect top quality build materials and useful features for the gamer. That is exactly what Logitech did. Logitech thought out nearly every possible feature to make this racing wheel lifelike to the real thing.
Here are some of those features:
- With force feedback, you “feel the tires lose traction and gleefully fly over every bump in the road.” Force Feedback simulates realistic racing action that happens throughout your game.
- The steel paddle shifters are like the real thing in a real car. This makes it easy for gamers alike to shift gears while concentrating on the game and on to winning.
- There are also RPM/Shift indicator LEDs conveniently located in the middle of the racing wheel. Again, Logitech put ‘convenient’, and ‘distraction-free’ at the top of the list when designing this wheel.
- And just like a real car, you can turn the Logitech G27 racing wheel 2.5 times around, lock-to-lock!
I also mentioned before that Logitech also put ‘quality’ as one of their first priorities as well. You can tell because of the way the racing wheel has been designed. From the leather-wrapped wheel, down to the ergonomics of the wheel: all the contours should be just right for your hands! Plus, the wheel itself is made completely out of stainless steel as well! However, since it is stainless steel, the parts on the wheel that are not covered in leather will instead be covered in fingerprints. That just means you have to clean it more often in order to maintain that new look. Yes, that includes the pedals as well!
What I liked about this trio combination (Pedal, Gear Shifter and Racing Wheel) is that each part is easily able to be clipped on to a regular desk/table, and the pedal has a lot of tiny sharp points at the back, so it will prevent the pedals from moving while you are using them on the carpet.
I was easily able to clip the devices onto my desk.
For the testing of the wheel, I decided to test it on Forward Development’s City Car Driving Simulator.
City Car Driving is a new car simulator, designed to help users feel the car driving in а big city or in a country in different conditions or just go for a joy ride. Special stress in the “City Car Driving” simulator has been laid on a variety of different road situations and realistic car driving.
The reason I wanted to test the Logitech G27 wheel on here first, is that it provided me with a simulator so similar to driving on the real roads. Down to each crash, sound, things that you must do before you start moving off in the vehicle, are all neatly included in this driving simulator. Plus, you can unlock different cars as you level up in the training courses!
When I first set up the game, physical wheel did not match up with the virtual wheel inside the car driving simulator. This resulted in me having to download Logitech’s Gaming software, to modify the settings (specifically the full 900-degree steering setting) to match the in-game settings.
Setting up the wheel on the simulator itself was not that difficult. To change what the pedals, wheel buttons and gear shift does, all one needed to do is press on the corresponding pedal/button while holding the edit button in-game.
Overall, the Logitech G27 Racing Wheel bundle is a really cool car simulator device to play with! The realistic force-feedback, plus the 900-degree steering really made the virtual game, a physical game! The only downside I found with the product was that there were too many cables: one for the pedals, one for the gear shift, the USB connection and the power connection. It made a tidy desk, a kind of messy one! Now.. just to upgrade that monitor to a 4K one!
For more information on this racing wheel, please visit: http://gaming.logitech.com/en-nz/product/g27-racing-wheel
For more information on the City Driving Simulator, please visit: http://citycardriving.com/products/citycardriving
