The You Tube version is up now at our site..

The Blip TV version will be up soon as well at www.simracingtonight.com

Also.. Coming up this week on SRT..

Here's what we have in the works..

Sunday April 13th 2008 - Arca Sim Racing Review
Monday April 14th 2008 - Inside Sim Racing April 13th Edition - Huge contest giveaway.. LFS - S2 License, Copy of Arca Sim Racing, Copy of Race 07 and a Team BMW hat signed by Alex Zanardi - Also DMP coverage, Race 2 Play Intro to Racing events and info about No Grip Racing..
Tuesday April 15th 2008 - iRacing interview with Scott Mckee
Thursday April 17th 2008 - Sim Racer 102
Sunday April 20th 2008 - Inside Sim Racing

Thanks for watching !

Darin Gangi
Sim Racing Tonight

Only 270 degrees of rotation? in this day and age :/ seems a bit of an oversight that.

Interusting wheel however I doupt I would get it.

I got a DFP today for 60$, add 10-20 extra $'s and I get a cheap wheel for the extra pedals and there we go. For 80$ I got myself a clutch, sequential shifter and 900 degrees of rotation as oposed to those 270.

Overall it seemed like a great wheel until I heard that it had only 270 degrees of rotation.

Cool episode once again

Thanks Darin.

I enjoyed the review as usual, but I was hoping to hear more in depth info.

For example...

• How it compared to other wheels. You stated it used belts and gears for FFB. Was the FFB smoother than a G25? How about the Porsche wheel?

• How was the sequential shifter? It looks like the sequential shifter can be detached or extended from the wheel.

• It looked like you had to be pretty careful using the paddle shifters, it seems like this could be more annoying than a useful feature. Can you accidentally downshift or upshift twice?

Here's some random thoughts from me.

• The pedals didn't look natural in either the default configuration or the way you reconfigured it.

• LFS needs more than 270 degrees.

• I'm not sure how well velcro would work on my carpet

We will be doing a wheel shoot out soon.. It doesn't match up to the G25.. But it's half the price..

I didn't have probs with the shifters.. I just drive like that.. They felt ok, but someone already posted at RSC that they break very easily.

IMO.. I would take this 270 degree RGT over the Porsche wheel. We have one too and will do a review.. You can compare the overall rating.. The Porsche pedals are pure JUNK ! Anyone remember the Thrustmaster springs from the T1 and T2s way back when.. They're back in the Fanatic Porsche pedals..

The wheel shootout will also tell you which is best (based on our opinion).. This will be in the $300 or so and under range.

We have a DFP here as well as the new Driving Force Pro GT wheel from Logi..

HATE the pedals. The new wheel being 11" and having a smooth FF is nice..

The pedals on the RGT are much better than the DFP or the Driving Force Pro GT.. If they didn't look natural, maybe cause I wear a size 12 shoe. ?? THe config may not look good, but they felt fine. The brake is more progressive than the clutch or gas.. but not by a huge amount..

I agree with you guys though.. I need more than 270.. If I was on a budget though.. I think I may go with the RGT.. If it had at least 500 of rotation and an 11" wheel.. It would rock..

Love my G25

Thanks for watching guys !

Oh.. one more thing.. When we met them at the GDC.. They mentioned wanting to make a wheel that competed with the G25. SO we'll see and we'll keep you guys posted if we hear anything.

Darin

Quote from Technique :

Thanks Darin.

I enjoyed the review as usual, but I was hoping to hear more in depth info.

For example...

• How it compared to other wheels. You stated it used belts and gears for FFB. Was the FFB smoother than a G25? How about the Porsche wheel?

• How was the sequential shifter? It looks like the sequential shifter can be detached or extended from the wheel.

• It looked like you had to be pretty careful using the paddle shifters, it seems like this could be more annoying than a useful feature. Can you accidentally downshift or upshift twice?

Here's some random thoughts from me.

• The pedals didn't look natural in either the default configuration or the way you reconfigured it.

• LFS needs more than 270 degrees.

• I'm not sure how well velcro would work on my carpet

I wouldnt want a wheel that turns more than 270. I never take my hands off the wheel when i'm racing, i've only driven one race car with a wheel that went lock to lock with me moving my arms (a BMW) and I crashed that! So there is definately a market for 270 degree turn wheels.

Just seems a bit redundent putting a clutch pedal on a 270 degree wheel through :/ Clutch pedals are mainly used by simmers so....

I'm up for a 270 degree wheel with a clutch pedal. I never set my wheel above 270 degrees anyway, so this one sounds like it might well be my next wheel. The combination of belt and gear also sounds good, and sounds like it's up for the job in LFS

PS: Great show Darin

Quote from Becky Rose :

I wouldnt want a wheel that turns more than 270. I never take my hands off the wheel when i'm racing, i've only driven one race car with a wheel that went lock to lock with me moving my arms (a BMW) and I crashed that! So there is definately a market for 270 degree turn wheels.

hah! Taking the easy way out huh..? That's exactly why I want a wheel that turns > 1000 degrees - so that when I finally start doing track days in my road car I'll already have practice catching slides with a wheel that turns realistically.

P.S. Darin thanks for the info!

I never use more than 240deg, anyway.

Quote from DeadWolfBones :

I never use more than 240deg, anyway.

I heard a rumor that in S3, the LFS devs might remove this "driving aid" and force everyone to use a wheel that matches the car... :boing:

Thrustmaster! lol who called it that!?

Quote from DeadWolfBones :

I never use more than 240deg, anyway.

I'm thinking of getting this wheel now. I was concerned about the 240 degrees, but now uve told me that u use that, I've no worries

WR's here I come

the wheel sux, i have and no i dont like it. I use the clutch edition pedals in combination with my DPF and my clutch pedal allready died..yaaay. Long live thrustmaster...

i have heard that the ffb in these wheels are done via a belt and it is forever ever coming loose or breaking, in my opinion thrustmaster have never known and will never know how to make a quality product, they just know how to make you think it is,


thats just my opinion

edit: sam this is for you mainly head to rsc and search for it in the controlls bit

edit2: i use 360 with my g25 and find that perfect cos at the point my arms cross im at full lock

Quote from Technique :

I heard a rumor that in S3, the LFS devs might remove this "driving aid" and force everyone to use a wheel that matches the car... :boing:

No, they'll just apply a fixed steering ratio to the wheel. Hope those people with 270° enjoy their 13.5° wheel lock.

if only you knew the power of the lfs devs...

Seriously, though, I don't really mind.

Most of the cars I drive most often have smaller lock anyway.

Quote from DarinSRT :

I didn't have probs with the shifters.. I just drive like that.. They felt ok, but someone already posted at RSC that they break very easily.

The paddles break very easily indeed because the little "nipples" that push the button inside the wheel in the end are plastic by default, but because this is a problem known to Thrustmaster, they send you a package and you can exchange those things without any problems within 15 minutes. All you need is a screwdriver.

Quote from DarinSRT :

IMO.. I would take this 270 degree RGT over the Porsche wheel. We have one too and will do a review.. You can compare the overall rating.. The Porsche pedals are pure JUNK ! Anyone remember the Thrustmaster springs from the T1 and T2s way back when.. They're back in the Fanatic Porsche pedals..

The pedals on the RGT are much better than the DFP or the Driving Force Pro GT.. If they didn't look natural, maybe cause I wear a size 12 shoe. ?? THe config may not look good, but they felt fine. The brake is more progressive than the clutch or gas.. but not by a huge amount..

I agree, the pedals of the Thrustmaster RGT are really high-quality and feel very accurate.

Quote from DarinSRT :

I agree with you guys though.. I need more than 270.. If I was on a budget though.. I think I may go with the RGT.. If it had at least 500 of rotation and an 11" wheel.. It would rock..

Signed. However, I am happy with 270 degrees, completely enough for me


PS: Someone asked if the shifter unit is removable: It is not. The sequential shifter and the wheel are one part.

I've had one of these for a while now (it's not a new wheel), and i've got mixed opinions on it tbh. I don't rate it as highly as Darin does though.

The overall quality is not as good as a DFP, the buttons feel a bit 'cheap' and the rubber grip on the wheel isn't of the same quality. Yes, some have had problems with the paddle shifters breaking (although i've had planty of TM wheels over the years and never had a paddle break), but a big plus point for Thrustmaster/Guillemot is their customer service. I think you'd be hard pushed to find a more helpful bunch in the industry.

Whilst the FFB is very strong and comparatively quiet, the steering is very slow, probably due to it being belt driven (although i've never heard of a belt falling off as someone claimed) And it doesn't have the finesse of the DFP. It's good but not great.

Can't really comment on the pedal unit, but one of the big plus points with this wheels is the progressive paddles, i.e two extra axis, so you can use them for a clutch or smooth look left/right, or indeed throttle and brake.

I got mine cheap from eBay. But if i'm honest, i'd be pretty miffed if i bought it new at full price.

To sum up, if you're coming from a DFP then i think you'll be disappointed, but if you're coming from something cheap and cheerful then i think you'll like it, but see if you can find a cheap one on eBay first.

If you're in the market for a three pedal set-up, and you already have a DFP, then i'd suggest keeping it and save up for a good set of extra pedals (or even make your own).

btw, anyone told these guys about the recent(ish) Kyoto 250 that ran? sounds like a good story to me.

No Zachary and we' want some LFS content !!! Hook us up !!

Quote from Zachary Zoomy :

btw, anyone told these guys about the recent(ish) Kyoto 250 that ran? sounds like a good story to me.

Nolan's video would probably be some good publicity.

Quote from DarinSRT :

No Zachary and we' want some LFS content !!! Hook us up !!

http://www.lfsforum.net/forumdisplay.php?f=190