Well I ended up getting the G25, and I love it! Okay so there are a few quirks such as the cheap feeling shifter but for what it is and what it costs, I think its a great wheel.
Doesn't fully work with Gran Turismo 5 on PS3 as I had hoped (and as they indicate on their site!) but maybe its because its Prologue and the full game will have better G25 support. The 6 speed works, actually, but the clutch does nothing. So you just row the car through the gears without worrying about lifting or using the clutch. More entertaining than using the DualShock but I wanted the same sim feel as in LFS.
Now I just gotta try and not suck at driving in LFS so much.