Recently Joytech introduced a Racing wheel excusively for the Xbox 360. Exclusive doesn’t mean that much since a similar one is also available for the PC, PS2 and Xbox, but this one only has a USB connector. In this review we’ll cover everything from car handling in various games to the sturdiness of the wheel when you’re mad.

A racing wheel

One of the most important things to keep in mind is that buying a racing wheel doesn’t make you a better driver or makes you win more races. It’s like you’ll have to learn to walk all over again. The big difference between a controller and a racing wheel is the accuracy of your movements. For example when you want to make a sharp turn, you have to move the wheel around approximately 1 foot (30CM) and the thumb stick or d-pad on your controller less than half an inch (1CM). But on the other side, when there’s a very gentle curve in the road you need to move your analog stick a tenth of an inch equalling a couple of inches on your racing wheel. The same goes for the triggers on your controller versus the pedals that come with the racing wheel.

Opening the box

But now onto the Joytech Racing Wheel. When you open the box you get a couple of pieces wrapped in plastic: the racing wheel itself, the pedals and an adjustable leg support system. I assume retail units also include a manual because mine didn’t have one, but that’s ok since it’s not really necessary. One of first things I noticed was the color, everything about the Xbox 360 is white, green or grey, except for this device, it’s totally out of key with its butt ugly grey coloring and some black touches. But the box in which it came is quite alright so when you’re not using it you can put it away in there (it actually fits again). Another nice touch is the cable that’s connecting your racing wheel to one of your 3 available USB ports comes with an inline release system. It works the same as with a wired controller, it reduces the chance of the console falling if the lead is pulled.

Features

Setting the whole thing up is quite easy. You can either put a table in front of you and use the suction cups to keep it in place or you can use the leg support system. The latter needs some explanation. This system consists of two round shaped plastic parts which you have to slide into the racing wheel and adjust it to make it fit onto your upper legs. A little bit of rubber on the ends keeps it from sliding too much. The pedals are connected to your racing wheel by a single cable and some non-slipping material keeps it from moving over the ground. There’s also room for a headset which can be plugged into the designated port. The leg support system and headset port are clearly visible on the following pictures.

To make the racing wheel as compatible as possible with most games it features almost everything you can find on a regular controller. It comes with a sequential stick shifter and an impressive 17 buttons, including the four wheel mounted paddles. Although all these buttons make it a little less slick looking it’s pretty neat to navigate through all the menus without the need of picking up your controller. There are also a couple of special functions available on the racing wheel. To conveniently use these, the boys and girls at Joytech implemented a tiny LCD screen capable of showing a few characters. You can set a timer, adjust the sensitivity or utilize the turn-o-meter which is always visible. If you turn the wheel to the right, the number on the right increases, and the number on the left decreases. Turn it left, and the opposite happens. This allows you to take a turn the same way you did before. My wheel did have a slight malfunction because it’s showing 4-6 by default, but a little brute force solves this problem for a while and it shows 5-5 like it should. The last little gimmick is the Knight Rider feature. On top of the wheel there’s a row of lights, these turn on when you’re pushing your pedal and the harder you push, the more lights turn on.

Suction cups, headset port and leg support system

I’ve had some experience in the past with high-end force feedback racing wheels, always turning off the force feedback because it’s enormously frustrating and distracting. This wheel only vibrates a little bit, it’s very gentle and I only noticed it because I read on the box’s print that it has this feature. It doesn’t really add much to the gameplay and you can turn it off if desired.

The games

I started off by playing a couple of rounds of Burnout: Revenge. This was a really bad start and this game is definitely meant to be played with a controller. Even with the highest sensitivity settings you’ll be sweating out of your chair in no time, pulling the wheel like a madman, stomping the gas, and slamming the brakes. The controls are also a bit out of place, the frequently used boost button is inconveniently located on the controller part of the wheel instead of one of the paddles. It should be up to the game to customize your controls, which isn’t possible in this case. The only good thing about Burnout in combination with a racing wheel is that you can modestly accelerate by gently pressing the gas pedal.

Even with burnout, the pedals won’t move!

The next game I tried was Project Gotham Racing 3, and although I disliked this game from launch day, it was a whole other experience than Burnout: Revenge. With this game, the racing wheel adds a new dimension to the gameplay. You can perfectly steer your vehicle through all the corners and other obstacles after some practice. And instead of the wheel being another way to move your car, it’s a total different way of driving. There are also a zillion different cars in PGR3 and they all have different driving physics, it’s a bit more challenging to master them all with a wheel, but eventually it’s just way more fun. With this game the features on the racing wheel make some sense. You could for example use the built in stopwatch to time how long it takes you to drive through a particular part of the track.

The last game I tried was Need for Speed: Most Wanted. Even though this is pretty much an arcade game like Burnout, driving with a wheel worked out pretty well this time. The behaviour of the various cars in this game only slightly differ and you should be able to handle them pretty well in no time.

Conclusion

The MSRP of the wheel is $99,95, but you can get it for two thirds of that price if you shop around. That’s just a little bit more than an average game, and if you’re really into driving games you should definitely consider one. There are other Xbox 360 racing wheels on the market, mostly a lot more expensive or extremely cheap looking. With this wheel you get a relatively big bang for your buck. With all the features like the headset connector, LCD screen and the controller buttons this wheel gets a great mark. The ugly looks and quite useless leg support system tone it down just a little bit.

Final Score: 8 out of 10 - Good (how do we rank stuff?)