Microsoft A16-00029 SideWinder Force Feedback Wheel and Pedals Set
by Microsoft
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List Price: Our Price: $47.99 You Save: $111.01 (70%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Microsoft A16-00029 SideWinder Force Feedback Wheel and Pedals Set
Customer Review: Steer your way to better game play
Summary: 5 Stars
I have installed this wheel on both a HP PIII laptop and Emachine Celeron desktop both running Win XP Home. The included installation CD warned me that the programs were not approved for this operating system but allow you to install them anyway. Both systems installed correctly and operate without any problems. The wheel has an adjustable clamp and you will need about 8 inches from the edge of a desk to the back of the unit on the surface and about 5 inches on the bottom of your desktop to clamp correctly and securely. The foot pedals attach to the wheel unit via a RJ11 patch cord that is provided. My unit came with a huge transformer power supply that will hog a power strip as it is 2.5" x 3" in size. The USB cable is hard wired into the back of the wheel unit and is 6' long. Would have been nice to have a regular USB connection so a 10' cable could be used. You could always buy an extension cable if needed. The wheel works well and includes 8 programmable buttons. Buttons 1-6 are on the wheel face and are located so they can be activated via your thumbs. Buttons 7-8 are really little paddle buttons that are on the back of the wheel and are activated by your forefingers. They can be used for shifting. Microsoft has also included a button in the middle of the wheel that turns the force feedback option on/off. The pedals are nice and big with good feel. The platform they are on is solid and doesn't move around on my basement floor. They will move around a bit on carpet though. In my opinion the force feedback is pretty unrealistic, but it still is fun. Have used the wheel with Midtown Madness 2, NASCAR 2002, and the included Monster Truck Madness 2 without any problems. I purchased mine with a Microsoft rebate while Amazon was having Microsoft promotional rebates as well. I'm happy with the performance of the wheel for the amount I paid.Customer Review: A must have for driving simulations
Summary: 5 Stars
After just a short time with this wheel I couldn't imagine not having it while playing driving simluations. Even without the force feedback, having wheels and peddles brings new life to racing games. With the force feedback, games are just unbelieveable. The sensory feedback you get gives you better control over the car and the whole game just feels better. For example, in a F1 simulation the cars feel as sensitive as you would expect. You can feel the rear end sliding around if you give it too much throttle. With a regular wheel you'd have to infer this sliding from the screen, but with this wheel you just feel it. It really provides an amazing gaming experience. The force feedback is definitely worth the extra expense.The wheel is simple to hook up. Just take it out the box, and connect the peddles to the wheel with the supplied cord. Then connect it to your USB port, plug it in and and load the software.The wheel clamps tightly to the edge of a desk. The peddle base is large, sturdy and comfortable. It's only drawback is that it doesn't have quite enough mass to it and will slide back a little during gameplay.The software included with the kit allows you to tune the wheel's feel to your tastes. You can do things such as alter the strength of the feedback and control the sensitivity of both the wheel and peddles. Each of the buttons on the wheel can be mapped to a different key combinations. All of the wheel's settings can be saved as a named configuration so you can set the wheel up differently for each game.The only other issue I've had with it is a lack of sensitivity in the midpoint of the wheel's travel. I've tried to correct it using the utilities, but it's a minor issue and doesn't change how much I enjoy the product.All in all, highly recommended. If you're fan of racing simulations, this wheel is well worth the money.Customer Review: GREAT BUY!
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased my wheel back in August, since then i have had nothing but but great use out of it. I have tried all types of wheels before, some for gameing consoles, and a few for PC. this is the best Wheel i have ever used. The force feedback is great, and being able to adjust the force of it is even greater, and theres a button to turn Force Feedback on or off dureing a game.
The software included is great, anything the wheel or pedals do you can customize completely, steering sensitivity, steering range, etc, etc. even pedals you can customize to your likeing.
Monster Truck Maddness 2, the game included is alot of fun also, but there are so many games i have had so much fun with also(Collin Mcrae 2.0 is one of my favorits).
All in all, if your looking for a wheel you cant go wrong with this, just make sure you have a computer desk you can clamp it on to.
Customer Review: Best Bet
Summary: 5 Stars
Although I havent bought this wheel yet, I am going to because my freinds has this wheel and it is great. Although you amy think the price is steep, AMazon is very competative. They are about 20 dollors cheeper. The wheel is so realistic, that its almost scary. You get motion simulator stability and feel. For the 120 yuo pay, you get thousands of dollors out of it. This is basicly identicle to the simulators you might find at arcades. The only thing that its is missing is a shifter, but who knows, its the age of computers!Customer Review: A real driving pleasure
Summary: 5 Stars
This wheel is better then most wheels I have tried becuase of its natural feel. It will take all of your racing and driver games to a whole new level. For all you Nascar Racing fans this wheel gives a great representation of the FEEL of racing.