Recommendation for non-FFB wheel with strong centering system?

[mickael28]

I was talking about other topic in another post and after trying a few games lately I noticed that most don't support FFB at all, so my FFB wheels are un-usable in them.

@MrThunderwing mentioned that the following could be a good option, compatible with PC/PS3:

If you want a budget wheel with no FFB and a 'bungie' cord self centring system you can't go far wrong with one of these: http://www.thrustmaster.com/products/ferrari-gt-experience-racing-wheel

Do you know if the centering system is strong in that one, or it just offers a little bit of resistance? as I usually prefer when the resistance is quite strong...

And do you guys know other brands/models which are compatible with Xbox 360 as well? or other good models for PC/PS3 as well to make a comparison of the strength of the centering system?

[Malenko]

*Love* my Fanatec Forza wheel. it works on PC, PS3, and X360

[mickael28]

*Love* my Fanatec Forza wheel. it works on PC, PS3, and X360

Is that the Fanatec CSR model? I think that's the latest one I got and when I was trying it with different games, I just realised more and more than a lot of games either don't offer support for wheels at all (eg, split second, blur, Fuel, Pure, etc) or if they do, they don't have force feedback (eg. Ridge Racer 7, emulators like Dolphin, Demul, ... ), in which case our FFB wheel is not useful as it doesn't offer any kind of resistance so one cannot really control any car as it just goes all over the place.

In that CSR model I saw in the instructions two settings (Spring and Damper setting) that we could adjust, which seem to help with the resistance, unfortunately they say that those options can only be used with the consoles (not with PC, no idea why!), and anyway, I think if the game doesn't support FFB then none of those options work in the console either when I tried...

Hence that I think it might be worth having a look at a non-FFB model, which by the looking of things, will be more used that the FFB one as it'll be compatible in more cases.

[Malenko]

if you use a FFB wheel on a non FFB game, its a non FFB wheel..............

what's your endgame here?

[BadMouth]

My logitech wheels still have active centering when used on non-ffb games or emulators like MAME.

I'm not sure what wheel you have, but you should check into x360ce.
It emulates an xbox360 controller, giving you centering feedback and rumble on most wheels.

[mickael28]

The issue I am having happens with all the games which do not support active FFB for me or with emulators (like Dolphin or Demul, I've not tried MAME on non-FFB games).

Even in the PS3, where in the case of the Fanatec CSR wheel the settings to adjust the resistance should work, they don't work if the game supports wheels but it has not implemented FFB, video example for Ridge Racer 7 (PS3):

https://streamable.com/bdwh3

But as said, it happens in other games I've tried and emulators. Although most games I tried on PS3 last weekend didn't even support wheel at all...

I had other FFB logitech low end wheels in the past and they had the same issue though.

[MrThunderwing]

If you want a budget wheel with no FFB and a 'bungie' cord self centring system you can't go far wrong with one of these: http://www.thrustmaster.com/products/ferrari-gt-experience-racing-wheel

Do you know if the centering system is strong in that one, or it just offers a little bit of resistance? as I usually prefer when the resistance is quite strong...

It isn't super strong, but it does the job. My recommendation was really based on the budget friendly aspect, although ironically when I searched on Google for the picture I used in the other thread, an Amazon listing came up with a brand new one for a ridiculous £166 (!). The one that I bought in Game (brand new) about 5-6 years ago only cost £39. I think Bad Mouth's advice is what you should probably listen to though and look into whether your wheel has some kind of active centering option, rather than buying a brand new one. FFIW, I don't think Ridge Racer 7 was designed with any kind of wheel optimisation and was intended specifically with pads in mind which is why the controls feel way too sensitive with a wheel (Edit: I could be totally wrong about that though...). Also, Dolphin does , and you can set up the emulator to see your input device as if it were the official GameCube steering wheel. Despite not supporting FFB, I've never had any issues with DEMUL when using my Logitech DFGT to play Daytona USA 2001 or NASCAR Arcade. I can't recall if it self centers or not, but regardless it's never been an issue either way. A lot of the 'regular' Dreamcast racers probably handle oddly with a wheel for the same reason RR7 feels weird, in that they were originally designed for the small X axis of a DC pad (Daytona USA 2001 is a bit of an oddity as it's default X axis setting seems to be optimised for a wheel, and NASCAR arcade was an arcade title in the first place designed for wheels).

[mickael28]

It isn't super strong, but it does the job. My recommendation was really based on the budget friendly aspect, although ironically when I searched on Google for the picture I used in the other thread, an Amazon listing came up with a brand new one for a ridiculous £166 (!). The one that I bought in Game (brand new) about 5-6 years ago only cost £39. I think Bad Mouth's advice is what you should probably listen to though and look into whether your wheel has some kind of active centering option, rather than buying a brand new one. FFIW, I don't think Ridge Racer 7 was designed with any kind of wheel optimisation and was intended specifically with pads in mind which is why the controls feel way too sensitive with a wheel (Edit: I could be totally wrong about that though...). Also, Dolphin does , and you can set up the emulator to see your input device as if it were the official GameCube steering wheel. Despite not supporting FFB, I've never had any issues with DEMUL when using my Logitech DFGT to play Daytona USA 2001 or NASCAR Arcade. I can't recall if it self centers or not, but regardless it's never been an issue either way. A lot of the 'regular' Dreamcast racers probably handle oddly with a wheel for the same reason RR7 feels weird, in that they were originally designed for the small X axis of a DC pad (Daytona USA 2001 is a bit of an oddity as it's default X axis setting seems to be optimised for a wheel, and NASCAR arcade was an arcade title in the first place designed for wheels).

I remember having watched that video from you a while ago, but I think I read that was the exception rather than the rule in Dolphin, as in... either not many game have FFB originally or if they do, the FFB doesn't translate to a proper FFB with the games I tried as the wheel always feel kind of dead.


Yes, I need to check running games on the PC with 'x360ce' in between, never tried... The problem is as well that my PC is not really powerful to run emulators properly, hence that I tended to buy the games on consoles as they run a lot better and are cheaper so 'x360ce' might not be an option long term anyway...