Potentiometer on steering wheel

[pninja005]

What is a potentiometer on a arcade steering wheel ? 

[Distortion]

Potentiometers ('pot' for short) vary the resistance across a circuit.  Arcade controls can tell how far you've turned the pot and translate that into game information.  Such as translating how far you've turned the wheel into how much the car in the game should turn.

[pninja005]

How do you recognize a potentiometer ?
I need to calibrate the steering wheel of my racing game. (Namco Ridge Racer) but don't know how these things look like.

Thank you

[RayB]

It looks exactly like a volume knob.

http://www.musikkeller.de/stagg/effekte/wahman_potentiometer.jpg

(Google Images is your friend)

[pmc]

Here's a good intro. It helped me understand a steering wheel pot and measure how it was working. Maybe it will help you.

-pmc

[pninja005]

Thanks for all the info..

I opened the steering wheel and found the pot. 
Is it normal it shouldn't be calibrated to 0 but +300 in order to make the game steering work correctly ?

THanks,

-Peter