I am not a newcomer to the Microsoft hardware line but this is the first time I buy a wheel from them. I have purchased three separate Sidewinder joysticks. The first I gave away to a friend and the last two I sold on eBay during a time when I was bored out of flight simulators.

What I never thought was that I would be buying a wheel. I love cars but never liked racing games because it is hard for me to justify driving in the PC when I can walk outside, put the top down on my Mazda Miata roadster and go out for a ride in the back roads. This all changed when I had a chance to play the demo (and eventually bought the full version) of Need For Speed: Porsche Unleashed.

I liked this game so much that I drove back to the store the next day and bought a Logitech Wingman Formula GP wheel. 2 wasted hours later trying to get that piece of crap to install under Windows 2000 and I returned it. I tried the Sidewinder wheel instead and less than 5 minutes later I was ready to rock.

Game play is much lively because now I can steer gradually instead of using the arrow keys. The wheel has a very good center feel and the buttons are placed perfectly. The wheelbase has a quick release clamp that is much more practical than the two knobs in the Logitech.

Still, I have a few minor complaints:

1. I can’t find a good position to drive. I am 6’1”, and even with my office chair at the highest setting I just can’t find a comfortable way of using the pedals.
2. I tried to program every possible button to replace the gas and the brakes but none could pull the trick. This is of course not the wheel’s fault but mine.
3. Microsoft refuses to declare the wheel Windows 2000 compliant even if it runs beautifully. They still claim Windows 2000 is not to be used for playing games. Sure.

This is a very high quality product. It was packaged very well and just like the joysticks it has a warning to make sure you install the software before you plug the device to USB. I got mine for $70 with a $20 rebate and I already consider it money well spent. There is no way I could have made it past the first “evolution” stage in NFS: Porsche Unleashed without a wheel!

If you have shied away from racing games because the keyboard sucks, then you should give this a try. I might shoot for the force feedback later but I just wanted to make sure I did not get bored of it too quickly. If a month from now I still play with it once or twice a week then I know I can afford to grab the force feedback and sell this one at a loss to some lucky fellow on eBay.

I cannot find anything really bad to say about this wheel. My problems are more because I don’t have an ideal workstation in my home office, so it is hard to find a comfortable position to drive.

Update 7/21/2001
Idiot alert! If you use this wheel you will probably unclamp it after you are done and clamp it somewhere else in your desk. All this clamping on and off means one day you will clamp the wheel on top of the USB cable like I did yesterday! Lucky me it was less than 30 days, so I put it back in the box and got a replacement. I guess I will be a bit more careful the next time...

As for NFS: Porsche Unleashed, I am somewhere halfway thru the second evolution phase and the wheel still rocks. And guess what? I am using Windows XP Professional and the drivers work beautiful.

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 70