Finally a steering wheel that is affordable for the computer for under $60. The ThrustMaster NASCAR Pro Digital 2 racing wheel has a list price of only $59.99. For a ThrustMaster product this is an excellent price, ThrustMaster is the "Master" of joysticks and steering wheels for the computer.

The Features
A USB connection for the easiest possible connection that there is.

A rubber-padded steering wheel that is 10.25 inches big! The rubber on the wheel helps to get a good grip for some NASCAR action!

Dual paddles that can be used for gas acceleration and braking.

Four Buttons on the steering wheel that can be customized for your specific features.

A two position shifter for gear shifting.

A nice floor base for your gas and brake pedals.

A 6-foot long cable for plenty of reach!

A 48 page users manual in four languages.

System Requirements
The ThrustMaster NASCAR Pro Digital 2 racing wheel can be used with the PC or Macintosh as long as you have a USB port. The other requirements are:

The PC
A Pentium 133 processor or higher, any AMD processor will work that is a K2 or better.
Windows 98, 98SE, 2000, and ME, it also worked on XP the short time I used it.
16MB of RAM
15MB of hard drive space
At least a 4x CD-ROM drive
A SVGA video card
DirectX 7.0 or higher

The Macintosh
Mac OS 8.2 or higher
Input Sprocket 1.5 or higher

Installation!
A little assembly is required, the desk clamps have to be screwed on and there are 5 rubber feet that are stuck to the bottom of the base. I elected to leaving the rubber feet off since it would be sitting on carpet to give it a more stable feel.

Plug the steering wheel into a USB port and load the software provided, that is all. You can check through Windows to see if is calibrated right, with Windows ME mine was calibrated automatically.

Utility Software
ThrustMaster provides a nice utility called Thrustmapper to adjust axis parameters to your preference. Some games will have different sensitivity on how the wheel handles, so with Thrustmapper you can set it to run smoothly for different games.

You can assign your buttons to whatever controls or keystrokes you desire, this is very helpful in games that do not give you this option. If a certain games let you make these options, I would recommend using the game menu instead of Thrustmapper.

The manual is nicely detailed on using Thrustmapper.

The CD included has the drivers and utilities for the Steering wheel, plus they include DirectX 7 and Adobe Acrobat.

You can also make setups, calibrations and test the wheel, buttons and pedals.

My Response!
The steering wheel has a good solid feel to it. There are a couple of clips under the steering unit to clip it to your desk for a stable control of the wheel. My desk has a pull out board for my keyboard and mouse, I just push my keyboard a little forward and use it there.

The steering unit itself is made of a hard plastic, which makes for a solid built product. The floor base with the gas and brake pedals is also a hard plastic that is weighed down so it won't move on you as easy. I use a 2 x 8 inch board and lay it flat on the carpet against the wall and place the floor base against it. This prevents it from sliding away from you as you are trying to brake quickly. Even with it being weighed down it moves on you if it is on carpet.

There are 4 programmable buttons right on the steering wheel that are in easy reach with your thumbs while driving. Behind the steering wheel are two pedals that can be use for the gas and brakes, this is really helpful for the young ones who have short legs and cannot reach the base unit.

The steering response it as real as it gets to driving a car on a video game. The gas and brake pedal response it also quick and realistic. You truly do have good control while driving a NASCAR car around the track. It runs great with NASCAR III, I haven't tried the newer version yet. I have also used it on Star Wars Racer and Need for Speed III with great handling on the steering wheel.



Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 59