Just ordered my first FF wheel.

In prep for GT5 I decided I would not go in this time using a DS3 controller. I bought a Driving Force Wireless (I know... I know...) My main goal was to get a noobie wheel and to have at least something on launch day, and in 6 months to a year if I'm still playing GT5 hard than I will upgrade to the DFGT or one of the Fanatac wheels if they end up staying together.

I got it with overnight shipping from amazon for 58 bucks bran spankin' new so it should be perfect for a "Training Wheel" so to speak and I won't feel guilty when I replace it with something else later on.

Anyways, can't wait, I should get 3 or 4 days with it on grid and dirt before GT5 comes

Hey man, I would strongly advise returning it and getting a DFGT instead. I guarantee you will not regret saving the money on an inferior wheel like the wireless, unless you're planning on making a big jump like getting a G25/27 after it I don't think it's worth it as a stepping stone to the DFGT, but this is just friendly advice.

Have fun!

Here's my opinion as a casual gamer - I have both the DF wireless and the DFGT. When I bought the wireless, I actually wasn't looking to get any kind of wheel at that time, but it went on sale for $25 making it a pretty easy decision as an impulse buy. Realism and immersion aside, I found the performance of the wheel itself to be pretty decent, and the learning curve in terms of adjusting from the dual-shock to using the paddle shifters for brake/acceleration is easier than adjusting to foot pedals.

As I said, the wheel itself is ok - the problem you'll run into is stability: it is just about impossible to get any kind of stability having the wheel sitting on top of your lap. If you can somehow find a way to clamp or otherwise secure the wheel to a table or other surface, that might work.

A couple of other observations: using paddles to brake and accelerate doesn't feel natural. You can get used to it, but it doesn't really add to the fun factor (which is one of the reasons why you get a wheel in the first place). If you drive manual, shifting with the L3/R3 buttons doesn't really feel natural, either.

With a proper wheel/pedal setup, the enjoyment factor goes up by a large margin. I got a refurbished DFGT for $60 (works perfectly), so they're not that expensive.

Anyway, I'm not really trying to dissuade you from getting the wireless wheel - just wanted to make sure you make a fully informed decision when you make your purchasing decision.

Thanks for the input guys, I'm going to give it a go and see how I like it. I just didn't want to spend the big bucks and be one of those things I use 1 or 2 times and never touch again, *Stares at mutiple rock band sets* lol.

Also do you know where any DFGT's are 60 refurbished? I looked all over and only found used ones that were still 80-90 with 15-20$ shipping

I found a local (Canada) eBay seller selling the refurbished DFGTs. I just checked and the price has steadily gone up in the past few weeks, it's now up to $80 (I wonder why ), making it not as great of a deal now.

Well I have tried some of the cheaper wheels in the past and none of them ended up getting used more than a few hours. I don't know about the wireless wheel mentioned here but unless it has a power supply that plugs into the wall you can be pretty sure that the force feedback will not be very good.

I have the MS Racing wheel, the DFGT and the Fanatec PWTS. All three are nice. The MSwheel has good FFB but is a bit smaller than I like, does not mount securely enough and is easy to break the paddle shifters. The DFGT mounts solidly, feels sturdy and well made, excellent FFB. Is a little rough and a bit noisy but it's a great wheel for the money. The PWTS mounts pretty good, better if you use screws, has great belt drive FFB, is the larger of the 3 so feels more natural in your hand. It also has several adjustments on the wheel that are independant of the game being played. The only real draw back is the d-pad is a little tricky. The DFGT has the best number of buttons and layout of any wheel I have saw.

If you want a cheap wheel for the playstation I would highly recommend the DFGT. If you want to spend more and have no plans for an Xbox then I would get a G27 or a PWGT3RS, If you have or want both systems and you can get one I would highly recommend the PWTS.

Just got the DFW wheel, didn't expect much when I bought it but really the wheel is pretty solid all around.

Also, Roadhog, this wheel does have the AC adapter so its not really "Wireless" but it connects to the ps3/pc via a bluetooth dongle thing. Although unlike most ps3 dongle like things it does actually work as good as a wired controller.

So I spent about an hour with it on GT HD Concept and at first it was weird and being my first force feedback wheel I was like WTF!? lol but after about 4 or 5 30mph laps I was shooting up to 80-100 mph. Now I'm less than a second behind myself using the controller and having a ton more fun.

I also found that while the steering wheel can move around on your lap it sort of depends on how you drive it. I combined a few hand over hand movements and just stopped wrenching on it from left to right so hardcore and now it never really moves on me. I'm still refining my manual transmission skills but shifting on the R1 and L1 buttons that are under your thumbs about 90% of the time is a lot less painless than I thought it would be.

The FF isn't amazingly strong but you can tell when you are in a full screen kind of mode when you are on and off the track and when your under or over steering. I didn't really expect much over a rumble sort of feature really for the price but I guess to be fair they came out at $100.

Overall I mean for 58 bucks I couldn't have asked for more in terms of just a fun pickup and play wheel and I like knowing that I didn't spend too much money incase I don't end up being as serious about it as I am right now with GT5 a few days away. Also knowing that I will still have a nice wheel to let a buddy drive on when I have something a bit more serious, or to take with me to someone elses.

Edit: Also I figured that Drift wouldn't be an option on this wheel with the gas and brake on paddles and the hand brake on a button but so far that is not the case.

I haven't spent a ton of time getting good with it but I do notice it is much easer to clutch kick it and sort out the counter steer with the wheel. I was even using the hand brake in time trial with the evo to slide around turns witch on the controller is just a good recipe for suicide lol.

tezster

I found a local (Canada) eBay seller selling the refurbished DFGTs. I just checked and the price has steadily gone up in the past few weeks, it's now up to $80 (I wonder why ), making it not as great of a deal now.

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I will keep an eye out though after the GT5 gold rush has passed. Everyone seems to be replacing their old stuff or buying their first wheel right now I just hope we don't regret black friday. All amazing wheels now only 40$! lol.

I purchased my DFGT wheel new from Amazon about 2 wks ago for $69.99 and free shipping (after a $30 mail-in rebate.) Only saw this sale for one day, then the next day the price increased by $30. I was originally planning to buy a Fanatec but I figured instead for $70 and this being my first wheel I couldn't go wrong for the price (plus the numerous threads of Fanatec's customer support problems worried me.)
However real bummer is I passed up buying a new GT27 this past summer that my local Best Buy was selling for $149 for one day. At the time I didn't even own a PS3 and it seemed so far away from GT5 coming out I didn't want to buy a wheel that far in advance before I owned the system and the game. Now I'm kicking myself.

You definitely won't regret purchasing a wheel. I bought my first ever wheel back in the PS2 days and ever since, I have never played any type of racing game without one. Proud owner of a G25 and a G27 now.

Did some more driving with it, got used to the manual shifting while racing, not quite while drifting yet. So far I have matched my controller laps and have actually beat them with a few of the cars. Can't wait to get into GT5 and really start tuning cars and such and optimizing lap times

Thanks for all the info Jim!! If you have more insights I'd love to hear them. I'm considering getting this wheel as well. Few years back i was heavily into sim racing on the PC and actually owned a DFGT. Now careers/life etc has taken over so I won't be getting back into it full-on with GT5 but would just like to enjoy it casually and have some nice memories of the old days:tup:

Seeing as my playstation and tv are in the living room I don't have anywhere to bold the wheel too, so I was glad to see you mentioned that the moving around on your legs is not too bad.

Thanks!!

The problem with cheap wheels is they leave you feeling uncomfortable, have to be light on the weak pedals, have to be gentle with the weak forcefeedback. This affects your comfort after a bunch of laps and also your consistency. With a better quality wheel and pedals you can rest on it rather than hover over it. You can also rely on consistently similar lap times because you don't have to be so "gentle" while driving...

I've been through lots of wheels, even Madcatz crap. YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!

Used the wheel on Live for Speed on the PC. Again it worked just as well as it does on the PS3 and didn't even require me installing anything. Just plug it in and drive! The only setup was setting up the shifting buttons ect. in LFS. I needed to set it up as usual but the game had no problems recognizing the wheel or anything like that.

I do agree with you get what you pay for but in this case I do feel that I got a wheel thats every bit worth it's original 99$ price tag for 50$. There are better wheels out there I don't doubt and I will be upgrading one day I'm sure but at least now I have a decent wheel and I can take my time in choosing or saving up for a nicer wheel.

I remember seeing the DFGT's for $99 in town here.

I paid $129 for my DFGT at Game Stop. Last one they had. My brother paid $119+shipping for his from Tiger Direct.