LOGITECH G25 Racing Wheel

I bought this wheel primarily for Gran Turismo 5 Prologue and that is what I have used it with. It's my first videogame wheel and as such an expert on sim games and wheels probably shouldn't listen to me too much. But I must say the experience is absolutely, absolutely incredible! The setup was fairly easy, but before you get it think about how it is going to be set up. Right now I am using a TV tray as a hack but I bought a more suitable solution and am waiting for it. Build quality of the components are excellent, I wish the shifter was a bit tighter but I have not gone into detail with "H" mode, sequential works fine. Anyway, onto the usage. With the wheel, you can feel the road, you can make adjustments, its easier to fully analyze the race conditions and adjust as necessary. The force feedback is absolutely phenomenal, somebody in another review who described it as a "3d matrix" of effects has it spot on, you really feel all the subtle effects going on. It's incredible. For example, while racing as a Suzuki Cappucino (a small kei car which is a personal favorite of GT's producer), I was able to feel when the car was starting to understeer, start to get a bit squirrely and adjust. These sorts of things are just so much harder to pick up on with a gamepad. It's hard to describe, but with the wheel and the more advanced physics of GT5P (playing it on pro with all assists turned off and sequential shifting, I don't have good access to the clutch with my setup), the game feels "right". Its more fun just driving around the track trying to improve times than ever before. This has been literally some of the most fun gaming I have ever had and I have been playing games for a loooong time, way too long. If you like racing games, and you like simulations, you really owe it to yourself to buy a wheel and the G25 is an excellent choice.

I'm not an eloquent guy, and certainly not a frequent Amazon reviewer, but I just thought I'd clear up questions if anyone else is in the same boat I was (PS3 owner looking for a wheel). I love driving sims for PS2, and thought the G25 would be a great way to get my dad to play some games too. I wasn't sure how the G25 would work with the PS3, but lo, it's flawless. Hooked up via USB, the wheel can fully mimic the function of the Driving Force Pro, so Gran Turismo and ToCA give you everything they've got. It also has a lot of future potential with the Gated gearbox and clutch-pedal that most current games don't use. The only reason you might keep a sixaxis handy is for the "home" button to quit to the XMB (ps3 OS). "Feedback" is an understatement, as the word makes me think of the N64 rumble-pack. Most of you potential buyers are already aware of the wheel pulling you out of turns, or giving enough feedback so you know just when you're about to lose grip through a corner. But the G25 can be so subtle that it almost creates a "3D" feedback map. I'm not sure how to explain it, but when your in-game left rear tire hits a rumble strip, it feel like that specific tire has really hit a rumble strip. I have no idea how they do this with just two force motors in the G25. In any event, the quality of the road-response is absolutely worth the price, which is already pretty decent here with free shipping. The DFP was tempting, as I've tried it on a PS2, but this wheel is much more subtle, much better looking, and will be the gold-standard for future driving games. No regrets here, just a happy father-son bonding experience and less wear on our real-world cars.

Recently buying Gran Turismo 5 Prologue caused me to want to take my racing game up to the next level. Enter the G25 racing wheel. Playing GT in cockpit view almost seems like I am racing in Daytona. The feedback this wheel gives makes me feel the road and what I may be doing wrong or right. This wheel is set apart with it's shifter and clutch. Of course a big plus is the complete compatibility with GT 5 Prologue. The learning curve is actually steep if you are used to using a regular controller as I am. Although I guess if you want to learn how to be a semi pro this is about as cheap of an investment you could make. This does make racing games a lot of fun. The components are rather heavy and well made. Now you may be asking, Where would I put this stuff? A desk or table would work fine. Although I am betting most of you don't have a table high enough or a desk available in your t.v. room. That's where the Playseats Evolution Gaming Seat comes in. I don't want to sound like an advertisement but if you are going to buy the wheel you will inevitably need this set up. Of course Amazon has it available and it makes the experience that much greater. I would advise any racing fan who either has a PC, PS2, or PS3 to get this wheel. It really adds that experience you could only find in an arcade. And at one buck a pop that really adds up. This is about the cheapest piece of passion you can buy. And considering the prices of fuel right now this is about the cheapest ride you can buy.

First, this is the best of 4 different wheel and pedal sets I have used over the last 10 years. The steering resolution is fine enough to drive smoothly and quickly and the force feedback is also very smooth, providing a much better "feel" for the road. The brake pedal is finally firm enough to give a more realistic brake feel of pressure rather than movement of the pedal. In the past, I always felt that the brakes just weren't there. The shifter is positive in position but with the short lever there is no gate space between gears. I took off the knob, machined a 4.5 inch extension and now have a much better feel for which gear I have selected. The extra throw works well once the console is moved to an attachment mounted on my chair to get the shift lever into the correct position. I haven't been able to get the sequential switch to move out of the pattern position, but then I don't really care about that anyway. I would have preferred to have the cables to plug in at the pedal set and the console rather than at the wheel base because this would allow easier movement of the pieces when I pack up the gear for the night. All in all, well worth the price.

First let me get the con out of the way. This thing is not the easiest thing to setup. The clamps are simple, however you have to have a table or a wooden lip that is thick/thin enough. Next you have to have a base that is wide enough to handle the kind of power you and the wheel throws at the base. That's the main con with this wheel. Other con: the wires are located on the underside of the wheel. There are 4 in all and two of the wires end hardwired into the shifter and the pedals while their ends plugin to the wheel. What this means is that if you want to move your entire unit you have to unscrew the wheel so that you can at the very least unplug the pedal wire from the bottom. That's a pain but you can get very proficient and fast at it. You can have the wheel setup and ready to go in about 3-5 minutes depending on how fast you are from scratch. Right now, I have a piano bench where the lid flips up sitting on top of two (big enough) ottomans. It provides a "meh" kind of base which does the job. If you have the money you probably want to spring for a small table or a racing cockpit/stand. This thing is not meant to be driven while laying back in the couch. You need a chair you can sit up in. You just cant unless you get a certain stand available on this site which allows you to sort of drive it from the couch. I dont have it so I wont omment. Another (very tiny con) is that the wheel has a TINY (and I do mean) TINY deadzone in the center before the force feedback activates. You will likely not notice this. Now onto the pros: This is my first wheel and it's a heck of an experience. The force feedback motors are FANTASTIC. Everything youve read about it is true. You feel the wheel slip very realistically with traction loss, you can tell which side of the car went over a bump, and even which wheel. It vibrates differently for bridges, dirt, tar, etc. and if you crash you will feel it quite hard. Also the force feedback motors (power adjustable) are VERY powerful. It will rip the wheel right out of your hands if you set it up that way. Amazing feeling when you lose control and the wheel is pulling one way and another and you literally have to fight the wheel. To clarify with each of these things theres some seriously varied gradation levels. For instance when the wheel slips on traction it doesnt go all or nothing. It varies according to the amount of traction is being lost and changes on the fly as the car steers. This is true to all the force feedback felt. It is very precise. The wheel has tension so if you steer and let go, if the game allows it, it will go back to the center. It will behave differently in steering weight and force depending on the kind of car you drive! With these kinds of combnations the subtleties available are a whole lot and it's easy to get that magic feel where you dont know just quite how they do it but you are enjoying it nevertheless. The wheel gave me TONS of accuracy over a controller. It has 900 degrees rotation and it shows. According to the game you can lower the rotation if you prefer. Works without a hitch on the PC and the PS3. Gt5 as of sept2011 does not have "official support" for the wheel but let me tell you that it does support it very very well. The only thing you cant do is remap buttons in that game. The pedals make a great difference over the controller. They all have their individual tensions. The brake is harder than the accelerator and the clutch is the loosest. I havent used the clutch much but in gt5 it was quite an experience (you have to press triangle to activate it). However, if you love the clutch, I found that since I'm kind of big, it was hard to have both feet in a straight line to use both the accelerator and the clutch. The gap between accelerator and clutch was a little narrow for my taste. However, most of you will race with the accel and brake only and for that the pedals are perfect. If you have a carpet, the pedal base will not slip even if you jam it hard as it has a carpet grip that is very good. The shifter at first I had mixed thoughts about the shifter. I kept jamming the gears into the wrong ones. But after some time, these problems strangely vanished and I had no problem. It was just a matter of getting used to it. It is an H pattern and it feels nice to slam it in. The shifters however have little resistace or weight so you can change it with your pinky. However the options they give you is nice. You have the standard six speed with reverse. Then you can press the shift down and turn a certain nob and it will activate sequential shift where the gears are now locked in a straight up and down only fashion allowing you to press down for shift up and up for shift down. The transmission clamps though functional on my jerry rigged bench got loose and needed readjusting. IT wasnt a big problem but the clamps were just not as well designed as the wheel. Something to note is that EVERYTHING in this setup has the screw holes where you can nail them perfectly down and you dont have the problems I described. The paddle shifters are very very nice. They are metallic and have good resistance and a small click to it as you change. It also has good travel distance anda good solid feel to them. If you are not nused to a shifter you can just use these and gain quite an advantage. So that gives you THREE different styles of shifting all in one package. Actual use: When you first use it especially in a sim-like game like gt5, you will likely hate it as you will be CRASHING! This is because this is not an arcade wheel. It will behave similar to a real car wheel and going from a controller to the wheel is a learning curve which can easily be learnt in a few days. If you cut the wheel hard at 70 mph, well the car will either not turn or skid out, precisely like it SHOULD. However, do give it a chance. In gt5 I found the cars would understeer etc. until I learnt that with a wheel gt5 has more precision and doesnt quite give you those controller cheats. This wheel is best enjoyed with all assists turned off except maybe Antilock braking. I mean it. You will probably really dislike it if traction control is on. Basically, you WANT this wheel to be put in simulation mode. After getting used to it, it was such a grand ride. All the cars behaved differently on the wheel and I had no problem being fully immersed in it. The fury of this wheel was quite obvious in GriD wrenching it from my hand etc. A note here though, the wheel is only as good as the game that supports it and especially the physics complexity. A game like gt5 or Dirt 2 and 3 is great for it. Split second and even NFS shift 2 was so disgustingly arcade that I stopped playing those games. The wheel performed as well as how the programmers designed the game for the wheel. I loved arcade racing games but very quickly I saw the enjoyment that the level of refinement this wheel brings that wasnt available in arcade racers with gimicky physics. I finally came to understand the term "threshold physics". This is when the car is losing traction at the edge of its capabilities and you are pumping it and keeping it in this "drift" fighting it at every turn pulling off some amazing tricks. GT5 and Dirt does this great and the wheel is very adpet at keeping up with the nuances of threshhold physics. If you have a game that didnt pay attention to it, it feels more gimicky like a wheel at an arcade (I gag at the thought of it). Dont get me wrong, you can still enjoy this wheel to the maximum in arcade games, but at this level, you will quickly start yearning for those complex wheel physics the programmers put into more advanced games. I dont know how it does it but I literally feel the weight of the different carsin the game as I use it. The ferari enzo has such a different weight feel compared to a ferari 458 italia. Every car felt different and fantastic. When you discover the button for ehandbrake, you are then taken into another level. Also with the good accelerator pedals, you can experience torque control! I cant describe it but is very varied and very nice. Basically if you are taking a turn and let go of the accelerator you will experience less control. Also while turning if you jam on the accleertor the handling changes. This also makes it great for drifting! Pulling that handbrake shifting the gears down jamming on the throttle while the tires scream throwing up smoke in the air, while you frantically twist the wheel back and forth steering and counter steering is very nice. All the while the wheel is throwing up different amounts of resistance realistically. Woah. This wheel can be used on an xbox360 but you have to buy the (unsupported) modification box for it. So I dont know how well that translates in real life. The wheel autocalibrates, turning on its own when the ps3 or PC starts. It is a very cool effect. Your friends will be impressed just by that. However, if they dont know how to drive properly, they will not like their first experience with the wheel as like you did on your first go throughs, they will be CRASHING! lol. Then they'll complain how the wheel or game sucks. The build quality is very good. The clamps, the wheel ase is all plastic but it's STRONG/. The wheel itself is metal with nice leather/rubber grips. The wheel is large for a console wheel wich is a good thing. However, it is not as large as a car steering wheel. I didnt have any trouble though due to this. I dont like the idea of wires, but they havent failed on me yet and theyve been through plenty of tugging The wires are nice and long though and I never had problems with legnth. Nothing on this wheel has failed on me or given me even an inkling that it will fail and I have thrown some serious force behind it. I've had this wheel for two to three years. If you get the g27 compared to the g25 you will have some cons. Namely, the g27 is reported to make a tud tud tud noise when its force feedback motor is engaged on high and you are fighting the wheel. This can get annoying. The g25 is much less noisy in that aspect. The other one being you do not have the sequential shifting option on the h shifter. The pro for the g27 being you have more buttons directly on the steering wheel. I do not expect the performance to be much different between the two versions. Compared to the driving force GT, the paddle shifters are better in this one. The 6 way h shifter is better (and is able to be mounted separately). The g25 has a clutch. The g25 has two force feedback motors to one on the drving force, though I heard the driving force GT has some very nice force feedback as well. Another thing you should know is that this wheel has all the buttons/shoulders that a ps3 controller has in some form on the wheel/pedals. Most of the buttons are on the shifter. The wheel only has two buttons. This can be a pro or a con how you look at it. Only thing it lacks are the two analog sticks (but the direction pad is there). This can be a problem in photo mode or where you have to get out and walk around like in test drive unlimited. For that you have to use your regular controller during these sections. This wheel can be significantly improved if it had the bluetooth wireless capability that the ps3 supports. Thereby eliminating wires. It comes with a detachable power supply which is very nice for replacement if the need arises. There is a good site on you tube called simracing tonight that can give you lots of tips on wheel purchasing. There is also a big aftermarket mods for this wheel, pedals and shifters if you are so inclined/crazy. So there you have it. It's not cheap but it's worth the price and will not break on you and it just works. If you are looking for something cheaper the logitech driving force GT acts very similar to this one, though I suspect this wheel has more finesse to it. I dont think you will be unhappy with the driving force GT as it is very good value for money as well. If you buy this wheel, do yourself a favor and buy GT5 or Dirt 2 or 3, or even R/i racing (if you're hardcore). Dont waste it on the arcade games (which I liked on a controller). You will be missing out a lot. This wheel is simply in a different class. There are better wheels but they are significantly more expensive and not VASTLY superior and they have cons in their own form that this wheel avoids with its design. If you are a first time wheel buyer this is a worthwhile purchase as long as you have the proper base for it. For further reference if you hold your thumb and second finger in a BIG C then that is the maximum amount of lip thickness the wheel clamps can handle. The lip also needs to go back a bit to allow sufficient grip about 4 inches.Also if it isnt anchored down well, the force you apply can scrape your table. A towel will help prevent it.

Do not buy this for PS3 especially if you are looking for a wheel easily compatible with Gran Turismo. It is not one of the indicated wheels and comes with PC installation instructions. The controls are not corresponding to those in the options menu. Sure, pedals aren't metal, you don't get a clutch pedal and the steering wheel isn't leather wrapped but the GT steering wheel is a better value for most gamers.

The G25 is a good replacement for the Logitech Momo, but not for the price difference. The Momo goes for about $100 while the G25 is over $250. It's nice, but not THAT nice. I paid that difference, but wouldn't do it again, knowing what I know now. The G25 housing is plastic. The steering gears can be felt throughout the turning of the wheel. The pedals feel good under the feet. The brake pedal provides more resistance than the accelerator or the clutch, which if very nice. The gear shifter does nothing for me. The shifting doesn't feel right at all. I'm worried about breaking something inside. It feels more like a toy instead of a tool. I use the paddles on the steering wheel to change gears; much more reliable. Overall, it's a nice wheel, but the price is high for the quality that you get. Logitech G25 Racing Wheel

I bought this one specifically for use with my Playstation 3 where it works perfectly. I expected some trouble with the installation, but all I had to do is plug it in and it worked. :) The key thing about this racing wheel over other is really it's quality. Especially the foot pedals are built really strong and rock solid. The wheel itself is also built very nicely and has a good solid feel. The force feedback not only adds a nice effect it actually works so well that is helps you control the car better as you feel the force you would get through a real steering. The extra unit for the stick shift is a nice add-on, but it's actually the least impressive part of the whole set. The 6 speed gated mode doesn't feel anywhere close to a real stick shift. It works OK as a sequential shifter and it's nice to have all the extra buttons for various functions and for navigating through the game menu. When I drive manual I use the paddles anyway. If you are a die hard manual stick shift fan you can do it, just don't expect too much. Overall I'm very happy with this wheel. It is the best one I had and it works flawless for well over a year now.

Ich kann nicht viel dazu sagen, außer dass es richtig gut ist. ForceFeedback ist genial bei dem Lenkrad. In GT Legends und GTR2 merkt man auch die Sturzeinstellung der Reifen, was mich immer wieder verwundert. Einziger Kritikpunkt: Nach 4 Stunden NFS Carbon roch es komisch, da es in der Zeit eine starke Dauerbelastung erfahren hat. Hat aber keinen Defekt davongetragen.