Logitech G25 Racing Wheel by Logitech
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Our Price: $549.98 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $449.00 (click here) Category: CE See more digital camera details and other models |
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Digital camera reviews of Logitech G25 Racing Wheel
Digital camera Review: Almost Great
Summary: 3 Stars
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
Digital camera Review: Amazing Wheel
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this racing wheel because I wanted to make a racing sim so i could play grid, gtr 2, gtr evo etc... I am VERY happy that i bought this wheel instead of the others. the dual force feedback makes it feel like u are hitting every little bump. driving over cobblestone in grid is amazing and how fast the dff responds to the users hands. 900 degree turning radius, 6 speed shifter as well as paddle shifters. Also has a brake, throttle and clutch which all work perfectly!!! AMAZING RACE G25 FTW!!!Digital camera Review: Amazing build and realism for the price you pay
Summary: 4 Stars
I had a Logitech Driving Force Pro for a while, but its lack of an H-pattern shifter and a clutch pedal gave me an excuse to turn to something better - the G25.
When I first opened the infamous green Logitech box that housed the product and grabbed out the wheel, I was surprised by a few things:
1. The weight - The three items that consist of the G25 weigh markedly heavier than the Driving Force Pro. The pedal base seems much more sturdy. The steering wheel feels about the same, and of course there's the new shifter.
2. The easy movement of the wheel - anyone who has owned a Driving Force Pro knows that it's relatively difficult to turn due to the friction in the motors; the G25 glides as I turn it back and forth.
3. The cheap plastic! - a turn off was the build quality of some of the parts. I was almost dismayed to see that the spokes that are used to tighten the clamps were flimsy and difficult to turn, and it took me a whole 15 minutes to figure out how to depress the knobs to tuck away. The clamps seem flimsy especially on the shifter. Fortunately physics works - despite the appearance, the shifter and the wheel were both quite firm when attached to my table.
As for the other parts - the shifter felt as other reviewers had described - flimsy and unrealistic, and my second gear didn't seem to be very weak, as if it were a person hanging off a cliff, about to be throw back into neutral. The top of the shifter is cheap plastic, not the aluminum that decorates the rest of the system. Otherwise, everything else seemed to look good.
4. The alarming clearance of the wheel clamps - sadly, Logitech still assumed that all tables and desks made in the world are an inch thick. Well both my coffee table and my dining table (both from IKEA, mind you I'm a college student) are about two inches thick, and i couldn't fasten the wheel onto either surface. What's confusing is that the SHIFTER seemed to have more than two inches of clamp clearance, so I affixed that to my coffee table. Fortunately I had another wooden table that was under an inch in thickness, and I clamped my wheel down there.
5. The tiny area of the carpet grip on the pedals - the base of the G25 pedals is huge compared to that of the Driving Force Pro. I expected a wider area of "spikes" to be used for carpet grip, but I was perplexed to see the same ~ 2" x 12" strip of spikes for the carpet. When I set the carpet grip down though, I noticed after you push to an extent, the grip really grips the carpet, and the base ain't moving nowhere after that.
USING THE WHEEL
Okay, I popped my laptop in front of me and I played around in Live For Speed until I really got the hang of the wheel, and I'll tell you that I was genuinely surprised. The wheel isn't just accurate and good - it's amazing.
The Driving Force Pro was a solid wheel and had good force feedback, but it was hard to turn and a bit rough sometimes. The G25 is a new level of force feedback, smooth and quiet. The wheel turns easily through all 900 degrees of freedom, and the pedals accurately represent what pedals should feel like in real life*.
*To be annoying, yes I do have some critiques about the wheel - to truly mimic a real car's pedals, first of all the pedals should be spaced out a bit farther - they are a bit cramped. The brake pedal's resistance is flat throughout its depression - in a real car, the resistance increases linearly with amount of depression. Lastly, and I know this isn't exactly feasible - the clutch pedal needs more travel distance to really simulate a car's clutch pedal.
But who cares about all that? Unless you're a real hardcore player with money to burn (you wouldn't be buying this wheel by the way), nobody's going to care. The freaking wheel costs under $300, a fraction of what hardcore players pay for their systems (which run up thousands of dollars). That's the main theme of this review - you get amazing quality for the price you pay.
More about the pedals - they simulate the experience much better than that of the Driving Force Pro's pedals, because when I give it half throttle in my DFP, the car will barely accelerate (but we know when we drive in real life that half throttle is something like 80% of your maximum acceleration), whereas in the G25, it's much closer to what I experience in my car. One more thing about the carpet grip - when I said before that they render your base immovable, I lied; when I heel-toe shift sometimes (read: push the clutch in often and hard), I notice a tendency (very small though) for the base to rotate clockwise and slide back a little. This doesn't happen when I press the gas pedal though. After a long round of playing, I will have to readjust my pedal base, but I think it's just because I want a perfect playing position, and most people wouldn't mind.
And for games that support a clutch (i.e. Live For Speed, which is amazing with the G25), you can slip the clutch and find that sweet spot where it hooks; you can stall your car, do drifting techniques (like clutch kicking), drop the clutch without having to worry about spending real money to replace your transmission, etc. In short, the pedals cannot be better for something that costs like $250.
The wheel, I already talked about. In summary, it's basically the DFP but quieter, smoother, better as a whole. The only small thing I'd like to mention is that there are only two buttons on the steering wheel. I miss being able to look backwards by holding two buttons down. Currently I use the left button for look left and the right one for look right. I do like the buttons on the gear shifter, as they're laid out very well and I can know which button I'm pushing without looking down (4 is the upper limit for being able to just feel around to push the right button).
Lastly, the shifter...yes the shifter is a real turn off when using the G25, and this I will make a legitimate complaint about; the least Logitech could have done is to put something inside the lever to increase its resistance, and to actually HOLD it into gear (accidental bumping of my gear shifter will throw it back into neutral). The craftsmanship is excellent though, and designwise it's just great to simulate a real H-shifter, with a German feel to have reverse as push-down-sixth.
In summary, I'm very happy with my G25. Although it's not a perfect wheel and has some shoddy design qualities, you aren't going to find anything in the market that's competitive with its design less than two or three times its price.
Score: 4+/5
Digital camera Review: As promised
Summary: 5 Stars
After much research I decided to purchase the G25. I was not disappointed. Makes games I could hardly play totally playable. Arcade style force feedback, very stable and well constructed. Highly recommend. Save your money and buy the best. I use with Flatout 2, GTR2, Need for speed carbon, ToCa 3, Grid, etc. Works well with all.Digital camera Review: Awesome G25 Racing Wheel
Summary: 5 Stars
I am a 63-year-old who has owned a couple of sports cars, but have never been into computer gaming. I purchased the G25 expressly for use on iRacing.com and have been very very pleased with the results. Very solidly build unit. The tactile feedback from the wheel is particually impressive, especially when tuned to feel like the real car. The shifter is a bit wimpy, but merely a matter of getting used to the feel. Have not tried the paddle shifters.