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"Steering Wheels - Worth It?"

Does anyone here actually USE a steering wheel for driving games. I'd imagine on a PC they might help to make life a little easier, because keyboards and mice can be tricky in any game, but on a console?

Personally, on TOCA on the PSX, I have no trouble completing the game with a joypad, same goes for Driver, Le Mans, F1, Colin McRae....I can't think of any game really where forking out £30-£80 quid on an extra peripheral would be worth it.

A light gun for shooters, yes. Time Crisis needs one for sure. But I've yet to meet anyone who swears by their steering wheel peripheral. Anyone?

A Simpsons cartoon racer MUST be in the pipeline, surely!

"Steering Wheels - Worth It"

Another odd thought enters the mind of the dragon, steering wheels running their cartoon hands through their cartoon hair saying "Because we're worth it"

We need more Simpsons games in the future. Are there any actually out?

Your last sentence "Thinking strange thoughts since 1966" has got me thinking of the Simpsons, and inparticular Homer "think unsexy thoughts" whilst in a lift with Mindy Simmons....

This is what I thought you see, and your responses have confirmed it. How many second hand steering wheels do you see in the shops. Not many? And how many people use them. Not many again?

But people still buy them. So what happens to them? Is there a big pile of steering wheels knocking about that I don't know about? Does every attic in the land have a Saitek Steering Wheel gathering cobwebs?

FantasyMeister: Thinking strange thoughts since 1966.

I brought a mad catz steering wheel just over a year ago for £40, and i have hardly ever used it. I find it so hard to control a car on Gran Turismo or any other racing game with it, because you have to turn the wheel a lot for the car to move, and when you do do this, the car swerves all over the place and I can't get it going in a straight line again.
I have nearly completed Gran Turismo with a dual shock control pad though, but using the steering wheel, pedals and gear stick, I have only been able to complete a few races. It is not as if I don't enjoy using the steering wheel, it i just that i might not be very good at it. I probably just need a bit more practice.
Please give your views if you find it any different, if its the wheel I have, or if I just need a lot more practice.

I've rarely used a steering wheel in racing games, but I do rather like them. There's something of a 'feel' for your driving that you just don't get on a pad, especially if the steering wheel has pedals, gearstick or whatnot.

Would you be happy playing racing games with a joypad in the arcade?

I'm betting you wouldn't be that impressed.

I had one for my PS1, but it rarely got used. And I've got so used to the wonderful Dual Shock controllers now that I personally wouldn't bother with a wheel.

Until the recent arrival of a lap-based wheel, they were only of any use if you had a desk to put them on.

As most people use a console on the TV, and (unless I'm mistaken) most people do not have a desk or table in front of their TV, wheels were inconvenient and largely unusable.

It's different on a PC, of course, as most people have a PC on a desk. Even so, not many computer desks are suitable for bolting on steering wheels, and those suction cups just *never* work!

I've never known anyone to swear by one, and as the games designed to work with joypads, I can't really imagine using one!

Does anyone here actually USE a steering wheel for driving games. I'd imagine on a PC they might help to make life a little easier, because keyboards and mice can be tricky in any game, but on a console?

Personally, on TOCA on the PSX, I have no trouble completing the game with a joypad, same goes for Driver, Le Mans, F1, Colin McRae....I can't think of any game really where forking out £30-£80 quid on an extra peripheral would be worth it.

A light gun for shooters, yes. Time Crisis needs one for sure. But I've yet to meet anyone who swears by their steering wheel peripheral. Anyone?