Riot Control: The Logitech Driving Force GT

Above you can see stock images of the racing wheel I've been ranting and raving about. Originally it was my intention to snag pictures of the "unboxing" but I got lazy and didn't do it. Why lazy? Well... it mostly revolves around the fact that I thought it was going to take a long time for me to get the racing wheel set up and I didn't want to burn my somewhat limited time on taking and posting pictures when I could be screaming around corners. I could have taken lots of pictures and posted them, though, because the wheel took me less than 5 minutes to get out of the box and plug into my PS3. Hey, Microsoft, take lessons!!! Their wheel took me FOREVER to get set up. Geez...

I'm not your average guy. Most of the guys I know could sit down and have conversations that would go on FOREVER about their favorite car and/or the part they just added to their car to make it faster, stronger, bigger, MORE!!!! Not me. I drive a Honda CR-V. Why? Well, after a deer ate my Civic...

...I decided I wanted something that I could actually haul people around in without all the awkward "climbing into the backseat" moments the Civic always lead to. Does this look like the mode of transportation of a man who is looking for high performance action?

In a word: no... but who does everyone want to ride with when we go to lunch? I rest my case. (Oh...and I will say this: the CR-V had plenty of room for some high performance audio equipment... so I'm not in soccer mom territory just yet...)

I explain my sad state of affairs only to say this: I'm changing. Yes, it's true that inside every guy a car enthusiast is buried and mine is coming to the surface. It all began with a friend of mine ranting and raving about how good Gran Turismo 3 was on Playstation 2. I decided to listen to his ramblings and I picked up a used copy of GT3 for $5. It turns out I was a TERRIBLE driver. TERRIBLE. Legendarily bad... but my poor performance drove me. Rather than shutting it off in disgust, I decided to take it as a challenge and started taking the driving tests. By the time I earned my first license, I had grasped the basic principles and started playing GT more like a simulation and less like a "game". With that methodology things clicked and I was HOOKED. I logged a billion hours on GT3 and was first in line to snag Gran Turismo 4. (Just a note: if you have a PS2/3 and you're thinking about about doing the GT thing, skip 3 and go straight to 4. GT4 still holds up amazingly well and "fixes" all of the issues with GT3. It's very worthwhile.)

Gran Turismo 5: Prologue is the next step in my evolution. I've been playing this fantastic racing EP for the last month on the PS3 and loving every minute of it. (Well, almost every minute of it. I still can't get a gold in the B-class race where you are forced to use the Lancer on that Swiss mountain course.) How do you take GT5 and go WAYYYY next level? The racing wheel.

Holy crap.

It's amazing. Seriously. After five minutes with the wheel, my monitor disappeared and I was racing a CAR. I forgot about the racing line and started watching the ROAD. The sense of immersion was incredible. The wheel is powered and gives "feedback" so I could feel the wheels fighting me as I tried to cut a turn too tightly. To me, the defining moment was accelerating out of a turn and feeling the wheel straighten out. Wow. Welcome to reality.

Do I recommend the wheel? Well... the price tag is high... HOWEVER, if you fit into the category of having the cash and wanting to make your fake driving experience as realistic as possible... Wow. This is it.

Oh... and to all of you who say "Yeah... that's cool... but at my one friend's house..." :I haven't been to your friends house to see the custom wheel that his dad made from a certified Dale Earnhardt's replica. Maybe that is better... but for my money I'm going with the Logitech wheel. Thanks.