What happened to all the racing wheels?

"John Smith" > wrote in message
...
>
> I have three MSFF wheels, one original game port, a usb gray and a newer
> usb red, they all still work perfectly. The only problem is the grips wear
> out. I'm going to look into the frex wheel for it. Anyone know if it's
> worth the price? The wheels have been rock solid and I don't want to ruin
> them, even though I have spare parts.
>
that's what happened to my heavily modded GP1(homemade pedals, all optical
sensors)after 7or 8 years, the rubber on the wheel went all soft and
mushy.Ended up cutting off one section and wiring on some vinyl tubing.Was
bearable.
--

Steve H

>"straiton" > wrote
> I'm very happy with the new Thrusty GTPro Rallye FF(sheez... they've gotta
> shorten the name tho' .Much the same price as the Momo racing FF.
> Have had it six months or so now.Was squeaking a bit, so opened it up
> (there goes the warranty),tensioner for the belt just needed a little
> grease.Greased all the cogs i could get to(they were all dry), bolted back
> up.No probs.


The GTPro is still just a beefed up typical plastic FF wheel. There's no
true quality wheel in-between.








--
-- François Ménard <ymenard>
-- This announcement is brought to you by the Shimago-Dominguez
Corporation - helping America into the New World...

i think the inner started to move on the wheel frame part, and after time
the rubber just softened and got sticky.Time for replacement anyhow.Now got
a GT pro rallye FF.
--

Steve H
"Enos Nivek" > wrote in message
...
> On Sun, 23 Apr 2006 12:52:43 +0930, "straiton"
> > wrote:
>
>
>>that's what happened to my heavily modded GP1(homemade pedals, all optical
>>sensors)after 7or 8 years, the rubber on the wheel went all soft and
>>mushy.Ended up cutting off one section and wiring on some vinyl tubing.Was
>>bearable.
>
> Hmm, I hadn't used my MS FFB wheel for a while and when I finally
> pulled it out for some game time the rubber grip felt sticky. I wiped
> it down with some mild soapy water and it feels fine now. Is this what
> happened when your's started to go?

"Enos Nivek" > wrote in message
...
> On Sun, 23 Apr 2006 12:52:43 +0930, "straiton"
> > wrote:
>
>
>>that's what happened to my heavily modded GP1(homemade pedals, all optical
>>sensors)after 7or 8 years, the rubber on the wheel went all soft and
>>mushy.Ended up cutting off one section and wiring on some vinyl tubing.Was
>>bearable.
>
> Hmm, I hadn't used my MS FFB wheel for a while and when I finally
> pulled it out for some game time the rubber grip felt sticky. I wiped
> it down with some mild soapy water and it feels fine now. Is this what
> happened when your's started to go?

The grips start to separate from the wheel, eventally they will tear (or get
pealed off by your son in my case) I cut down a full size foam car/truck
steering wheel cover and glued it together then stretched it over the older
wheel. That worked ok. I think I'll try to get a regular steering wheel wrap
and try that..or tennis racket grips may work too..

Enos Nivek wrote:
> My Microsoft FFB2 is still running like new and it must be at least 6
> years old now. Wonder if it's a collectors item yet? If I do buy a new
> wheel it won't be FFB anyway as there are only a few games that ever
> got FFB right. Same with my MS FFB joystick. I never use it because it
> just doesn't feel right in most games. IL-2 series is the only one
> that got it right.

I still have both the MS FF wheel, and the original red Logitech Momo wheel,
both still in great working order.
I really like both of them.

Of course, I could start actually using them again...


--
Don Burnette

vvx wrote:
> I noticed that some of the companies that used to make racing wheels have
> discontinued their models.
>
> So I ordered the Logitech Momo force feedback wheel, but it is defective.
> It will not power on. Apparently this is due to some kind of manufacturing
> problem with the pin where the adapter plugs into the wheel. Many others
> are running into this same problem.
>
> Have quality force feedback racing wheels become extinct?
>
>

It seems many people like the Logitech DFP (No, its not just a PS2
wheel) and they sometimes 'upgrade' it by purchasing a quick change
wheel mounting kit from Frex and also alternative pedals, etc.

I use a red Logitech MOMO Force wheel with ECCI-3000 pedal set.
However, I'm seriously considering saving my spare change to buy an ECCI
6000 GTS set this coming fall/winter. It's going to be $1,400... but at
least I won't have to worry about a wheel for a LONG time. I've been
torn whether or not I would miss FF or not, and I've been alternating
between FF and nothing but centering spring with my Logitech MOMO and
I'm not so convinced I'm going to miss FF or if it is any less realistic.

If you want a "high quality" FF wheel, I think BRD is the only real
alternative and that's going to cost you $1,500+ or so as well.

--
Scott B. Husted
http://www.Husted.cc

alexti wrote:
>(...)
> because I got original grip worn out down to plastic But otherwise my
> MSFFW goes really well. Now, when I see commercials on TV advertising
> quality products from Microsoft, I know what they're talking about

I second that. Both my MSFF stick (gameport) and MSFFB wheel (USB, grey)
are doing fine after numerous years of abuse. This is really
well-engineered hardware. I like to think that it must be Dilbert's
pointy-haired boss that decided to discontinue this excellent product
line after the software division of the company complained that it made
their products look bad in comparison.

Mr. Sylvestre

I dont know guys... but whatever wheel you bought, you had to "tweak" the
settings or else you would be in the "they NEVER get it right" camp, for
force feedback.

I have MS SW FF ver2 (red) and ver1 black, there are a couple things I had
to do for each sim to make it work "right" and I know there was a list
about 20 lines of things to "setup" a momo for most users, and all.

FWIW, If you bought the wheel, plugged it into a PC, took the generic
setting or "default" (meaning allows for some variances in user, game and PC
configurations) then by all means you guys will be fairly true about "they
never got it right," The "THEY or THEM" you were refering to though, was
everyone else Like you... but I'd still stand up and tell you with
"centering off", high FF strength, the MS FF wheels rock with everything...
Except the fact that the wheel itself is small in diameter, & pedals are
softly springed (so I race barefooted instead of combat boots maybe some of
you like to wear?) I know the pedals are indestructable, because they were
tested by a hissy fit, and 220+ lbs jumping on them and kicking them (like a
5 year ols would do) and they still work.

I got a feeling that the thrustmaster might not be all that bad this time
around, but I hear your PC better be high end, because it can slow it down
some. the old nascar pedals were nice "if you had them mounted" and a low
type racing seat, I duno about the new ones... My simracing is done in a
office chair, so pedals are good from MS, IMHO.

Nlaplaca enlightened us with:
> "Enos Nivek" > wrote in message
> ...
>> My Microsoft FFB2 is still running like new and it must be at least 6
>> years old now. Wonder if it's a collectors item yet? If I do buy a
>> new wheel it won't be FFB anyway as there are only a few games that
>> ever got FFB right. Same with my MS FFB joystick. I never use it
>> because it just doesn't feel right in most games. IL-2 series is the
>> only one that got it right.
>
>
> I never really liked FF myself and likewise choose not to use it. I'm
> running Rfactor mostly now but haven't even bothered to try it out
> yet.

Clean the ruber grips, your grimey hands sweat & oil breaks them down... I
got some steering wheel wrap (ala 1970's) or like me, old bycycle handlebar
wrapping tape, Hell my old pickup is doing the same thing...

John Smith enlightened us with:
> "Enos Nivek" > wrote in message
> ...
>> My Microsoft FFB2 is still running like new and it must be at least 6
>> years old now. Wonder if it's a collectors item yet? If I do buy a
>> new wheel it won't be FFB anyway as there are only a few games that
>> ever got FFB right. Same with my MS FFB joystick. I never use it
>> because it just doesn't feel right in most games. IL-2 series is the
>> only one that got it right.
>
> I have three MSFF wheels, one original game port, a usb gray and a
> newer usb red, they all still work perfectly. The only problem is the
> grips wear out. I'm going to look into the frex wheel for it. Anyone
> know if it's worth the price? The wheels have been rock solid and I
> don't want to ruin them, even though I have spare parts.

Can't get it in the US yet.

I've got my eye on it too.

-Larry

"straiton" > wrote in message
news:1145717652.782155@teuthos...
> I'm very happy with the new Thrusty GTPro Rallye FF(sheez... they've gotta
> shorten the name tho' .Much the same price as the Momo racing FF.
> Have had it six months or so now.Was squeaking a bit, so opened it up
> (there goes the warranty),tensioner for the belt just needed a little
> grease.Greased all the cogs i could get to(they were all dry), bolted back
> up.No probs.
> --
>
> Steve H
>
> "Steve Simpson" > wrote in message
> ...
>> The annoying part is that there's nothing in between. You've got
>> Logitech's crappy plastic wheels which barely last 6 months for a regular
>> sim racer (and as you point out don't have spare parts) and then you've
>> got BRD stuff which is completely over the top for anyone except racing
>> professionals.
>>
>>
>
>