MadCatz Official Xbox 360 Force Feedback Racing Wheel Review

So now I’m setup and ready to put the wheel through its paces, I love my racing games and have chosen two of my favourites, Turn 10’s Forza 4 and EA’s Need For Speed Shift 2 to really put this wheel to the test, both games offering their own unique flavour of racing simulation.

Powering up the wheel it sparks into life and auto centres its self, a quick tweak in the options menu to calibrate the deadzones for the pedals and I was ready to go.  The vibration feed back in the game was immediately impressive, the slight tactile sensation of the engine firing up and the low level rumble of the engine ticking over before a race was fantastic, giving you just the right amount of suggestion as you hit the rev counters red line, a quick flick of the gear paddle and your given a subtle knock, or dependant on the car, a powerful jolt as the next gear locks into place.

A lot of high value wheels tend to be way too over powered, with noisy motors that try ripping your arm off in those tough corners, which does nothing but cause arm fatigue, but the MadCatz wheel seems to have the balance just right, the motor is as quiet as needs be, so not to be distracting from the game and the force applied to your arms is enough to make it feel, while maintaining a good balance between realism and being enjoyable, opposed to just feeling like your trying to fight with it around the corners.

The small looking motor on this wheel had me stunned, giving a very realistic feel of weight across all speed ranges, allowing you to hold a slow bend at speed and literally feel the balance of your car, until of course you misjudge the required amount of power and loose grip, in which case the wheel will go light/heavy in your hands, don’t catch the drift in time and the wheel responds realistically as you feel the back of the car wobble and step out of line, allowing you to balance your steering throughout the corner accurately, fail to do so and the wheel will put up a heck of a fight, letting you know just how out of control your car is, which usually results in you taking your hands away from the wheel when it reminds you what happens when you hit a tyre wall.