The best solution is a racing seat/chassis for racing games that will allow you to mount the wheel and pedals and sit in the perfect driving position. Two of the most reasonably priced models are the VRC from Bob Earl Racing and the Playseat. The VRC is perfect if space is limited in your living room, den or recreation room, and if you want something that you can break down quickly and easily with the wheel and pedals still attached—and tuck away in a closet when you’re through racing. If you have a bit more room and prefer a Sparco or Bride-style seat, there’s the Classic and improved Evolution models of the Playseat. Trust me when I tell you: once you’ve played your favorite racing game in one of these, you’ll leave your lap for your pet, kids or significant other (not necessarily in that order of course), and your table for magazines, snack bowls and ashtrays.

For the review, I’ll attach the Logitech DriveFX to my Playseat and connect it to my Xbox 360. The games I’ll use are Forza Motorsport 2 and Project Gotham Racing 3 (which is bundled with the Microsoft Wireless Racing Wheel).

As you can see from the photos, attaching the DriveFX to the Playseat is a quick and easy affair with common, easily attainable household items. The dual clamps on the DriveFX are practically tailor-made for the mounting plate on the Playseat, whose support bar runs right down the middle of the plate. The dual clamps on the DriveFX does a much better job of securing the wheel to the mounting plate than Microsoft’s Wireless Wheel—whose single clamp with an adjustable clamp pad, presses up against support bar on the Playseat’s steering wheel mounting plate. As a result, the clamp can’t be tightened enough to make the wheel really solid, and has a tendency of working loose every now and then—which can be quite frustrating in the middle of a race. Meanwhile, the Logitech Drive FX has no problem and stayed put.

I should also point out that on the VRC with Microsoft’s Wheel, you’ll also need to insert a block of wood that’s at least ½” thick—or a spacer that’s ½” thick and 2” in diameter, between the clamp pad and steering wheel mounting plate, even though the VRC’s support bar for the plate doesn’t run all the way down the center as it does on the Playseat. Chalk up another one for Logitech in the design department.

Impressions and Conclusion

Although there are a number of areas where the DriveFX is clearly the better wheel, it’s not exactly a slam-dunk victory across the board against Microsoft’s offering either.

First, the DriveFX isn’t wireless. It needs power for its force feedback motor and a physical USB connection for your 360. Whether or not that’s a plus or minus to you depends on a number of things. Although both the power and USB cable are over seven feet long, if your Xbox 360 is set up in the living room and connected to a big HDTV that you normally sit over seven feet away from, you’re not going to appreciate being forced to sit closer and tethered to your 360 because of the USB cable. Although the Microsoft wheel’s force feedback motor also requires a power outlet for it to work (and believe me, it performs horribly without it), the wheel’s wireless connection allows you to sit further than seven feet away from your TV and Xbox—with the wheel in your lap, where you can plug it into a outlet that’s closer by (though you may want to return it to Microsoft for this safety retrofit first, before sitting it on your lap). If you do prefer to race with the wheel in your lap, Microsoft definitely wins in terms of convenience and comfort. With the DriveFX, you’ll have to do some cobbling and improvising. Also, its smaller, lighter pedal base is at a distinct disadvantage, especially on a carpeted surface since it lacks carpet grips found on Logitech’s PC and PS2 wheels.

Force feedback is just as much a subjective as a technical matter. Every gamer is different and has their own idea on how “good” or “bad” it is on a particular wheel while playing a specific game. The ability of force feedback to simulate physics as realistically as possible from bumps in the road and applying too much power in the corners, to an impact with other cars and the effects of damage on vehicle performance—ultimately depends on both the hardware implementation in the wheel and how it is utilized by game programmers. And it’s here where perceptions of what makes force feedback the most “realistic” in games, meets the reality of what the game and hardware developers allow. The only way to actually experience real-world force feedback is to get behind the wheel of a real car and drive it. Since many of us will probably never get the chance to drive a race car or an exotic, $200,000 sports car, virtual representations of the real thing will just have to do.

In Forza Motorsport 2, you can tweak the wheel’s force feedback and sensitivity settings, as well as other wheel and pedal-related settings through the Advanced Options menu. Project Gotham Racing 3 has no adjustable force feedback or any other advanced wheel and pedal settings within the game. While there’s not much you can do about the force feedback in such a game, the Logitech DriveFX Axial Feedback Wheel for Xbox 360 has a rather interesting—if not readily apparent solution, for adjusting wheel sensitivity.

Remember that little unmarked button on the left spoke of the wheel that I mentioned earlier? Turns out that it controls the sensitivity of the Logitech DriveFX. Press it and the DriveFX’s power LED blinks the appropriate number of times for each sensitivity level. Ironically, there is no mention of this button in the Installation Guide, though it is in a Logitech’s original press release for the wheel, and a Troubleshooting FAQ in their forum here. There are also two additional sensitivity settings besides the one listed in the FAQ. I don’t know if it was just my particular wheel, but it was only safe for me to change the sensitivity settings while at the Xbox 360 Dashboard. Changing the sensitivity while in the game—not during a race mind you, but at the game’s main menu—made both Forza 2 and PGR3 go absolutely nuts. The cars were uncontrollable until the games were exited and restarted. If you use the sensitivity button, be advised that the game does not save the settings when you power off your 360 and the wheel.

Ultimately, I had better results with the DriveFX at its default sensitivity setting in both games anyway—but that’s just my personal preference. You may get different results depending on yours, and the games you play. One advantage that the DriveFX reportedly has that the Microsoft Wireless Racing Wheel doesn’t, is that the Drive FX’s force feedback is compatible with many of the more recent and older Xbox 360 racing games that you won’t find on the list on Microsoft’s site. Strange, but this is Microsoft we’re talking about…

Whether it’s gaming mice or racing wheels, you win or lose by responsiveness—and you simply cannot beat a wired game controller when it comes to that. The Logitech DriveFX Axial Feedback Wheel for Xbox 360 was noticeably more responsive to my input than the Microsoft Wireless Racing Wheel, in both Forza 2 and PGR3, hands down. Plus no worries about batteries—rechargeable or otherwise—or the associated added expense. No controller weirdness due to dropped wireless signals or interference, either.

DriveFX’s Axial Feedback felt more “natural” to me than the heavy-handed force feedback implemented on Microsoft’s wheel. In Project Gotham Racing 3, all of the cars from the easiest to drive, to the high-powered “beasts,” were more manageable and predictable from Street Races to Cone Challenges with the Logitech DriveFX. It took a lot less trial-and-error with much less frustration learning how far to push each car to break the tires loose when going for big “Kudos” points in PGR3’s drift and style events. And equally less trial-and-error and frustration learning how far not to push a car when trying to get through a corner as quickly as possible, with the competition seconds off my rear bumper, ready to overtake me in the blink of an eye if I screwed up.

Putting a Lingenfelter Corvette at Sebring through its paces in Forza Motorsport 2, the DriveFX faithfully transmitted every seam and bump in sections of the concrete track and the complete loss of adhesion when I got a little too carried away in the turns—and a nasty jolt when slamming into a retaining wall. Catch air coming over the ridge at the Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway just before that nasty downhill turn, and you lose all input from the wheel—until you come slamming back down to earth again, spinning out of control off the track, raising a cloud of dirt and sand around you.

Although I prefer the feel of the Logitech DriveFX over the Microsoft Wireless, the Microsoft wheel has larger paddle shifter buttons with better tactile feedback and larger, more responsive pedals than the DriveFX. The brake pedal on the DriveFX should have been equipped with a stiffer spring, as a brake pedals are usually stiffer than the accelerator.

Had the pedal base on the Drive FX been the same size as the MOMO Racing Force and Driving Force Pro, Logitech probably would have been able to make the pedals larger and space them apart a bit more. Also due to its size, weight and design, the pedal base on the Microsoft Wireless is a lot less likely to slide around on a carpeted floor than the DriveFX’s base.

Since it has a USB connection, I did try the Logitech DriveFX on a PC. Windows XP does recognize it and asks for a driver to install. Unfortunately, Version 4.60 of Logitech’s Gaming Software, which contains wheel drivers as well as the configuration utility for the wheel, does not recognize the DriveFX. Some users on the Logitech Forum were able to get XP to recognize the wheel by turning off their PC and unplugging and plugging the wheel back in again. For some users, it worked; for some it worked for awhile then stopped. And for others, it wouldn’t work at all. In spite of my best efforts, I fell into the last category (luck of the draw, I guess). It’s ironic and almost laughable that the Driving Force Pro for the Playstation has the ability to function under Windows, while a wheel designed for Microsoft’s own gaming console, does not. Just another example of Microsoft’s frequent short-sightedness and how out-of-touch they can be with the gaming community when they put their minds to it…

None of the shortcomings of the DriveFX are enough to remove it from consideration as a prime candidate for your Xbox 360—particularly in light of the current safety recall on the Microsoft Wireless Racing Wheel—and the fact that the DriveFX’s street price is in the neighborhood of $65 - $85. A very nice neighborhood indeed, when you take into account the Microsoft Wireless Wheel’s street price of $125 - $140. If the lack of wireless and native lap support isn’t a problem, you’ve got something suitable to clamp it to, and you can’t justify spending over a hundred bucks for a wheel, then the Logitech DriveFX Axial Feedback Wheel for Xbox 360 deserves a spot in your winner’s circle.

This review was made possible by