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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program I had the privilege of owning its predecessor several years ago, the G25, so I knew mostly what to expect with this new G27, but I was still expecting so much more from Logitech. The expression "Logitech giveth and Logitech taketh away" seems most pertinent.
So, let's start:
Opening the box and getting everything out is very simple. All the parts are well designed, but you're immediately greeted with what I think is the biggest issue with the G25/27 set, the cables. So many cables! 400 cables! (at least it feels like it)
The wheel has a cable coming out of it that goes into your PS3; the pedals have a cable coming out of it; the shifter has a cable coming out of it, and then there's the power brick that has a cable to be plugged in. All these cables plug into the wheel itself, and it's definitely not a pretty sight. I don't know about other people, but I don't have a place where I can leave my steering wheel/shifter/pedals plugged in 24/7, so setting all this up and putting it away again is a COMPLETE pain in the rear.
Putting the cable issue aside, there's a lot to like with the G27. It's an improvement over the G25 in many ways:
1.) The G27 wheel uses helical gears (or diagonal-cut gears) vs the G25's straight-cut gears. What this means is that there's a reduction in noise when turning the wheel, and it's also smoother while maintaing powerful force feedback! Great stuff!
2.) The shifter on the G27 no longer has a sequential mode (i.e. clicks up and down only), which is no big loss to me. I prefer either the regular 6-speed or using the paddle shifts on the wheel. While it may seem that this is still a LOSS compared to the G25's 6-speed AND sequential shifting, the new addition to the G27 is that the gears don't CLICK into place. On the G25, every gear change would greet you with a CLICK as the gear was put into place. Logitech have removed this sound so the gear movements don't hurt your ears with their plastic sounds as the G25 did. Now, some people have modified their G25 shifters to remove this sound, but it voids your warranty and I've read of several people irreparably breaking their shifters by doing this... In any case, for me, the G27 shifter is an improvement over the out-of-the-box G25 shifter.
3.) The pedals are now adjustable, which makes it a joy to heel-and-toe while racing. The pedal layout is a huge deal more comfortable than on the G25 pedals. This, for me, is a huge improvement. My right foot would get very uncomfortable with the G25 layout.
4.) There's a new set of tachometer LEDs on the wheel, though I've yet to play any game that supports them yet... It's a neat little feature, though, if it does as advertised.
5.) The G27 also has some more buttons on the steering wheel, which you can customize, of course.
So how does it play?
VERY well, depending on the software!
Need for Speed: Shift PS3:
I first tried out Need for Speed: Shift on the Playstation 3, and was pleasantly surprised to see that no setup is needed, and the controls just work. In fact, it even shows you a picture of the wheel/pedals on the control screen (albeit just the G25, but still...). It's great to have the wheel work out of the box with no tinkering. THAT said, there's perhaps too much force feedback in Shift to be particularly comfortable. The faster you get, the more the wheel fights with you. At 120mph, it's very hard to keep the wheel straight. I've track-driven several times at near 150mph speeds at times, and I can safely say my steering wheel doesn't fight me in real life like it did in the game...
So, for ease of use with Shift, I'd say 5/10. It's just too hard to keep the wheel straight at relatively high speeds...
Gran Turismo: Prologue PS3:
NOW we're talking. None of the fighting I experienced in Need for Speed: Shift, and plenty of smooth corners and subtle force feedback. It's fair to say the force feedback is a tad muted in Prologue, but it's infinitely more comfortable to play than Shift, and a real joy to hit those apexes time and time again. 9/10.
Overall, this wheel is excellent, but the pain of setting it up is just too much to ignore. It really is a cable nightmare. The wheel, pedals and shifter could easily be wireless by this point, meaning the only cable needed would be a power cable to the steering wheel for the force feedback to work. I suspect the inevitable G29 will remedy this, as the way the G27 currently works is a direct copy of the G25 which is 3 years old as of November, 2009.
Overall, though, a great wheel, if you can be bothered to go through the setting it up...!
4/5
Note: This wheel is for PC AND PS3.
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Extremely well made, I bought both G27 and the GT wheel for comparison. At first I wasn't sure whether the $200 difference is worth it, until I tried both out. Played F1 championship, GT5 prologue, GT5 demo and Dirt 2. If you can foot the bill, G27 is hands down better. Better construction and quality (GT wheel has plastic pedals, G27 has metal paddle and pedals), feels more solid and the force feed back feels accurate and keen.Another example of this being a well designed product is, on other wheels I've tried, the foot pedals are spring loaded with the same resistance. G27 however has different spring rate on the throttle and brake, which makes it extremely realistic. I'm not sure if that was software or hardware controlled but I like it.
There are problems with this wheel, it isn't fully supported by all the racing games in PS3.
For example, paddle shifting in GT5 prologue doesn't work (although GT5 HD when it comes out will work, GT5 demo works) so if I want to use manual shift in GT5 prologue I'll have to use the real 6 speed shifter, and I couldn't get the buttons to assign correctly in any of the games. So if I need to hit the PS button I actually need to use a controller. There is no documentation on what the default mapping is like (at least tell me where the PS button is, seriously). Paddle shifters do work in F1 champ, Dirt 2, so I'm not sure what the problem is with GT5.
None of the game shows G27 as an available steering wheel controller.
This is not supported on Xbox 360 but I'm curious and I'll test that out later.
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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program First off, let me open with this wheel is not without fault. However, this has to be the best gaming peripheral I have ever owned. I will go into detail about the niggly little things later on. For now lets cover how incredible this wheel system is for driving games.I have used this on a PS3 slim. Prior to this I had only driven Dirt 2 & Need for Speed: Shift by using my PlayStation 3 Dualshock 3 Wireless Controller. This often had me tapping the turn motion on one of the joysticks. This left alot to be desired if you were doing a slow left or right turn at speed it often caused the rear end to break loose and eventually I lost momentum or worse wrecked.
I am no stranger to the motto right tool for the right job. Back in the 80's I used to do flight sims on my pc with the keyboard. I dont know of too many pilots that fly that way so eventually I purchased a Yolk or joystick for fighter games. I knew a wheel would improve my driving because we drive that way it is a natural movement for us to achieve. I have used countless plastic wheels for driving games in the past. I had not however, used on on my PS3 because I just got it in September.
Now, just with everything quality counts. You can get a flimsy plastic wheel that will probably perform very close to this setup. You will not however get the amazing force feedback or leather covered wheel, tight shifter and more that makes this wheel stand hands above any I have ever used.
Force Feedback rocks:
I used to have one of the old Force Feedback joysticks from Microsoft back in the 90's. I could always out-strength it whenever I was pulling some maneuver somewhere. What is so awesome about the feedback here is it is really sensitive,yet at the same time very strong. Ill give you an example. When going into a turn it fights you like a real car will, ok I expected that. What I didnt expect is when airborne in a corner (like in Dirt 2) the wheel goes limp, like the wheels are actually off the ground and I have no resistance to turn. THAT IS FANTASTIC!
When playing with the standard controller I always played from a car down view like I was driving a remote controlled car. Now I always play in cockpit view. It has totally reinvigorated the way I play my driving games.
Now to the naggy stuff;
Cords4 to be exact that need to be run somewhere and often get all mixed up.
USB only, I really wish this had Bluetooth built in, might be worth a few more bucks to not have to sit on top of my television due to the shortish USB cord.
Dont see the point in the manual shifter, but it is a nice addition for if you like to shift that way. Most of the games I play don't use it so I wish I could ignore it all together but all of the PS3 buttons are on it.
Tips for ownership:
I am only reviewing this for PS3, The buttons above the shifter are (your X triangle and so on) the buttons below are your left side D pad buttons. The red buttons underneath are your startselect.
I have not found out what all the little ones on the steering wheel are for.
IMPORTANT: Do not have any controller set to #1 when you plug this in. The PS3 will assign it to number 2 and it will not work in any game. To be honest I often restarted the PS3 to get it to take the wheel as controller 1.
Pros:
>> Very high quality
>> Accurate Feel
>> Adaptive force feedback
>> Brings old driving games back to life
Cons:
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