Well within the critical threshold of a useful driving controller

I wanted a racing wheel for my Xbox that was sturdy, accurate, and rugged, and I wanted it for playing Project Gotham Racing 2 and Need For Speed: Underground. I'm quite happy with the MC2 racing wheel.

Racing wheels never improve your performance in video games; on the contrary, they usually degrade it. However they are loads of fun for just playing with and feeling a more "true to life" driving experience. There are several aspects of racing wheels that should be evaluated for:

CONSTRUCTION

The MC2 costs $60, one of the more expensive models, and it shows in the construction. It's fairly solid in construction and doesn't have that cheap plastic feel that cheaper controllers do. The grips of the wheel have a nice rubber grip with the protruding bumps of a race driving wheel. The wheel rotates on a solid mechanism with a good spring return. It feels like a $60 wheel. The base of the wheel is wide with suction cups to hold it to a desk, and side wings that slide out to grab the sides of your lap if you use it on your lap. Provided that you have a truly flat surface (not a porous wood surface), the suction cups work quite well in holding the steering wheel in place. The lap extenders work nicely, but it places the steering wheel too close to you and you get tired of applying constant outward thigh master pressure to hold it in place.

The pedals are on a weighted plastic base, that still tends to slide when the pedals are used. The pedals are large enough for my size 11 foot and have a spring mechanism that feels similar to a real car, but it still feels like the plastic it is. I have a feeling that if anything breaks in the system, it will be the pedals considering the abuse they take with forceful and less precise appendages like your leg and foot. They feel significantly mushier than a real car’s pedals but definitely better than cheaper wheel/pedal video game controllers. A serial cable connects the pedal base to the wheel base and usually doesn’t get in the way.

ANALOG PEDALS

Surprisingly, not all driving wheels have pedals at all. Some of them advertise as a feature that the "pedals" are triggers on the wheel. Some of these pedals are actually toggle buttons (sometimes called "digital"), which means either you are pressing the gas, or you aren't. Braking, or aren't. The MC2 instead has analog pedals, which means that you can apply different levels of brake and gas; which provides a more true to life experience. The gas pedal has a throw (movement distance) similar to a real car, while the brakes have a much longer throw than normal. However, it is up to the setting of the video game which determines exactly what effect the pedal depression results in.

The MC2 also has an LED display which shows how much you are pressing the gas pedal down, which helps answer the question: am I actually maxing out the gas?

WHEEL, BUTTONS, AND SHIFTER

The wheel works smoothly with a good return to center spring. It takes a little getting used to because unlike a daily driving car, race wheels are fully turned with less than 180 degrees of movement in either direction. For those of us who’ve never driven a race car, this is a thing to get used to. The wheel includes a calibration function which makes a huge difference. Pause your game, then push the calibration button. The LED display then acts to show the center dead zone which can be expanded or narrowed, and the wheel rotation maximums which effect the sensitivity of the wheel. Once set, it remembers the calibration for the duration that you leave the Xbox powered up. Calibration is an absolute must for an optimal driving experience.

All of the normal controller buttons are available on the MC2 wheel and are located on the face of the steering wheel. The buttons are easy to reach with the thumb but I’m not sure if I like the layout the best. There’s nothing inherently wrong with it, but if you are used to the handheld controller, you’ll have to reprogram your mind to remember where each button is.

The wheel also has two paddle switches that are behind the wheel for your middle fingers to operation. These paddles are duplicates of the X and B buttons and are intended for use as up/down shifters in driving games. Alternatively, you can also you a shifter stick located to the right of the wheel. I almost never use this as it requires you remove your right hand from the wheel to shift, but some people will like this “realism”.

In the dead center position of the wheel is the four way controller which is the same as the up/down left/right direction pad on the regular controller. Which all the same controls as the regular controller, you never have to actually use the original controller to navigate start menus and the like.

IN REAL LIFE

This wheel adds a whole ‘nother dimension to the experience of driving games. It takes getting used to, but once you do, you can do just as well in the game as the hand held controllers. Wheels take a beating and I’m glad I splurged on the MC2 wheel. I enjoy the precision of the MC2 for the price. No, it’s not perfect and no I don’t feel like it’s a real car. I think I would have to spend several hundred dollars to put together a true to life feeling wheel and pedal set. I have never had any problems with the MC2 losing calibration or control either. The pedals sometimes have the tendency to do the plastic squeaking as you do more delicate pedal movements, and sometimes the wheels dead center doesn’t always seem to be affecting the game like dead center.

CONCLUSION

Overall, this is a good wheel. You get what you pay for and for $60, you get a sturdy wheel that really does do its job as a wheel and pedal set. I’m thoroughly enjoying my wheel as I play the Xbox driving games.