So you want to be a Racecar Driver, this Wheel Can Help You

Intro:

Buying a racing wheel for any system is a gamble. Some wheels are a bit pricey and you never know what to expect. MadCatz’ MC2 Racing Wheel on the other hand is not a gamble, it’s a pure blessing. It practically has everything you want a steering wheel to have. So to cut myself short here’s my analysis on the MC2RW.

Price:I bought my wheel for $49.99 at CompUSA. As for other stores I’m assuming it’s the same price, but I’m not to sure.

Design:

Don’t worry about room:
Most wheels are supposed to be put on flat surfaces. The MC2RW however can be placed right on your lap. The design of the wheel’s supporting structure is especially designed to fit perfectly around legs. The curves for this is just right, and the extra retractable leg straps help secure the wheel’s base, so it doesn’t move around crazily when playing. If you don’t feel comfortable with that you always have the option of putting it on a desk. On the bottom of the supporting structure you have three suctions cups. Two are located at each end and one in the upper middle, very cool. For the most part they work fine.

Wheel:
The wheel itself is sturdy and has blue rubber grips at the top and bottom. The resistance of the wheel is accurate, and further increases the MC2RW’s quality. In the middle of the wheel you got the circular directional pad. To the left and right of the d-pad you have 6 buttons (L, R, B, X, Y, Z, and C). Below the d-pad you have the triangular start button and AccuDrive button. Behind the wheel you will find two butterfly-wing type buttons that function as the buttons A and B. The structure that holds the wheel also contains a F1 style stick shifter. The shifter also has some rubber grip on it and the overall feel and size is nice. In the front of the holding structure you have VMU slot.

Pedals:
There are two pedals, each one of course representing gas and brake. They function as the L and R buttons. The sizes of the pedals are good but at times I felt that they didn’t feel natural. The unit that holds the pedals is pretty stable. There are numerous rubber grips on the bottom of it so it won’t move around that much, and the extra left foot holder adds comfort. The pedal unit is connected to the wheel unit by means of a connector cord. Oh yeah if you don’t like foot pedals you can still race using the wheel only.

Cool Features:

The AccuDrive Calibration System (ACS):
The ACS feature is a fancy word that means adjusting the steering wheel to your preferences. The ACS is displayed on the wheel and provides two purposes. It let’s you see your throttle level when playing, and it helps give you an idea of what to choose when adjusting the wheel’s sensitivity.

When adjusting the wheel there are two important factors to remember, deadband and maximum range. Deadband simply means how far from the center of the wheel can be turned before your car can turn in the game. For example if you have a large deadband setting then you must move the wheel harder in order to turn your car during gameplay. A small deadband setting will result into quick turns, meaning that a slight turn of the wheel will make your car move.

Lastly there’s the maximum range, which refers to how long you have to turn the wheel before it reaches its maximum turn rate. A large maximum range lets you have the ability of moving the wheel from side to side (all the way), while a small maximum range limits that so moves are more responsive. Setting the ACS is very simple. Before races you hit the ACS button and the ACS display will light up. Here you can move the d-pad around in order to change the maximum range and deadband placement. Once you’ve fiddle around the with ACS display, you press the ASC button again to begin play.

What’s so good about the ACS?:
For one thing, not every racing game is going to control the way you want it to. The ACS helps you out by letting you decide how hard you should turn or how sensitive the wheel should be. In most of the racing games I played, I had to spend a couple minutes finding a perfect control setup for me.

Built-in Rumble Feature:
This came to me as a complete surprise. The rumble effects are fairly good, but the impact mainly depends on the games you are playing. The force feedback might not be the greatest but if I could feel the wheel shake, well then I’m happy.

Stick Shifter:
Again another great extra added to the wheel. This is equivalent to the A and B buttons. I tried the shifter a couple times in Rush 2049 and Sega Rally 2. It’s not quite my style, but for people who like to use manual transmission a lot this is a definite plus.

The Great Racer Test:

Whenever I get an accessory that greatly enhances gameplay I want to test it out with whatever games I have that are compatible with it. So here are my findings on 9 racing games for Dreamcast.

San Francisco Rush 2049:
This game was born and raised in the arcades, it’s no surprise the its control using the MC2RW is awesome. The initial steering wheel setting is solid, but a couple tweaks with the ACS and the game’s control is perfect. The only probably I had was that in order to use the wings you must press the B button, which at times can be missed when playing. Since I don’t use manual transmission I customized the wheel so that A on the Gear shifter would release the wings. So every time I wanted to fly all I had to do was press and hold the stick shifter up.
Handling: Excellent
Force Feedback: Good

Sega GT:
Let’s face it this sim can be hard at times. It takes time to master some cars, and faster speed demons are impossible to handle. It took me quite some time to get the wheel to feel natural , but in the end I couldn’t find a setting that was just right for me. Even though I couldn’t get the perfect feel, I still found the overall racing experience to be enjoyable.
Handling: Good
Force Feedback: Excellent

Test Drive LeMans
The initial setting makes the cars feel unresponsive, but the ACS solves that and the end result is a great handling game. The gear shifter works fine and like I said before the control feels right.
Handling: Excellent
Force Feedback: Good

F355 Challenge:
Meant strictly for the arcades F355 however plays frightfully well using the MC2RW. The initial setting works great and the control is smooth and most importantly responsive. Using a wheel actually makes this game fun and less frustrating.
Handling: Excellent
Force Feedback: Good

Tokyo Extreme Racer 2
Using a controller is hard, and it seems that the MC2RW slightly improves the control and makes the game a tad bit more playable. It takes a couple minutes to try to find the appropriate ACS setup and when you’re done, you still won’t feel satisfied. The game doesn’t play that bad, but the wheel could have been more responsive.
Handling: Okay
Force Feedback: Okay

Sega Rally 2:
I love this game, and I love it more now that I’m using a wheel. I love the way I have to violently move the wheel side to side and how it actually feels like I’m rally racing. It takes a couple minutes to find the ideal ACS setup.
Handling: Good
Force Feedback: Poor

Flag 2 Flag:
I haven’t played this game for a long time, but that changed once I got the MCRW. I actually played through two seasons and had a great time too. The street courses are a blast to play especially if you adjust the wheel to respond quicker.
Handling: Excellent
Force Feedback: N/A

Test Drive: V-Rally
Solid control, but it takes awhile to find a perfect wheel setting. Once you get everything together the game gets pretty entertaining.
Handling: Good
Force Feedback: Good

Crazy Taxi:
Each car handles smooth and the control is awesome. It’s just to bad you can’t really play the game to it’s fullest because of the special moves. It’s very difficult to perform crazy drifts and crazy dashes using the wheel. So Crazy Taxi is best played with a standard controller.
Handling: Excellent
Force Feedback: Excellent

Metropolis Street Racer:
MSR works well the wheel, but using a controller is much easier when performing powerslides to gain kudos points. Nonetheless fun for practicing on those long crazy courses.
Handling: Good
Force Feedback: Excellent

Hydro Thuder:
It feels as if you are playing the arcade machine. Plays well with the initial settings, and the overall control is very solid. Increases the game's playability by a lot. Awesome force feedback too.
Handling: Excellent
Force Feedback: Excellent

Here are a couple quick takes (Handling):
POD Speedzone: Good
TNN Hardcore Heat: Poor
Revolt: Excellent
F1 World Grand Prix: Good
Demolition Racer No Exit: Excellent
Daytona USA: Good
Crazy Taxi 2: Excellent

Problems:

In terms of functioning problems I have yet to experience any. One problem I did have with the MC2RW was with the steering wheel. When I played with it for the first hour the wheel made no noise. After that hour though, I could hear squeaky noises coming from the springs inside of the of the wheel’s structure when I turned the wheel. I really didn’t care at first that much but once the noise got louder I started to get annoyed. So I returned it, and got a new one. The same problem occurred, so I went to the company’s website and asked them why this was happening. Well about a month later I got an email from one of their tech guys and he said that some earlier models of the wheels had the problem. He told me the way to fix it would be to open up the unit and add some grease to the springs and it’s connection points. A couple days later I got around to it. It took me a couple minutes to get it open and I sprayed some WD-40 on the connection points and the noises were gone when I played. Another smaller problem I had was that these small grips under each pedal came off, no biggy though.

Final Thoughts

If you love racing games and you have a lot of them for your Dreamcast then you need to buy the MC2RW. It has lots of great features, a superb design, and it performs well with all of Dreamcast’s best racing games.