Logitech MOMO Force Feedback Racing Wheel

I got my MOMO around a month ago, needing one to replace my aged and damaged other wheel. It arrived and I unboxed it, and then spent less than 5 minutes getting it working to my system. In comparison to my other wheel that took nearly 4 hours to get worked out. I was racing within fifteen minutes of hooking it up. There is a CD included, but truly my system worked ok in Plug and Play mode. I installed the CD program to make sure everything was sorted.At first, I confess that I hated every feature on it but one; the brake pedal. It felt quite realistic as it was a tad harder to push down the further you pushed it. The rest was driving me bonkers. The steering felt grainy under force feedback, the wheel felt about three sizes too small in diameter and two sizes too large in grip diameter, and the pedal station slid quite interestingly. I was admittedly on the verge of putting it back in the box and selling it locally even if I took a hit. But, fate played a hand and I had to wait over the weekend for a local software store to open up so I could unload it.Over the two days I was 'stuck' with the wheel, I really had no option but to use it. It had been quite a while since I had been able to race again and I was impatient, so I used the MOMO. After a few races I got more and more used to the wheel and also managed to get the force feedback put down to a level just a little less abrupt. I like my wheel to feedback to me and let me know how the car is doing, not jerk out of my hands hard enough to sprain my wrists! Using the convenient and ingenious carpet gripper feature got the pedal station to stay put, and my times on the tracks began to drastically improve.Monday came and I had actually began to tolerate, not love, but tolerate the thing. It had a warranty, so if it broke before I made up my mind whether it would be staying or going, I'd be covered. I cannot say when my mindset changed about the wheel, but sometime within that first week of use, it certainly did!Now let's get down the things that racers care about.For starters, the wheel is covered in a substance that allows good grip, most racers don't drive with wet hands, and that is the only circumstance I see this wheel slipping out of your hand. If the force feedback is set too high it can be quite agressive with you, but that is a game tuning issue. If you find it fighting you, just work on it in the settings because the wheel is actually quite good on Force once you get it set right. Also, after a long "enduro" race, I found that my left hand (dominant steering hand) was a little sore in the palm and finger area. I tried to figure it out and discovered that during rally races I really put a squeeze on the wheel, so should you find this problem it is just too much grip being applied to the wheel.The pedals could have a slightly better coating on them, as the plastic had my feet sliding around a little bit if I had to agressive and tedious throttle and braking until I got used to them. All in all, they work well and are well fitting to the rest of the ensemble. Just remember to put the carpet gripper down, or you'll spend half your time trying to grab the base with your feet while driving to slide it back to you.The tabletop grip system is basically bulletproof. It holds the table well, and can be adjusted to fit virtually any table you could wish to use it with. You are really going to have to get excessively rough with turning the wheel to make the base even squeak. Nothing is more distracting than a racing wheel making goofy noises, and this one is virtually devoid of them.The buttons on the wheel are well positioned and are handy as the pocket on a shirt for mapping to any radio comms. you might have for online racing as well as other things that each game may need you to keep track of. having both the paddle shifters and the stick are a bit over the top, but the paddles can be mapped to operate other key things like the clutch, so all is good there too.The one thing I hate about it is that if you are making a long sweeping turn holding the wheel steady at times it can make a very light 'whimper' sound from the wheel. It is very quiet and I suspect it is just something within the force feedback that is sounding off since you're not working the wheel side to side but holding it off center and still. Most people race with headphones on, so there really isn't an issue here.About the wheel feeling grainy, it still does, but it is so easy to get used to. the only thing I have a problem with on that is that it feels like the wheel has very fine notches that the wheel settles into when you turn, and on long sweeping turns where you want steering precision one notch is too much input and the other isn't enough input.All in all I'm going to say that for a good controller for racing of various types from the superspeedways of NASCAR games to wooden bridges in Rally titles, this wheel should suit your needs quite admirably. It does take a little getting used to, but there is nothing that would keep me from buying another one in a heartbeat.When you first get it, you may hate it, but trust me on this; stick with it and give it a fair chance. The settings for each game seem to be giving the wheel way too much Feedback for me, but after tuning them, the wheel started working like a real link between myself and the car in my game and I think that is what the MOMO was designed to do.

I used to have a MS FF driving wheel, and had to replace it because my new PC didn't have a "game port". So I bought this one, hoping that it would at least be as good as my old one (it was OK, the clamp didn't work that great, and the pedals were always moving).Well, it works great! I use the pedals on a hardwood floor and they don't move at all. The clamps for the wheel is a little odd to figure out at first (two of the clamps are hidden by the grey cover on top, which isn't obvious that it's removable). But once you get all three clamped down, it doesn't move at all (I do have a thick wood and formica office desk to clamp it to though). The carpet anchor on the pedals seems like it would work very well, it might stick down too far for shorter carpeting, but you might not even need it for that type of carpet.I didn't think I'd like or want the extra shifter on the base, preferring to use just the paddle shifters, but it's quite nice. I play GTR FIA GT, and it works as a fantastic brake bias adjuster! Also the force feedback seems much more realistic than MS's wheel was. It's not as significant, and more consistent. MS's wheel it seemed to be way too much feedback, so I usually played with FF off, but this is very nice to use. The motors and the gearing are obviously plastic, but I couldn't find any wheels that weren't, so I'm not sure why people mention that in reviews. Yes, I'd love to have one that was made from metal, but I'm not sure if I'd want to pay twice as much for it.I only really have two complaints. The first is it's size, it's big. Bigger than the MS wheel, but since it's performance is better, and now that I don't have a CRT anymore, there's plenty of room. If you have a smaller desk, or a larger CRT, you should measure to see if it will work for you! The second is that damn removable panel for the front two clamps. It's pretty stupid that they hide the clamp adjusters, and since I'm constantly putting it on and taking it off, I just leave the cover off (supposedly you're supposed to remove it to clamp and unclamp the wheel). Fortunately the wheel doesn't look that bad when the cover is off.