Originally Posted by
RJ
So this Thrustmaster Wheel is on it's way back to Amazon for a refund.
I connected it up, but (as far as I could tell) it never allowed any sort of calibration, off line. It just "attached" to my console, did a self-centering routine, and then worked (sort of). All the controls appeared to work, however comma: The rotation of the wheel was accompanied by a notchy, gravelly-like feel, as if the drive to the FF motor was on bumps? This sensation also occurred with no power to the wheel; i.e. it was purely mechanical.
Moreover, the force feedback on the wheel was so overwhelming that the wheel was jerking around in my hands. I could not do anything about this using Forza Motorsport 7, because there was no calibration or tuning menu I could see to get to. In Assetto Corsa, there is a setup for some controls. I dialed out literally every part of the FF set of options, save "Force Feeback", which I changed from 100% (!) to 5%. Even at this low setting, with the mechanical jumpiness of the rotation, the driving experience was incredibly annoying and distracting.
It was massively disappointing.
My question for those who use these things on games:
Is a certain amount of mechanical notchiness inherent in these low/mid-priced gaming wheels?
I looked into Thrustmaster TMX design, and it appears to be a "gear" type, in that the wheel is geared to the force feedback motor. Higher end models seem to belt driven, and even higher price point still are direct drive to the motor.
If the feel of the wheel I got was typical, well that sucks and I'll pretty much scale back my expectations accordingly.
However, if mine was defective (might be), or better quality / higher price point wheels do not have this notchiness, and are smoothly rotating without power, and have some kind of adjustment capability, I'll keep looking.
Just thought I would stop in here and ask for advice before shelling out another dollop of cash for one of these things.