Product: Microsoft Sidewinder Precision Racing Wheel
Company: Microsoft
Website: http://www.microsoft.com/hardware
Estimated Street Price: $79.95/£50
Review By: Byron Hinson

Installation

Once you have connected up the pedals to the steering wheel all you need to do is to plug it into the USB port on your PC. The SideWinder Precision Racing Wheel is a breeze to install and get up and running. The first thing you must do is to install the SideWinder Gaming Device Software (Version 4 again) and then plug it into the USB port so that the wheel is detected easily.

What's New In Sidewinder Gaming Control Software 4.0

• Schemes instead of profiles: Version 4.0 saves your game controller settings as schemes instead of profiles. You can use version 4.0 to convert your profiles to schemes, although you cannot convert a scheme back to a profile.
• Profile Activator and Editor functionality in Control Panel: In version 4.0, the SideWinder Profile Activator and Profile Editor components have been combined and incorporated into the Game Controllers application in the Windows 98 operating system Control Panel. Now, you can create and manage schemes, adjust device settings, and test your device's buttons all from within the Control Panel.
• Scheme-specific game settings: In the SideWinder Game Controller Software versions 3.02 and earlier, the settings that you specified on the Settings tab of Control Panel: Game Controllers were global: they applied to any active profile for a particular controller. In version 4.0, these settings are specific to a particular scheme. The settings you select for your game controller are stored in your scheme.
• Macro playback features: New features in version 4.0 include the ability to print schemes and to select advanced playback options for recorded macros.
• Contents of compact disc: The version 4.0 compact disc that came with your SideWinder Precision Racing Wheel includes only the drivers and predefined schemes for this steering wheel. To use another SideWinder USB-only game controller, you need to install the software that came in the box with that specific controller.
• Permanent scheme deletion: In version 4.0, deleting a scheme removes it permanently from your hard disk. You can always reinstall the predefined schemes included in the SideWinder Game Controller Software 4.0 by re-running the Setup program on the version 4.0 compact disc and choosing to install schemes only.

Compatibility with earlier versions

• Version 4.0 of the SideWinder software works only with SideWinder USB-only game controllers.
• Installing version 4.0 doesn't delete or overwrite earlier versions of the SideWinder software.
• You need to use version 3.02 or earlier to customize your version 3.02-compatible game controllers.

Attaching the wheel to the desk is very easy, as the image below shows. You slide the wheel onto the table and then use the adjustable bolt to tighten its grip, once you have done that you push the Quick Release Level forwards so it locks the wheel in place.

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