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

Game Trials

I have tried the game out on a number of different type racing games from Midtown Madness to Star Wars: Racer. Each game was tested by using both the racing wheel and the pedals that come with it. Here are the results in terms of performance and ease of use. Here are the games I tested:

Midtown Madness
Monster Truck Madness 2
Star Wars Episode 1: Racer
Sega Rally 2

Midtown Madness

Being a recent Microsoft game, Midtown Madness was clearly going to work well with the Precision Racing Wheel right from the start. The racing wheel really does give you better control over the vehicles in Midtown Madness. Also you get far better access to all of the buttons on the steering wheel whilst playing such as the horn and changing views.

Monster Truck Madness 2

Rather surprisingly, it is Microsoft's very own Monster Truck Madness 2 that is the one racing title I have tried that I cannot get to work with the precision Racing Wheel. I tried everything from doing a clean install to downloading the latest patch available for the game, nothing I did would get it to work.

Star Wars Episode 1: Racer

This is a strange title to try out with the Wheel even though it is a racing game, the pod racing doesn't always look like it will suit the racing wheel. Surprisingly it does work very well, much better than I expected it would do.

Sega Rally 2

This was excellent in both terms of control and gameplay, it really was great to use the racing wheel instead of the keyboard.

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