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We've got a thing that's called Radar Love...
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details
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Specs:
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Analog and Digital compatible
Thick rubber grips
Gas and Brake on the wheel
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By:
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Naki
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Category:
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Steering Wheel
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Price:
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49.99
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Thunder Wheel
For the racing fan: a new steering wheel from Naki.
February 9, 1999
The Thunder Wheel is of a single-unit construction, meaning that there are no foot pedals to speak of (though you can buy them separately). Instead, the analog gas and break controls are on the underside accessible with your fingers as you wrap your hands around the wheel. All the controller buttons are mapped on the face of the wheel, with the X, Square, Circle, and Triangle pushed to the outside – probably because the designers feel these buttons are more used than the shoulder buttons.
On the left side of the "dashboard" is a D-pad, and on the other is a gear-shifter. You're also offered stupid little dashboard stickers that you can plaster on the wheel if you feel the need to.
The wheel offers "tension feedback," but that only means the spring inside the steering column gets tighter the further you turn it – there isn't any force-feedback, since it doesn't have any Dual Shock-compatible mechanisms like ASCII's Aftershock steering wheel.
If you prefer playing racing games with steering wheels, this one is pretty good. Even though the pedals are in a less-than-realistic place, I'd rather have them there than have an entire unit dedicated to just the brakes and gas pedals. The only problem – if you need to shift gears, you have to let go of the gas. It's physically impossible to operate both the gas and gearshift at the same time.
The other problem: we tested this controller with Gran Turismo, Moto Racer 2, and Rogue Trip. Both Gran Turismo and Moto Racer 2 worked great (though the gas and brake pedals didn't operate in Moto Racer because of design issues), but Rogue Trip refused to recognize the Thunder Wheel as an analog controller – rendering the steering wheel useless with this game. I'd hate to think that there are other games out there that won't work with this wheel.
One more thing: the package we got didn't have any assembly directions – the wheel has suction cups on the bottom, but you can also affix clamps to the bottom of the table to prevent the wheel from slipping or coming off the surface. Without any instructions, we had to make wild guesses on how to put the clamps together – it wasn't easy.
Bottom line: Great construction – but lack of instructions and the possible incompatibility problems are a huge turn-off.
-- Craig Harris
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