Simplify your laptop buyingLogitech Driving Force Pro (PS2)
Manufacturer: Logitech Part number: 963293-0403
- More product information:
- Editors' review
- User reviews
- Specifications
- Manufacturer info
- Bottom Line:
- The Logitech Driving Force Pro is a wheel that perfectly complements the games it was designed for; if you have a need for GT 4-style speed, this wheel is for you.
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CNET editors' review
Logitech Driving Force Pro (PS2) price range: $99.80 - $99.99
- Reviewed by: Brian Ekberg
- Edited by: Gamespot
- Reviewed on: 02/17/2005
- Released on: 03/01/2005
The good: Multiple gearshift options; 900-degree rotation; thrilling force-feedback response.
The bad: The best features work with only a handful of PS2 games; wheel can be resistant when exiting turns.
The bottom line: The Logitech Driving Force Pro is a wheel that perfectly complements the games it was designed for; if you have a need for GT 4-style speed, this wheel is for you.
Sony's Gran Turismo series for the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 has long declared itself "the real driving simulator." However, the first two games in the GT series were dependent on the PlayStation Dual Shock controller to guide your car around the track--not exactly the ideal method for a game so firmly rooted in realistic driving performance and control. With 2001's Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec, Logitech introduced a driving wheel specifically designed to be used with that entry in the series, the Logitech GT Force. Here we are, three years later, and the fourth entry in the GT series is set to storm American shores next week. With the launch date looming, we had to check out the Logitech Driving Force Pro, a PS2-only wheel purposefully built to make your Gran Turismo experience as realistic and enjoyable as possible.
The Logitech Driving Force Pro contains all of the components you might expect from a PS2-specific racing wheel: USB port connection, a dual-clamping system for securely fastening the steering unit to a desk or table, eight PS2-specific buttons (circle, square, cross, and triangle, as well as L1, L2, R1, and R2), and gas and brake pedals perched on a solidly constructed no-slip floorboard. Real racing nuts will salivate over some of the special features built into the wheel that really set it apart, such as the 900-degree wheel rotation (for supported games), a choice between wheel-mounted paddles and a sequential stick shifter for changing gears, and force feedback (for supported games).
Installation of the Driving Force Pro is as simple as that of any USB-supported peripheral should be. We simply plugged the wheel into one of our PlayStation 2 USB ports and fired up the game. The wheel automatically calibrated itself throughout its 200- or 900-degree rotation, and we were all set to go. Provided you have a desk, table, or chair to which you can attach the wheel, the two clamping screws securely fasten the Driving Force Pro and open wide enough to accommodate a nice variety of surface widths. The only drawback here is the lack of a built-in lap-attachment option (though it should be noted that Logitech does offer a separately sold attachment). Unless you have such an attachment, you might have to experiment with the height of the table or desk you attach the wheel to in order to attain that ideal setup for living-room driving.
The solid rubber wheel is both sturdy and well constructed and also provides an excellent surface for gripping. Your fingers won't be slipping off this wheel any time soon, no matter how badly your palms sweat during those endurance runs at Laguna Seca. Fans of manual-transmission racing will be pleased to note that the Driving Force Pro gives you a choice between an attractive sequential gear stick and wheel-mounted buttons for shifting gears. Though Logitech refers to the latter as "paddles," they really are buttons, and they are depressed into the wheel itself when pressed. We would have preferred to see the more traditional free-standing paddles on the wheel, if only because that's what we're used to using, but on the other hand, this configuration means there's no chance of these buttons snapping off, as paddles can. As for the stick shift, we liked the feel of it, but found that a careful touch is required. You can't just flick the stick quickly and move your hand back to the wheel, as the stick has a tendency to snap back slightly too hard along its range of motion, which may shift you back to the gear you were trying to shift out of. A bit of practice, or a migration to the sequential gearshift buttons, will cure this problem once and for all.
Even though the gas and brake pedals aren't loose, they could still probably use a bit more resistance to feel properly weighted. The pedal board itself features a combination of rubber grips and pointed plastic grooves to keep the board from sliding on carpet or hardwood floors. In our time with the unit, we didn't experience any unnecessary slippage, even with vigorous use of both pedals.
The 900-degree wheel rotation, available in supported games only, is a nice feature for negotiating those tight hairpin turns. Games that do not support 900-degree wheel movement will default to the more traditional 200-degree setup. In GT4, this two-and-a-half-turn capability makes driving the cars an even more convincing experience, especially when combined with the wheel's remarkably responsive force-feedback support.
If there's a single Gran Turismo 4 experience that best exemplifies the thrilling force-feedback capabilities of the Logitech Driving Force Pro, it's a license test held on the back straight at LeMans--a nearly four-mile stretch of asphalt during which your car will reach speeds in excess of 230mph. As you approach top speed, your car will begin to lose adhesion on the road, and you'll watch as your car, responding to small undulations on the road, skips laterally across the pavement as if dancing on ice. Better yet, you'll be literally fighting your car to stay in a straight line at such ludicrous speeds, as the Logitech Driving Force Pro's force feedback perfectly captures each lateral push and bounce, rocking the wheel violently from side to side. We can say that, without a doubt, it's one of the most thrilling video-game racing sensations we've ever felt.
Force feedback doesn't always have to be so...ahem...forceful to make an impression, however. Another truly impressive aspect of the Driving Force Pro's force-feedback support in GT4 is its subtlety. All of the different road imperfections and variations that you run into in the game are deftly translated to your hands through the wheel, from the bumpy trackside speed strips to the railroad tracks you cross over when racing on the Seattle course. The game's vaunted physics model that deftly pushes cars into tire- screeching drifts or unfortunate spins comes across well through the wheel's resistance to turning against the car's momentum.
If there are any points against the Driving Force Pro's force-feedback system, it's that the wheel is almost too resistant to rotation, especially when coming out of turns. Unlike driving a real car where, when exiting a turn, the wheel naturally returns to its center position without much input from the driver, the Driving Force Pro doesn't seem responsive enough when returning to the center. You may need to force it when navigating a series of tight chicanes. Also, although you will feel some response when colliding with competitors on the track, the force-feedback response tends to ignore heavy contact with walls and other stationary obstacles.
The Logitech Driving Force Pro is the definition of a racing enthusiast's peripheral. While the list of games supported by the wheel is extensive and reaches far into the PS2 back catalog of racers, a smaller number of those games support force feedback and only a handful support the wheel-specific 900-degree rotation features. Furthermore, the force-feedback support found in games such as Burnout 3 and TOCA Race Driver 2, two non-GT games we tested with the wheel, doesn't come close to the kind of subtle and complete feedback found in Gran Turismo 4. As such, the wheel is specifically designed for GT fanatics who are looking to make the most out of their racing sessions. For that select group willing to cope with a fairly hefty price tag, they will find a wheel that is responsive, attractive, and sturdy; one that does what any great driving wheel should do: greatly improve the virtual driving experience.
User reviews
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The Ultimate So Far!
by skroadie on November 2, 2007
Pros: The force feedback make it possible to get the most of accellerating out of a turn. The grip of the wheel is of the most durable.
Cons: The inability to change the angle of the wheel and pedals forced me to build appliances to set them at the right angles for the best commpetitive edge.
Summary: Excellence Cubed.
Save for one thing. I played GT3 and 4 so much and often that after only a year or so the shift up button started double shifting on ...Summary: Excellence Cubed.
Save for one thing. I played GT3 and 4 so much and often that after only a year or so the shift up button started double shifting on me. This will never be a problem for drivers that use automatic shifting, but they will never be as fast as ME.
But now I've learned to use the shifter.
Most of my friends have a hard time using the wheel, they feel FF(force feedback) in the wheel but with out the G-force normally felt in real world driving they tend to either go headlong into walls at the end of straightaways or burn out their tires fishtailing down the straight aways.
My advise would be to get use to the game with the normal controller, and then move on to the wheel.
I've given the Pro ForceFeedback a rating of 10 because, with it I was able to acheive steering accuracy that is not possible with non-FF wheels, in fact I would never use a non-FF wheel again, I'd prefer to use the DualShock instead.
And I'm speaking from experience, I purchased 4 of the most advertised wheels. ALL JUNK.
My rating might go down if ever another wheel sets the bar higher.1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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A must have for driving simulation
by Artur.AN on April 20, 2005
Pros: Feeling, construction
Cons: Pedals are not "pressurized" as they should be.
Summary: Being a GT player since first edition,used to drive with the Sony's Dual Shock Controller,being used to win every single race and championship on all GT's ...
Summary: Being a GT player since first edition,used to drive with the Sony's Dual Shock Controller,being used to win every single race and championship on all GT's games, I decided to "upgrade" my simulation driving experience for GT4 and bought the Driving Force Pro Wheel. Well, it s not an easy task to adapt my self to the newcomer, after years and years of DualShock Controller driving. After a few laps with some of mt cars and on some tracks, I am still discovering and adapting myself to the wheel.Road feeling is excellent,one must be very careful with the chosen trajectories and very decisive on making turns. The pedals are ok although the brake pedal should have a more "pressurized feeeling" as it's very difficult to "feel" the braking power of the car.However this has to do also with the getting used to it. I use the wheel buttons to change gears,but sometimes its nice to change them on the gear stick which is a bit misplaced for that, as I would prefer to have it closer to the wheel, in order to change them without the need of having to move the hand away from the wheel. The "force" of the wheel is sometimes "too much", but also very useful in some situations. One thing is for sure using the Driving Force Pro: driving its much more sensitive, much more subtle and efficient. And the pleasure it gives, lap after lap has nothing to do with the standard controller. A must have for GT maniacs like myself.
Updated
After a complete night adapting myself to this wheel, I can say that things are getting better and better.A noticed however a few things: gear lever is not as misplaced as I mentioned before.Also, the better the car and the better it is tuned, the wheel behaves really nice, I can have full control of the car,naturally.Also I agree with other user opinion, when he says that the wheel should return to its "straight" position by itself, as this is the natural behavior on a real car. This is a glitch that it is important specially on rallyes.Again,maybe getting used to it can make things even better.All in all and again, a must have for the serious maniac...like myself.1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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The wheel creates a nice realism to GT4 but lacks automatic wheel return
by ante_up13 on April 12, 2005
Pros: Great for the pavement racing in GT4. It provides some great realism
Cons: The pedal console slides a bit. The lack of automatic return makes it easy to do donuts all day long.
Summary: With the rally racing in GT4, the wheel fails. There is a hard learning curve to keep the car from spinning out because there is no auto return on the ...
Summary: With the rally racing in GT4, the wheel fails. There is a hard learning curve to keep the car from spinning out because there is no auto return on the wheel. If Logitech can add it to their next wheel, they would really have something great. I would wait for the price to come down a bit if I were to do it over again.
1 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
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buttons should have been on the side
by rotarydrifter on December 29, 2008
Pros: works on ps2, ps3 and pc
900 degrees steering
force feedback lets you feel bumps and your car slide
a side shifterCons: lots of cords
buttons on the wheel may be hard to push when you need to
no h-shifter
no clutch functionSummary: I mainly got this wheel because the g25 is way too espensive. it does get a lot of praise so I have no reason to go over it, as i ...
Summary: I mainly got this wheel because the g25 is way too espensive. it does get a lot of praise so I have no reason to go over it, as i dont play any racing games without it.
now the problems. why are there so many cords, one to plug into the wall one to plug into a usb drive and one to connect it to a power supply. theres no screws like most older computer periferals to keep it from coming out during a race.
another major problem is the lack of buttons on the side meaning that if you are trying to e-brake during a drift it's pretty hard to do while your wheel's spinning around. I personally had to switch the buttons with the shifter since i rarely have to upshift while the wheel's spinning anyways.
if you need a cheap wheel and the newer logitech wheels are out of reach, get it, but just be aware of it's flaws. -
I'd depended on the user responds.. not good
by cwilsonsr56 on January 19, 2008
Pros: Looks good.. conversation piece
Cons: Latency, hard to turn
Summary: Consider my experience.. It's very hard to turn
1st problem - latency
2nd problem - stiff (very stiff)
3rd Don't think you will use the 900 degrees turn ...Summary: Consider my experience.. It's very hard to turn
1st problem - latency
2nd problem - stiff (very stiff)
3rd Don't think you will use the 900 degrees turn and if you unlock the 900 degrees mode.. the resolution turn is not what you will think. (e.i. the wheel made the car turn difficult in this mode - the steering wheel turned little by little and the steering is stiff than ever.. this doesn't make since.. turning a car little by little and the steering wheel is stiff.. and a delay .. who thought of this!!!)
Stiff + delay = no fun
But I see also that some games are not designed to turn as sharply as one will think.
Ok, now that is out the way .. will I advise you the reader to buy this.. NOPE!
You will get frustrated (like me who only played with is a couple of days) and thinking about selling it on ebay..
I going to trying to adapt to this type of steering style but I think I want to sell it. -
Works Perfectly on PC - Better that the G25 & Momo
by alastairmilton1978 on January 2, 2008
Pros: Tight steering, great grip, just amazing
Cons: None at all
Summary: I have had the Logitech G25, Momo & finally the Driving Force Pro... I have used CNET for years but this is the first product I have been truly impressed ...
Summary: I have had the Logitech G25, Momo & finally the Driving Force Pro... I have used CNET for years but this is the first product I have been truly impressed with. I play Test Drive unlimited and Live For Speed on the PC and both games are transformed by this wheel.
The G25 has a horribly built gear shifter & the wheel is too thin which is unrealistic.. I sold mine after a week, the Momo had a nice fat wheel but had a bit of play in the wheel which was annoying at high speeds. The DFP seems very solid and is so nice to use.
I would reccomend this wheel to anyone especially for the PC. You just download the Wingman drivers. All buttons are programable Flawless! -
Fantastic Product for GT4 fans
by yesitswill on September 11, 2007
Pros: Easy to use, realistic feel and handling
Cons: A little pricey but can be found online for around $100 bucks.
Summary: The DF Pro 2is a fantastic product for those who are into driving games. I purchased GT4 about a year ago and only played it sparingly because it is difficult ...
Summary: The DF Pro 2is a fantastic product for those who are into driving games. I purchased GT4 about a year ago and only played it sparingly because it is difficult to use with a joystick. After purchasing the DF Pro 2 I was finally able to win a race because I can drive the way driving was meant to be done, with a steering wheel. There is a lot more control versus a joystick, and the wheel has a heavy, solid feel to it like a real steering wheel. I didn't bother trying to drive with the wheel in my lap because I knew this was be a waste of time. For me a small end table that is stomach high when sitting proved to be the perfect platform to mount the wheel. Logitech offers a lap platform to use with the DF Pro 2, but why spend money if you don't have to. It has not made me a great driver, but I suck considerably less than I did last week.
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Took some getting used to, really started getting addicted, then force feedback stopped working
by Doc_D on April 16, 2007
Pros: realistic resistance especially at low car speeds
Cons: the table clamps cannot be removed. mine has stopped working
Summary: Like at least one other reviewer, at first I was very disappointed with this wheel, sitting on the lounge with the thing on my lap was not happening as the ...
Summary: Like at least one other reviewer, at first I was very disappointed with this wheel, sitting on the lounge with the thing on my lap was not happening as the table clamps hurt my legs and the force feedback was making the whole base twist as I gripped the wheel. Clamping it to the coffee table and hunching over gave better game results but was not doing my back or muscles any good at all. Then I finally figured out that if i put two large pillows on the floor and clamped the wheel to the coffee table and sat back against the base of the lounge, I could really put in some impressive driving (I play NFS Most Wanted). The 900 Degree stuff is great!
Then to my utter disappointment the wheel stopped providing any feedback in the middle of a game!
I have filled out a question form on the Logitech web site but had no response. I'm going to take it back to the shop. Will wait to see what happens from there.
Doc_D -
THIS THING FREAKING RULES
by Oheric on December 9, 2006
Pros: EVERYTHING FORCEFEED BACK IS REALISTAL
Cons: SOME PPL (IMTHERAPYST) DON'T REALISE GREATNESS WHEN THEY SEE IT
Summary: THIS THING IS THE BOMB I MEAN WAT OTHER CONTROLER/WHEEL ACUALLY TURNS AGAINST YA?
O YA THE WIRES GET IN THE WAY SOMETIMES BUT IT IS POSSIBLE W/ AN ...Summary: THIS THING IS THE BOMB I MEAN WAT OTHER CONTROLER/WHEEL ACUALLY TURNS AGAINST YA?
O YA THE WIRES GET IN THE WAY SOMETIMES BUT IT IS POSSIBLE W/ AN INVENTIVE MIND TO FIX THAT LOL -
Buy it but don't touch it
by gizmo51 on January 9, 2006
Pros: Good looking only
Cons: After sales service
Summary: After 75 driving hours (GT4 only) just stopped, over 2$ for each driving hour becomes expensive piece of crap.
Logitech is not even responding to the problem and their after ...Summary: After 75 driving hours (GT4 only) just stopped, over 2$ for each driving hour becomes expensive piece of crap.
Logitech is not even responding to the problem and their after sales service is not existing, at least in Singapore.
Specifications
- Manufacturer: Logitech
- Part number: 963293-0403
- Description: Get ready to experience the most realistic steering wheel ever made. Because with 900º of wheel rotation, the Logitech Driving Force Pro duplicates the true to life steering dynamics of cars like never before. Inside, the advanced rack and pinion steering system lets you turn through 2.5 steering wheel rotations. Outside, the rubber wheel ... sequential stick shifter ... and responsive gas and brake pedals all combine for an incredible level of performance. And for games that don't support 900º steering, the wheel automatically switches to standard 200º mode. Combine that with state-of-the-art Force Feedback technology, and you have the most advanced, most authentic driving experience in gaming.
General
- Device Type Wheel and pedals set
Input Device
- Compatible Game Consoles Sony PS one, Sony PlayStation, Sony PlayStation 2
- Connectivity Technology Wired
- Buttons Qty 10
- Pointing Device / Manipulator 8-way D-pad, Gear shift lever
- Features Force feedback
Expansion / Connectivity
- Expansion Slot(s) None
Manufacturer info
- Logitech
- Manufacturer profile
- Browse Logitech products on Shopper.com
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- Website: http://www.logitech.com/
- Address:
6505 Kaiser Dr., Fremont, CA 94555
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