Logitech G27 USB Racing Wheel for PC

I had originally used the Thrustmaster Ferrari GT Experience 3-1 wheel for games like Need for Speed (various titles under this) and then iRacing.com. After purchasing iRacing.com's product, I found that such a wheel was not up to the standards of the simulated race experience. So, I saved up and purchased the Logitech G27 Racing Wheel. Let me tell you this, the difference is AMAZING! There are tons of great things I can say about this, but I will spare you that for now and get straight to what you will want to know - the cons. Logitech does not con you with this product, but there are a few pitfalls. Straight away, you will have to 4 chords to manage. They could have put it all into 2, but they gave us 4. But once you work out a system, or get one of those nice wire management foam/plastic shells you're good. The other pitfall is that you might want to work out your arms and shoulders some before getting this! It only can put out a max of 3NM of torque, but trust me those 3NM of torque will tire you out quick if you're not used to such harsh reality. In real life driving wheels can be subject up to and beyond 10NM of torque! (that's more than enough to break fingers and possibly arms, if not injure you!), but you're safe with this product from any injury as long as you keep ergonomics in mind. Also, at first, with such torque at the wheel you will want to make sure to take frequent breaks. You won't believe how fast this wheel (when set to realistic specs of 102% overall effect in the window's control interface, and the default of 16FFB in iRacing.com's settings if you're getting it for that) can tire you out! *****BUT***** Here's the great things about this product from logitech! This wheel is the closest you're going to get to the real thing for under 300 bucks! Amazon provides a great discount here. Once this is set up, you can set it and forget it (for a while, EVERY wheel needs recalibration here and there, even the best). It's the most solid build you'll find. It's even quieter with helical cut gears! You get 3! YES 3! Pedals. Clutch!, break and throttle. Does it get better than this in simulated racing? I mean it's pedals are covered in REAL STEEL! The wheel's frame seems to be steel too! The pedals' base even comes with 3 ways to keep it from moving, hard mounting (screwing into place on say something like a Playseat, can I advertise for them enough?), rubber feet for hardwood floors, and even spikes at the back than can be pulled down to keep it from moving AT ALL on carpet! (And such great design there! It won't move, nor damage your carpet/rug!) Can I say enough about these pedals? I think not! It's accessability is rated 4 just for the amount of chords and the time you'll have to take to set it up in windows and in your various games/sims (which shouldn't take THAT long ;) ). It's comfort is second to none! It's genuine leather they wrapped it in! (though, it has a lot of torque, you get used to it once it's set to you're preference and you give it time) Speed of this wheel is incredible... it can't be turned faster than real life would allow, unless you turn down/off the forced feedback (FFB). With FFB turned off, it's like driving a Cadillac, or so I've heard. You can't get much more real, nor can you get much of a better feel than this... real steering wheels are bigger, but you don't need it really. It's immersion is second only to the real thing. Ergonomics... GREAT!, IF AND ONLY IF you keep in mind where you are supposed to keep your hands and take frequent breaks! Otherwise you could injure yourself. This is professional level simulation here. But if you keep correct positions and breaks in mind, this wheel will not injure you. It's like anything else out there. Cable management could have been better, but they do give you some stuff to help out with the 4 chords they give you. 4 groves to places them in so they don't get pinched and before that a place to wrap excess cable around. Overall, this is the best product you can get for your money (unless that elusive G29 ever comes out, ROFLMAO). There are more expensive products out there, but you will pay much more for them! You can spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for a real simulator, tens of thousands on the lesser equivalent that doesn't move but will give you feedback in the pants in the form of knocks and vibrations and good sound/visuals, 500 USD or more for over-the-top reproductions of this wheel, or you can get the original! The logitech G27 Racing Wheel for the pc is THE BEST wheel you will ever get, without paying too much. Some would say 250 USD is too much, but trust me. You get everything you pay for, and THEN SOME! **Oh, and one last thing, make sure if you're doing your sim racing on a desk (as opposed to the Playseat also available on Amazon), that the desk isn't a cheapie! This thing will have your desk and everything on it bouncing (and possibly breaking), including that expensive HD monitor you payed a lot more for ;). (But don't worry too much here, I haven't bolted anything down and have yet to have anything break or fall) Otherwise I'd recommend bolting down everything that's loose, or at the very least duct-taping it all down! I'm being serious here, that wheel has a ton of force in it. When Logitech call it "force feedback" they mean it has FORCE! 3NM of torque, that is a TON of force for a gaming/siming race wheel!**

UPDATED 06/01/13 This has been a great wheel! Keep in mind I only play Gran Turismo on a PS3. I have tried the Thrustmaster F430, DFGT, and Fanatec GT3 V2. The DFGT has horrible shift buttons with no feel (click) to them. Their small size limits you to keeping your hands in one location as well. The DFGT increased my lap times more than the F430 did compared to a DS3. Pro's - overall quality and durability is very nice - all but one button can be remapped in Gran Turismo 5 - pedals are very nice, i recommend mounting the pedals to a base or against a wall - buttons on the wheel are tricky to use when the wheel is turned more than 90 degrees e-braking is very tricky, so i still use a controller for drifting - paddle shifters are nice, have a click to let you know you shifted, although a little flimsy and a bit too close to the wheel, you'll pinch your finger if you shift with one finger and have others underneath the lever - the wheel is angled upwards a bit too much, which I negated by putting a small 3-ring binder (or wooden wedge) with the small side facing the driver to decrease the angle - action is smooth, but can be loud when full force feedback kicks in - feedback is always strong even at the lowest setting, and can shake my entire corner desk - there's no playstation button! so you still need to use your controller here and there - it works very well with the PC just be sure to fully calibrate it in the control panel first, or you'll only get 300 degrees of rotation by default, and you have to go into the control panel and adjust that. I found the PC calibration tool and game calibration tools more complicated than they need to be. I don't trust FANATEC's ($400 cost) support history, and their being out of Germany and the best Thrustmaster rig is just too expensive. UPDATE I just received a Fanatec GT3 V2 pedal and chair set yesterday 05/31/2013. The seems on the wheel were not comfortable, the cooling fan makes a whining noise, the basic pedals (even firmed up) are not as nice as the G37's by far. All of the onboard custom settings didn't seem to make that much of a difference overall. Specifically, turn-in was always better on the G27. I raced 5 laps in a FR 550PP car with Sports Hard tires and my track times were far better with the G27. THRUSTMASTER: I've been a longtime user of Thrustmaster products. I was always happier with Logitec's flight sim products. They weren't always nicer per say, but overall they worked better. I did try the Thrustmaster Ferrari F430 wheel. I was able to match my controller times and it was nicer than the Logitec DFGT. The shifter buttons were way too loud and the gears were very notchy with fine turning adjustments. The pedals were nice. The buttons could not be remapped in GT5. They were laid out pretty well, but you have to get the layout from Thrustmaster support which was very responsive I must say. The T500 seems like the way to go if money is no option, but you're going to want the F1 wheel add on and that puts you around $800 and up range. I'll be looking to add an e-brake and race chair to this and get a backup G27 for parts in case this one breaks.

If you have been playing racing games with a keyboard like myself, hold on to your shorts!!! This G27 propels your fun factor into a completely different arena!!. One word of warning, the more powerful and up to date your rig the better! So, I Just built a new rig after coming off an older I7 930 with 2 GTX 760s in SLI. For the last 3 years I've done a lot of gaming but always used a keyboard. At the prompting of an online friend I purchased the G27. With my older I7 930 I set up the G27 and it just didn't work all that well. Initially I was disappointed and for a while just boxed it all up and put it in the attic. I have so much experience using the keyboard it was just easy to go back to it. I could go much faster with the keyboard (but keep reading). Later I decided I needed to give it another chance. So, it worked ok with the old I7 930, but nothing to rave about. Seemed like I needed to spend a lot of time with playing with settings as it just didn't perform all that well, but, in certain cases was kinda fun compared to the Keyboard. I have over a 1000 hours playing NFS Most Wanted 2012, and over 1200 hours playing NFS Rivals....all with keyboard driving. So, you get to be pretty good with a keyboard after so many hours. Now I exclusively play Ubisoft's The Crew....wow, what an amazing, gigantic world map they have!!! Well, I just completed building my new rig and I cannot believe how superbly this G27 transformed the game into the best racing fun I have ever experienced. It is all about how well everything, your hardware, works together with the game. So, what do I play and what is in my rig? Anyway, my new rig is: I7 4770K AsRock Z87 Extreme 4 m.b. Corsair H100I cpu cooler 2 x GTX 780 SC's in SLI 16 gigs 1866 ram EVGA 1200 P2 SuperNova Platinum p.s. Samsung 850 Pro SSD 256 gig and a couple of other SSDs and HDDs. And.....Logitech G27 wheel!!! When I finished building this rig and got all the drivers installed for all the various hardware, and re-downloaded The Crew...the most amazing thing happened.....The G27 worked superbly, better than I could have ever imagined. This is with no profiles set up or tweaking of any kind with the multiple settings. I am blown away how all this works so superbly now. I thought my old I7 930 with the two GTX 760s in SLI was a pretty great rig.....well, this rig in combination with the G27 feels like a $15-25,000 racing simulator. Everything about the game, The Crew, the cars, the handling, the cornering, the feeling of complete control and exceptional feel of the speed of the various cars in game is simply way beyond my expectations. Its obvious to me now that The Crew is designed for a Wheel. There is no way anyone with a keyboard could keep up with the performance of this rig in combination with G27. Maybe down the road I might play with the settings a little, but right now everything seems perfect right off the bat. If you like online Racing games like The Crew....this is the only way to go....a powerful rig and the G27. I bought the G27 brand new and glad I did. Most everything else in my rig I bought used but within warranty so overall the cost was way better than buying it all new.

I have a PS3 and couldn't decide between this G27 and the cheaper Logitech Driving Force GT wheel, which is only half its price. After reading lots of consumer reviews, I decided to plonk for the more expensive wheel. I had high expectations since it cost so much. The G27 isn't super-duper-amazing, but if you have used the cheaper or older models in the past, this must feel like a terrific upgrade. I don't regret my purchase, because if the G27 has drawbacks, then I would certainly be even more annoyed by the cheaper GT wheel. Cons: If you are excited when opening the box, keep in mind that if you are a clueless novice like me, you might spend 1 hour setting up. Take a deep breath; do not do this while in a bad mood or if you're short on time. You really need to have a proper chair, table, and floor to set up this unit for comfortable, ergonomic "driving". Do not underestimate how long this may take you as you try all your possible furniture in the house. Your screen and PS3 must be the right distance from the unit for all the cables to be connected. The table and chair must be the right height, and the table's cantilevered edge must be less than 2 inches thick so that the clamp works. The table must also have a base that gives you space to put the pedals the right distance from your feet. The pedals must rest on nonslip rubber or on thick carpet so that they don't slide when you are excitedly pushing pedals during a race (tip: a Silpat silicon nonslip baking sheet does not work, haha!). Again, do not underestimate how long all this trial and error will take you. Try to be in good humor. I was close to crying and plonking for one of those ugly "racing seats" ($500???) when I finally found a combination that works (it involved a printer table, an Aeron chair, and a bath mat - it ain't pretty). Please note that the G27 is Made in China (I was hoping Japan). Well, I guess that's what you get for $240 these days. The G27 "real leather" is - as someone already noted on this page - not really premium leather. It's more like pleather or at best it's nappa (i.e. pigskin) not cow leather. The stitching on the leather-wrapped wheel is ok, not too crooked. The first thing that tripped me up was I couldn't figure out how the clamp "feet" pop out. (There is an illustration in the instructions which has no words, just pictures - of course I was so impatient I failed to review the last picture). There are depressed knobs on both sides of the wheel unit that pop out when you turn them. They help you unscrew the clamps. As noted by another reviewer, there are a lot of cables (4-5 tentacles coming out). Do not clamp the unit until you plug in everything. Feed the cables towards the front of the unit (the "hood" of the car) and thread them through the four "channels" at the base so your unit is flush with the tabletop. The unit is nice and heavy, because it has real stainless steel parts. The pedal shifters are steel and feel nice: the brake and the gas pedal actually have realistic and differing resistance. However, the clamps and clamp knobs are flimsy and made of cheap plastic, which is disappointing. Pros: Plugging in the PS3 is easy - there is no need to download any CD-ROMs or read any instructions. It's plug-and-play for my F-1 game. The box came with 2 CD-ROMS (not free games, alas), not sure what they're for, they didn't seem to work when I played them on the PS3, so I didn't bother investigating further. I have the F-1 Championship PS3 game and wondered if it worked with this G27 wheel. It does. Not sure if all the features will work if you're a heavy user of every single button, but it drives. Some force feedback - but not super-realistic. Would like to try GT 5 game - the F-1 game sound effects are really poor.

This is a good quality wheel. Overall I would definitely give it five out of five stars. But it is not perfect and there are some idiosyncratic aspects that I have encountered. I bought this wheel to play GT5, and Midnight Club LA and similar car simulation, driving and racing games on the PS3. It works for PC too but I haven't tried that yet. Quirky things I have noticed: *Whenever I first power up the PS3 the G27 does a full calibration by turning all the way to the right and then all the way to the left and then turning back to the right until it centers... but when I start a game (for example GT5) it does the calibration again... but this time it doesn't center... it ends up slightly slanted or crooked. Also, maybe its just my wheel but when the GT5 starts and it first starts to turn to the right to do the calibration thing it "shutters/stutters"... the rpm lights and the turning motion momentarily freezes and "shutters/stutters" during calibration, but only when it is turning to the right... and this only happens as GT5 loads, it doesn't happen during the initial calibration when PS3 first powers on.... *The G27 claims to have a "push down" reversible gear. But I could never get the G27 to reverse with the gears. Also the whole thing can not be "pushed down"... so I don't understand what they mean by a "push down" reverse-able gear... you can NOT push the snifter down at all! There is no way to reverse the car using the shifter/gear because it won't even have the grooves to let you put it in reverse! The diagram on the shifter is not how it actually is... I can put the gear in 1, 2, 3, 4, and yes even 5... but the reverse does not work! It seems to be a fake position that doesn't even exists on the G27 *It took me a while to figure out that G27 has to be put as controller #1 in order for it to be recognized and work in games like Midnight Club LA. On the Logitech website they list both the GT5 and Midnight Club LA as fully compatible with the G27 out of the box. This is not entirely true. It is not actually plug and play. At first I thought I got a bad/dud G27 until I had to Google for tech support online and came across forums that said you must put the G27 as controller 1 because it will be recognized in the game... but the thing is if G27 is in controller 1 spot, the ps3 controller itself no longers works in the game, even when I put it on controller 2.... what ends up happening is the ps3 controller becomes useless inside the game itself, meaning I have to use the buttons on the shifter/gear in order to navigate the menus and such in the game... This is annoying and a MAJOR hassle. *For the Midnight Club LA the G27 wheel is WAY too sensitive and over-corrects too too too much. This makes it almost impossible to accurately and enjoyably play. In GT5 there is option to adjust sensitivity of G27, but in Midnight Club LA you are SOL... Of course on the PC you have the drivers and software and can do what you want with the wheel, but for PS3 it is locked down and especially for games and titles like Midnight Club LA the G27 sensitivity makes it useless and it can't be adjusted. *The "real leather" on the wheel feels fake. I'm not saying it is not real leather... it just subjectively feel like synthetic leather... this is not exactly the kind of leather you find in a Lexus or anything... *There are too many wires with this setup... it is a mess and easily you can trip over yourself or worse someone trips it over and damages your G27... it makes it worse that the wires are so short... if you have a large TV and want to sit back a bit from the TV you run the chance of accidentally pulling the wires out.... not good... *You really need to get a playseat or similar item for this G27 .. that will end up costing you more than the G27 itself. The attachment devices that comes with the wheel and gear is cheap quality plastic and cannot secure anything at all... I tried to secure it to my table/stand only to have the whole wheel free fall to the carpeted ground 4 feet below... cause the darn plastic attachor thing came unhooked and loose... the wheel is very heavy, so even a free fall of 4 feet could permanently damage it... I'm not sure if mine sustained mechanical damage or not... I ordered playseat with this device but the device came sooner than the seat... so I had tried to mount it to a table but really it doesn't work well at all.... * There is no way to turn off the force feedback in GT5 for the G27. In the options I know it seems like you can turn it off... but in actual races when you hit something or run into rough ground the force feedback comes into full swing.... it is annoying, and it is powerful force feedback that makes you lose control.... especially when you are already drifting and trying to countersteer, the force feedback will make matters worse and cause you to lose concentration and then crash you on purpose.... In GT5 there is NO way to turn force feedback off! This means if you drive on the dirt road it will be impossible to maintain control, might as well use a ps3 controller...

For about 6-7 years I owned Logitech's Momo Racing Wheel and while there was nothing wrong with it, I was looking for something a little fancier to really bring my racing sim's to life. The G27 fit the bill, not only for the price, but the wheel is a big improvement over the lower models for a variety of reasons. The first is that there is a lot more metal in this piece of equipment than say the Momo version. From the drilled aluminum pedals through to the metal shafted gear lever, the product feels sturdy and gives the appearance that it will last a long time. The pedals are attached to solid springs, especially the brake pedal, and are fully adjustable. There's an Allan wrench bolt you can loosen off and move the pedals to suit feet size, and for racing purists, heel/toe braking for gear shift rev' matching (something I'm still trying to master). The wheel itself has a leather wrap and it feels a lot more precise and smooth than my older wheel. There are more turns in the wheel as well which mimics a real car's rack and pinion system which adds to the important driving feel. The addition of a clutch is pretty cool and I have to say, after years of left foot braking, I am still getting used to making sure I'm braking and not dipping the clutch...kinda like learnin to drive a manual all over again in many ways. While there's no bite-point when releasing the clutch, the software mimics that slightly depending on the game, it still is a good challenge and easy to stall if you're in the gravel. It's especially cool on say SIMBIN's GT Legends as most of the old cars use a 4-speed H box shifter; not having so many gears to plow through makes learning a little easier. Again, the shifter has a metal rod and feels pretty solid, although I can see that aggressively slamming the stick into the gear is probably going to make something break. Not unlike a real gearbox then. The shifters on the steering wheel are equally solid, being aluminum rather than plastic and they deliver a very satisfying click when depressed...once again, it feels solid and requires a little bit of work, not so much a tap like the plastic paddle shifters. There are, as others have mentioned, a truckload of cables that comes with this thing and that is a major drawback. If you can't run them forward over the desktop or similar situation, you'll have cables spilling out past your legs and if you add in track IR and your headphones, it looks like you're plugged into the computer like some sort of Borg unit. The discomfort is minor and worth the extra feel and control you get with this, I thoroughly recommend the G27 if you can't afford to spend 500 or more on some of the high-end pieces of kit out there. After a couple of weeks of use I'm really glad I bought it, and while there are some amazing wheels out there, you're looking at a lot of money. Logitech's done a nice job on this especially for the price.

I read a lot of reviews before selecting this wheel, and as a new product (that is, for the first couple weeks I've had it), it worked great. Mostly playing GTR Evolution. Then, slowly over the past couple weeks, it does not center itself when it calibrates on system startup, or when you reset the wheel by unplugging it/powering down. It grows more and more off-center with each calibration/use, such that it's now very awkward to use the paddle shifters. I can still use the wheel in the now-awkward configuration, and the feedback is still good and it tracks very well in gameplay, albeit with an off-center calibration. The pedals are taut and substantial, and they seem to stay pretty well-grabbed onto the carpet. The gearshift set is adequate (feels a bit lightweight.) The lack of centering has become more annoying and troublesome as the days go by, and I'm finished dealing with it. If it were only off by 1/4 to 1/2 inch from center, and didn't get any worse, I wouldn't be bothered by it. Now, though, it's about 45 degrees off-center. I read up on the problem, and it cropped up more than a year ago -- reported by many people on the logitech support forums. I've only had the wheel for a month, so I'm a bit disappointed that they didn't fix the problem by now. There are all kinds of blog posts from people who have taken the wheel apart to fix the problem, but this seems like a bit of a crapshoot and it voids the warranty, so I'm not going to do that. I plan on reaching out to amazon for an exchange, as this is clearly a defective product. I'm disappointed a little bit by logitech, as I've had very good experiences with their other peripherals, but this one is suffering quality issues that have cropped up very quickly. I've had the wheel only a month, and I'm pretty gentle with my equipment, so it's not a user problem. Oh well. It's a good wheel that I'd ordinarily be very happy with if I didn't get a defective one. Hence, I give it an "OK" rating. If you buy this wheel, save the box and packing materials for at least a few months. You may need them, to send it back. I'm glad I saved mine.

Simple to install, easy to use, programs easily and takes a beating. I use this while driving on Gran Turismo 6 on PS3, shifting with the manual shifter can be a little tricky as you have to have the clutch pressed and throttle completely released and have the gear in the desired position before resuming throttle and letting off the clutch. I go a little too fast out of order at times ramming gears and find neutral instead of 3rd sometimes but I know it is me messing up, not the wheel pedal assembly, and I am pretty sure its with the programming in the game. You can go from shifting with the shifter to the paddle shifters on the fly no exiting or pitting then starting again, just grab the wheel and shift with the paddles no problem. Clutching with the paddles is not necessary so you get a true semi-auto transmission feel. Another feature I found on accident is if you shift with the paddle shifters first then go to the stick shift without touching the clutch you can manually shift the cars with the stickshift that allow you to shift manually without using the clutch, so you don"t have to worry about missing gears when shifting. Takes away the clutching feel but helps find the shift position for those that are not familiar with it. Reverse you press the shifter down then go to the 6th gate, and you have to rev the car and release the clutch like a real car, not just gas and go when using the manual clutch setup. Only issue I have is the shifter doesnt have a 7th position, but in GT6 any car that has 7 speeds (except the Lexus ISF) can only be shifted with the paddle shifters, the ISF you can shift up to 6th but never engage 7th as there is no gate or programmed gate on the G27, and honestly I havent found a shifter on the market that offers a 7th position. Keep in mind however, if you decide to get this wheel setup for GT6 as I have only the newest version of most cars can be manually shifted, some "standard cars" you cannot use the shifter/clutch as they are not programmed to do so ingame, you must use paddle shifters. Also some cars that were never offered with a manual shifter (Mitsu Evo X, Lamborghini Aventador etc.) you can only use the paddle shifters. Otherwise enjoy and drive on, and don't be afraid to fight the feedback at times or ram the shifter when setting that lap time, I'm a 260lb guy that swings a 3lb hammer for a living and it takes everything I give it and asks for more. I have mine bolted to a Fanatec CSL Seat (which I had to cut a portion of the shifter mount on the seat off to make the shifter fit even though I wasn't supposed to have to) and it doesn't move or make creaking noises etc, it's solid and I dont have any problems with the wheel at all, it's great and fun to use.