Logitech G27 Racing Wheel

5 Comments

1. I. R. Smart. says:

   September 1, 2010 at 4:13 am

   I had the privilege of owning its predecessor several years ago, the G25, so I knew mostly what to expect with this new G27, but I was still expecting so much more from Logitech. The expression “Logitech giveth and Logitech taketh away” seems most pertinent.

   So, let’s start:

   Opening the box and getting everything out is very simple. All the parts are well designed, but you’re immediately greeted with what I think is the biggest issue with the G25/27 set, – the cables. So many cables! 400 cables! (at least it feels like it)

   The wheel has a cable coming out of it that goes into your PS3; the pedals have a cable coming out of it; the shifter has a cable coming out of it, and then there’s the power brick that has a cable to be plugged in. All these cables plug into the wheel itself, and it’s definitely not a pretty sight. I don’t know about other people, but I don’t have a place where I can leave my steering wheel/shifter/pedals plugged in 24/7, so setting all this up and putting it away again is a COMPLETE pain in the rear.

   Putting the cable issue aside, there’s a lot to like with the G27. It’s an improvement over the G25 in many ways:

   1.) The G27 wheel uses helical gears (or diagonal-cut gears) vs the G25′s straight-cut gears. What this means is that there’s a reduction in noise when turning the wheel, and it’s also smoother while maintaing powerful force feedback! Great stuff!

   2.) The shifter on the G27 no longer has a sequential mode (i.e. clicks up and down only), which is no big loss to me. I prefer either the regular 6-speed or using the paddle shifts on the wheel. While it may seem that this is still a LOSS compared to the G25′s 6-speed AND sequential shifting, the new addition to the G27 is that the gears don’t CLICK into place. On the G25, every gear change would greet you with a CLICK as the gear was put into place. Logitech have removed this sound so the gear movements don’t hurt your ears with their plastic sounds as the G25 did. Now, some people have modified their G25 shifters to remove this sound, but it voids your warranty and I’ve read of several people irreparably breaking their shifters by doing this… In any case, for me, the G27 shifter is an improvement over the out-of-the-box G25 shifter.

   3.) The pedals are now adjustable, which makes it a joy to heel-and-toe while racing. The pedal layout is a huge deal more comfortable than on the G25 pedals. This, for me, is a huge improvement. My right foot would get very uncomfortable with the G25 layout.

   4.) There’s a new set of tachometer LEDs on the wheel, though I’ve yet to play any game that supports them yet… It’s a neat little feature, though, if it does as advertised.

   5.) The G27 also has some more buttons on the steering wheel, which you can customize, of course.

   So how does it play?

   VERY well, depending on the software!

   Need for Speed: Shift PS3:

   I first tried out Need for Speed: Shift on the Playstation 3, and was pleasantly surprised to see that no setup is needed, and the controls just work. In fact, it even shows you a picture of the wheel/pedals on the control screen (albeit just the G25, but still…). It’s great to have the wheel work out of the box with no tinkering. THAT said, there’s perhaps too much force feedback in Shift to be particularly comfortable. The faster you get, the more the wheel fights with you. At 120mph, it’s very hard to keep the wheel straight. I’ve track-driven several times at near 150mph speeds at times, and I can safely say my steering wheel doesn’t fight me in real life like it did in the game…

   So, for ease of use with Shift, I’d say 5/10. It’s just too hard to keep the wheel straight at relatively high speeds…

   Gran Turismo: Prologue PS3:

   NOW we’re talking. None of the fighting I experienced in Need for Speed: Shift, and plenty of smooth corners and subtle force feedback. It’s fair to say the force feedback is a tad muted in Prologue, but it’s infinitely more comfortable to play than Shift, and a real joy to hit those apexes time and time again. 9/10.

   Overall, this wheel is excellent, but the pain of setting it up is just too much to ignore. It really is a cable nightmare. The wheel, pedals and shifter could easily be wireless by this point, meaning the only cable needed would be a power cable to the steering wheel for the force feedback to work. I suspect the inevitable G29 will remedy this, as the way the G27 currently works is a direct copy of the G25 which is 3 years old as of November, 2009.

   Overall, though, a great wheel, if you can be bothered to go through the setting it up…!

   4/5

   Note: This wheel is for PC AND PS3.
   Rating: 4 / 5
2. Andrey says:

   September 1, 2010 at 4:42 am

   Pros: Well built. Leather wheel feels much better than plastic. Clutch, break, gas all have different push pressure. Feedback force feels great. I just hope the motor won’t give up on me any time soon!
   
   Paddle shifters made out of metal and when shifting they feel very durable and firm.
   
   Installation was a breeze.

   Cons: The leather is no BMW quality! However, as mentioned before, it’s much better than plastic wheel.
   
   The screws that attach the wheel and shift stick to the table are made of plastic and give impression if you screw them too hard they’ll crack. But so far so good.
   
   Lots of cables. But I just taped them together and it’s now manageable.
   
   Have no horn button?..

   I don’t have much to say about manual shift stick. It feels alright but I don’t use it in any games( takes longer to shift), only paddle shifters.
   
   I’ve never tried g25, so I can’t compare them but judging from the pictures, extra buttons on g27 give a bigger advantage.

   Overall, I’m very satisfied with this product.

   Games played with G27: iRacing, NFS Shift.
   Rating: 5 / 5
3. Edmund Liu says:

   September 1, 2010 at 4:52 am

   Extremely well made, I bought both G27 and the GT wheel for comparison. At first I wasn’t sure whether the $200 difference is worth it, until I tried both out. Played F1 championship, GT5 prologue, GT5 demo and Dirt 2. If you can foot the bill, G27 is hands down better. Better construction and quality (GT wheel has plastic pedals, G27 has metal paddle and pedals), feels more solid and the force feed back feels accurate and keen.
   
   Another example of this being a well designed product is, on other wheels I’ve tried, the foot pedals are spring loaded with the same resistance. G27 however has different spring rate on the throttle and brake, which makes it extremely realistic. I’m not sure if that was software or hardware controlled but I like it.
   
   There are problems with this wheel, it isn’t fully supported by all the racing games in PS3.

   For example, paddle shifting in GT5 prologue doesn’t work (although GT5 HD when it comes out will work, GT5 demo works) so if I want to use manual shift in GT5 prologue I’ll have to use the real 6 speed shifter, and I couldn’t get the buttons to assign correctly in any of the games. So if I need to hit the PS button I actually need to use a controller. There is no documentation on what the default mapping is like (at least tell me where the PS button is, seriously). Paddle shifters do work in F1 champ, Dirt 2, so I’m not sure what the problem is with GT5.
   
   None of the game shows G27 as an available steering wheel controller.
   
   This is not supported on Xbox 360 but I’m curious and I’ll test that out later.
   Rating: 4 / 5
4. J. Keeble says:

   September 1, 2010 at 5:46 am

   I use this wheel for iRacing with my PC. It’s my first racing wheel and first realistic racing sim. Cables drape down to the computer on the right nicely without any sort of containment needed. I think the leather varies in quality, mine has a slight twist to it on the left side where my thumb rests on the spoke, possibly due to my early death-grip when getting used to the experience. I still think it’s acceptable.

   The reason I’m writing this review is to save the new guys (like me) a little time by doing some additional set-up in the Logitech program. Logitech has a pre-set 200 degree limit that imposes substantial resistance at 100 degrees off-of-center in either direction. The iRacing program calibrates to this limit instead of the 900 degree travel that the wheel is capable of. The result is that the game interprets the first 90 degrees off-of-center correctly, then tries to squeeze the remaining steering travel (about a full rotation) into the last 10 degrees before hitting Logitech’s 100 degree stop. The result of this “mis-calibration” is a complete loss of front tire traction whenever you go past 90 degrees and the wheels jerk to full-lock. This is corrected through the Logitech settings, not within the game. I’m not sure if it will be a problem with other games, I haven’t seen it mentioned in any other reviews.

   I haven’t had any real problems with the G27 in the first three months and am having a blast improving my driving and learning to race in the simulator. I highly recomend this for anyone who is enthusiastic about race cars and wants to drive a “realistic” simulation.
   Rating: 5 / 5
5. L. Bani says:

   September 1, 2010 at 8:12 am

   Well constructed wheel. The pedals are greatly improved. I moundted it on a home made seat set up and the entire set up feels really good. They could have used better paddle shifters, they are cheap stamped steel. They work well, just feel real cheap.

   The leather steering wheel is not well constructed at all, the leather is bunching at the bottom, the action is presice. The wheel is larger than before giving it a more realistic feel.

   Highly recommend this wheel.
   Rating: 4 / 5