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This video doesn’t seem to show us much trading…

X³: Terran Conflict has been announced as Gold by Egosoft. Gold means that it has been passed for production (sent to CD/DVD factories, etc).

For me, X³: Reunion had no bugs on release, but I know many people found themselves with an unplayable game for a little while. Hopefully, because this Terran Conflict title is an update of the Reunion game engine, most of those bugs will not rear their heads this time.

There’s some new features in this game which should make things even more interesting. Being able to train marines so they can go and attack then capture another ship, for one. It all sounds very cool and I can’t wait until release!

I haven’t seen any announcement whether a Mac version will be made available. If it’s anything like the Reunion release it will be a few months before conversion is completed.

Here’s the details as posted by Egosoft:

We can now officially confirm that X³: Terran Conflict has gone GOLD! That means that the release version of the game has been approved for production. It also means we are now finally able to confirm release dates for X³: Terran Conflict!

The English language version of X³: Terran Conflict will be available from retail outlets on October 3rd, and you can pre-order from the Egosoft Online Shop NOW. X³: Terran Conflict will also be available for pre-load from Steam starting on September 25th.

Now, if you’ll excuse us, we have some celebrating to do…

System Requirements
Minimum Requirements
* Microsoft ® Windows ® XP (SP-2), Vista SP1™
* Pentium® IV or AMD® equivalent at 2.0 GHz
* 1 GB RAM
* 256 MB 3D DirectX 9 Compatible video card (not onboard) with Pixel Shader 1.1 support
* Soundcard (Surround Sound support recommended)
* 10 GB free hard disk space
* DVD-ROM Drive
* Mouse and Keyboard or Joystick (optional support for force-feedback) or Gamepad
Recommended Configuration
* Microsoft ® Windows ® XP (SP-2), Vista SP1™
* Intel® Core™ 2 Duo or AMD® equivalent at 2.0 GHz
* 3 GB RAM
* 256 MB 3D DirectX 9 Compatible video card (not onboard) with Pixel Shader 3.0 support
* Soundcard (Surround Sound support recommended)
* 10 GB free hard disk space
* DVD-ROM Drive
* Mouse and Keyboard or Joystick (optional support for force-feedback) or Gamepad

Fanatec Porsche 911 Turbo Wheel, Pedals & H-pattern gear shifter.

I was sent the Fanatec Porsche 911 Turbo Wheel for review having not heard much about it, other than what I’d read on a few simracing Web sites, of course. I knew the build quality would be good and that I’d be overcome with new things to get used to, but really I had no idea what an ‘awakening’ I was set to experience with the first truly spectacular wheel I have ever owned.

I did have a lot of things to get used to with this wheel. Firstly, I had to adapt to 900° of rotation from the wheel. Both wheels I have owned recently hit a physical stopper at around 90° each side and totaled out at 180°. Second, I had to adapt myself to use a more realistically stiff ‘racing style’ brake pedal. Third, the big one, I had to adapt to use the clutch… I’ve never had a three pedal set before and have hardly ever driven on normal roads… Lastly, I haven’t used any force feedback since about 2000… I would have very many bad habits from years of simracing and this wheel was going to rip them right out of me…

Upon reading the wheel specifications, one thing stood out for me as an area of concern: Wireless. This steering wheel features no cable between wheel and PC and this worried me for a couple of reasons: Would the latency of the wheel be fast enough for my steering commands to be instantly delivered to the simulation on the screen? Would interference from the ‘wireless world’ be a problem?

For the PC I think that the wireless option isn’t really too much of a bonus, I have cables going from every device except my mouse to my PC. But, for the Playstation 2 and 3, wireless is an obvious requirement: You can be sat on your couch as far away from the TV and Playstation as you need to be and not worry about someone tripping over controller wires.

I was quite worried though that someone next door might turn on their microwave and cause me to crash in-sim when the wireless lost connection (yes I’m joking with the microwave, but this genuinely concerned me)…

My concerns turned out to be absolutely wrong as I found there to be no issues with the connection and absolutely no problem with controller lag.

INSTALLATION

Please note that I suffered problems during installation. I had read in other reviews that there are some problems on installation of the wheel… I wanted to prove that everything worked perfect when you followed instructions but I found that even following the instructions turned out to be difficult… I have since contacted Fanatec about it and they told me they have a totally different procedure for installation now which matches the conclusions I drew myself during my own struggles:

1. Fully build and mount wheel and pedals.
2. Do not use the automatic updater on the USB stick.
3. Download the latest driver manually on the Fanatec website.
4. Plug in the RF dongle before you install the driver.
5. Run Setup.exe from your manual download.
6. Calibrate the controller.

I spent nearly 1½ hours trying to figure things out the way the manual I received was telling me to. I eventually gave up and did it my own way (shown above).

FIRST USE

I went into the Control Panel > Game Controllers and calibrated the wheel next. This was a simple process, but I was concerned to see a lack of Force Feedback preferences available… I set the wheel to a 0% dampening strength, 900 degrees of rotation and loaded up iRacing to take the Skip Barber 2000 for a spin…

Unfortunately, spin was a bad choice of word: I have been so used to using a wheel with about 180° of rotation that I wasn’t moving the wheel nearly enough to catch the little slides and wobbles that the car does, especially at a track like Lime Rock Park… I asked on the iRacing member forum for help and someone thankfully told me they had experienced the same thing. I went back to the control panel and temporarily set the 911 Wheel to (it’s minimum) 200° of rotation, finding that I could then drive perfectly I knew it wasn’t a problem with the wheel, it was a problem with me.

Note: If you wind up purchasing this wheel, be aware how different it is to almost every other wheel on the market. If you haven’t experienced huge amount of wheel rotation or stiff brake pedal like this before you might find it quite hard to adapt at first - be patient. It’s taken me about four days to re-claim by pace and consistency.

BUILD FEATURES

The power supply for the wheel is nice and long. It’s the little things like this that make life easier and I was delighted to see that where this wheel needed cables, it provided cables long enough to not make life difficult.

The pedals for this wheel are one of the biggest features of it and actually a major step forward in terms of realism. I have driven the Skip Barber 2000 in real life and the brake pedal for the 911 Wheel is getting pretty close to reality in terms of stiffness. It isn’t quite as hard to push down the 911 Wheel’s brake as it is most race cars, but it’s close enough, for sure. The pedals can be either wireless (with the use of four batteries - supplied by Fanatec), or they can be wired. It would also be nice for the pedals to be made of metal… They are currently plastic and while they both look and feel solid, my clutch pedal has started making a noise when fully pushed after just a couple of weeks, though this has not affected performance.

The 911 Wheel's pedals. Solid, with a stiff and more realistic brake pedal.

The fixings and clamps for the 911 Wheel are strong and tight, I haven’t experienced any slippage. Like most wheels though the desk clamps don’t reach far enough under my desk to get past the ‘lip’ my desk has, but this doesn’t seem unusual. Like with other wheels I have had to clamp the wheel to the lip itself.

The wheel also comes with a set of ‘knee fixings’ which should allow you to use the wheel on your legs… I have not tested this as I can’t imagine being able to keep it on my legs while force feedback is active. This feature is undoubtedly useful for the Playstation 2 and 3 users.

The desk clamp and leg fixings for the under-side of the wheel.

Having a choice of gear selection sticks is a major reason to buy this wheel. Not only is there a set of buttons behind the wheel (which simulate the paddles most open-wheel race cars have), there is a sequential gearbox (forward and backwards to shift gear) and H-pattern shifter that will sit at the side of your wheel (on the end of poles clamped inside the wheel housing). The gear sticks are very strong and feel they’ll take a lot of racing, the method of housing them (on the poles) also feels strong and sturdy.

Dual metal poles go through the wheel body and the (changeable) gear stick.

The steering wheel itself is based upon the real Porsche 911 steering wheel. It feels so wonderful when driving! Being able to slip your fingers around a stitched leather steering wheel is an absolute privilege. It is perfect thickness, the construction feels solid and the amount of available buttons means you can control everything you need to control. I haven’t found anything to use the buttons on the front of the wheel for yet, but the ‘paddle’ buttons on the back of the wheel are in use whenever I drive the Formula Mazda! The front of the wheel also includes a very cool illuminated LED display that I assumed can be configured to work with software and display output of speed or shifting indications. I’ve personally turned it off (via the control panel shown above in this article) because, like I said, I don’t use any of the front buttons.

Note: Fanatec say that they are about to release a driver update that brings information from the game or sim out to the LED display.

The Fanatec Porsche 911 Turbo Wheel provides the perfect look and feel.

FORCE FEEDBACK CAPABILITY

Until very recently I used a Thrustmaster steering wheel, I also hadn’t bothered with Force Feedback since the year 2000. I got a Logitech Driving Force EX and tried it’s Force Feedback - I wasn’t impressed enough to continue using it.

The Fanatec Porsche 911 Turbo steering wheel is a totally different animal. I am now hooked on Force Feedback and can say with absolute joy that the experience this wheel is capable of delivering converted me to a fan of Force Feedback in general.

With a setting (within the iRacing simulation) of between 8 and 10 in strength, the feel this wheel gives is simply amazing. I can feel the changes in camber of the turn, levels of banking and occasionally can feel the tiny transition from one type of surface to another very, very well. That feel, combined with a higher degree of rotation in the wheel, is making me a much smoother driver and I’m finding myself able to tame circuits I have struggled at quite badly over the last couple of years.

To sum up: 911 Wheel Force Feedback = YES!!

NOISE

I actually don’t remember hearing the motor of the force feedback, ever. It is far quieter than any wheel I have ever owned, have seen on show displays or have seen in friend’s homes.

When you run a long session with Force Feedback the unit gets warm and there are fans that will run until the unit cools off. They’re not loud, but I did wonder what on earth the noise was the first time I heard them!

The body of the wheel has airflow grills above the fans.

PROS

Fantastic build quality. Feels solid.

Looks the part. Porsche-branded and cool looking. Nice leather finish.

Sequential and H-pattern gear shifters are provided and easily swapped.

900° of rotation, the same as many road cars (and the Pontiac Solstice featured in iRacing).

Wonderful Force Feedback capabilities that allow you to really feel things at a whole new level.

Stiff brake pedal that is much closer to the resistance of the real thing. It isn’t exact though, from my experience it feels about 50% as rigid as a real-life racing brake pedal (but that’s better than the 0% resistance most pedals offer).

Clutch pedal. Not every set of wheel and pedals has a clutch… Although it can be quite difficult to perfect, it might be worth it in the long run.

Non-slip pedals. When I say non-slip, I mean it. If you fix the metal plate to the bottom of the plastic pedals like you’re supposed to, these pedals aren’t slipping anywhere…

Haven’t had to recalibrate the wheel since I had it. Normally I had to recalibrate Thrustmaster and Logitech wheels before every running as they would both lose ‘center’ - I’d find myself having to turn the wheel to go straight. No sign of this issue with the 911 Wheel.

Wireless pedal to wheel communication. (Batteries in the wheels provide wireless communication, cable is provided if unwanted).

A choice to use a cable for pedal to wheel communication, rather than wireless (useful if those batteries die).

Wireless connection between wheel and PC/PS2/PS3.

Compatibility with PC, Playstation 2 and 3.

CONS

The installation from the USB stick of the USB wireless hub. Bad drivers/software… Fanatec are aware of this issue though and confirmed my installation method (above) works.

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT

Working instructions need to be shipped with these wheels.

The clamp could do with being a bit longer. It’s wide enough for any desk but doesn’t get over the ‘lip’ on the edge of mine so I’m attaching it to the edging, rather that the desk - it doesn’t feel safe like that. Fanatec do have a solution though, they have a different clamp you can buy…

Clutch pedal has started to make plastic ‘tapping’ noise (after two weeks) when pressed fully. Still works perfectly though, I guess a part is hitting the casing.

CONCLUSION

My concerns over the wireless being interfered with or laggy seems to be misplaced and although the installation was a bit of a pain, it hasn’t caused me any further stress. The lack of configuration options in the control panel was a concern, but after using the wheel for some time now - I haven’t needed to change anything outside the game or simulation’s own settings. Amazingly, I haven’t even needed to recalibrate the wheel at any time!

At the moment, all in all, the Fanatec Porsche 911 Turbo Wheel is probably one of the best pieces of equipment you can buy in terms of quality, feel and performance. It is genuinely making me a much better simracer and that’s only after weeks of usage… In terms of pricing, it is a lot of money, but I honestly think it’s worth every cent if you want one of the best wheels available today.

Buy from: fanatec.de. Wheel is for PC, PS2 and PS3 (untested by me).
Price: $350 (approx).

Note: The wheel comes with a 1GB memory stick (that looks the same as the USB hub). This stick contains the PC drivers but you can use it like any other memory stick. I’d advise against using the drivers on the stick and instead suggest downloading the latest ones from Fanatec manually.

Egosoft have released a video trailer of their forthcoming X³: Terran Conflict. This video concentrates on the open nature of this game which is the latest of the ‘Elite’ space game genre to hit the gaming market.

Yes, that’s right! Finally… Tim Wheatley got rid of that dodgy $30 Thrustmaster wheel… I loved the old girl but, she had too many problems. She lagged, spiked, did all sorts of wonderful things… She made it very difficult to drive in a straight line though and after all this time… I moved on.

The Logitech Driving Force EX steering wheel that I was given, I should point out, is labeled on the box as a Playstation wheel. It doesn’t come with anything saying that it works on the PC, nor does it come with a drivers CD for the PC, but, you can simply go to Logitech.com and there they are, bright as day. Drivers are (currently) there for both Windows XP and Windows Vista.

CABLES, PLUGS & SETTING UP

The box contained wheel, pedals and power supply unit. I don’t have a Playstation, but reading the documentation that came with the wheel, my version should work with both the PS2 and PS3. It comes with a USB connector and (what I’d refer to as) a ‘gamepad’ connector. Obviously in this review I’m talking about the PC, so you would use the USB connector. The first thing I noticed when unwrapping was how wonderfully long they made the wires! No longer am I going to have to use the front USB connector on my computer case for my steering wheel! Not only that, but the wire between the pedals and steering wheel is similarly well-endowed, as is the power unit.

I attached the pedals to the wheel, plugged in the power (at both ends) and then mounted the wheel on my desk. Running the driver EXE I had downloaded from the Logitech Web site I waited until I was told to plug the wheel into the computer and then did do. Following the onscreen instructions made it very easy and after a quick run through the calibration I was ready to race… It hadn’t taken longer than three minutes.

I now took a quick look at the unit in it’s new home and tried to find faults. I must admit, I found it hard to pick faults on how the wheel looks. Apart from the obvious Playstation-related buttons, which don’t bother me, the wheel both looked and felt sturdy, professional and like it could take a race or two! I certainly didn’t feel like the thing would fall apart anytime soon.

I guess my only real issue is with the clamps. They don’t reach forward enough for me and I’m sort of concerned they’ll work their way loose as they’re clamped onto the lip of my desk, rather than just past that lip - where I would prefer. I guess this isn’t a big deal, I’ll just have to keep checking the tightness every week or so.

FORCE FEEDBACK & NOISE

Compared to many other wheels I have heard with motors, the Driving Force EX doesn’t make much noise at all. Infact, if you disable both Force Feedback and set the centering force of the wheel to 0% - you won’t even hear it. I’m used to a wheel with no motor (it did have one, but I guess it burned out) and I was delighted to see that I could get the same effect by just modifying a few settings rather than waiting for it to break! With full force feedback effects it’s certainly not more noisy than I would expect and I don’t even need to turn my speakers up to compensate.

I don’t normally use force feedback, so although I’m trying it with this wheel, your mileage may differ. Any review of force feedback is heavily reliant on the game or simulation used to test it anyway…

Trying the wheel with Richard Burns Rally I mainly found myself feeling tightening of the steering, there wasn’t really any notification when you’d landed after a jump. It seemed like the force feedback was only simulating the feedback of the steering column and ignoring any vibration or ‘jolts’ that I believed I should be feeling.

Trying the same general settings with Flatout: Ultimate Carnage I felt the tightening of steering in the turns, but also felt a ‘jolt’ during sideward impact (from other cars, or the armco). I also felt the car becoming ‘light’ while in the air. Again, this force feedback was missing any sudden jolt’s you would expect when getting front or rear impact but did seem better than Richard Burns Rally. Annoyingly, Flatout 3 gave a constant rumble of vibration… I can only assume this is meant to simulate the engine? Whatever it is… It doesn’t work for me, it feels silly.

One thing I have discovered though is just how vast the difference is between software. Interestingly the force feedback in Richard Burns Rally doesn’t seem as good as that seen in the new Flatout title, they are a world apart!

I’ve seen a lot of sim racers saying how good the force feedback is in iRacing and after a quick test - I have to agree. You can feel transitions in different levels of banking, you can feel individual bumps/kerbs and you can feel the armco/wall and other contact forms seen in both Richard Burns Rally and Flatout. As much as this sounds like a compliment of iRacing, it’s actually a compliment of the Logitech Driving Force EX because when given the ‘feedback’ this wheel can certainly supply the ‘force’. It does actually feel pretty good… Whether it’s enough to make me switch on force feedback from this point? Probably not… My wrists ache as it is and I find it harder to keep concentration when driving!

GENERAL DRIVING

So, turning the force feedback off as I will normally be using it, how does it feel?

It feels great. You can’t feel any ‘workings’ in the wheel, it’s nice and smooth, but there is a bit of a problem (and maybe it’s just me)… When going down the straight I find my steering oscillating left and right… I actually ended up setting the wheel to pull back to the center with a strength of 30% - this made keeping it straight a lot easier. I’m thinking that the wheel is probably just a tiny bit too precise compared to what I’ve been using; my tiny compensations in steering didn’t help keep it straight.

FINAL THOUGHTS

It’s a very, very nice wheel and well worth the current purchase price (about $80 right now on Amazon.com, $55 on Amazon.co.uk). It’s probably the best feeling wheel I have ever had (so far anyway!) If you can’t afford the Logitech G25 and don’t want to go for the cheaper or unknown options, this is a great wheel.

LATER NOTES

It’s now a long time since I wrote this review and I have learned a couple of things further about this wheel.

First, this wheel doesn’t have actual force feedback. Apparently Logitech failed to get proper licensing to include it and instead included a basic ‘rumble’ technology which frankly is pathetic when compared to how a decent wheel feels.

Second, it seems to suffer from the ‘loss of center’ problem I hear a lot when reading about Logitech wheels. You’ll suddenly find yourself having to steer left or right in order to go straight. Some people think this is related to force feedback or the center spring but it actually doesn’t seem to be as I always had both of these disabled with the Force EX…

Back to 'Liberty City' for GTA IV - Are you ready?

From Rockstar Games:

We are proud to announce that Grand Theft Auto IV will be arriving for the platform it was birthed on this November. Grand Theft Auto IV for the PC will feature everything from the acclaimed original console releases, along with newly expanded multiplayer just for the PC and more.

Grand Theft Auto IV for the PC debuts on November 18th in North America and on November 21st in Europe. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for more details.

Egosoft have released a video trailer of their forthcoming X³: Terran Conflict. This video concentrates on the ‘business’ side of this open-ended game which is the latest of the ‘Elite’ space game genre to hit the gaming market.

David Braben said today at the Developer Conference that Elite IV should follow the release of The Outsider, next year.

Elite IV “had not been forgotten”, is a “really ambitious project”, said Braben.

He also talked of how the development of Elite IV has stopped and started a few times now and that the technology for the game had been thrown out a number of times as the team worked to get things right. He also said that a team is actively working on the game at the moment.

Computer games developer Egosoft and Deep Silver, the games label of Koch Media, a leading producer and distributor of digital entertainment products, are releasing ten new screenshots from the game X³: Terran Conflict today.

You can find these screenshots in our newly opened Screenshots section for X³: Terran Conflict.

X³: Terran Conflict is a brand new, stand-alone game set in the universe of X³. It is the culmination of the X trilogy, with a grand finale that takes us all the way back to Earth’s own solar system. Gamers can take on the roles of different characters in the X universe, or of a Terran military pilot, and experience a multitude of stories in the largest X universe ever featured – for X³: Terran Conflict will offer more missions than any other X game before. Meanwhile, X³: Terran Conflict will pose questions such as: How has Earth changed in all these years? And how will relations between Earth and its counterparts in the X universe develop?

X³: Terran Conflict is scheduled for release end of September 2008.

This is actually a really exciting prospect. Imagine being literally able to fight a war for your race within EVE, able to kill individuals of the other sides as and when you want to! This expansion is going to be fantastic!

Read more about the EVE-Online expansion called “Empryian Age”…