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Rise of Flight: The First Great Air War

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009

I’ll be posting a review of this as soon as I can, this will be one of my birthday gifts when they release it. I always like to support developers like this who make this kind of simulation…

If you want to buy it, you can use this link which currently allows you to pre-order from Amazon.com and ship to U.S. and APO/FPO addresses only. You can contact me if you’d like to discuss getting this outside the U.S. via me shipping to you, but you should find out when or if there will be an easier way for you to get it first.

Anyway, here’s some game info (it isn’t often I am looking forward to a game title this much, but I was addicted to ‘Wings’ – a WWI flight game I had on the Amiga – for a while!)

All is not quiet on the Western Front in 1917…. high above the trenches and scarred No Man’s Land the sound of piston engines can be heard, the chatter of machine guns fill the air and the bark of flak bursts echo across the countryside. During the First World War a new breed of warrior emerged, reminiscent of the Knights of old, inspired by chivalry and pushed to their limits by modern technology, they fought a new kind of war… an air war. Welcome to Rise of Flight: The First Great Air War.

Rise of Flight

In flying machines invented just a few years before, young, brave and daring fighter pilots took to the skies to fight for their country’s cause. In airplanes made of mostly wood and canvas they climbed, dived, spiraled and sacrificed their lives. The average pilot lasted just 17 missions and if you were hit there was no parachute to rescue you. Death could come at any time and from any direction, only the best survived. Rise of Flight puts you in the cockpit, in the sky and in the fight. Do you have what it takes to survive? Can you make a difference in the war? Can you become an Ace Fighter Pilot?

Rise of Flight

Rise of Flight from Russian developer neoqb is a state-of-the-art PC flight simulation title that sets a new standard in fidelity, beauty and realism. You can fly either the agile Spad XIII or the deadly Fokker D. VII into aerial combat. Rise of Flightfeatures an advanced flight model that simulates the unique handling characteristics of WWI biplanes. Spins, stalls, loops, takeoffs and landings are all accurately modeled. A complex physics model tracks the trajectory of every bullet and shell fragment. The detailed damage model leaves no room for error. Stay in the line of fire too long and you’ll lose a wing or a tail, land too hard and the spine of your plane will crack.

Rise of Flight

Historical references and modern computer graphics were combined to render 125,000 square kilometers of French countryside that is disfigured by a terribly cratered battlefield. Fluffy clouds fill the sky which you can fly into for cover. Rain and fog are also modeled in realistic detail making flying even more of a challenge as water drops cover your windscreen or goggles. Advanced graphics featuring moving shadows, depth of field, light bloom and reflections make the objects and scenery come to life in a very realistic way.

Rise of Flight

As a new fighter pilot you can fly several helpful Training Missions and once graduated, you can fly several Single-Player combat missions against a computer opponent. If you feel you have mastered the art of aerial combat you can embark on a Pilot Career and fly a historically accurate Campaign for the French, British, German or American air forces. You will be tasked with destroying enemy fighters, bombers and balloons, escorting your own bombers or attacking ground targets such as trains, trucks, tanks and artillery. As you complete your missions successfully you will be promoted and awarded commendations by your military high-command. You can rise through the ranks from a green Lieutenant all the way to full Colonel.

Rise of Flight

If you think you’re good enough, try flying against real human opponents over the Internet. Rise of Flight features a robust Multiplayer option designed to allow players to fly co-operatively as a team against the computer or human opponents. Multiplayer statistics such as aerial kills, targets destroyed and missions completed are tracked by neoqb servers.
Also included is a very powerful Mission Editor that allows players to design custom missions. The Mission Editor is included on the disk and is accompanied by 150 page instruction guide! There will never be a shortage of missions to fly.

So hurry! Grab your goggles and silk scarf. Enemy airplanes are approaching. Who will emerge as the next Baron von Richtoven or Eddie Rickenbacker? Is it you?

I’m not sure if these are required or recommended, but here’s some system information as posted on gogamer.com:

Windows XP (SP2 or Higher)/Vista (SP1)
Intel Dual Core 2.4Ghz
2GB RAM
6GB Hard Drive Space
DirectX 9.0c
512 MB GeForce 8800GTS/Radeon HD3500
1280×960 resolution
Sound Card
256/kps Internet Connection

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X³: Terran Conflict Playing Tips

Monday, June 8th, 2009

X3TC Logo

Starting Out

I think one of the strongest ways to start the game is by selecting the Argon Patriot option. This gives you a fairly well equipped Elite. Do the first few missions in the starting ship. You need the “standing” in order to progress and doing those missions will also give you a little free equipment. Try to take advantage of any pilots who bail out and leave their ship for you to capture.

Abandoned Ships

Once you’ve gotten through the first couple of storyline missions (I skipped them entirely and just did a couple of ‘kill the criminal’ missions), start collecting the various abandoned ships with this relatively safe route that I have found through the galaxy (use the map here to find the specific systems on the route):

Head east from Omicron Lyrae towards Tears of Greed, then south to Menelaus Oasis, then west to Vestibule of Creation. After Vestibule of Creation, head north-west to Ocracoke’s Storm and then up to Argon Prime. While in Argon Prime, dump all the ships there, you can sort them later.

Object Name System Position Coordinates
Buster Sentinel Treasure Chest -32, -5, -33
Elite Gaian Star 66, 0, -10
Skate Prototype Menelaus’ Oasis 38, 10, 32
Blastclaw Prototype Veil of Delusion 47, 3, -41
Advanced Perseus Duke’s Citadel 42, 0, 31
Eclipse Vestibule of Creation -7, -13, 37
Mako Raider Depths Of Silence 2, 0, 40
Enhanced Pericles Savage Spur 44, 9, -28
Advanced Eclipse Ocracoke’s Storm 30, -1, -8

Now head north from Argon Prime to Kingdom End, east to Hila’s Joy and then back to Kingdom End – bringing all the ships you have claimed from the table below with you. Dump them at Argon Prime, too.

Object Name System Position Coordinates
Toucan Hauler Menelaus’ Frontier 43, -7, 35
Iguana Vanguard Family Whi 38, 0, 35
Harrier Sentinel The Vault -18, 0, -51
Buzzard Hauler Tkr’s Deprivation -4, 0, 62
Advanced Barracuda Hila’s Joy -33, 1, 36

Now, from Argon Prime, you can head north-east to Family Whi, then south to Akeela’s Beacon. Strangely enough it is these systems – within 4-5 jumps of Argon Prime, which proved most dangerous for me to navigate because of Xenon or Pirate attacks. (None of these are included in the save game download below).

Object Name System Position Coordinates
Scorpion Raider Xenon Sector 101 20, 0, 61
Buster Sentinel Akeela’s Beacon 100, -10, 77
Mamba LooManckStrat’s Legacy -12, 1, -19

One tactic you might want to use to claim ships is Jump drive and a transporter. You fit one of each to your own ship and fit a Jump drive to a very cheap M5 class ship. Then you tell him to follow you (make sure both ships have enough energy cells) and jump to the system the ship is in (such as Xenon Sector 101). Fly to the abandoned ship, capture it and board your original ship. Use a transporter to send your Jump drive and Energy Cells to the captured ship, then use your transporter to take the Jump drive from the M5. Now tell the captured ship to follow you and jump to safety. If your M5 makes it, great. If not, you only lost a little. I often use this tactic to get slow ships to other locations quicker – don’t be afraid to transport those Jump drives around as needed!

Cheat Much?

I’ve decided to upload a saved game with all the captured ships from the tables that are shown above in bold, you can download it from here. There’s a few extra ships that are captured Pirate ships etc I claimed on my way. The only ship I did not manage to get to Argon Prime was the Buster found in the Treasure Chest system. It may be a good idea when you capture that one to send it to Omicron Lyrae’s shipyard and sell it straight away rather than risking it traveling all that way like I did – it’s shields are quite poor!

The save game shouldn’t really be too much different than a fresh game. The pirates are only just starting to realize you keep killing them, so if you want to turn around and become a pirate’s friend it should still be possible, but you should be aware the Argon really like you – a lot. There’s also well over 1.2M credits in the bank account…

What I’d suggest you do, if you want to use my save game, is keep all of the ship updates and just sell the ships themselves which you do not want. Here is a list of the ships docked in Argon Prime under your control and available in this save game:

Advanced Baracuda
Advanced Eclipse
Advanced Perseus
Blastclaw Prototype
Eclipse
Elite (4 of them)
Enhanced Pericles
Harrier Sentinel
Iguana Vanguard
Mako Raider
Mercury Super Freighter
Nova Raider
Toucan Hauler

Trading in Space Fuel

Space Fuel is an illegal good that can be traded for great profit.

Just like with Reunion, Terran Conflict features a Space Distillery in Herron’s Nebula and although it sells illegal product, you can sell that product to the Free Argon Trading Station within the same system. You can buy Space Fuel for around 700 (do not buy for more than 1200 or you make no profit!) and sell them for 1252 per unit. You may occasionally get caught by the local police, but the rewards are worth it. When the price raises for Space Fuel (this happens when you have taken all their stock quicker than they can produce it), you can probably make money bringing Energy Cells to the station from the Power Circle system.

Once you have around 400,000 credits from trading Space Fuel (or from recovery and sale of the “free objects” listed below), head to Argon Prime and then to the Federal Argon Shipyard where you should buy a Mercury. You should also upgrade the Mercury’s engine and rudder to full capacity and fit it with a Trading System Extension. You should not board the new Mercury.

Now you’re going to be able to fly around the universe in your own ship, doing whatever you want while remotely controlling the Mercury as it continues to trade Space Fuel on your behalf (using the 50,000 credits you didn’t spend to start with). Remotely controlled ships are never scanned by the police, so you’re going to be free of problems. I’d advise you work to try to supply the Space Fuel Distillery with Energy Cells whenever the price of Space Fuel becomes too high. Energy Cells should be bought for no more than 16 credits in Argon space, Power Circle is a good place to start buying. After some time, you may want to consider using manual trade run (which I think becomes available with Trade Mk II) to automate the process – but you will have to accept smaller amounts of profit when the purchase price is high.

You should avoid building a Space Fuel station in patrolled space like Argon Prime, the ships will attack your station eventually and it’s not worth the trouble. You may be better off putting a station in a pirate-controlled system when you can afford one.

Sector Trading

Once you’ve got enough money I’d advise you setup a Sector Trader. It’s best to start off a Trader in a Mercury (with upgraded engine and rudder) and set him/her loose in Argon Prime, Ore Belt or Paranid Prime. Once those Trader’s reach a skill of 8 you can upgrade them to Universe Trader’s and they’ll trade throughout the entire universe instead of those single system’s. They will require some shielding, a jump drive and some energy cells before they trade over long distances.

You can now sit back and watch the money roll in, though I’d advise you still manually smuggle Space Fuel with your remote controlled (manual) Mercury…

Killing Missions

I think in Terran Conflict (unlike Reunion), the most profitable type of mission by a very long way are killing missions. These are mission where you are asked to defend something or attack/kill someone. Always save the game by docking just before you accept the mission because sometimes you are not told what ship the opponent is using until after you accept… Sometimes they are simply too difficult and you cannot complete the mission in your current ship. You can make HUGE money though if you find out the weakness of your opponent…

Capturing Ships

As an extension of the killing missions, you can certainly take advantage of any ships you can get hold of, whether it’s through boarding and taking them by force or attacking pirates and hoping they bail out from fear – it’s extremely profitable. One of the things you need to make sure you do is fly towards the ship, exit yours and use your repair laser (available when you’re in your space suit) to fix the ship you have just captured, this increases the value of the ship and means you do not have to pay for it’s repair if you keep it.

Punching above your weight

You can kill ships that you don’t think you can. Look for a weakness and exploit it. As an example a Khaak Frigate cannot fire directly backwards, so simply sit at between 60-90 metres directly behind and gradually work your way through it’s shields and hull! It cannot fire back at you unless you get out of that ’safety box’. There’s a few ships which have this weakness (or one similar).

Another interesting tip is that in order to be paid the credit bonus or get the reputation for killing something, you have to be the one to fire the final shot. If your target is being shot at by a number of other ships you should make sure your lasers are fully charges (giving them a more rapid rate of fire), wait until the ship is almost destroyed and then get as close as you can to them before opening up and firing as much as you can… The more rapidly you are firing the more likely you are to be the one making that final hit.

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Posted in Articles, Gaming | 4 Comments »

Track Scan VIBRAS Five.One 5.1 Channel Surround Sound Headset Review

Monday, May 25th, 2009

If you have watched a NASCAR or Indycar event in the last 10 years, you have probably heard the announcers mention that the crowd have scanners which allow them to listen to the radio communications of their favorite driver. Track Scan are a company which rent or sell those headsets and radios to race fans – and now – they sell Surround Sound headsets of amazing quality which you can use on the XBOX 360 or PC…

Track Scan’s XBOX 360 headset is Microsoft Certified and will only work on the 360. I am reviewing the PC USB headset only, although the 360 version seems to be largely the same.

USB Gaming Headset

Technology & Audio experience

Each side of the headset has four speakers. They are located at various positions which allow the headphones to accurately position audio in a way that almost makes you want to look over your shoulder. I actually think that when playing Call of Duty 4, I can hear people sneaking up behind me.

The sound is crisp and clean and easily covers both the high and low notes of the engines in the iRacing.com Motorsport Simulations software. Again, like with COD4, you can hear the direction of audio around you and there’s been times since using the headphones that I have not looked in the mirror and still known the location of other cars by their engine noises.

With my work at iRacing, I have obviously heard the software audio coming out of a lot of different speakers and soundcard combinations and it is with utter delight than I can say the VIBRAS Five.One headset matches the very best of them. Infact, I have heard so much variation of sound quality from most hardware – I wonder how many people have no idea how good our simulation can sound!

It isn’t just in games or simulations that the VIBRAS Five.One shines: The 5.1 Dolby Digital sound available when watching DVD movies is also a great way to give yourself the movie-goer experience… Movies are so much better when you’re not listening to Stereo!

VoIP? Skype? Voice Chat? Yes, yes and yes

The headset and it’s detachable microphone work perfectly with any voice communication program I have tried. The only complications are with Windows and it’s soundcard management – which is why I now have the on-board soundcard permanently disabled. (Windows would try to choose the active microphone from whichever soundcard it wanted, rather than the one I actually needed).

Construction quality

I don’t see there being any physical breakage to this product when it is used properly. The over-head loop is very strong, solid plastic, the microphone is an adjustable solid attachment and the USB control box had managed to withstand my weight a couple of times as I climbed out of the at-home cockpit and accidentally stood on it!

Benefits of headphones

Even when using an ordinary set of headphones, I feel much more immersed. Not only does it allow me to hear the audio much more clearly, it also blocks out all those noises which are waiting to distract me. We have two young cats here and I don’t want to be hearing them run around while I am trying to run a consistent race or keep my concentration in battle, for example.

The additional benefits of headphones are obvious… My wife no longer has to leave the room whenever I’m using the PC!

Conclusions

Even if you have an extremely expensive set of 5.1 Dolby speakers hooked up to your very-expensive PC soundcard, I think you should sell them and buy this headset or one like it. I cannot repeat enough times how much more I feel this quality of headset has given me.

[review pros="Windows XP/Vista Compatible.
Comfortable adjustable headband.
Can easily detach/adjust microphone.
Bundled CyberLink PowerDVD software.
No need for a soundcard.
Adjustable settings in control panel.
5.1 Dolby Surround - excellent experience." cons="Would like to see drivers for other Operating Systems.
Price is a little higher than I would expect.
 
 
 
 
 
" score=95]

Price: $159.99 – www.track-scan.com

Requirements
USB 2.0 Port
CD/DVD Drive (for installation)
Windows XP or Vista

Directional Speakers Detachable Microphone

Strong Headband USB Attachment

Control Panel

Control Panel

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Posted in Articles, Gaming | 1 Comment »

Obutto oZone Racing Cockpit Review

Wednesday, January 21st, 2009
Obutto oZone Cockpit - Pictured with Logitech G25

Obutto oZone Cockpit - Pictured with Logitech G25

Over the holidays, my wife and I went to stay with my parents in England, it was the first time my parents had met her and of course it wasn’t long before they broke out the home movies. My wife only really understood what racing simulations have meant to me when she saw me in those movies, at aged 14, sat infront of a computer with a steering wheel in my hands.

In December, 2008, I moved with my wife from Chicago, Illinois to Woburn, Massachusetts. I moved for work, for iRacing, to continue a dream that I have been living ever since racing simulations first entered my life. In a tangent, Chris Dunagan – Managing Director of Obutto – moved to Beijing in his attempt to make a go of his racing cockpit and it’s thanks to him that when I started work after the holidays, a half built Obutto oZone Racing Cockpit was here waiting for me to test.

Construction

The cockpit couldn’t really be much easier to build. The individual pieces are light and easy to handle with only the seat being bulky enough to give me difficulty. When I got the cockpit, it had been half built and stood awaiting completion; I took it apart and took it home so I could do it justice. Dismantling was easy and when home, so was the rebuild; I put the cockpit together using a photo of the cockpit from the Obutto Web site after finding I’d left instructions at work.

Parts are minimal: You have two large pieces for the base which attach to each other, you bolt the seat to the rear piece and the adjustable monitor and wheel stands drop into the front piece. There’s also a large keyboard/mouse shelf, a shifter platform which can be dropped into the rear base piece on either side of your seat, and a sloping shelf for the pedals which just slots over the front half of the base.

I fit right where medical science says I should when it comes to body weight, but I fully expected before seeing the cockpit that in my review I was going to have to say bad things about the strength of the cockpit. Luckily, I don’t have to say that because the Obutto cockpit is plenty strong enough for me and I would think anyone else who can comfortably sit in it. Its Carbon Steel construction seems extremely sturdy and frankly, I can’t give the frame and its support enough compliments.

Features: Seat

I find the Obutto seat very comfortable and supportive. So much so that I would like to throw out my computer desk and write all emails, race all simulations and play all games from the cockpit.

The seat is a car sports seat which can recline and also slide backwards and forwards on top of the rear half of the frame, it is well padded and I believe that when using this cockpit my back is in the best position I’ve ever had it when running a simulation. I achieved this comfortable position using the following notes from the Obutto Web site:

1. Steering Wheel Height: The height of the center of the steering wheel is near the height of your collarbone.

2. Distance to Steering Wheel: The easiest way to set achieve the ideal distance from your steering wheel is to adjust your seat so that when you stretch your arms straight out your wrists lie across the top of the steering wheel. Make sure your shoulders are touching the back of the seat.

Once you place your hands in the 10 & 2 or 9 & 3 positions on the wheel your elbows will be bent at an approximate 90 degrees.

3. Distance to pedals: The ideal position varies but it’s best to not be too close to where your legs are cramped and not too far so that you can’t push the pedals without stretching your legs.

My only concern with the seat is that when I push down on the edge of the seat to stand up, I am afraid I am going to break it. The first night I had the cockpit I felt movement within the padding on the sides, so from that moment on I got in and out while putting my weight on the shifter platform instead. Better safe than sorry!

Features: Shifter platform and keyboard/mouse shelf

The shifter platform seems to be designed around the Logitech G25 shifter (it is perfectly sized), but is officially compatible with Saitek and ECCI also. Obutto do say on their Web site that the platform will fit other shifters, but they do not specify which. I would think it capable of fitting most though, it is a flat platform with no lips on the edges, so if your clamp is too wide you could always clamp the platform with a piece of wood cut to size.

The platform can also be swung out like a door or inwards almost over your knees, it is fully adjustable and can be clamped in position. Another nice thing is that it can be mounted on either the left or the right.

Shifter platform size: 6¾” x 6″ or 17cm x 15cm.

They did a fantastic job fitting this enormous keyboard and mouse shelf into the compact design of this cockpit. There is enough room on this thing for my cell phone, a drink, my keyboard and my trackball mouse. There’s even room for the various cat toys that I keep by me while I race so that I can distract the kittens if they start to mess with me while I am racing.

As mentioned above, the keyboard/mouse shelf can be placed on either side of the cockpit, but whichever side the shelf is, the shifter platform must be opposite.

Obutto oZone Cockpit - Pictured with Logitech G25

Obutto oZone Cockpit - Pictured with Logitech G25

Features: Wheel platform

Herein lays my only problem faced with the cockpit. I use a Fanatec Porsche 911 Turbo Wheel at the moment and found that because there is a little lip on the underside of the platform; my clamp cannot close enough to lock itself to the platform. I got around the problem by initially stuffing junk mail between the bottom of the platform and the top of the clamp, giving the platform extra thickness.

Other than that problem (which is as much of a Fanatec problem with their clamp design as it is a problem with the cockpit), I’m thrilled at how adjustable and stable the wheel platform is. You simply undo the tightening clamps and then you can slide the platform up and towards or down and away.

Features: Monitor platform

Behind the wheel platform, sits the monitor platform. Once setup and tightened, the monitor platform is not going to move anywhere. It is extremely strong and its position right behind the wheel is just perfect. I am using a single-screen display and feel totally immersed when driving.

A nice feature is that the Obutto oZone cockpit is so compact that I could easily remove the monitor display (or just lower to minimum height) and the front end of the cockpit would slide perfectly under my desk, allowing me to setup a triple display or huge HDTV on there at exactly the right height.

Good Vibrations

One thing that you may like or dislike is the way the force feedback effects travel through the framing. I am able to feel a lot of the effects produced by the wheel under my seat and through the pedals. The downside, of course, is the vibration itself: If you live in a shared building, with thin walls and floors, you might need to place the cockpit on a bit of extra carpeting.

Personally I find this extra vibration adds even more to the immersive experience a sim racing cockpit can give you. Being able to feel any kind of jolt not only in your hands and arms but under the seat and with your feet is an extremely interesting experience that definitely adds to my awareness.

Stability

I have tried to tip the cockpit over and unless you purposely lift it with the aim of doing so, it won’t even move. The floor design is such that the pivot point for a heavy display is quite far inwards. I would avoid putting something extremely heavy onto the display stand and instead use the oZone’s compact nature to your advantage by sliding it underneath or near to some other TV/monitor stand. Any normal monitor of relatively light HDTV should be fine.

Conclusions: Bad

I think for business use at tradeshows or an event, the Obutto is probably not suitable. Although it is a very sturdy and well-built cockpit, its adjustable nature doesn’t have the right look or feel for putting on a show.

One thing that is lacking is some kind of attachments for audio. This is an understandable omission though because audio equipment varies greatly in design.

Conclusions: Good

An awesome option for home use.

It is more than worth the price and I have seen comparable cockpits selling for hundreds, even thousands of dollars more.

It has a compact design, yet when you are sat it seems surprisingly large.

It’s adjustability and extendibility is simply amazing. Each extended item like the platforms can be moved and placed wherever you want them. Each adjustment is shockingly simple to perform.

Sturdy frame that can support anyone who can comfortably sit inside. (I’m told 300lbs guys buy and use them).

Large extended items. The keyboard/mouse shelf will have a wide variety of uses because of its size. Now you don’t even need to leave your cockpit to eat your Dinner!

One of the real delights is that with the force feedback enabled, I can feel it travelling throughout the frame, giving me an extra sense of immersion.

The racing seat, with its adjustable forward and backward positioning, is extremely comfortable and supportive.

Link: obutto.com – Price: $259 (Excluding Shipping)

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Posted in Articles, Gaming, Racing | 5 Comments »

X³: Terran Conflict “Trade” Trailer

Wednesday, September 17th, 2008

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

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X³: Terran Conflict Goes Gold!

Saturday, September 13th, 2008

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

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Fanatec Porsche 911 Turbo Steering Wheel Review

Saturday, September 6th, 2008
Fanatec Porsche 911 Turbo Wheel, Pedals & H-pattern gear shifter.

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…

Quite a lack of config options...

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 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.

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 (changable) gear stick.

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.

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.

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 and PS3 (PS3 untested by me).
Price: $200 (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.

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X³: Terran Conflict “Think” Trailer

Thursday, September 4th, 2008

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.

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Logitech Driving Force EX Steering Wheel Review

Wednesday, August 20th, 2008

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, but that’s because it doesn’t have a motor.

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. It felt weird more than anything else.

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!

The lightening I can feel from the car in the air or transitions in banking is probably me interpreting the annoying vibrations as something they are not. Really this wheel does not have force feedback, it has rumble feedback and honestly, it feels pretty weird to me.

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…

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Grand Theft Auto IV Coming to PC November, 2008

Friday, August 8th, 2008
Back to \'Liberty City\' for GTA IV - Are you ready?

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.

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