User Reviews (1 - 11 of 43)

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Great Quality Hardware

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 26 / 26
Date: December 05, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I bought this racing wheel for the XBox. I am playing it with Project Gotham and it is AWESOME! Great quality construction, the steering column is actually bolted into the console. I has a digital power meter and allows you to configure the wheel turning radius. This product far exceeded my expectations and I would definately recommend it to anyone looking for a wheel for XBox.

Great wheel, unusable because of problems.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 32 / 37
Date: September 15, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Just bought this wheel today and I love the way it feels. I've been playing Sega GT 2002 and Rallisport non stop for past 7 hours. Very well designed and fits on my lap perfectly.

There are problems with it however that will make me return it tomorrow morning.

1. In both games it will disconnect 1-5 times a race. Pressing start button will fix this but it also resets your calibration. Imagine being disconnected and having to recalibrate it 5 times a race - extremely annoying.

2. It doesn't remember your calibration settings when it's powered off. This alone wouldn't make me return it but is still annoying.

I haven't had anything brake off yet, like other reviewers. The wheel and pedals are very firmly built.

Another thing - Mad Catz need to be open for support something other than Mon-Fri 9-5.

Good for Some Games

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 19 / 19
Date: March 21, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Just purchased MadCatz MC2 Racing Wheel and Pedals. Here is the good news.

Fits about as well as I could expect on my lap. The pedals take the place of the triggers and work well when the triggers are accelerate and brake. The wheel and pedals seem durable if used with moderation. I would not get too aggressive with this product. The calibration system is easy and helpful.

Bad news. The buttons are not programmable. This makes games like "Spy Hunter" rather awkward. In Spy Hunter the acceleration button is "A". Firing weapons and selecting weapons are located at the triggers. This means when you use the pedals in "Spy Hunter" you will be firing weapons. This gets rather confusing. This has as much to do with the design of the games. If the game allowed the player to reprogram buttons, this would not be a problem.

Overall racing wheel worked well on Project Gotham and Wreckless. It did not work as well on Spy Hunter for reasons mentioned above. I recommend the product, however I would have preferred a wheel with programmable buttons (if there is such a thing).

Sweet!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 16 / 16
Date: December 20, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This wheel makes Project Gotham Racing. I liked it before I had the wheel but now I love the game. The wheel is much more sturdy than I figured it would be plus if you are using the wheel on your lap there are two pieces that pull out of the bottom to help the wheel from sliding too much. I really like the sensitivity of the wheel and the analog gas and brake pedals are awesome. The very nice touch was force feedback which seems a little week at times but at least it isn't too strong. The only thing I can't get used to the buttons on the steering wheel itself since I have trouble using them and turning the wheel at the same time. This isn't a big deal since most games don't use too many buttons other than gas, brake, shifting hears, and handbrake. Overall a great product that made Project Gotham Racing much better.

better then any other wheel

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 13
Date: December 10, 2001
Author: Amazon User

this wheel is great. i just bought it with all my birthday money and i got project gotham and halo for my birthday present. so the wheel has evey button that the controller does and it has a memory card port. the peddels hook on to the side of the wheel. the peddles are way differnt then all the other peddles, it goes down instead of back. the wheel has rubber grip and it doesnt hurt your hand. it has suction cups so if you have a table it sticks, or it is designed to fit on your legs and its comfterble.

Buggy

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 15 / 19
Date: December 28, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Like others, I found that this controller doesn't work. It "crashes" every few minutes - halting the game and requiring the user to press the START button to continue.

If it wasn't for this significant flaw, I would have given it a 5 star rating. However, this flaw makes it totally unusable in my opinion. It was returned to the store.

Good but not Perfect

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 11 / 12
Date: April 11, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I bought this wheel a couple days ago, for the sole purpose of playing with Project Gotham Racing 2. It's the only racing game I own. So far I haven't experienced the disconnect problems others have complained about. Hopefully I won't. Using the wheel over the regular controller does add an additional element of fun, however there are some things I would change:

Drawbacks:
1) Vibration is underpowered.
2) The wheel itself is rather small. This may be good for younger players, but being full-grown I feel like I'm driving a little kiddie car.
3) The stick shift is goofy. All it does is click up or down, you're not actually shifting. Therefore I think the whole point of including it is defeated. Also, there's no clutch - so really, all you'd be doing is reaching over and clicking this little piece of plastic up and down. I'll stick to automatic transmission thanks...
4) Calibration can be tricky. The dead zone in the middle is a problem. It doesn't seem very responsive to slight turns, but then suddenly your car is totally spun out. Maybe I just need to adjust to it some more.
5) Floor pedals slide easily. Since I play on a wooden floor I've had to put something in front of them to hold them in place since I drive with both feet.
6) Buttons and "butterfly" buttons behind the wheel are not configurable, at least with PGR2. The buttons on the wheel themselves are difficult to access while racing. There are two "butterfly" buttons immediately behind the wheel which are easier to tap, but PGR2 doesn't let you configure them. This is a problem because I like to use the handbrake button while driving, but it's too difficult to reach on the wheel itself while playing.

All in all, a decent improvement from the controller if you're really into racing, but I'd prefer something that was a bit more realistic, heavy duty and sensitive.

F1 2001 Buyers beware

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: December 31, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Being a hardcore F1 fan, I eagerly anticipated playing F1 2001 with this wheel. However, the controller configurations for F1 2001 only allow you to select the A and B buttons or the triggers for upshift/downshift. Unfortunately, the butterfly shifters on the Mad Catz wheel correspond to the A and X buttons. So, semi-auto shifting has to be done with the A and B buttons on the wheel and are almost impossible to use correctly at speed. A major bummer!

Honestly I am very pleased with my wheel.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: November 01, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I purchased an MC2 wheel probably 6 months ago now and it still works great today. It has been heavily used by many adults and children alike; it's great fun at parties when put on a big screen tv.

I've had no problems at all with PGR2, Nascar Heat/Thunder 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, Burnout 3 or SegaGT. The 'dead zone' in the middle of the wheel is very small and if set right doesn't exist at all. The wheel has a 90º turn radius which throws some people off at first but is pretty easy to get used to.

It has both leg 'clamps' and suction cups so it can sit on your lap or a table. The foot pedals do slide a bit depending on how you step on them; I only use my right foot (like driving a normal car) so my left foot is able to hold the pedals firmly in place, however some people use right for gas and left for break, which tends to push the pedals forward quite often. We usually put a folding chair in front of them to avoid the sliding.

The size of the wheel isn't bad at all, it is smaller than a real wheel but I find it to be rather fitting; it works for all ages. We've put probably over 1,000 hours on it now and it's still going strong. If you're a fan of using a stick shift, you'll find that to be probably its biggest drawback; it doesn't actually shift positions but simply clicks up and down, and is more often than not just a hassle to use...that being said, we never use the stick shift, but no one has ever complained.

All in all, I love it, and so does everyone else who has used it. Since my original purchase, several others have picked them up after trying mine because it was so much more fun. Even if it's not entirely realistic, it adds another level to the game. Some compared it to playing House of the Dead III without light guns. I plan on purchasing another in the near future so two players can go head to head with them.

Don't bother

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 10 / 11
Date: August 16, 2003
Author: Amazon User

As a very avid motorsports fan and participant (both electronic and in the real world), I've got just about every roadracing game available for Xbox. Naturally, I wanted a wheel. What in the world is up with the unbelievable LACK of choice out there? Thrustmaster, Logitech, Saitek, HELLO!!!! Anybody out there? Anybody ever heard of XBOX?!!! Will one of you PLEASE make me a wheel for this thing that works right...

I want to know, because I'm SICK of my MC2 and want other CHOICES. Ones that don't give me a disconnected message five times a game and one made by a company that actually stands behind their product and acknowledges that there is a problem. Been to the website? I have to laugh when I go to the tech support troubleshooting and "known problems" section and there is no mention of this issue.

Here's a news flash - every one of these controllers has this problem and it affects almost all of the driving/racing games I have. Project Gotham and Apex are the only two games I own that are stable with this wheel. All of the rest pretty much will frustrate you into wanting to throw the thing through the window as it "disconnects" right in the heat of gameplay.

Just keep using your handheld until someone comes out with a wheel that works. - Unless all you want to play is Apex and Gotham (which it does work reasonably well on both) Mad Catz, fix your problem and make good on your promises.

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