Steering Wheel
Score: 80% Developer: MadCatz
Function: Using the Mad Catz Steering Wheel really pulls you into the game. Instead of steering with your thumb on the D-Pad or the Analog Stick, you?re mimicking real-life driving, and it just gets you more into it.
Performance: It may take some game players a little while to adjust to using the steering wheel instead of the standard Nintendo controller, since you have to use your hands to steer and your feet to brake and accelerate (unless you drive like me and don?t use the brakes). Gamers who spend time in arcades playing driving games with a steering wheel will probably adapt a little sooner. I found it to steer pretty tight, although I personally feel that I drive better with a standard controller, (but that?s just me). Some of my friends thought the steering wheel was easier to use.
Features: Analog and Digital Modes Compatible with All Games Gas and Brake Pedals Stick Shift Grouping of Standard N64 Controller Functions Including Memory Pak and Rumble Pak (Rumble is built into the unit itself)
Drawbacks & Problems: Well, the Mad Catz Steering Wheel is big and chunky, so it may take up lots of space in your room. If you?re a die hard racer though, you know you need a steering wheel, and will learn to live with your new "roommate." Another thing I noticed was that the Rumble Pak feature won?t work if you have a Memory Pak plugged in, so you still have to do ?hot-swaps? with them like a standard controller. Mad Catz makes a Force Pak that has a Memory Pak built in (so you don?t have to keep switching them while you play a game). So why didn?t they implement that technology into this Steering Wheel? Finally, setting up and adjusting the Steering Wheel might be too complicated for small children, although if an older sibling is available, or a techno-savvy parental-unit, they should be just fine.
-Glom, GameVortex Communications AKA Pete Maher
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