Review: Logitech G27 steering wheel

OK, I hear you lot. This really isn't technically related to cars, this post should belong to a gaming website. But please bear with me, because I want to discuss something.

If you love cars, but you are also partial to a spot of driving in the virtual world, things aren't brilliant. Face it, when you think of gaming, you tend to think of action, platform or shoot 'em up games. Racing games seem to be so left-field.

As a result, racing game accessories tend to be a bit, well to be honest, crap. Manufacturers focus on what the majority of people want, not what some crazed octane-blooded oddballs desire. Enter Logitech and their steering wheel, the G27.

I'm going to clear one thing up straight away, it is almost impossible to get a steering wheel set that has a proper H-shifter manual. If you look at the videos I have embedded throughout the video, you'll see video evidence of what I'm talking about. Fancy. Case one; the six-speed manual transmission on the G27 is pretty damn good. It's nowhere near a real car, obviously, but you get an impressive amount of resistance, a good neutral gear spring and a great leather finish. It may be on the small side, but you'll have a pleasure using it.

The G27 also comes with programmable buttons and a D-pad on the shifter area, which is finished in brushed aluminium. If you use the G27 on your Playstation, you'll find the top four buttons work as the X, square, triangle and circle format and the D-pad is just, well, the D-pad on the Playstation. The two middle red buttons act as start and select too. This means there is no worries about programming the buttons - Logitech have done it for you.

Moving on to the steering wheel now, and ooh, how lovely it is to feel and use. It is the only gaming steering wheel to be finished in leather (perforated on the sides for maximum hand comfort), with polished steel in the middle. You also get large flappy paddles behind, which make such a satisfying click. Here, you get six programmable buttons. For instance, I use them for the horn, indicators, view switching etc. The G27's predecessor, the G25, only had two buttons on the wheel, which isn't enough whatsoever.

The force feedback this wheel provides is astonishing. With dual motors and helical gears, not only do you feel every bump on the track, the wheel is relatively quiet too. Not silent, sure, but next to every other wheel, it is very impressive. Lastly, you get great LED rev shift indicators on the wheel, which you can see in the video. You won't notice them much while you're playing, but it's a great thing to show off to your mates.

The pedals continue the trend of great quality materials. Again, you get properly solid (and properly scratch-prone) steel pedals with good grip, so they won't slide on floors. They're heavy too, which puts quality in your mind. Not only that, Logitech has been clever and made the throttle a light pedal, the clutch requiring a bit of effort and the brake being fairly stiff, just like a real car. Sounds incredibly simple, but so many gaming wheel sets do not offer this type of detail. Details such as the throttle has been placed a little bit further back than the other two pedals for better heel-toe action. That is what sets this wheel apart.

Put them together, and you have got a device that can even turn a boring simulator into a lot of fun. Now I will admit that it isn't cheap; despite being five years old, this wheel still retails at a £269 RRP. However, technology like this doesn't age that much if it's done properly whereas a computer can be outclassed within a year because parts advance so much. You can't advance at such speed with a steering wheel.

To sum it up, if you aren't worried about money too much and you want a really good steering wheel to enhance your games, you'd be daft to get anything else.