A simulator-grade racing wheel, the Logitech G27 Racing Wheel is designed to deliver the definitive sim racing experience for the PC and PLAYSTATION3. It features a powerful, dual-motor force feedback mechanism with exceptionally quiet helical gearing; a six-speed shifter with push-down reverse gear; integrated RPM/shift indicator LEDs; a comfortable 11-Inch leather-wrapped rim; and steel gas, brake, and clutch pedals.
The Logitech G27 Racing Wheel – real metal, real leather, real racing
Whether sliding sideways around a gravely curve, or screaming through the streets of Monaco, with the Logitech G27 Racing Wheel, the world's greatest circuits feel closer than ever. Designed to deliver the definitive sim racing experience for the PC and PLAYSTATION3, the Logitech G27 Racing Wheel features a powerful, dual-motor force feedback mechanism that smoothly and accurately simulates traction loss, weight shift, and road feel; plus a an exceptionally quiet helical gear system that virtually eliminates steering noise. And then there are the six-speed shifter with push-down reverse gear; RPM/shift indicator LEDs; 11-inch leather-wrapped rim; steel gas, brake, and clutch pedals; and 16 programmable buttons plus D-pad. All of which add up to a level of performance and realism that you might not have thought possible.
FEATURES -
1) Powerful, dual-motor force feedback mechanism with helical gearing
Smoothly and accurately simulates traction loss, weight shift, and road feel, with exceptionally quiet steering action.
2) Six-speed shifter with push-down reverse gear
Allows you to quickly choose the right gear for every corner.
Allows you to quickly choose the right gear for every corner.
3) Paddle shiftersKeep your hands on the wheel for lighting fast F1 style shifting.
4) RPM/shift indicator LEDs
Integrates with racing game software to indicate when the user should shift gears.
Integrates with racing game software to indicate when the user should shift gears.
5) Realistic 11-inch wheel and leather-wrapped rim
Provides a more comfortable, true-to-life racing experience for hours on end.
Provides a more comfortable, true-to-life racing experience for hours on end.
6) Steel gas, brake, and clutch pedals
Delivers precise throttle, braking and shifting control for heightened realism.
Delivers precise throttle, braking and shifting control for heightened realism.
OTHER ACCESSORIES [ INSIDE BOX ] -
Package Contents
System Requirements
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SAMPLE CUSTOMER REVIEWS –
1) Good, but in desperate need of an overhaul. - I had the privilege of owning its predecessor several years ago, the G25, so I knew mostly what to expect with this new G27, but I was still expecting so much more from Logitech. The expression "Logitech giveth and Logitech taketh away" seems most pertinent.
So, let's start:
Opening the box and getting everything out is very simple. All the parts are well designed, but you're immediately greeted with what I think is the biggest issue with the G25/27 set, - the cables. So many cables! 400 cables! (at least it feels like it)
The wheel has a cable coming out of it that goes into your PS3; the pedals have a cable coming out of it; the shifter has a cable coming out of it, and then there's the power brick that has a cable to be plugged in. All these cables plug into the wheel itself, and it's definitely not a pretty sight. I don't know about other people, but I don't have a place where I can leave my steering wheel/shifter/pedals plugged in 24/7, so setting all this up and putting it away again is a COMPLETE pain in the rear.
Putting the cable issue aside, there's a lot to like with the G27. It's an improvement over the G25 in many ways:
1.) The G27 wheel uses helical gears (or diagonal-cut gears) vs the G25's straight-cut gears. What this means is that there's a reduction in noise when turning the wheel, and it's also smoother while maintaing powerful force feedback! Great stuff!
2.) The shifter on the G27 no longer has a sequential mode (i.e. clicks up and down only), which is no big loss to me. I prefer either the regular 6-speed or using the paddle shifts on the wheel. While it may seem that this is still a LOSS compared to the G25's 6-speed AND sequential shifting, the new addition to the G27 is that the gears don't CLICK into place. On the G25, every gear change would greet you with a CLICK as the gear was put into place. Logitech have removed this sound so the gear movements don't hurt your ears with their plastic sounds as the G25 did. Now, some people have modified their G25 shifters to remove this sound, but it voids your warranty and I've read of several people irreparably breaking their shifters by doing this... In any case, for me, the G27 shifter is an improvement over the out-of-the-box G25 shifter.
3.) The pedals are now adjustable, which makes it a joy to heel-and-toe while racing. The pedal layout is a huge deal more comfortable than on the G25 pedals. This, for me, is a huge improvement. My right foot would get very uncomfortable with the G25 layout.
4.) There's a new set of tachometer LEDs on the wheel, though I've yet to play any game that supports them yet... It's a neat little feature, though, if it does as advertised.
5.) The G27 also has some more buttons on the steering wheel, which you can customize, of course.
So how does it play?
VERY well, depending on the software!
Need for Speed: Shift PS3:
I first tried out Need for Speed: Shift on the Playstation 3, and was pleasantly surprised to see that no setup is needed, and the controls just work. In fact, it even shows you a picture of the wheel/pedals on the control screen (albeit just the G25, but still...). It's great to have the wheel work out of the box with no tinkering. THAT said, there's perhaps too much force feedback in Shift to be particularly comfortable. The faster you get, the more the wheel fights with you. At 120mph, it's very hard to keep the wheel straight. I've track-driven several times at near 150mph speeds at times, and I can safely say my steering wheel doesn't fight me in real life like it did in the game...
So, for ease of use with Shift, I'd say 5/10. It's just too hard to keep the wheel straight at relatively high speeds...
Gran Turismo: Prologue PS3:
NOW we're talking. None of the fighting I experienced in Need for Speed: Shift, and plenty of smooth corners and subtle force feedback. It's fair to say the force feedback is a tad muted in Prologue, but it's infinitely more comfortable to play than Shift, and a real joy to hit those apexes time and time again. 9/10.
Overall, this wheel is excellent, but the pain of setting it up is just too much to ignore. It really is a cable nightmare. The wheel, pedals and shifter could easily be wireless by this point, meaning the only cable needed would be a power cable to the steering wheel for the force feedback to work. I suspect the inevitable G29 will remedy this, as the way the G27 currently works is a direct copy of the G25 which is 3 years old as of November, 2009.
Overall, though, a great wheel, if you can be bothered to go through the setting it up...!
4/5
NOTE: This wheel is for PC AND PS3.
By William Grose TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on November 28, 2009
2) Everything but the G-s - I'd had my Logitech Driving Force GT for quite some time before I realized it was time to trade up to the top of the line: the Logitech G27. What makes the G27 better than the GT is the huge leap from the GT's "manu-matic" up-down shifter to a proper clutch and six-position gear box. I don't get to log a lot of hours in the sims, but if there's one thing I've learned, it's that being able to downshift from 5th to 3rd while pulling the e-Brake can be the win-or-lose difference that the GT's up-down shifter lacks. I could still use my Driving Force GT for playing NASCAR Racing because the tracks are typically high-speed circles (and god help you if you skip a gear), but for anything else, the gearbox is a huge must. It's a real rush being able to downshift through various Dirt, Need for Speed, and other titles.
Physically, the G27 feels more solid than the GT, substituting aluminum and leather for the GT's plastic. The wheel's crossbar and the shifter paddles are aluminum. The wheel, shifter, and boot cover are leather, and the whole thing is bristling with buttons. Unlike the GT's PlayStation-centric button mappings, the G27's steering-wheel buttons have a layout like the MOMO, which is a smart move given how many people graduate up from the MOMO to the G27. The unit containing the wheel is separate from the gearbox, which means tons of flexibility for mounting the parts in any cockpit configuration you like. The main unit branches out its wiring, running two long cords for the gearbox to the right and two down leftwards to the pedals. From the pedals goes the power cable that has a long cord for plugging into an outlet. If you have to stow the set in between racing sessions, the wheel and gearbox are hand-screwed onto the edge of a desk or coffee table via clamps that grab from the underside. The pedals will slip and slide on a smooth floor, but have fold-out teeth that will grab onto carpet. All three pieces have threaded holes for anyone wanting to screw the parts onto some home-crafted handiwork (my neighbor built his own wheeled wooden cockpit with a Honda seat).
I've driven quite a number of cars in real life. I've personally owned:
- a '65 Ford Mustang
- an '87 Camaro Z-28
- a '97 Eagle Talon AWD
- an '83 Mercedes Coupe 380SL
- an '07 Subaru STI
I regularly shoot through winding country roads and enjoy the feel of a real vehicle--within safe limits. Driving the G27, I can safely push past those limits...and I can tell you that the only thing missing from the real thing are the G-forces. Wheel resistance is firm, the pedals each feel slightly different, and the short-throw shifter makes changing gears a breeze. There's even a way to program "Reverse" into your games just like a real vehicle--where my STI has the lift-up ring, the G27 has you push down and reach for 6th gear--it counts as a different 'button press' than 6th gear.
There is one huge drawback to the G27, and I lay it at the feet of the game designers: the support. Games like Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit came out with no support for driving wheels, shocking the racing game community. Months later, a patch remedied the situation, but by then the damage was done: those of us who love racing games are seeing titles come out with no steering wheel support (Blur, I'm looking at you). Thankfully, Logitech does everything it can to try to meet games halfway: if you're on the PS3, support is fairly native, but the gearbox may or may not factor into your games. If you're on the XBox 360, the story may be the same (haven't tried it myself). PC gamers are on the safest ground: Logitech's free software not only supports Windows 7 and Vista in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions, it also allows you to hand-program the wheel a lot of different ways. Settings can be mapped to keystrokes, keystroke combinations, or macros that combine more than one button or axis (or combination). You can make your settings global to every use of the wheel, or game-specific, and those settings can get as granular as level of force feedback, percentage of resistance, degrees spin of the wheel, dead zone and more. There are a lot of sites out there giving advice for specific game configurations (I'll give you a great one in the comments), and there's even settings that can 'fool' a game into giving you additional support. The gearbox is really the rub, though, and you want to check the Logitech site first for the list of officially-supported games (I'll put that in the comments too).
If you love driving and know how to work a clutch, do yourself a favor and spring for the G27: you'll be glad you did. Support is somewhat limited, but for those games that support it, the G27 is everything but the G-s.
By Winter TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on September 4, 2012
