Xbox Racing Wheel Roundup

You're going to be running laps until your head starts to spin with Forza Motorsport. Pressing buttons and pushing around a D pad will give you the Forza experience, but a racing wheel setup will greatly improve upon it. We have some purchasing tips and suggestions to make sure you pick the wheel that best suits you.

Control is quite possibly the most important feature to look at when looking for a wheel. If a wheel has vast regions of dead zone or isn't particularly accurate, you'll most likely tear out the fancy gear shifter on the side out of shear frustration. A dead zone is the small range of motion that the wheel will ignore before registering an action. You'll want a minimum amount of dead zone because you'll want the wheel to be as responsive as possible.

Force feedback on steering wheel setups for the Xbox is actually just vibration feedback, so don't expect to get a lot of distinct feedback from any of the wheels. If you absolutely have to have some kind of feedback, make sure the wheel plugs into an electrical socket for power. Wheels that plug into walls provide greater amounts of feedback because the amount of current sent through the controller port on the Xbox isn't nearly enough to provide great rumble sensations for a racing wheel setup.

You'll want to be comfortable when you're racing, so make sure to look at where you'll be playing before you get the wheel. If you sit at your couch or chair, and then mimic the positions the wheel might be in you'll get a better idea of what you need. Chances are, if you're playing in your living room, a coffee table and couch setup isn't going to lend itself for the best racing experience. Most coffee tables tend to be low to the ground; as a result, you'll hunch over like Quasimodo every time you want to run a few laps. In this case, you might want to opt for racing wheel setups that offer laptop playing options.

On the off chance you have a room setup that's ideal for tabletop play, check to see if suction cups or clamps would help stabilize the wheel setup. If your table is made out of glass, suction cups would be a good bet. But if you have a table that has a textured surface, a clamping device might serve you better.

Lastly, when you you're looking for a good racing wheel setup, expect to pay for it. We've noticed that paying more translates well to getting a better quality product, especially when it comes to racing wheel setups. The differences in control, feel, and build vary greatly between the budget and premium models. In particular, the Fanatec Speedster 3 ForceShock offers amazing features and performance.

We've gathered a broad range of Xbox racing wheels together to help you choose the perfect wheel for your Forza setup:

Fanatec Speedster 3 ForceShock Wheel

"In all, Fantatec's Speedster 3 ForceShock wheel is a fine option for Xbox racing fans searching for a solidly constructed wheel that features force feedback response, or at least as close as the Xbox can get. The wheel carries a fairly expensive $149 MSRP, but the Speedster 3 ForceShock still represents the best of its kind on the Xbox."
- Brain Ekberg, from the Full Review

Score: 8.5

Pelican Cobra TT Racing Wheel

"The racing wheel provides decent control and the right amount of features for its $30-50 price range. However, if you're looking for something that will provide for a substantially better racing experience, you might want to set your sights on a more expensive wheel."
- Sarju Shah, from the Full Review

Score: 7.0

Logitech NASCAR Racing Wheel

"Overall, the Logitech NASCAR Racing Wheel is poorly designed and feels cheap and generic. Despite the great control that the wheel itself provided, too many other detractors came into play."
- Greg Meuller, from the Full Review

Score: 6.5

Mad Catz Universal MC2 Racing Wheel

"In the end, regardless of the comfort, stability, and wide console compatibility range of the Universal MC2 Racing Wheel, we were at times left wishing for the use of any other kind of input device, even a keyboard, to drive with."
- Sarju Shah, from the Full Review

Score: 5.9