Logitech G27 Racing Review, is it the best?

[XTankSlayerX]

 

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The Logitech G27 Racing wheel has been a product that I've always dreamed of having. Ever since I was four years old, I loved racing games and cars. One day my family went to future shop to buy things and then I saw the most beautiful thing ever.... A Logitech G25, and right then and there my dreams were formed. I was going to get a Logitech G25 (In this case a G27) Someday. Fast forward six years later, with a 250 dollar hole in my pocket and a G27 wheel, I have no regrets. Not big ones at least.

 

Well... This may just be as well packed as you would least expect. Its just a cardboard box, with the bits wrapped in plastic and then jammed into it. No foam, considering the wheel is made out of REAL Aluminum and REAL leather with REAL (Yes, really) plastic housing it can take a beating before breaking. The box has received a (Much needed) Redesign. Now it has the Logitech branding that we've all come to love and expect. before it was, well okay I guess at the time. 

 

For 250 dollars, its fantastic! your get 100% Genuine leather, which looks and feels great, and actual aluminum so you could probably hit this thing with a sledge hammer. The only thing you'd be breaking would be your back and the hammer. Okay, yes the bodies are made out of plastic but the internal mechanisms are metal. So you can confidently turn the wheel as hard and rough as you want, for 3 years in fact; backed by Logitech warranty which I did have to use (Although I messed up and my previous wheel was fine) it was really good. They send you the box with a prepaid shipping label. Took about 2 weeks, not as good Nvidia but its still very good nonetheless.

 

The G25 was legendry for its features at the time. But it did have a few things that needed... Some improving to put it gently.  

Firstly, the gears in the G27 are helical gears, This pretty much mean that the wheel is going to be dead silent compared to its predecessor. Silence is nice but the wheel will also feel smoother as well. Very nice, who would of know changing the gears in something would make it better? Logitech did, Thankfully. 

The pedals got not as much attention as the wheel it self did, all they did is pull the brake and clutch pedals a little closer to you, that way you wont confuse them as easily. 

Last, The Shifter got its "Sequential/6way hybrid" mode taken away from it. This may be a bad thing for some but it ultimately makes the shifter feel more like part of a 300 dollar product and not something that you got from a toy store. 

 

The wheel is comfortable to use for long periods of time. although the buttons on the wheel can be a little tricky to press at times they're okay as well; they reside somewhere between click and mushy. The Pedal shifters are a different story, They have this really nice click to them and they're easy to hold when turning the wheel. They're big enough for big hands and are spaced behind the wheel far enough that you'll still be able to grab the wheel without hitting your knuckles on them. The pedals have very nice springs with different weight to them, the brake being the heaviest, gas being the lightest, and the clutch being in between. Other than that, the comfort will mostly be from the chair and where you have said wheel set up. 

 

for 300 dollars you get force-feed back, which is a (in my opinion) a must if you want to be able to drive well. The FF allows you to "feel" the road. an example of this is You're turning a corner, the wheel will have some resistance when your turning and you have grip. If you loose grip the wheel will go all light and loose. Its pretty neat, Its very nice when playing a game like F1 where you can turn the wheel quite a bit before you start to fish tail (You can actually tell when that’s going to happen before it happens). This is a gear driven force feed back I believe, which will lead to some (At times) rough feed back and a FFB dead zone in the middle of the wheel, which isn't too bad but it simply cant beat a a belt driven FFB wheel. Although, all of those cost a lot more than this; but it does add a level of realism which is a must for some.

 

 

 

Well, They're nothing special really. The outer shell is made out of plastic, while the inside is made out of metal. The pedals all have different springs so they correspond with what you'd expect each pedal to feel like; Gas is the lightest, Clutch is the middle ground, brake is the heaviest. Although, there are a lot of 3rd party mods you can add on to the pedals, some of which include replacing the sensor of the break with a more fancy load cell break.  You can also buy some 3rd party pedal plate faces (Not too sure  what to call them) Although, these mods are a lot more expensive than the pedals themselves, Ha! 

 

Once again, Plastic outer shell,  solid steel internals. The shifter is only 6 speed + 1 reverse (Its one of those that you push down to go into reverse, some people might not like this)  

It also has some buttons which are mushy, a terrible D-Pad that feels extremely mushy, and a ABXY button styled buttons on there as well. If you ever break it or want the new G27 shifter if you own a G25 you can also buy a stand alone one for 35 dollars... Yep. 35 dollars. 

 

 

IT has 900 Degrees of rotation, 2 force feedback motors inside (It gets a little toasty), the wheel rim is made out of actual aluminum, and its wrapped in genuine leather. The pedal shifters are pure glory, They're clicky and satisfying. 

Another great feature is the LED Rev lights, yes, they work! On supported games only, which means older games wont have support for them unfortunately. Either way, they're not bright enough to be seen out of the corner of you eye. 

The wheel is quiet, although when the FFB kicks in it will be a little loud. setup is easy enough, flip the wheel over, connect the pedals, Shifter, and PSU. Then you clamp it on your desk or you can hard mount it using the mount holes. This is easy if your desk is within the clamps specs, if it isn't, then your going to have to do what I did. Cut a hole in the desk. Yep. 

 

 

Setup is relatively simple. plug in the wheel, start the installer, watch it spin, finish the setup, play; Although in some games you do have to setup the wheel manually if there aren't any presets, although these are the more die hard simulators that have this. That’s pretty much it. Although one of the biggest things about a wheel setup like this is that you have to set it up every time you want to use it... Unless you have the luxury of having dedicated place to have the wheel setup its going to get very annoying, so you'll be rethinking  your choice of zipping around a track to something a little more effortless.

 

 

The g27 is the best bang for  the buck you'll get for racing. 

The construction is solid enough that Logitech will back it with their 3 Year warranty, which is always nice to have. If you're looking to get a wheel since a controller can no longer satisfy your needs then the G27 is your best bet. Even with the degraded quality over the years, its still the best wheel you can get for 300 dollars.

 

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[lutewan]

aaggh the pain u centered it but it still is off center

[Guest]

@foxhound590 - PAX Aus 2014 - A total of 19 G27 wheels failed at that convention. Not one Fanatec wheel died. 

 

...MSY lost 6 G27's on day 1.

[foxhound590]

ouch that sucks for MSY

[XTankSlayerX]

@foxhound590 - PAX Aus 2014 - A total of 19 G27 wheels failed at that convention. Not one Fanatec wheel died. 

 

...MSY lost 6 G27's on day 1.

Oh damn... At least they still have that warranty right?

 

Nothings bullet proof, even the best break down sadly.

[G27Racer_188]

The setup can get really annoying, so I never take mine of the desk. And to use the mouse I squeeze my arm between wheel and shifter.

 

But overall it's great. Yes, it's not the most simulation accurate as some full-on sim wheels, but for the price you can't beat it.

 

@XTankSlayerX How long do you have it? One thing that happened with mine is leather on the shifter has torn, and now there is a small hole. I have mine since april 2014, so just under 1 year.

[TheGamingBarrel]

One thing that I used with my DFGT was by a stand, move it out the way, and when I originally bought it I was a tiny person and it would be uncomfortable, so I got one with height adjust and "and actual aluminum" you are doing it the american way!