Well the day is finally upon us. Madcatz has finally listed their Xbox One Force Feedback wheel for $399.99 US.
Here is what’s included in the box…
Removable Wheel Face
Wheel Base Unit
Pedal Base Unit with Retractable Carpet Gripper
Removable Pedal Cowling with Mounting Hardware
2 Desk Clamps
2 Removable Lap Rests with Mounting Hardware
Multi-region DC Power Supply
Allen Key
Like others, I am curious about the little wheel from the Psychotic Feline. How does it perform? How is it’s reliability? Will alternate pedals, wheel rims and an H gated shifter set, ever materialize?
It’s interesting and before I become dismissive due to Madcatz’ track record in peripherals, I hope all the right steps have been taken to ensure this wheel actually offers dependability at least. If it does that, then it actually would have a leg up on it’s closest competitors.
Please keep a look out for any and all information, reviews and news for this wheel. I’ll do my best to relay what I find, and hopefully we can build a good understanding of this wheels capabilities, strengths and weaknesses.
I’ve been holding off on buying this wheel to first read the reviews. My past experiences with Mad Catz is that they produce “junk”. Unfortunately this is the only wheel that I will consider. The Thrustmaster TX has not had good reliability (both Futureshop and BestBuy in Canada no longer sell it). I also have no way to update the Thrustmaster wheel as I am a Mac user.
Hopefully Mad Catz has produced a great racing wheel. I’d really like to have one for Forza 5.
I wholeheartedly agree with your statement about madcatz being “junk.” I’ve never seen anything worth while from them either. However, in your opinion, what makes the TX have poor reliability? I have well over 200 hours on mine and I also let the kids goof around on it and not one time have I ever had a single issue with it. A lot of people blast the old Microsoft wheel as well but I had mine since I bought the 360 and never had a single problem with it either. I used that wheel daily for 7+ years without a single issue as well. The reasoning behind that could be that maybe I take care of the things that matter to me very well, or maybe I got the “good” one from the factory. Either way I have never had a problem with any of my racing peripherals and I am not sure why so many other people do.
Because there is thread after thread about Thrustmaster TX failures after only a few hours of gameplay. The reviews on Amazon.com are not that good either, as many people are on their 3rd wheel already. If I’m spending $400 on a wheel it better be reliable. I too still have a Microsoft xbox 360 wheel that works great years later.
Dude, I’m quite anal when it comes to looking after my racing wheels. I never had a problem with any wheel, from MS, Logitec (had it for 4+ years before giving it to my brother 2 years ago and it’s still going strong) or my Fanatec CSR which I bought in 2011 and still use weekly for FM4. But I am currently on my second TX, the first one only lasted 6 weeks with only around 20 hours use, and it was very well looked after. Mine literally puffed out smoke and ‘died’ on a 3 hour session. So yes, I think maybe you’re fortunate and got the good one from the factory rather than taking care of it better than others.
Knock on wood, I haven’t had problems with my TX (11,000 on FM5, I’m sure hundreds of hours spent driving, I’ll check tonight). . I also am anal with all my electronic devices. I don’t even scratch discs, no finger prints either.
I did end up buying 2 MS Wheels, 2 original Xbox, 2 Xbox 360 (didn’t want to wait 2 weeks for my red ring one come back from MS. I ended up with 2 360’s. Traded in older one for X1. I’ve had other 360 since 2009).
Oh, OK, I didn’t realise it’s only just gone on sale in the USA. people in the UK have been getting theirs delivered since Thursday, hence why I posted this
I would not expect much from it,Worm said it was weak as a dish rag! They had it duct taped to a table in a demo,duct taped for gods sake,the TX would have ripped it self off the table!
The wheel (PRFF) uses Helical gears, so the wheel will be noisier than a belt driven wheel, like the TX. I wasn’t expecting something quieter than the TX. Too bad it is priced to match the TX. If it were$100 less than the TX, the chatter would be forgivable to some extent.
they are preselling here in Australia for $749 which seems a bit steep, especially now that the Thrustmaster TX has been reduced to about $499 including delivery
think i might off for a lil bit longer…wish Fanatec would hurry up and release a wheel for the Xbox One
I think it’s a bit early to call it a piece of junk. I know MadCatz has a pretty bad track record, but I’m waiting to hear / see a proper review before judging it. Not that I intend to get rid of my TX- I’m just interested.
I still think the wait for a Fanatec on XB1 will be a very long one - I don’t think they’ve been given a license yet and looks to me as if they’re focussing on the PC sim market at the moment - you never know with them though, as they don’t give out information willingly!
I hear you and agree. The noise would be an issue for me as I generally play with the TV sound not too loud, and would definitely find that an unnecessary distraction. But then I don’t know if the guys in the video have their rumble and FFB up too high (yep, I know shouldn’t make a difference as it just should be quiet like the TX) as the default in Forza is 100 for both. One thing I will say is that the pedals look a whole lot better than the piece of junk stock TX ones.
Also, is it me or does that stock rim look a bit small?
I’m ok with the noise if that is a trade off for reliability. The construction of the wheel and motor unit looks superior to the Thrustmaster TX (i.e. actual metal vs plastic wheel). The pedals also look better than the TX. I agree, I’d like to see some professional reviews (Inside Sim Racing) before spending $400 on this. My only compliants so far are that it works only in either 270 or 900 degrees of ration (TX offers more options) and is a bit noisy.
I would have probably bought a TX long ago but I have no windows computer to perform the mandatory update. Really hoping the Mad Catz is as good or better than the TX.