Customer Reviews
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.
G27
Pros: Well built. Leather
wheel feels much better than plastic. Clutch, break, gas all have
different push pressure. Feedback force feels great. I just hope the
motor won't give up on me any time soon!
Paddle shifters made out of
metal and when shifting they feel very durable and firm.
Installation
was a breeze.
Cons: The leather is no BMW quality! However, as
mentioned before, it's much better than plastic wheel.
The screws
that attach the wheel and shift stick to the table are made of plastic
and give impression if you screw them too hard they'll crack. But so far
so good.
Lots of cables. But I just taped them together and it's now
manageable.
Have no horn button?.. :)
I don't have much to
say about manual shift stick. It feels alright but I don't use it in any
games( takes longer to shift), only paddle shifters.
I've never
tried g25, so I can't compare them but judging from the pictures, extra
buttons on g27 give a bigger advantage.
Overall, I'm very
satisfied with this product.
Games played with G27: iRacing, NFS
Shift.
G27 on PS3
Extremely well made, I bought
both G27 and the GT wheel for comparison. At first I wasn't sure
whether the $200 difference is worth it, until I tried both out. Played
F1 championship, GT5 prologue, GT5 demo and Dirt 2. If you can foot the
bill, G27 is hands down better. Better construction and quality (GT
wheel has plastic pedals, G27 has metal paddle and pedals), feels more
solid and the force feed back feels accurate and keen.
Another
example of this being a well designed product is, on other wheels I've
tried, the foot pedals are spring loaded with the same resistance. G27
however has different spring rate on the throttle and brake, which makes
it extremely realistic. I'm not sure if that was software or hardware
controlled but I like it.
There are problems with this wheel, it
isn't fully supported by all the racing games in PS3.
For
example, paddle shifting in GT5 prologue doesn't work (although GT5 HD
when it comes out will work, GT5 demo works) so if I want to use manual
shift in GT5 prologue I'll have to use the real 6 speed shifter, and I
couldn't get the buttons to assign correctly in any of the games. So if I
need to hit the PS button I actually need to use a controller. There is
no documentation on what the default mapping is like (at least tell me
where the PS button is, seriously). Paddle shifters do work in F1 champ,
Dirt 2, so I'm not sure what the problem is with GT5.
None of the
game shows G27 as an available steering wheel controller.
This is not
supported on Xbox 360 but I'm curious and I'll test that out later.
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