If there is one genre I love to play, that genre is racing. Moving from the Xbox to the Xbox 360, we have seen some new racing titles as well as the ability to play some backwards compatible titles. When Logitech announced their newest gaming products, I was excited to hear about a new racing wheel for the Xbox 360. We are taking a look at Logitech's DriveFX for the Xbox 360. This is Logitech's latest product for the 360, and continues Logitech's support of Microsoft's gaming consoles. I tested this wheel on a variety of titles including some of the top racing titles available on the Xbox platform including: Project Gotham Racing 3, Forza Motorsport and Rallisport Challenge.

 
The DriveFX wheel is a black wired wheel that simply uses USB to connect to the 360. The pedals connect to the side of the wheel, and an A/C adapter connects on the same side. Some might ask why this wheel would need external power. USB can only provide a small amount of power. Through USB only, you will only get rumble feedback from the wheel. When you plug it into a power source you get Axial Feedback. This is a technology developed by Logitech that is similar to Force Feedback, but is not the true FF. You first notice this when you turn on your 360. If the wheel is turned to the site, it will be automatically centered once it starts booting up. 

 
The face of the wheel includes all of the buttons from the Xbox 360 Controller with exception to the joysticks. The face includes the A B X Y buttons, the bumpers, a dpad, start select buttons, and an Xbox Guide button. This buttons are all centered around a fancy looking Logitech metallic logo. On the back of the wheel are two paddle buttons, much like paddle shifts on a vehicle. These buttons perform the same function as the two bumpers, so in a racing game, if you shift with the bumpers, you could use the back paddles or the front bumper buttons. This comes in handy on racing games where you can customize the controls. This was one problem I had with backwards compatible titles was that the bumper buttons replace the black and white buttons, and most Xbox games would have semi customizable control schemes, but never allowed for shifting on the black and white buttons. This can be a tad annoying, but they didn’t know about these bumpers when they were developing these older titles.  The bumpers work very well for shifting in games they are able to be used in. The wheel itself is constructed with plastic and the grip of the wheel is made of rubber that gives a very firm grip while you are racing.

 
The wheel is held in place by two clips simply screws that tighten clamps that you can attach to a surface. I used a TV tray as my coffee table was too low for comfortable racing. This setup worked very well, and allowed me to sit as if I was driving at a comfortable height. If you want to go all out, you can even rig something up with a car seat and some other materials. I had some friends over to try out this wheel, and all of them were extremely impressed with the realism. If you play Forza with this wheel, it is almost like driving the real thing.

 
The comfort of the wheel is outstanding with the rubberized grip and pedals that grip well to the floor. I found myself using the wheel whenever I could, playing a variety of racing games to get the full experience. It does take a bit of getting used to from playing with a joystick, but once you get into it, you can never go back. There is a button to change the steering sensitivity on the front, and it can either be fast or slow. I preferred the slower setting as it is a lot easier to control in racing games, and on fast, I was just all over the road. You can change this though to suit your own racing preference.

 
The wheel includes a port on the front to plug in an Xbox 360 headset, making this extremely to plug in and use, yet still retain all the functionality of the regular controllers. I test it with a few different games just for kicks, but it only really works in racing games as you lose one of the axis on wheel in order to street properly. So, a word of advice is to not try and play geometry wars with it even though it can be funny at first.  This is an extremely impressive wheel for the Xbox 360, and allows you to race like a champ. I never knew how much more fun a wheel could be, and with some of the backwards compatible titles, as well as the current Xbox 360 racers and more Xbox 360 racers arrive, this wheel will be well worth it. This is one of the best wheels currently available, and we will have to see if Logitech decides to bring any other wheels to the Xbox 360 as the PC is getting a wheel with even more features, and as Microsoft brings their own wireless wheel for the Xbox 360. The feel and finish on this wheel is awesome. The functionality and features make it one of my top picks for Xbox 360 accessories. The DriveFX comes out July 2006, and if you are a racing fan, definitely check it out. Logitech has brought out another excellent accessory, and this their latest, in what I hope to be many, Xbox 360 accessory offerings.