Date: February 27, 2007 - Author: Greg King
When it comes to racing wheels, the choices are slim. Today we take out Logitech's G25 for a test drive to see if it can live up to our expectations. With stainless steel and real leather, it's off to a fast start but can it deliver where it counts... in the games?
As a computer enthusiast, what do you look for in your hardware? For some, gaming is all they use their PC for aside from the occasional round with the internet. For others, all they require from their PC is to be a quality, stable workstation day in and day out. Regardless what you use your computer for, if you take any pride at all in what you do, you can appreciate a quality product. One company who has been producing quality peripherals so as long as many can remember is Logitech.
Founded in 1981, Logitech has built up an incredible amount of steam over the years and has used this momentum to research and develop hardware that meets, and more often than not, exceeds expectations. As Techgage nears its second birthday, we look back across our history and it’s apparent that we have taken a lot of looks at Logitech products. Most of these reviews have covered keyboards and mice, but that in no way implies that Logitech only produces those peripherals. With almost every segment of the gaming community represented in their portfolio, Logitech has the gaming communities’ back.
On the bench today, we have their flagship racing wheel, the G25. Keeping with the same naming scheme of the G-series, the G25 fits directly into Logitech’s gaming hardware lineup. While they offer other wheel setups, the G25 brings style and functionality to the game room. Using real leather on the wheel and shifter, the G25 appears to be the class of the racing peripherals… affordable ones that is. While I will never claim to be a racing sim expert, I can appreciate a good racing game and thoroughly enjoy them from time to time.
Logitech shipped the G25 to us in its retail packaging. The first thing we noticed was the weight of the package. Once out of the shipping box, the box just screams Logitech. With their standard aqua-marine and black color scheme, there is no doubt who made this wheel. The packaging provides more than enough information about the wheel and anyone who might be eyeing this in a retail store should be able to make a thorough decision with the provided info.
Once past the packaging, we get to the goods. The G25 is made up of three pieces of hardware. Just as there are three primary parts to control in a real car, Logitech has taken these and built the G25 around them. Included with the G25 is the driver (no pun intended) disk, a game demo of rFactor as well as a press kit for us at the shop. Also included is a pair of manuals.
Manuals and software won't do much good without the actual wheel however, so let's now take a look.
Logitech has spared no expense in creating the G25. Offering 900 degrees of motion from lock to lock, the 11 inch wheel is rimmed with hand stitched leather with the spokes being made using stainless steel. Sitting just behind the wheel, there is a pair of paddle shifters that are also made out of the high quality stainless steel. This not only gives the wheel a very sturdy feel, but also adds a look of class, as if it came directly off of the track.
With 4 buttons on the wheel itself (including the pair of paddles), the G25 has a fast and furious feel to it when used with the Need for Speed franchise of games. There isn’t anything like pulling alongside a car and hitting the red thumb button to activate your NOS, leaving your opponent smelling your fumes. Adding to the overall look of the wheel, there are 6 hex head bolts holding the center piece on the wheel, capped with a Logitech logo in the center.
Moving to the back, we see the plastic housing that covers the internals of the G25. Inside rest a pair of high-torque motors, to give the wheel a realistic resistance when racing.
On the top is a pair of knobs to tighten the wheel base to your desk. These can be pushed down and twisted slightly to lock them in place and with the deep grooves on the side of the knobs; they are easy to grip, ensuring a tight hold on the table or desk that you are mounting the G25 on.
To actually hold the wheel in place however, there is a pair of clamps on the bottom of the unit that can be tightened down, preventing the wheel from sliding around in the middle of tightly contested race. Interestingly enough, Logitech decided to use plastic on the clamps instead of rubber, but in the testing, we never ran into any issues with the plastic slipping.
Logitech made the shifter as well as they did the wheel. With the shifter post made out of metal and the ball covered with stitched leather, the overall feel is one of quality. On the face of the shifter there are 8 buttons as well as a 4 position directional pad, allowing for any number of in game macros to be programmed. Following the lead of the wheel, the shifter boot is made out of genuine leather and for appearance, is surrounded by 6 more hex head bolts.
The shifter itself can be used as a 6 speed gated pattern or with the flip of a switch, can be turned into a sequential shifter for those who prefer that approach. With the 6 speed, the experts can select their gears going into corners instead of cycling through the gears sequentially. This also can eliminate the guessing of an automatic transmission, allowing the driver to be in total control. At the end of the patter on the right, reverse can be found. To enable reverse gear, the shifter must be pressed down and then slid over and down into gear. This too adds a bit of realism to the overall experience that the G25 can provide.
One thing to note, and this comes from this editor’s personal experience is that the knob must be pushed down in order to successfully turn the knob to switch between sequential and the 6 speed.
To secure the shifter to the desk, there are a pair of clamps, as well as one post to retard forward and backward rocking of the unit as a whole. All that is needed to install the shifter is to place it over the desk surface, tighten up the bracing post and then twist the clamps down tight.
Now that we have the wheel and shifter out of the way, let's take a quick look at the pedals and then get on with installation!
Following the theme of the entire piece, the pedals are also made with a sturdy feeling plastic and metal where it should be. Using stainless steel for the pedals and held in place with pneumatic pistons, the overall feel is one of ruggedness. Using raised plastic on the pedals and rubber feet on the bottom of the base to ensure a sticky grip on any hardwood or tiled floor, the G25’s pedals are built with all users in mind. The resistance of each pedal is right where it should be as well.
The gas pedal is the easiest to push down and the brake requires firm pressure. With the clutch somewhere in the middle as far as force required to depress it, the pedals are spot on to what it feels like in an actual car.
As stated earlier, pedals are designed to stick to both carpeted and smooth surfaces. On the outside edge of the pedals are rubber feet to grip smooth floors and stick in place when in a race. To aid in keeping the unit in place on carpet is Logitech’s unique carpet grip system that is basically just a strip with spikes on it. It can be retracted into the base when the pedals are placed on a smooth floor and then rotated out when in use on carpeted rooms.
The installation of the G25 is straight forward and exceptionally easy. On the underside of the wheel, there are connections for the pedals and shifter to connect together. Also located here is the power connector. To reduce confusion, one connector is male and the other two, well the other two were females… err, the other one is a female connector. There are also cable routes to run the cables in, allowing the wheel to sit flat on the desk.
Once installed, all that is needed is to plug the G25 into your PC via a USB cable that runs out of the bottom of the wheel itself.
It should also be mentioned that the G25 can be mounted onto a racing frame using what appears to be quarter inch bolts. While not included, these can be found at any hardware store and would provide maximum stability. These mounting holes can be found on each piece.
Once installed, the G25 is ready to rock and roll on the desk...
... All we need now are some games.
To test out the G25, we are going to use a pair of racing games but first we needed to install the provided software and driver.
The first game up is rFactor. Included with the wheel itself is a demo of this game but the guys over at Image Space were kind enough to provide us with a full blown version of the game. Comparable to Gran Turismo as far as realistic representation is concerned, rFactor has a strong online following and the modding community has taking the game under their wings and ran with it. Using the G25, as well as going back to the keyboard, the difference is night and day.
With the overwhelming force feedback of the G25, you can physically feel the car, minus things like, you know, inertia, which greatly helps when cornering. In the following picture, you can see all of the different settings that you can use with the G25. With any game, it’s vital to take your time and setup the controls exactly how you want them. This allows you to fine tune the controls to your liking and as you get used to them, you can take full advantage of the hardware at your disposal.
The second game up was Need for Speed: Carbon. This is a personal favorite of mine and while I wish we could go back to the days of the first two NFS games, I will take what I can get. As far as an entertaining racing game goes, Carbon has it nailed. This is a game that I could honestly play for hours, and actually have. In the game, you play a street racer who has returned to town after a brief “vacation” and throughout the game, you build your rep by defeating rival car clubs on their own turf. It’s a rather simple premise but it does make for an entertaining game. Just like rFactor, Carbon has a special profile for the G25. With this profile, you can fine tune your controls and with the team options, you can make great use of the buttons on the shifter.
Throughout the games, the response of the G25 was tight and accurate allowing a realistic driving experience.
Logitech announced the G25 back in 2006 at E3. Units were eagerly anticipated and finally shipped to retailers last October. Logitech insists that they are limited in production which is either to keep the price up or to make them “exclusive” to those that have them. While production numbers are not known, the limited quantities have not produced shortages at popular online retails. This could be because the G25 comes with an MSRP of $299.00 (US).
With a suggested price just under 300 dollars, they can be found around the net in the mid to upper $200s. While expensive, the experience we had using the G25 more than makes up for the price. The feel of a long drift through the dual force-feedback motors was incredible and there were times where I actually became fatigued. Now I know that sounds bad, but the motors are that strong. This helps add to the realism in the game itself.
We have worked with the G25 racing wheel for just over 3 weeks now and there hasn’t been a time where we have been disappointed. There have been friends come over and use it too and the return was all smiles. Logitech has hit a home run here and if the price can stay in the mid $200s, we at Techgage can whole heartedly recommend it to anyone who is looking for the ultimate, affordable, racing wheel for their games. It should also be mentioned that the G25 also works with the PlayStation 2 as well. While we devoted a lot of our time on the PC, we did give it a go on the PS2. While enjoyable, the experience was nothing compared to the PC. As a $300 peripheral to the PS2, we do not recommend this, but if you’re looking for a great wheel for your PC, the G25 is it.
That’s it, that’s all I have as far as complaints. As stated earlier, the price is just under $300 dollars but Logitech has certainly made a product worth every penny. Add in the fact that it’s a limited edition wheel and you have an exclusive, quality racing wheel. The Logitech G25 has earned a 9 out of 10.
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