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OS X Good racing wheel for both Mac & Xbox?

M

MacFro

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 23, 2013
46
0
I'm looking for a decent racing steering wheel that works both with my iMac and my Xbox 360 in the living room. Does such a thing excist?

On the iMac i've just gotten Dirt 2 and it looks great on the 27". All settings on full. But i must admit it kind of sucks driving with just the small arrows on the already small wireless apple keyboard. Doesn't provide any real rally experience :) On the Xbox i have racing games like Need 4 Speed Hot Pursuit.

I've looked at the Logitech G27, but from what i've read i need an extra converter to make it work with Xbox!? Are there good alternatives? Maybe even cheaper ones?

I'm just a casual gamer, so i don't really have high standards, except i want the feel and respons of the wheel to be good. The only wheel i've had before was a really cheap and crappy one for my old PS2.
 
You're right, the G27 is not meant to work with an Xbox. The best wheels that support both Xbox and PCs (or Macs running Windows) are the ones made by Fanatec (http://www.fanatec.com). They're pricy, but well worth it if you're really into racing games. I don't know of a cheaper one that works with computers and Xboxes out of the box.
 
MacFro said:
I'm just a casual gamer, so i don't really have high standards, except i want the feel and respons of the wheel to be good. The only wheel i've had before was a really cheap and crappy one for my old PS2.
Click to expand...
Just remember as well, that, unbelievably, there is no Force Feedback support for Logitech wheels in OS X 10.7 or 10.8. (You have to hack the old FF kext to get it to work.)
 
Personally the Fanatec CSR Elite is VERY good, however I will be selling mine for the Clubsport as Forza no longer appeals to me due to its arcade like nature, and iRacing has replaced GT5 and Forza for me.

Fanatec-CSR-Elite-Wheel.jpg
 
Are there OS X drivers for Fanatec wheels? I didn't think so.
Is there any way of getting FF to work on OS X?
 
imacken said:
Are there OS X drivers for Fanatec wheels? I didn't think so.
Is there any way of getting FF to work on OS X?
Click to expand...

The Fanatec wheels do have a "PS3" mode which uses the logitech drivers. It seems to be detected as a G25. You can find a thread on this HERE and HERE. This is just information on the PS3 mode, not on whether or not it works on OSX.

I have not personally tried this yet with OSX, but I did have a friend try the PS3 mode with the CRS and it did not work on OSX. It would be great to have the Fanatec Wheels work in OSX with FFB. But I still love my Logitech wheels.
 
JaguarGod said:
It would be great to have the Fanatec Wheels work in OSX with FFB.
Click to expand...

I am having a look into this as a potential feature with our next racing game, don't know if it is possible but I have asked Fantec for some USB comm information to see if we can get the FFB working.

Right now it's not looking easy but it *might* come in the future.

Edwin
 
edddeduck said:
I am having a look into this as a potential feature with our next racing game, don't know if it is possible but I have asked Fantec for some USB comm information to see if we can get the FFB working.

Right now it's not looking easy but it *might* come in the future.

Edwin
Click to expand...

Edwin, have you tried the PS3 mode I stated above with any of your games? I am in the process of trying to get a CSR wheel to test in this mode for ASD.

Also, I received an email from Fanatec about this mode maybe working on Mac. But again, I have not personally tried it.
 
Last edited:
imacken said:
But, there are no Logitech drivers for OS X! (Hacking old FF ones aside, of course.)
Click to expand...

Well as Logitech have completely pulled out of the wheel and pad market it's unlikely they will have any in the future either.

I have not tested the wheel as we have not sourced a model yet as they are pretty pricey :)

Edwin
 
imacken said:
But, there are no Logitech drivers for OS X! (Hacking old FF ones aside, of course.)
Click to expand...

Let me rephrase my comment...

The wheel is recognized as a G25 which uses a Logitech FFB framework. It may be possible that OSX would use the re-installed (hacked) Logitech FFB kext once it is seen as a G25.
 
imacken said:
Are there any wheels at all that have OS X drivers?
Click to expand...

No wheels I know of have Mac drivers, but almost all standard wheels work in OS X without needing drivers. The only feature that wheels are normally missing on the Mac is FFB.

Edwin
 
No wheel drivers at all for the Mac? That's a very sad fact.
The other sad fact is that FF is totally essential for any 'serious' racer, and with no official support for that anywhere on the Mac, it's a poor state of affairs. However, we've discussed this ad nauseum in the past.
 
Edwin is correct. There are no FFB wheels officially supported for Mac with drivers written specifically for OSX. Every USB wheel I have tried on the Mac over the years has worked in OSX to a large degree. Not all of the options work on all of the wheels, but for the most part they do. There are so many great wheels out there. The new rims from Thrustmaster (especially the F1 and 458 for the T500) and Fanatec (BMW and F1 style for the Clubsport Base) are simply fantastic to use. But the fact that they are not fully functional (FFB is so important) on the Mac is a big disappointment.

Since FFB became available, racing on a computer for me has never been the same. It really makes that much of a difference. To feel the loss of grip in the wheel and the instability of the tires beneath you makes a world of difference when racing against the clock or in an actual race. If you have used FFB for a long time and go without it at some point, it dulls the experience to a degree that is immeasurable.
 
JaguarGod said:
Since FFB became available, racing on a computer for me has never been the same. It really makes that much of a difference. To feel the loss of grip in the wheel and the instability of the tires beneath you makes a world of difference when racing against the clock or in an actual race. If you have used FFB for a long time and go without it at some point, it dulls the experience to a degree that is immeasurable.
Click to expand...
Precisely. That's why I said that no FF on OS X is very sad.
In fact, if it wasn't for the fact that we can hack the old Logitech FF drivers, it's almost a reason for sticking with Windows games, either in Bootcamp or Parallels.
 
imacken said:
Precisely. That's why I said that no FF on OS X is very sad.
In fact, if it wasn't for the fact that we can hack the old Logitech FF drivers, it's almost a reason for sticking with Windows games, either in Bootcamp or Parallels.
Click to expand...

You are right. I would either be playing a lot more GT5 or a lot more PC sims right now. I am very thankful for the G27 and the kext. It makes all the difference. I probably would not have developed ASD either.
 
Is the G27 the only (logitech) wheel that is possible to hack to get FFB in OSX?

Is this so called kext hack difficult to perform? Is this a hack of the os or the individual games? Don't have experience with this sort of modifications/hacks.

My wish is that i can play in OSX and don't have to buy the games again for windows aswell as a copy of windows os. If i could get main features to work i would be satisfied. Like steering, gearing, gas, break and FFB. Don't believe i need all those buttons i see some of the wheels have!?
 
MacFro said:
Is the G27 the only (logitech) wheel that is possible to hack to get FFB in OSX?

Is this so called kext hack difficult to perform? Is this a hack of the os or the individual games? Don't have experience with this sort of modifications/hacks.

My wish is that i can play in OSX and don't have to buy the games again for windows aswell as a copy of windows os. If i could get main features to work i would be satisfied. Like steering, gearing, gas, break and FFB. Don't believe i need all those buttons i see some of the wheels have!?
Click to expand...

Getting the hack to work is pretty easy as long as you follow the instructions. Here is a handy guide on how to do it yourself from Siniscope (makers of Autosport driving).

Once it's installed all games with FFB support will use the wheels FFB in game. All Feral games support FFB if you have the plugin installed.

Edwin
 
Sounds good. Would it work with the cheaper Logitech Driving Force GT aswell?
 
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