I've recently got hold of a G25 and have played a good few hours on GT5P with it, and also LFS on the PC...
Now, my previous wheel for the past while has been a Driving Force Pro, which i hold in high esteem, so moving up to the G25 i had very high hopes...
My opinion is this: the wheel is excellent, it really is and there's no denying that. Having said that i think everyone who posts about their G25 and how it compares to other wheels is exaggerating on a few points:
• the force feedback, yes it is better, but the real life difference is only marginal.
• the build quality, same again, it is better as expected, but the DFP is really well built as well albeit with cheaper materials.
the G25 really comes into its own obviously if you want to use the H-gate transmission and the clutch (mainly cuz the other wheels just dont have the bits to do this) and yes its good, but you'll get better lap times with the sequential. For me the traditional manual is a bit of a novelty and not summat i'll stick with in the long term i feel...
the point of me writing this mini-comparison is for people who are making the decision whether or not to spend the extra wad of cash on the G25 over the likes of the DFP. The conclusion is if you are dead set on using the h-gate and clutch, then its the way to go, but if you are looking for a good solid wheel to increase the realism and enjoyment of racing games (over a standard pad), then in my opinion the FF and build quality gaps are just not big enough to justify the big price difference...
a couple more things to bear in mind...
• the G25 is not quite as simple to set up.
• the G25 navigation is not as intuitive, you know where you stand with the playstation layout of the DFP but with the G25 (in GT5 at least), you're not quite sure where all the mappings are and it is not properly supported in the game to set it up how you want.
with all that said, i'm not trying to put people off, the G25 is the dogs danglies and i wont be getting rid of mine now i have it, i'm just giving an honest opinion and trying to save the casual gamer a few pennies...
if i had to rate the different control systems out of 10 it would be like this:
kb/mouse: 3
controller: 5
DFP: 8
G25: 9
so to go from a controller from a wheel imo is definitely worth it, but wether to go for a G25 or not is a different matter
Now, my previous wheel for the past while has been a Driving Force Pro, which i hold in high esteem, so moving up to the G25 i had very high hopes...
My opinion is this: the wheel is excellent, it really is and there's no denying that. Having said that i think everyone who posts about their G25 and how it compares to other wheels is exaggerating on a few points:
• the force feedback, yes it is better, but the real life difference is only marginal.
• the build quality, same again, it is better as expected, but the DFP is really well built as well albeit with cheaper materials.
the G25 really comes into its own obviously if you want to use the H-gate transmission and the clutch (mainly cuz the other wheels just dont have the bits to do this) and yes its good, but you'll get better lap times with the sequential. For me the traditional manual is a bit of a novelty and not summat i'll stick with in the long term i feel...
the point of me writing this mini-comparison is for people who are making the decision whether or not to spend the extra wad of cash on the G25 over the likes of the DFP. The conclusion is if you are dead set on using the h-gate and clutch, then its the way to go, but if you are looking for a good solid wheel to increase the realism and enjoyment of racing games (over a standard pad), then in my opinion the FF and build quality gaps are just not big enough to justify the big price difference...
a couple more things to bear in mind...
• the G25 is not quite as simple to set up.
• the G25 navigation is not as intuitive, you know where you stand with the playstation layout of the DFP but with the G25 (in GT5 at least), you're not quite sure where all the mappings are and it is not properly supported in the game to set it up how you want.
with all that said, i'm not trying to put people off, the G25 is the dogs danglies and i wont be getting rid of mine now i have it, i'm just giving an honest opinion and trying to save the casual gamer a few pennies...
if i had to rate the different control systems out of 10 it would be like this:
kb/mouse: 3
controller: 5
DFP: 8
G25: 9
so to go from a controller from a wheel imo is definitely worth it, but wether to go for a G25 or not is a different matter
