Form and Function

Feels Good in the Hands…

Ergonomically, my hands fit nicely around the wheel, with my fingers landing on the rear shifting buttons and my thumbs on two of the four buttons on the wheel face. For an added touch of style, the grips are half covered in leather (actually leatherette, but it feels real enough…). Beyond the four buttons upon which your fingers and thumbs rest, the remaining two buttons are easily thumb-accessible. Jumping down to these buttons mid-race is never a problem.

Coming out of the box, the Formula Force GP looks fairly snazzy with a modern black and red design. Unfortunately, its small size and plastic looking construction quickly detract from what would otherwise be a sexy product. In cutting costs on the Formula Force GP, Logitech made an unfortunate switch from the excellent Formula One-style gearshift paddles found on the original Formula Force to flat, plastic buttons. Not surprisingly, the new solution is not very realistic. Shifting isn't hard per se, but it is no longer as realistic or enjoyable.

Plug It In

One advantage of Logitech's new Formula Force GP is that it's USB ready, which makes installation and configuration a breeze. Plug and Play is hardly a misnomer here. Within minutes of attaching the wheel to my system, it was up a ready to race. Nonetheless, it would have been nice to see Logitech include a gameport adaptor for the wheel, as they did on the earlier Formula Force model. While most users have (or should have) USB ports, some still don't, and they don't deserve to be left out in the cold.

In evaluating any driving wheel, one of the foremost concerns is how well it attaches to the table, and furthermore, how well its pedals stay in place. The Logitech Formula Force GP attaches with built-in, jumbo-sized thumbscrews. While fairly effective, the screws aren't quite strong enough, and after some hard racing, the wheel begins to sneak across the desk, which is often an unexpected and regrettable event mid-race. In addition, the thumbscrews aren't the fastest solution in the world, as many a manufacturer has already demonstrated by use of a clamp system. While it's not a huge concern, a clamp system on the Formula Force GP would have made for a more efficient setup and takedown of the wheel.

Decent, if shifty, pedals

Compared to Logitech's earlier Formula Force driving wheel, the GP's pedal base is much improved. It's more compact, yet it manages to offer more realistic pedal movement, with appropriate resistance on both the brake and gas. Even though it is compact in size, which makes storage under the desk much easier, it still works well with my rather large, size-13 feet. Although I prefer driving barefoot, the pedals perform beautifully with or without shoes. Unfortunately, like most pedals on the market today, they do slowly slip forward during gameplay. This is one of the more frustrating problems with driving wheels, and the Formula Force GP is no exception. Attempting to pull the pedals back with a free foot mid-race is just not an enjoyable experience. Seeing that this problem can be easily fixed by use of a small piece of Velcro (for gamers whose computers are in carpeted areas), it is disappointing to see that Logitech missed the boat.