If you would like a barely totally different option to play racing video games, there’s actually just one possibility: purchase a steering wheel. You may select how deep you go down that rabbit gap, clearly – if that’s balancing one in your lap, strapping it to your desk, or shopping for some big divorce-prompting racing rig. However for racing video games, your choices are analog sticks, d-pads, or steering wheels. Or, y’know, they had been.
A few months in the past, I reviewed the Thrustmaster eSwap X Professional, a singular modular controller that principally permits you to swap out ‘modules’ the place the D-Pad and Analog Sticks sit. It’s additionally bought a bunch of the usual ‘professional controller’ options, some neat audio-based options, and a few beauty choices.
The purpose is, it’s all modular, swappable, and customizable. It’s an honest controller, and if you wish to know extra about it, I recommend you learn my eSwap X Professional evaluation. Every part mentioned there nonetheless stands – however now, that modular setup is fulfilling its true promise.
Enter the eSwap XR Pro. It’s known as the eSwap Professional ‘cos it’s nonetheless a kind of. The X stands for Xbox – and the R stands for… racing. Women and gents, that is your new steering wheel different. And it’s delightfully bizarre.
This is identical controller that I beforehand reviewed with a few tweaks and bonuses and at a barely increased value. For that further dosh you get a neat white and neon pink shade scheme impressed by the palette of Forza Horizon 5, and one main further – a single extra module within the kind of what’s principally a mini racing wheel.
It’s what it says. It’s a tiny steering wheel that you may mount into any of the analog stick or d-pad slots on the eSwap. Clearly it’s tiny (so you’ll be able to’t grip it with each arms) however the thought is that it provides you a better facsimile of an actual driving expertise… within the palm of your hand.
Does it work? Nicely, sure, however the studying curve is bloody steep. The racing module has a 95-degree rotation angle, and when launched will at all times return to a impartial, central place.
In actuality, it’s loads like having an analog stick – however with out the flexibility to roll up or down, supplying you with a pleasant, linear left-to-right rotation development. I discovered two methods to successfully use it.
One was to only prop it beneath the strain of your thumb and twist it. At first this was vastly weird-feeling, however with perseverance it begins to work; and it does really feel higher and extra pure than utilizing the analog stick. My recommendation for getting used to that is to drop the sport into the cockpit view. You may then affiliate the motion of the in-car steering wheel in-game with the motion of your thumb and the racing wheel module beneath it, as the 2 will match up kind of one-to-one. Fairly shortly I used to be drifting, paint-checking, and profitable races with out spinning out.
The opposite possibility requires a little bit of controller remapping, but it surely’s a bit of extra instantly accessible – and that’s to grip the tiny wheel along with your index finger and thumb and switch it like a racing wheel. This takes your finger off the brake, however you’ll be able to re-map that to a face button and it really works simply advantageous.
The final word finish purpose needs to be to get snug with that first setup, although. Like I say, whereas bizarre, after a few hours it’d grow to be second nature – and was undoubtedly preferable to taking part in with a stick. I also can see some fascinating makes use of for this enter for non-racing video games with left-right enter, too… like, I guess you could possibly play a imply recreation of Puyo Puyo or Tetris with this factor.
In order that’s it. This add-on appears to be like bizarre, but it surely does work. And felt a bit of like a stroke of genius as soon as it clicked for me. It’s an awesome feather within the cap of an honest controller – and holds promise for what different bizarre modules Thrustmaster may be capable to give you.
You may choose up the restricted version Forza controller full with the module, or seize the racing module by itself, do you have to already personal an eSwap pad.
So, perhaps you don’t want that steering wheel in any case. Possibly you don’t play sufficient racers. However with this, you could possibly have a specialist racing management possibility able to go… all it is advisable do is swap modules. It fulfills the promise of this curious controller – and I hope it’s the primary of many.
