Suncom GForce Plus Yoke
Requirements: Gameport

This is a hardware review of Suncom GForce Plus yoke.

This hardware review is for those of you who'd like to know about other controllers...maybe some even in your budget. I've ran a GForce for the past 3 years, and have been totally happy with it. It's been excellent, and never gave me a bit of trouble.

Why a yoke? Well, that's a good question, and I've got plenty of answers. I DO use them with a set of T1 pedals, so there is one other thing to consider. And I would recommend getting pedals with the yoke, perhaps if we all yell loud enough, Suncom will do those as well!

One of the main original considerations was price. The original Suncom yoke that I bought was $50, that's a far cry from the over $100 or so that the Thrustmaster was going for at the time. And did I sacrifice quality? Well, judge this for yourself. Three years, probably well over 300 hours of racing...and not one breakage. Not one hiccup. Anyone wanna bet me that they can do that with some of the others? Not likely...I had to replace pots/springs on the pedals!

The second consideration was space. I use a desktop, and there's not much room between my monitor and the edge of the desk. However, you just clamp the GForce to the edge of the desk (needs a maximum of about 2 inches) and away you go. Plus, I've had to travel a few times to race, packing up the Suncom was no problem whatsoever. The T1/T2 wheel takes up about twice the space.

It's adjustable, so you can twiddle the levers to get it where you want it. At a really sharp track like Bristol, you can dial your car in, then move the levers just *slightly*...and hey presto...left bias! Or if you see the car seems to veer a bit, you can adjust in the race. Not necessarily recommended unless you've practiced a few times, but it gives you an advantage over Thrustmaster racers.

As well, it doubles for a real yoke if you are a flight enthusiast. There are locks to make sure that it doesn't move for racing, but when you whip out that F22, just release the locks, and go pop a few Migs over Iraq.

My original GForce had only 2 button settings (4 buttons, but tied to the same circuit "trigger" and "thumb" on both ends of the yoke), but the new GForce plus has 4 button settings. I now have gearchange up/down, and on the other stalk I have reverse for NASCAR II, and gear up/down, camera, and incar camera for TOCA. Works great!

It is quite compatible with all pedals, just be aware you may need the Win95 adapter (available a decent computer stores and Thrustmaster) to run older pedals with Win95 games (such as F1RS, TOCA, CART Precision Racing).

All in all, a definite excellent product by Suncom. The quality is second-to-none, the price is superb, and the small size make it a great addition to any racer's cockpit!

F1 Racing Simulation by Ubisoft
Requirements: P120, 24 Meg RAM, 2 Meg 3d video card, 2 meg soundcard

This is the review of the full version, the earlier review was of the demo. I mentioned in my previous writeup that I was very interested in trying the full version, believe me, I wasn't disappointed. The full version gives that much and more to the world of sim racing.

Setup - was very easy as was the demo...I did the CD install, and everything ran smoothly. Recognized my Stealth II video card (that's another story that I don't want to get into...after all the praise I gave it initially, I'm ready to throw it out the window now), and Soundblaster AWE64.

Interface - The interface I found a bit confusing, as some of the menu options seemed rather illogically placed...you go one place to adjust "options", but then there is another menu where you can adjust what I'd call options. As well, when you select a track, you get a little picture of the country you're going to, and things like the population, ect. Who cares? Not to sound like a foreign snob, but a race driver doesn't go to another country wondering what the square miles are...why not give some neat info on the specific track (most wins, fastest race, first race, ect). You know...something a race driver might be interested in! The garage was a bit confusing as well, but not too bad. Nice thing is you can adjust almost everything on the car...thank you to the companies who are realizing that if they are going to put out a "simulator", let us hard-core racers tinker! Yet for the "amateur" racers who just want to jump in a car and drive off into the sunset (or wall, whichever comes first), this can be easily accomplished as well.

Ok, so let's get to the point, however, we didn't come here to look at menus. The RACE! This is where F1RS outshines any simulator that we've tested, this year or last year. The racing is superb, excellent, second to none. AI is very good, and the tracks are very realistically modeled. You can get on the gas coming out of a chiqane, and get it squirrely if you're not careful. The rumble strips are great fun, and passing cars at over 220 k/hr is a great feeling. You can really get into this, and before you know it, you've been racing for hours. Following right on the tail of another car through the chiquanes, then attempting to cut the corner enough to take the inside as you leave down the straight is just really....excellent! As well, the foggy/rainy weather is really neat...seems very realistic. You start squinting, trying to peer throught the fog...

The graphics are superb, and framerate seemed very stable no matter how many cars were in front of me or behind. The car handling seemed to be very good. Got my controller fixed!!!! And now with the pedals/wheel, it's even more enjoyable. The twichy steering I felt with the joystick and demo disappeared with the full version and the wheel, don't know which one had the most effect. You CAN adjust the feel of the wheel, which I found necessary...I set it almost all the way down. With the default settings, a twitch of the wheel sent me out mowing the gras.... Gone as well was the tendency of the car to go all the way around rather than allow you to save it. It's still slightly more towards the "unsaveable" side, I think, but never having driven an F1 car, I'll not argue. Besides, with the new grooved tires this year, the cars ARE a bit more "unsaveable".

One of the COOLEST things I've seen with this demo (or any other, for that matter), was the driving tutor...this is just too neat. In front of you appears a holographic car, that drives down the track in front of yours. It follows the optimum line, at a speed slightly higher than yours, so you can keep behind him and follow him throught the corners. However, as you improve, you'll gain ground on the holo-car, and can even pass it when you start getting pretty decent...which is perfect, because by that time, you won't want the distraction of the holo-car in front of you, you'll want to be driving the corners yourself. Absolutely one of the smartest ideas I've seen on sims in awhile.

Sound again I'll complain about...with the quality of the rest of the sim, the sound really, really sucks. It sounds canned and computerized, and really detracts from the overall experience. But other than this, and the menu annoyances, these are the ONLY complaints I had with F1RS.