Atomic Accessories TVR Sports Wheel (Xbox 360)

I took a bit of a punt with this one, because as far as the internet stretches, I could not find any third party feedback regarding Atomic Accessories' TVR Sports Wheel and, knowing I'd be able to return the item, I decided to give it a shot, if only to have the opportunity to shed some light on this mysterious peripheral. To cut to the chase, it's as effective as a chocolate teapot.

Design

TVR build quality may well be of ill repute, but that is one facet of the license that Atomic Accessories would have done well to omit. Sadly no. Priced at £64.99, one can hardly expect this wheel to reach up to the standard of, say, Logitech's excellent G25, but nor would you expect the flimsiness present in the TVR accessory. Almost every plastic surface on the wheel, pedals and shifter flexes due to poor construction and cheap materials. There is no feeling of robustness in any part of this package; the wheel itself wobbles around the connecting shaft during use, which does nothing to inspire any confidence. Beneath the wheel unit, there are large suction cups to attach it to a desk or table; these do a reasonable job of holding the thing steady, but a clamp would have been much more effective. The pedals, too, stay put adequately enough, at least on a carpet. The major gripe here however, is with the shifter unit. Like the wheel, it attaches by method of suction cups, but owing to the angle at which the shifter sits and is operated, the front of the unit has a tendency to lift up when you pull back on the stick. Of course, this wasn't a problem for me, as my brand new shifter was half broken and only worked when down shifting, and gave no response when pulling back on the stick to shift up. All the standard controller buttons are mounted on the front of the wheel, and are a good size and easy enough to use, although the centrally positioned d-pad is awkward to get at and feels a little vague.

Performance

I tried out this wheel using Forza Motorsport 3, on which I have also tested the MadCatz MC2, the official Microsoft wheel, and the Logitech DriveFX. All performed well and offered precise control straight out of the box. Unsurprisingly, the TVR wheel bucks this trend with a big fat steering deadzone that no in-game tweaking can cure. The result is that you feel frustratingly disconnected from the action and spend a great deal of time either off track or ploughing nose first into walls and barriers, thus undermining the whole point of spending your hard earned on a supposedly more appropriate input device than a hand held controller. Lacking force feedback, the wheel serves up a whole lot of rumbling, and to be fair, does centre itself with enthusiasm and accuracy. The separate shifter unit is a neat idea, but even if it works, it doesn't work well, with no real feel to it. It's just a stick that goes forwards and backwards, and you'll soon find yourself ditching it for the buttons mounted on the rear of the wheel, which serve as paddles. The pedals work, but both the brake and accelerator are weighted identically, and in any case, there is such a small travel on them that they might as well be on/off buttons rather than progressive controllers - the hand held pad's left and right triggers offer far more adjustability. So if Atomic's claim of this product being 'the most comfortable, intuitive and responsive driving controller on the Xbox 360' hadn't been invalidated already, it has now.

Overall

The TVR Sports Wheel is not worth your time or your money. It is crudely put together out of materials bereft of quality; it looks tacky, feels tacky and counteracts any feeling of immersion you might be experiencing in your game. At £64.99, it is massively overpriced and inferior to most gaming wheels out there. The deadzone issue renders it pretty much unuseable, and don't accept the separate shifter as a selling point either, because it's a pain to use unless it's superglued to your desk. Avoid, and spend less money on a Logitech DriveFX instead.

I thought this product would be a good one, and I went out to buy one from Amazon just before F1 2010 came out! it lasted about 3 or 4 days before the breaking pedal on the break pad stopped working! (i was still able to push it down, as you do, but it wasn't registering me braking)

overall, looks good, but don't judge a book by it's cover. I haven't bought a a replacement for it yet, but if you are looking at this product I would suggest that you buy an official xbox wheel!

cheers!