Act-Labs Force RS Review

First off, let me say that this article/review spawned off my February 18th, 2003 news arcticle. I'll quote that now...

Don't Buy Act-Labs Products
i was a proud owner of a brand new Act-Labs Force RS Steering wheel, complete with RS Shifter and Performance Petals... but not anymore. I still own them, but I'm far from proud to say I do. Only days after owning the steering wheel it starts making this anoying squeak that requires voiding the warrenty to fix (which only lasts for a few months then it's back). Also, the RS Shifter works only on a few games, dispite Act-Labs saying it can work with over 50+ games. It has NFS:HS2 support? My ass. It doesn't work. The Performance petals have a design flaw which causes the springs to the petals to break often. Act-Labs isn't going to cross me on this one, b/c everyone is saying the same thing I am and they just send us tons of springs to shut up. Upon fixing my springs for the 2nd time, their cheap wiring that only stays on by a prayer came off. I'm telling you, i'm ready to just give this away to charity and buy me a Microsoft Force Feedback wheel again. At least it never gave me any problems... Oh, did I mention that the Microsoft wheel costs only ~$130 while Act-Labs wheel is $270? It's obvious now I was scammed.

While I still believe that down to the fine print, I think it's not enough to just bash something. You have to give it many good points, then completely bash it so people know they are getting screwed. So lets begin....

Good points: After dishing out your life savings, you can get a Force Feedback Steering Wheel, Stock Petals, Shifter that allows up to 7 gears plus reverse, and some petals that often break and have a clutch petal (which is analog).

Bad points: Costs too much, tech support is gay and worthless, Performance Petals always break springs (Tech support will send you a helluva lot of them the first time you ask them about it so that you won't talk to them again for a while), steering wheel has a faulty design that makes it squeak after only a few hours of use (however, the squeak will last until you void your warranty, then it's every 3-6 months), and the entire setup is hard to work in games (some games support it, many require you download the Shifter Program AKA the game hack so that it emulates support).

There, I hope you know what to do now. I recommend the Micro$oft Force Feedback wheel for the casual gamers (think Midtown Madness, 4x4 Evolution, etc.) and steering wheels from Logitech for the more advanced (Grand Prix Legends, Racer, any F1 game, etc.).