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Archived from The Control Center, 1999. Hardware, prices and links are historical.

InterAct V3 Racing Wheel

Originally published on joy-stick.net, 20 October 19993/5 sticks

Force-Feedback Joystick

Manufactured By: InterAct

Retail Price: $39-49

Review Date:10-20-99

Trying to please everybody usually results in pleasing nobody. The V3 wheel tries to please the masses by offering a wheel that can be used in a variety of ways. The wheel can be placed on the desktop in the traditional method or be placed on your chair, under your legs. The later saves desktop space and give you a solid, secure hold.

The wheel also offers tilt adjustment and the wheel telescopes out from the base so that you can alter its height. The InterAct V3 is the first wheel to consider these ergonomic factors (also integrated in the V4 Force-Feedback Wheel from InterAct).

Features 95%-

  • 8 buttons
  • 8 way hat switch
  • Tilt and height adjustment
  • Button re-assignment
  • Adjustable wheel sensitivity
  • Auto-fire

Appropriate For-

  • Racing Games (Need For Speed, Powerslide, Midtown Madness, etc.)

System Requirements-

DOS, Windows, gameport.

Price -

For about $40 you get a wheel with a decent level of features plus a few that you just won't find with any other wheel. However, the tilt of the wheel is quite uncomfortable. You may consider saving your money a bit longer in order to afford another wheel without the problems of the V3.

Warranty-

1 year limited.

Performance 72%-

Performance is a mixed bag. The V3 wheel has many features that help with its performance; others hinder its performance. The wheel functions fine. However, function does not translate into fitness. The pedals are on a small, light base. During heavy pumping sessions they moved around quite a bit. There is also little resistance to them and more spring tension would have been better for accurate control.

The Wheel itself also has features that make it great and lackluster. The ability to set it on the desk or under your legs makes both less than comfortable. Set on the desktop the wheel sits to high and has only suction cups to hold it down. The suction cups just don't hold it in place too well and the angle of the wheel is too flat. Placed under your legs the wheel become more stable but it still suffers from the angle problem. It feels as if you are driving a bus or big rig.

The other features are great. The ability to adjust the sensitivity of the wheel on the fly is wonderful- something I'd love to see offered in other wheels. Need For Speed tends to over-steer quite a bit and toning down the sensitivity help me stay on the road better. With a couple button presses I could then restore the sensitivity for other sims.

The button re-mapping feature allows you to re-assign the button order. This would be most useful in games that do not allow you to re-assign buttons within the game. I tried the feature, it works, but I just don't have a need for it with the games I run.

Overall, performance was not too bad. The wheel is functional its just not the most comfortable controller to use.

Setup 90% -

Although not plug and play the V3 Wheel sets up rather easy. There is no assembly required unless you count attaching the suction cups to the underside of the base. The wheel plugs into your gameport before you start your system. Once Windows is up insert the V3 disk and run the setup utility.

Access the game controller applet and select the InterAct V3 Racing Wheel and calibrate. Your ready for the green flag.

** Software 87%-

** The software provided with the V3 consists of drivers on a single floppy disk. Nothing elaborate, nothing complicated or out of the ordinary. Installation is a manual process well detailed in the manual.

Documentation 95% -

InterAct makes great product manuals. The V3 Wheel manual is no exception. The 30 page, 3 language manual covers all details of setup, use, button relocation and sensitivity adjustment. There are even brief descriptions detailing how to setup the wheel with a handful of sims.

The InterAct website doesn't offer any additional information on the wheel. The information provided is a basic feature summary with nice graphics. InterAct is slow to update the web page with new drivers but the manual and drivers shipped with the wheel are perfectly functional.

Overall Rating 82.2% -

The features of the V3 Wheel carry it to a higher score than it actually deserves. The wheel functions well but is uncomfortable to use.

The Control Center's recommendation is to look into other wheels that offer the features you really want. It will cost you more but you will appreciate the comfort and more accurate realism. The V3 wheel is only recommended for those on a tight budget, have limited desktop space and don't mind the unnatural wheel angle.

Pros-

  • Feature set larger than most wheels
  • Affordable

Cons-

  • Bad wheel angle
  • Poor desktop securing system

Similar to-

Review date as printed on the original page. Images from the original page are not reproduced.