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Archived from The Control Center, 2000. Hardware, prices and links are historical.

Saitek R100 Wheel

Originally published on joy-stick.net, 6 January 20004/5 sticks

R100 PC Racing Wheel

Manufactured By: Saitek

Retail Price: $49.95

Review Date:01-06-00

The R100 is a space saving, affordable racing wheel. The wheel doesn't have any of the frills of the more expensive wheels but that's the point of the R100- simplicity.

Features 80%-

  • Round, ergonomically-styled wheel
  • 2 fire buttons and 2 gear paddles
  • Pedals for gas and brake
  • Compact with a small desktop footprint
  • Easy-to-use clamping mechanism
  • Connects to any PC game port

Appropriate For-

  • Racing Games (Need For Speed, Powerslide, Midtown Madness, Re-Volt, Star Wars: Racer, etc.)

System Requirements-

15 pin Gameport

Price-

The just under $50 pricetag of the R100 makes it one of the lowest price wheels available.

Warranty-

1 year limited.

Performance 82%-

The R100 is a good performer. The wheel surface is plastic but the contour of the wheel is very comfortable and assists your grip on the wheel. The two large shift levers are well placed and easily accessed by your inside fingers. The two buttons located on the wheel face are placed a bit too far in on the wheel and can be hard to find sometimes. The simple clamping system is effective in keeping the wheel in place.

Surprisingly, the small pedal base stays exactly where you placed it. This is due in part to its rubber feet and ribbed bottom. The other factor in the pedal stability is the short throw on the pedals and the almost vertical movement of each pedal. Because of the short throw the accuracy of the pedals is not easily controlled. Also, the two pedals are read as a single axis so if you accidentally press both pedals at once your vehicle will sit idle; each pedal canceling out the other.

In actual use the R100 does pretty good. The only limitation it has is its few buttons. Because its an analog device it is limited in the number of buttons it can offer but more would have been nice for games like Carmageddon II, Need For Speed III and Star Wars: Racer. In these games the wheel and pedals performed fine but I was required to use the keyboard for a good number of the options in the games. Taking a hand off the wheel to find the repair key at 600mph in Star Wars: Racer can be detrimental to your Pod (unless you have Jedi reflexes).

In straight sims the wheel was not usually limited by the number of button. Very few buttons are typically needed. In pure racing sims the R100's shifters were used to shift up and down while the face buttons were used for hand-braking and another vital action (OK, the horn or view switching).

Setup 100% -

Setup of the R100 requires minimal assembly. The pedals connect to the wheel base via a phone style cable and plug. The wheel clamps to your desktop with a single turn-screw clamp. The clamp can handle desks with a lip up to 2" if necessary.

Once the pedals are connected and the wheel clamped to your desk its a matter of plugging the R100 into your gameport. Start your system and enter the Game Controller applet to setup and calibrate the wheel. No drivers are necessary- the wheel installs as a 2 axis 4 button controller. You can do the extra steps to create a custom setup naming the wheel appropriately but this is not necessary. Run the calibration and your ready for the green flag.

** Software NA-

**No software is provided or necessary.

Documentation 90%-

The brief multilingual manual is all that is necessary for the R100. Setup and use is described without making the process more than it is. The box gives you a rundown of all of its features and system requirements.

The Saitek website offers a huge amount of detail on their products. Not much is listed for the R100 but as I've already tried to convey- there is not much getting it up and running.

Overall Rating 84.8%-

The R100 PC Racing Wheel is a good entry level wheel. It doesn't require any special system specification, takes little space on your desktop and performs well. Although the wheel lacks any advanced features its simplicity may be just what you are looking for.

The Control Center recommends the R100 for anyone looking for a simple, effective wheel that won't drain your wallet or hog your desktop.

Pros-

  • Space saving design
  • Easy setup and storage

Cons-

  • Only 4 buttons

Similar to-

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