MadCatz Xbox 360 MC2 Racing Wheel

Move beyond those two games, though, and the wheel's performance became a little shakier. Burnout Revenge had loose steering--god help us if the game actually included shifting--while Need for Speed: Most Wanted didn't include a control scheme that let us use both the stick shift and the pedals. Full Auto refused to work with the wheel at all, as the game wouldn't accept start button presses and progress past the title screen.

Aside from the sketchy game compatibility issues, we were a little disappointed that the force feedback in the wheel wasn't a little stronger--the vibration lacked any sort of real rumble that you associate with arcade steering wheels. True, some of the blame for control woes can be attributed to the game developers, but we've used plenty of wheels that allow you to dynamically map button functions to the wheel's buttons. This one doesn't, so it falls to the developer's whims to determine compatibility.

Ultimately, the Xbox 360 MC2 Racing Wheel hasn't made the same jump in quality that the system's games and controllers have, which makes it feels like a rehashed version of the previous generation's steering wheels. Although Microsoft's upcoming wireless steering wheel will probably be significantly more expensive, if it can perform at the same level that the system's controller does, it may be well worth the wait--and the price.