Nothing matches the The raw rudeness of driving a sports car with a six-figure sticker price through a tight curve with white knuckles. But here’s the reality: unless you have massive funding and a good lawyer, it’s probably not a great idea.
That’s why the WSF invented video games and steering wheel controls. Playing Need for Speed: Shift with Logitech’s luxurious G27 steering wheel is as close to crushing a Bugatti Veyron as you can get without leaving the couch, and with Logitech, there’s much less risk of property damage or a death-by-law lawsuit. negligence.
Like the G25 before it, Logitech designed the G27 with precision in mind. The 11-inch wheel has 900 degrees of rotation, simulates tire grip using force feedback, and comes wrapped in butter-soft leather. When taking high-speed, G-force corners, we felt like we were behind the wheel of a sports car.
Logitech also made some sensible improvements over the G25. There are now six programmable buttons (three on the left, three on the right) located on the steering wheel itself, beefier shift paddles, and a nifty rpm gauge.
But unfortunately, not all additions are solid. The included pedals and shifter are less “home runs,” more “hit and run.” To be fair, these components have fantastic build quality. The accelerator, brake and clutch pedals not only look great, but also have a satisfyingly weighty feel when pressed.
But although they are adjustable, the pedals are too close together. More than once we lost time on a lap because we had been pressing both the accelerator and the brake. Logitech attempted to combat this by giving each of the pedals a slightly different shape, but this distinction only became apparent when driving barefoot.
And while everything on the shifter is functional, including an integrated D-pad and eight additional buttons, it feels more like an afterthought compared to the fancy paddle system. The stick shift definitely has its advantages (six speeds, helical gears and reverse pushed down), but more often than not, we’d opt to use the paddles, or a car with an automatic slush box.
Still, given the wealth of features, solid construction, and (mostly effective) attention to detail, the G27 is a reasonable choice for the Andretti chair.
