I think my wheel is broken.

After two years of service, it seems as though my Logitech Driving Force Pro has crapped the bed. I'm going to keep trying to get it working, but the outlook doesn't look good.

What's the warranty on that thing?

My WingMan Force 3D still works after like a decade.

I think its a year or something like that. In any case, it certainly wouldn't be under warranty at this point, and Logitech doesn't do repairs on any of their wheels (they just do replacements, even when under warranty). I dunno. If I can't get it running, I guess I'll look for a G27 or something. The timing could have been better, though.

Looking around, it seems someone "helpfully" plugged the wheel in for me when I was away from it at the college LAN yesterday. And instead of the Logitech adapter, they plugged in a Sega CD PSU which was sitting next to the at-the-time unplugged wheel, which is the same volts (roughly) and plug but twice the amperage. So it blew something up inside of it, and I'm out a wheel.

Usually the DC innards of the component won't take more amperage than required. It is like a computer power supply that CAN provide a large number of amps on the 12 volt line, doesn't mean that the components draw that power when not needed. The supply is always providing it, though.

The voltage does matter, though.

The Sega CD PSU outputs less volts, though. Don't electrical components have voltage regulators anyways? I know Gennys have 9 volt power supplies but 5 volt regulators, for example.

Usually, yes. Undervolting a component is just as bad, though. That might be what screwed it up.

Why is that, anyways? I know it can cause undesired operation, but I never understood how it could cause damage.


In any case, I now have a large paperweight that plugs into a set of pedals. I dunno what I'm gonna do with it. It seems a shame to just throw it out, and it doesn't look like I'll be able to replace it in the near future either.

Why, what's this?


Hmm... Of course, considering my luck, it is not surprise that it arrived broken (the spring in the brake pedal is very broken), but I'll just send it back and get a new one.

Luck is a bitch, isn't she?

I got it back yesterday. They did send me a new pedal box (serial number was different), but the spring was still broken. So I said screw it, tore it apart and fixed it myself, like I probably should have done in the first place. I also did some fiddling with the spring to increase the resistance on the brake pedal. So now it is better than knew!

So Tornado, what racing games do you play man?

On the PC? Older titles. Earlier Need for Speeds (and Most Wanted), Sports Car GT and some other, more obscure titles (like Rally Trophy). I played rFactor (and Live For Speed) for a year or so, but I never liked it as much as SCGT, so I went back to the older game. I've also spent a lot of time with Model 2 Emulator since it added FFB support, so I can get my Daytona on in a controlled, home environment.

On consoles? Basically everything I can get my hands on. Everything from Ridge Racer to OutRun to Need For Speed to Tokyo Extreme Racer to Gran Turismo.