AVBTech releases racing wheel system by the way of USB and Force Feedback named the Top Shot USB Force Feedback Racing Wheel. With its futuristic looks, it seems as though that wheel belongs to the 21st Century. Besides its looks, how does the wheel's performance compare to wheels of this genre? Read the review and find out.

The AVBTech USB FF Racing Wheel's appearance differs from the norm of traditional racing wheel systems out there in the market and I might add that the product is very innovative and ergonomically efficient. Now let's take a journey of the construction of the AVBTech USB FF Racing Wheel.

With the typical wheel racing system, you would expect to see a fully enclosed steering wheel, just like the steering wheel in your car. But with the AVBTech's steering wheel it resembles a flight yoke. Is this a good or bad thing to have? I think not. You see at the at the top of the steering wheel on each side, you have a button, which can be used for shifting chores. The buttons are ergonomically designed just for those purposes. I really like that about that steering wheel. Having no enclosed circle on the steering wheel forces you to keep your hands at the 10 and 2 o'clock positions, thus giving you the proper etiquette when driving in real life. The steering wheel contain some lights for you to pay attention to, they come in red and green. These light indicate if the force feedback is on or off. These light are positioned at the 6 o'clock portion of the wheel. I do like the concept to know whether or not if the force feedback is being implemented or not. Great job AVBTech!

Now on the face of the steering wheel, you have four buttons symmetrically laid out left and right, thus having two buttons on each side of the wheel equidistant from the outer portions of the steering wheel itself. All buttons on the face are in easy reach, so you will have no problems when the occasion arises to depress them. In the center of the wheel, you have a POV (Point of View), for which I still find no reason to have it since there aren't games that I can see use it. If you do know of one, please email me. You know maybe some flight sims, could use it?

As we move past the steering wheel, you have reached the base of the unit. This unit is ball-shaped and it looks like a big ball clamped to my desk. The unit houses a non-slip transmission motor to handle the force feedback chores. The base isn't so heavy that it would break a slide-out drawer, but there is some weight to the unit. Under the base, you have two suction cups. These must be the strongest suctions cups on the earth, as when I attempted to pull the unit off the drawer, it refused to let go. You had to more put muscle into the action than you would think. I wish all game controller manufacturers would have the same type of quality that AVBTech has in this area. Now on the right, you have a shift lever that moves forward and backwards. Sorry no H-Pattern shifter yet. But the overall feel of the shifter is taunt and not loose. This is a good thing, I hate a flimsy shifter when in use. But I didn't use the shifter as a gearshift, since the ergonomic design of the buttons on the wheel. The only chore the shifter had was for a reverse gear in some racing games. Now we take our journey to the other side of the wheel, you know the left side. Here what we'll find is a switch, yes a switch. I was very pleased to find this switch because it's purpose to power on or off the unit.

As walk to the center rear of the base unit, you will find the connection area. These area houses connections for the power supply, pedals and USB connection to the computer. The connection to the pedal unit is via RJ-11 telephone cable, this is new to me and I liked the concept. Would ever have thought to use a telephone cable for your connections? I would've have. That was very innovative.

The last part of journey on the steering unit was at the bottom front of the unit. There are two holes in which you put C-Clamps provided into each hole. Clamping the system is done by a way of something resembling a wing nut. The clamping system was different from what I have seen from the market. Nice touch.

Now to the pedal unit, which I feel is the weak link of the system. The pedal unit houses two pedals, an accelerator and a brake pedal. The problem with the pedal assembly it is not wide enough and can move about on the floor. Now this was experienced on hardwood floors. The tension of the pedals were average, I was hoping for some adjustability in the pedal tension department.

Congratulations! You just completed a journey of the AVBTech USB Force Feedback Racing Wheel. Now you are probably about the features of the wheel system, so what here's what it offers:

• 220� steering wheel movement for high precision control
  
• Strong 3lbs of force input
  
• Smooth non-slip belt driver transmission (no clunky gears)
  
• High fidelity 300HZ dynamic frequency range
  
• Low friction drive
  
• Ergonomic styling with rugged construction
  
• 10-bit resolution positions
  
• 8 user programmable buttons
  
• 8 directional digital switch
  
• Integrated shift lever
  
• No noisy internal fan
  
• Durable foot pedals
  
• For the electronic side of things:
  
• Fast 38.4Kbaud digital communication
  
• 24MHz 16-bit Force Feedback Processing Engine
  
• 1K of onboard RAM
  
• Can play up to 10 simultaneous force sensations
  
• Single cable connection to computer (USB or Serial)
  
• 100% DirectX 5 compatible
  
• Utilizes I-FORCE 2.0 force feedback technology
  
• I-FORCE 2.0 dynamic sensations capable