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Blackhole Motorsports takes a look at Thomas Enterprises' top of the line racing system the Formula 99. Price at $1050, this fully loaded racing system is not for the casual or average auto racing simulation enthusiasts. It's more geared to the serious racer that wants the best product that Thomas Enterprises can provide. Is it worth the price tag? Read on and you will find out. As most diehard auto racing simulation enthusiasts have known, Thomas Enterprises has been known to develop one of the best wheels that are available in the PC market today. The company has grown into the mainstream, as their products has been available through several big retailing chains. They are known as TSW (Thomas Super Wheel). What is amazing about Thomas Enterprises, is that I have seen the company grow from the beginning in the early 1990s, so I can attest the evolution of their products and their growth. Several years ago, I was in the process of looking for a replacement for my Thrustmaster wheel. One of my fellow racers just happened to have two TSW systems. He loaned me one of them to give it a test drive for a couple weeks. It didn't give me the type of feel that I was looking for in a competitive racing system. So, of course, I returned the system back to him. It's now 1999 and I get an opportunity to evaluate a current TSW model thanks to the nice gents at Thomas Enterprises. Being a reviewer does have it perks! I opted to review two of their models, choosing from the pricing extremities from their base model, the TSW 2, to their flagship, the Formula 99. The latter is what this review is based on. CONTENTS Thomas Enterprises shipped the Formula 99 in a medium-sized box. To prevent movement or damage to the highly priced product, they used paper and I mean they used lots of it! The paper did a good job in protecting racing system, yet, I think the cold weather had something to do with the rubber pads which fell off the base of the units when they were being shipped here. No need to worry, you "glue" them back on! -Thomas, where's my labor fee? Unpacking the contents, you get the two main assemblies for your racing endeavors; the wheel and pedal units. And let's not forget the clamp and the ever-important explicit operation manual that gives all the information about the racing system. FEATURES
As you can see the Formula 99 is packed with a lot of influence from Formula 1 racing and you see how serious it is. Its basic agenda are for dedicated sim racers that race on road course, hence the paddle shifters, to give the quick reach for that shift. It offers sim racers the look and feel of real racing equipment, as some of the components on the racing system are actually used in real life racing. Also, it is designed, like all the TSWs, to have durability unlike other inferior racing systems that can fail at those unpredictable times. CONSTRUCTION Let's see why this model is priced the way it is. From my experience the higher the price, the more adjustability and options available to the product. I was a bit discouraged by the exterior appearance of the Formula 99. Beside the MOMO wheel, in which you have the option of four different styles to chose from, I didn't like the textured covering that was wrapped around both the wheel and pedal assemblies. I will let you know why later. What they should've done was at least use some ABS plastic, it's thicker and more rigid. Yet, if you add a better material the price does go up, but heck, if you are going to pay this much for it so why even worry about it? Both assemblies seem to contain MDF particle board as their base. The particle board is not you ordinary particle wood as the MDF is dense and used by the audio speakers manufacturers to make those BOOM-BOOM speaker boxes. (Note: MDF.. Medium Density Fiberboard.. of course it wouldn't be ordinary particle board, otherwise known as "oxboard". ; P) I should know, I have seen my brother-in-law makes many a day. I was a bit shocked to see wood though. You need not to worry about a potentiometer failure as TSW has tested a lot of them. The units being used in all their products are military grade units. They are the good stuff and not the cheap stuff you see available elsewhere. I do love the innovation of the simplicity when replacing the potentiometers, as they plug in and out for easy replacement. With the TSW's easy potentiometer changing design can make an afternoon's job on another controller take only a matter of minutes. Great job, guys! The wheel unit: Besides the authentic MOMO racing wheel and weighing in a 15lbs, you get an adjustable tear dropped shaped inline shifter on the right, which I don't understand. I guess it's for the sim racer that opts to use a shifter for those NASCAR races. Behind the suede wheel, there are two adjustable big paddles located on the right and left, that are gun-drilled to give that racing look and constructed are out of heavy gauge steel. From the appearance, they look very thin and you would worry about bending them under heavy usage. This is actually not the case here. You'll like it. In the front of the unit, there is a hole in which the clamp slides into to mount onto your desk for those long racing excursions. On the right of the assembly, there lies a switch and two connections for connecting the pedal assembly. On the MOMO wheel, you get two buttons. I feel it would've better if they added two more buttons, making the total buttons as six, for those racing games that have a lot of options. The wheel has a radius of 270� lock to lock. The wheel's was a stiff but not to stiff that it would take an over exerted effort to make it turn, it's more on par with today's power steering systems in today's automobiles. The pedal unit: I was surprised to feel the weight of the pedal unit, it weighs 10lbs, so it's certainly not going to move! You have a gas, brake and a clutch pedal. You have the option of using the clutch pedal. Pedal construction consists of MOMO pedal grills with rubber protruding through the grills for that authentic racing touch. The rubber provides added grip, so your feet don't slip off. I do like the appearance of the pedals; this was the first time a pedal set looked like it belonged in a racecar. There are two cables that come out of the rear of the assembly to connect to wheel assembly. With it's plastic covering, I took a point off on the grounds of appearance and feel. But it is ingenious in other ways of construction. INSTALLATION After reading the black and white manual, I moved my current pedals aside and placed the Formula 99 unit in place of it. Then I moved my keyboard and placed the wheel unit where it was situated. It was now the time to clamp this puppy, I looked for the L-shaped piece with a wingnut on it. I was a bit of a skeptic on how this clamping system was going to actually keep this unit from moving, I mean it looked primitive. Look how it did. I slid this piece in the front hoop of the wheel unit and tightened it up. Believe it or not it, the wheel unit did not move! Wow! It worked! The next step involved hooking up the pedals; two cables did this. But after reading the manual, it mentioned something about not connecting the clutch pedal to wheel unit and it could cause some calibration problems for games that don't recognize it. So for the first go around with the wheel, I didn't do it. Then I took the gameport cable from the wheel unit and connected to the gameport. As per the instructions, I created my control device in the Game Controller applet. I, calibrated, and clicked Apply. Success! This was a breeze! COMPATIBILITY Depending on the game, you can opt to use the clutch pedal by connecting its cable to the wheel unit and you can switch the axes on the pedals as either same axis, which most games recognize or separate axes. The latter would move the one pedal on joystick 1 and the other on joystick 2 and the clutch on joystick 2. You also have the option to keep the clutch plugged in and use that pedal as your brake pedal, thus giving a wider stance. But why? This a serious racing system, so I feel to leave each pedal its proper designation. For the shifting chores, you can opt for either the paddles or the shifter, since they are both wired as button 1 and 2. I didn't like the feel of the shifter. it felt loose and sloppy. But I loved the paddles; they were perfectly laid out. I do like the flexibility of features of compatibility for games. The Formula 99 flew through this area. PERFORMANCE I have been talking about feel throughout the review, so how does it relate to in your overall performance when racing simulations? Let me explain the key for me in being successful in simulation racing. It's the feel that a racing system gives me. I have noticed in the past that some racing systems usually gave me a flat or bland type of feel. Maybe I should replace feel with the word sense. Meaning when I am in the process of working on a setup for a particular racing event, I can't tell what the car's attitude is doing. I need to be able to sense what the car is doing in order to succeed. Since simulations don't give you any type of inertia whatsoever, when I find a racing system that I can actually sense the responses from the car, I will be able tomake adjustments quicker and easier without taking all day. These responses are also noted by the laptimes being run. Do you understand? My success is not based price of a racing system; it's the feel or sensation as I use the product. You need to have a racing system that makes feel as if you are as one or in sync. Once you have established this unison, it will be easier to create setups. Think of it as you are the device are in harmony as you move the wheel and work the pedals. You will feel what the car is doing in a sixth sense. The importance is in how it feels to you. Once you have gotten that, then you will be rewarded with success. Maybe it's due to the fact that I used to race in real life? Who knows? Not everyone will agree with my methods on this. Of course, for the arcade or casual racer all this goes out the window. With my experience with the Formula 99, I was on either on par of slightly off my lap times in various simulations. The unit felt perfect as I drove at Mosport in Grand Prix Legends or running circles at Texas in NASCAR 99. I was at home with the Formula 99. Pedal and wheel tensions were modeled well, as they weren't so light that I could drop my foot. But still I didn't like how that plastic covering on the pedals which was bending as I moved my feet about. I was hoping that I would get over it. The plastic kept caving in as I pressed on the pedals. At times the bar that runs up from the base of the unit would get in my way. I hope there could be revisions as to bend these pieces away from one's feet. so those bar couldn't get in your way. Yet, I was very impressed with the overall feel and performance the system gave me. VALUE With a steep price, I must wonder why it costs over a grand. I know there are bills to be paid, but with the usage of a flimsy plastic molded casing over the units, and the usage of wood, seems to make it look cheap. Yet MDF board isn't, but all their products use MDF wood. (MDF is cheaper than solid oak ; P) This means it should even out. I can see the MOMO wheel being the most expensive as well as the little MOMO peddle grills. But all this for $1050? Could the price be part of the power lunches that were being done during the thought process? Hell, I remember one my good friends at Garrett Turbo telling me a one particular turbo that was thought up over those power lunches and it cost the turbo to be built under a grand. Yet, they sold it to the guy for $5000! But does it have enough value for the serious sim racer? Its materials and construction being its drawback. BOTTOMLINE The Formula 99 is still an outstanding product, even with the little quirks I have mentioned. It's definitely one of those racing systems that fits the bill for the serious sim racer. Being Thomas Enterprises' flagship, it does uphold their reputation as what I call the "Corvette" of racing systems. Keep in mind that there are several models available at Thomas Enterprises; there should be at least one which fits your bill. Overall it's a very impressive system, but with the noted drawbacks, I don't think it's worth the $1050. |
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Comments : |
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| Author: qsdf | 26-08-2002 |
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sf |
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| Author: Dedy | 31-03-2003 |
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not enough pics. |
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| Author: Dam | 13-04-2004 |
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This is an awesome wheel! I just purchased it after reading this review and I love it! Thanks! |
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