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INTRODUCTION Have you ever been racing your favorite sim and after you have mastered the skills of toe-heel pedal control and threshold braking you are limited and frustrated with having to downshift through each gear due to the limits of sequential gear selection? Those days are over! That is IF your favorite sim supports the ACT-LABS RS Shifter. With the RS Shifter, you can downshift from 5th to 1st if you so choose. However, don't fret if your favorite title does not support the RS Shifter as you can still use the RS Shifter in sequential "legacy" mode. FEATURES
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS The Force RS wheel will work with virtually any PC. The disclosed minimum requirements are a 486 or higher processor, 2X CD-ROM, 5MB of hard disk space, DirectX 5 or higher, and a free serial or USB port. I highly suggest Windows98 and USB to avoid any conflicts you might have with using a serial modem and a serial steering device at the same time for online racing. The Force RS comes with both a USB and serial connector included. Whatever you do, DO NOT connect both at the same time! MY SETUP
I tested the ACT LABS Force RS on NASCAR Racing 3, Grand Prix Legends, Viper Racing, and SportsCar GT. PRICE The ACT LABS RS Shifter has a suggested retail price of $69.99 and currently can be purchased directly from Act-Labs for $59.99. INSTALLATION In my ACT-LABS Force RS review, I said, "It doesn't get much easier than this". OK. I lied. It doesn't get any easier than this! The RS Shifter comes with a metal plate with 4 holes in each end of it and 4 screws in the shifter. This allows you to set the shifter on the left or right side of the Wheel, depending on which side of the road you are use to driving on . You attach the shifter to this plate and it sits under your wheel and when you tighten the clamps on your wheel, it secures the shifter in place along with it. The RS Shifter comes with a cartridge adapter, as I mentioned above, that plugs into the back of your RS Wheel. The cartridge you are currently using then plugs into this adapter. The Shifter plugs into the adapter and that's all there is to it. No drivers or any software configuration is needed if you are using the ACT-LABS Force RS. Drivers are included on a CD if you are using a non-FF version of the RS Wheel. Each sim will have its own mechanism of setting up the RS Shifter so make sure you read the read-me file for the sim you are using. In the case of Viper Racing and SportsCar GT, I had to download patches from the ACT-LABS website which easily installed and come with a read-me file on how to activate the RS Shifter functions in the sim. PERFORMANCE, FUNCTIONALITY AND OTHER CHARACTERISTICS The RS Shifter is a unique piece of sim racing equipment. This shifter features several gear patterns that allow for just about any setup whether it be 5,6 or 7 speed and a HI/LO shifter setup that is necessary for legacy mode when the sim does not support the free shifting of the RS Shifter. The RS Shifter comes with a default metal shift "gate" built into the unit. It's to be used for 7 speeds. ACT-LABS also included 2 additional plastic "overlay" gates, which you can place on top of the default gate built into the unit. The 2 overlay gates are 6-speed shifter and Legacy Mode (Hi/Lo). These simply "snap" on to provide you with the gear pattern for shifting. ACT-LABS definitely thought a lot about the use of the shifter with different titles. The shifter knob itself can be interchanged with real shifter knobs such as a MOMO. Although the base of the shifter is plastic, the shifter is a very solid unit. The internals are composed of a spring-driven shifter mechanism that does a good job of simulating the actual gear shifting forces present during the synchronization of the transmission. The shifting into and out of each gear is very fluid and definitely adds to the immersion effect we all seek in sim racing. The only problem I have encountered with the RS Shifter is actually not a problem with the shifter itself. In SportsCar GT, there is a problem where 6th gear is actually coded for the reverse position on the shifter and the reverse gear is coded in the 6th gear position. My understanding is that this is a problem with the way the game was coded for gear selection inputs. My favorite sim to use the RS Shifter with is Viper Racing. You can really add a whole lot of realism to this sim by simply adding the RS Shifter. Downshifting while at high RPM can cause you to lose control as well as skipping gears while downshifting and not keeping the braking and chassis load balanced with RPMs. It definitely makes it more difficult to drive initially, but after you get use to it you will realize how realistic the overall setup of the ACT-LABS Force RS Wheel and RS Shifter can be. My suggestion to ACT-LABS is this : Add a clutch pedal to the Force RS Wheel and then add Force Feedback effects to the shifter! Think about it. When you hit a severe bump in a Rally sim or any title the gear shift could actually pop out of gear. OK, so maybe I get carried away with my desire for total immersion, but it IS still possible! This would be one incredible control setup for sim racers. SIM/GAME SUPPORT As you might expect, there is the issue of which sims/games support the RS Shifter. As I mentioned above, the RS Shifter can still be used in legacy mode (IE Up shifts up and Down shifts down). The following titles support the RS Shifter:
The glaring exclusion from the above list is Grand Prix Legends, the Grand-Daddy of all racing sims. GPL would be the perfect sim to demonstrate the great use of the RS Shifter. If any of you out there have the ACT-LABS Force RS and RS Shifter or plan to purchase them, email Sierra/Papyrus and let them know you would like to see the RS Shifter supported in GPL! CONCLUSION PROS:
CONS:
MY SUGGESTION If you are in the market for a Force Feedback wheel, buy a ACT-LABS Force RS and add a RS Shifter. This combo will give you a very complete control center for your sim racing activities. |
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Comments : |
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| Author: MarksStockcarSimulator | 31-12-2002 |
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I have installed the shifter in my Home Built Stockcar Simulator and I love it. It works great and adds a lot more fun to my nascar pleasure. I always used auto shifting till I got the shifter, I use it all the time now. It is well worth the money. I also got the add-on shifter plates to go with it. This is the only thing bad I will say about the shifter. When I got the shifter and the add-on shifter plates they sent NO instructions on how to change the plates. I had to contact them to tell me how to do it because I was afrade of breaking the shifter. The handle pulls of but it was on real tight. |
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| Author: TalentCrow | 02-03-2003 |
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All I was looking for to make a decision. Thank you. |
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| Author: JJ | 04-05-2004 |
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I have read reviews from other websites. Some of them said that the feedback of RS wheel is not very good, compare to Logitech or Thrustmaster. Is that true? |
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| Author: razz | 09-05-2006 |
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this is a addition i would love to make to my racing expierence, however i cant find one of these shifters anywhere. Do they still make them? Is there a site to go to purchase one? If anyone knows or has a sugesstion please feel free to comment or email me at the above address. thanks razz |
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