Performance & Conclusion
For testing we broke out Project CARS, Dirt Rally and my personal favorite racing game, F1 2015.
Project CARS featured a pre-configured setting, so everything was mapped and to my delight worked perfectly.
However, I actually started with F1 2015, which turned out to be a mistake. Getting both the G29 and G920 setup was a bit of a headache. Having now done it, the required tweaks are quite easy to make, though I spent quite a lot of time working them out.
Although there is a pre-configured setup for F1 2015, it doesn't work correctly and we were unable to use the foot pedals properly. For some strange reason they are inverted by default, so we had to create a custom configuration and manually invert them so they worked correctly. Once that was done the G29 and G920 worked very well.
Loading up Dirt Rally again saw us run into more configuration issues, but again, after some remapping we were able to get everything working.
As expected, the G29 and G920 provided an amazing and realistic driving experience in the games we tested.
F1 2015 was loads of fun and without noticing, the first night of testing took me into the early hours of the morning. Quickly shifting up through the gears using the stainless steel paddles and then back down again under breaking never got old.
On the rare occasion that I was able to get Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull to understeer into the corners, the feedback on the ripple strips felt great. With the force feedback turned up it's a rough ride. Whipping Silverstone around at high speed was particularly enjoyable, though getting through 'Maggotts', 'Becketts' and then 'Chapel' repeatedly was a workout.
The flappy paddle shifters feel nice and authentic. If you have never used a wheel with them before then they will take some getting used to, but it's a lot of fun.
Ultra-realistic driving simulators such as Project CARS are able to get the most out of the G29 and G920. There was plenty of oversteer and even the feedback levels changed with the speed of the car. It was awesome to feel torque steer in front wheel drive cars.
The front wheel drive physics in Project CARS makes front wheel drive cars fun and satisfying to learn to drive at their limits and with the Driving Force wheels they torque steer just as they would in real life. The dual-motors are plenty powerful and at time the wheel was ripped from my hands.
A thrilling driving experience, but not a great value
Having so many easy to access buttons is certainly a great feature of Logitech's new Driving Force wheels and certainly made F1 2015 a lot easier. Engaging DRS for example was quick and easy, while things like fuel ratios and brake bias could also be adjusted quickly at the wheel.
The only issues we had with the G29 and the G920 were the foot pedals, which didn't grip the ground nearly well enough and this made the stiff brake pedal annoying as it would push the entire setup away from you.
As a PC gamer, I wish I could merge the G29 and G920 together. I prefer the look of the G920 as it does away with the blue highlights, but I much prefer how the G29 features the shift lights.
But the biggest issue with the G29 is its price. At $400 it makes no sense over Logitech's own G27, which we believe features the same running gear, costs $250 and includes the stick shifter. Adding the shifter to the cost of the G29 or G920 and the G27 becomes a over 40% cheaper.
The G29 and G920 wheel buttons are a huge improvement but we don't like the foot pedals as much, so this makes the price premium hard to justify. Worse still, the belt-driven Thrustmaster T300 RS can be had for the same price and is arguably a better quality wheel. The T300 RS features a dual pedal setup, but we don't have a problem with that. Plus, you can get the awesome Thrustmaster Ferrari F1 wheel add-on for just $130.
Another option is the Thrustmaster TX which costs $300 and is also belt-driven with a brushless feedback motor. As we mentioned in the intro, Fanatec also make premium racing products, but they are on another level in terms of design and price.
Overall, the G29 and G920 are fantastic racing packages that certainly deliver a thrilling driving experience. We'd be all over these new wheels if they were priced at no more than $300. Had Logitech upgraded to a belt-driven design, not made the stick shifter a $60 extra and created one product for Xbox and PlayStation gamers, then maybe we could have handled the $400 asking price. As it stands, we just hope the G29 and G920 become a heck of a lot cheaper before long.