When in the course of the conference E3 2017 announced that the next game in the legendary series of driving simulators Gran Turismo comes out at the end of this year, I was seriously excited. The reason for the excitement was the fact that I didn’t have any racing wheel compatible with Sony PlayStation 4 console. My old Logitech G25 with the PS4 to be friends flatly refused, which forced me to go to the store in search of an inexpensive but suitable for games testing alternatives. Almost immediately, I was lucky – I stumbled upon a budget the wheel of the Japanese company called Hori Racing Wheel Apex.
The problem of choosing a decent gaming steering wheel for owners of the PlayStation 4 recently very relevant. Regularly there are great games like DiRT Rally, Driveclub, Project CARS, F1 2016, DiRT 4, Assetto Corsa and others, and worthy of the rudders on the market virtually none. Logitech has done very artfully, pretending to implement support for popular models of the G25 and G27 on the PlayStation 4 is simply impossible. Supposedly the console Sony does not have the necessary processor and software to implement all of this does not work, as the team of engineers who developed these devices have long been disbanded. So let’s buy our new steering wheel Logitech G29 25 000 rubles, and the old one can be discarded. Ugly all of it to consumers. Other handlebars on the market, or the ridiculously primitive, or sky-high expensive. Prices on some models reach 45-50 thousand rubles.
From the beginning, I had almost an impossible goal: to find a budget wheel is not more than 10 000. More just my pet toad to give well in any way is not allowed. New model of the company Hori has fit this requirement perfectly, because the average retail price of Apex Racing Wheel today is 7990, and in some stores and even cheaper. Of course, low cost is automatically deprives us of some nice bonuses, for example, expensive materials, remote transmission, force feedback with the player and so on. The budget device is immediately noticeable, however, it is ideal for beginners and fans of driving games who are not willing to pay for a new steering wheel a mountain of money. We have almost three times the price difference, if you compare this wheel with the more expensive models.
Box made in the corporate style of the company Hori, which is dominated by the color blue. In the eye catches the bottom right corner where there is a very important logo collection of the PlayStation. It means that the steering wheel was made with the approval of Sony’s officially licensed and has passed all the necessary tests for compatibility with the consoles PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4. Another important logo hiding in the top left corner just below the name of the manufacturer. When creating steering Racing Wheel Apex technology was used TouchSense famous company Immersion. And this, for a moment, the same guys who invented the dual shock vibration. In the world sold more than 3 billion devices using their development. The wheel integrated motors with an asymmetrical metal weights, simulating different types of steering wheel vibration car during the drive.
On the back of the box (sorry, I got the kit in a slightly dented box) we see a standard set of information about the configuration, warranty, manufacturer, and age restrictions. If you read the text printed here, you can see that the wheel is compatible with PCs running operating systems from Windows Vista and above. It supports XInput API, but other API does not support Microsoft DirectInput. But most alarmingly, the warning States: “the Product does not necessarily function the way you want it, with all the games PS4”. How to understand this sentence? I’ll tell you below.
Externally, the steering wheel looks impressive. Pleasant to the touch matte plastic. Fortunately, it’s not dirty from any touch Soft Touch, which I’ve got. Rubberized on both sides of the steering wheel with a diameter of 280 mm almost perfectly fits in the palm of your hand. Textured rubber eliminates slipping helm even from sweaty palms, which will definitely come in handy in the heat of an intense race against virtual opponents or other players online.
The base of the steering are pretty heavy, but light compared to the same Logitech G25. However, apparently the difference between rudders are almost invisible. Well, there’s no leather braid. Yes, but why do I need it in video games?
In the Central part of the helm are the basic controls PlayStation. It is sad, but round the Central part of the steering is not pressed. And it would be great to install a button horn and with an air of importance to signal the rest of the participants. The other elements are pretty standard: d-pad D-Pad, four branded buttons “cross”, “circle”, “square” and “triangle”, R1 and L1 bumpers, buttons R3 and L3, the PS button to call up the system menu and enable the controller, well and very useful Share button, and Options. No touch panel DualShock 4, but as far as I remember, in racing game it is almost never used. But there is one very important button ASSIGN, which is needed in the process of fine tuning the steering. Surely you are not counted in this list triggers R2 and L2. We will talk about them right now.
These triggers are made directly on the steering wheel and default in most games they are assigned functions of the gas and brake. Buttons are located in small depressions in the rubber of the steering wheel. And let me tell you, it’s just disgusting from a design and engineering solution. I used to hold the steering wheel according to the standard rule for 10 and 14 hours, and in this position you accidentally click on the above button. The illustrations on the official website of the manufacturer showing that Japanese users have the wheel a little differently — for 9 and 15 hours. So that large fingers lying on the steering wheel just below the buttons and touched them. It took me a few days to re-educate your internal driver and give up a little lower. However, for some it will not be a serious problem. Also, the buttons L2 and R2 at any time to disable in the game settings.
Looks very nice ring of bright red color in the center of the steering wheel. It is present not only for beauty, but also serves as a reference of how far you turned the wheel at the moment. Apex Racing Wheel has a maximum stroke of 270 degrees, which, of course, significantly less than the 900 degrees that we offer more expensive models. However, it is enough to comfortably play most racing game. If you want to get from the helm of the high sensitivity, can quickly switch to 180 degree mode is the Quick Handling Mode, and then the wheel will react to the smallest movements. This is very useful in fast arcade games (e.g. Wipeout Collection Omega), where high reaction speed is much more important than skill and mathematical precision of a professional racing game.
In the upper part push button unit hid two very important switch. The first changes the operating modes between the steering PS4-N mode (game controller), PS4-S (booster mode) and PS3 (compatibility with PS3 console). The second toggles the d-pad located on the front of the wheel, between DP (D-Pad), LS (left analog stick) and RS (right analog stick). We need this in order to, if necessary, you could use both the analog stick of the DualShock 4 controller.
Complete with Racing Wheel comes Apex is not a traditional gear lever, so you have to settle for podrulevymi shift paddles or as they are called, “the shifter”. They are made of plastic and pretty flimsy at first glance. However, I used the wheel for several weeks, and yet it did not fall off. And this is a very good sign.
At the rear of the base of the helm we see coming out USB cable that the device connects to gaming consoles and PC, as well as an input for a pedal.
The lower surface of the base is covered with rubber inserts in the amount of six pieces. Here you can see five holes in which to insert special suction cups supplied with the wheel. Frankly, I find it hard to imagine a person, who will entrust the steering mount to a flat surface of some suckers. During a particularly intense races so much I turn the wheel, even the table push. No suction cups will not save the situation.
That’s why I advise everyone who decides to purchase the game booster, just pop the sucker back in the box. For fastening to the table, along with Racing Wheel Apex comes a kind of clamp consisting of a support frame and bolt with a comfortable grip. On the frame are fixed two moveable rubberized feet to avoid the slipping of the structure from the table or rack for the steering (which can be purchased on the Internet or make your own). I was incredibly pleased with the fact that the clamp allows you to mount the wheel even very thick tops. I have just such a case and even the legendary mount Logitech G25 was before my furniture helplessly. Hori and the company just took it and increased the maximum available clearance, pleasantly delighting its users.
Pedal unit, though made of plastic, but both pedals strong enough, so don’t be afraid to accidentally break them with their feet. Move the gas pedal is significantly more than the brake pedal. The sensitivity can be configured special key combinations. The pedal is tight enough, and they need to get used to, but here everything is done in order to simulate the controls of this car. It would be very strange, the pedals react to any breeze.
The bottom foot of the unit conceals four rubber feet and also stand folded under the heel. It expands and increases the area of the base of the unit by almost two times. Put the heel on the stand and thereby automatically pressed the pedal unit to the floor, eliminating him slide. It’s very simple and convenient.
The pedal unit connects to the rudder cable RJ9 network interface.
We should also mention the tuning process of the steering wheel. And configured it so subtly that I want to remove before the Japanese hat. In addition to the already mentioned sensitivity of the steering and pressing the pedals, you are free to adjust the dead zone (rotation angles within which the steering wheel does not respond to your movements), to assign any commands to any buttons and levers, and can at any time just to reset all your settings back to the factory, starting with a clean slate. The truth and to criticize the Japanese also have something. The setup process is so complicated from a technical point of view that at the stage of reading the instructions a couple of times I became ill. Complex combinations of buttons, holding one for a few seconds and parallel to the press on the other, reminded me of the process of jailbreak iPhone. And then you even the orientation of the color indicators light up on the steering wheel. All this is hardly a “friendly approach”. Tech education a little povorchu and deal, but Humanities will have hard times.
I tried out my brand new wheel consistently in several games. Started with those stated in the support list on the manufacturer’s website. The first of them tried out my last year’s favorite DiRT Rally, where the wheel immediately decided in PS4 mode-S and automatically tuned. Initially I passed the game on normal DualShock 4, so I had something to compare. Of course it feels like heaven and earth. But it was quite expected. The car obeyed me perfectly on a narrow mountain, forest and snow-covered roads, the pavement was given in the hands of marketecture characteristic vibration, and the pedal is allowed to smoothly enter even in hairpin turns. For this game I did not even bother to change the default settings, simply because they were initially perfectly balanced.
My second test subject was Driveclub VR. I really miss the steering in this game. Because in virtual reality you see that are holding the wheel of a automobile, and actually feel in the hands of the controller a different shape. This severely disrupts the sense of presence. Well, Apex Racing Wheel for the first time allowed me to dive into Driveclub VR at 100%. The game automatically recognize the wheel and load all the necessary settings. I again had nothing to change or reconfigure. Wow, I tell you! Feeling simply indescribable! This is probably the best use of the helm among all tested by me games. Although, of course, it affects my endless love for virtual reality technology. Well, why not? Do the next best thing.
Declared in the list of supported games Project CARS for some reason the steering wheel in PS4 mode-S to determine flatly refused. I had to activate PS4-N and manually configure the wheel in the options, experimenting with dozens of sliders, before I was satisfied with the results achieved. To reduce the “dead zones” to zero in this game I would not advise you. This leads to the fact that the steering wheel when returning to zero position will be slightly to pull the car around the track. Hori Racing Wheel Apex in contrast to the expensive rudder can not boast the presence of built-in “power return”, when you rotate the wheels you feel the actual resistance of your hands. Instead, it is integrated spring, constantly trying to align the wheel in the center. And in the moments of the return wheel is rotated slightly beyond the zero mark. If the dead zone is exposed incorrectly, you can easily shake in the opposite direction, which will lead to the departure from the road at high speed.
In a fresh game DiRT 4 steering wheel also still not supported in PS4 mode-S, but it was much easier than in Project CARS. I just reset the dead zones and get a good management model. I’d like to hope that in the future more games will get support for the helm with the release of the relevant patches. And though we can manually configure it for almost any game, I would like to see it all right out of the box, bypassing dances with a tambourine. In addition I have listed above games, the wheel also needs to support the following simulators: ASSETTO CORSA, F1 2015, Motorcycle Club, Need for Speed, Need for Speed: Rivals, Sebastian Loeb Rally Evo, Trackmania Turbo, and WRC5. In addition, you can use the wheel in the following games: Farming Simulator 15, MotoGP 14, MotoGP 15, Race the Sun, RIDE, Rocket League, Tour de France 2015, Trials Fusion and the Trials Fusion: Awesome Level Max.
Another disadvantage of the helm were his high demands on the power supply. A couple of times it shut down right during the game, and I couldn’t understand what was wrong with him. At some time in the head crept into the idea that I had a defective device. But as it turned out, just needed to pull the cable from the second USB port on the PlayStation 4 and the disconnecting stopped. Apparently, the wheel is not like if in parallel with it built into the console USB hub powered something else. But this, of course, just my guess. A multimeter I didn’t measure and tell you all this only on the basis of their own intuition and life experience.
Package contents:
- Steering Wheel Hori Racing Wheel Apex
- Plug of the pedal unit
- Suction cups for mounting (5 PCs)
- Mounting frame
- The bolt
- The manual
Features:
- Material: plastic, rubber
- Color: black, gray, red
- Rotation angle: 270 degrees
- Vibration: there are
- Power impact: no
- Pedal unit: 2 pedals
- Programmable buttons: there are
- Setting dead zones: there are
- Sensitivity setting: there are
- Compatibility: PS3, PS4, PC
- Cable length: 3 meters
- Braided cable: no
Pros:
- Nice plastic and rubber sheath that prevent slipping of the hands.
- The ability to switch between turn 270 and 180 degrees.
- Fine tuning of sensitivity and reassign all the buttons.
- The mount is ideal for non-standard counter tops and cabinets.
- The presence of steering wheel vibration technology TouchSense from Immersion company.
- The most optimal on a ratio the price-quality steering wheel for PlayStation 4.
Cons:
- Mode PS4-S the wheel is supported, but not all games.
- Difficulty settings can cause panic.
- Disgusting arrangement of buttons R2 and L2.
- The steering wheel is very demanding to nutrition.
- No return power return.
Controller Hori Racing Wheel Apex has a number of advantages and disadvantages, but it can be safely advised to those players whose budget for the acquisition of a steering wheel for PS4 (as in my case) limited to a small amount. In just 7990 rubles at your disposal will be the budget, but the conscience is made under the official license Sony device, a good performance in different car simulators. This wheel is by far more interesting than his nearest rival, the Thrustmaster T80, in which even vibration is not provided, but it is worth it for 2000 rubles more. I think that now I am fully ready to release the long-awaited Gran Turismo Sport is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2017. And do you also recommend to thoroughly prepare for this significant event.
Review Hori racing wheel Racing Wheel Apex
Sergey Grey