Ahhhh, an Amiga 600.
Now there's a sight for sore eyes.
Although whether you're in the camp that gets sore eyes from looking at this little machine,
or finds relief from it is a discussion for another day.
Because today is all about this man.
Nigel Mansell.
Formula One World Champion in 1992 and generally well known sports personality.
Now back in 1992, I enjoyed both watching and playing F1 games, and although my main
staple was Super Monaco Grand Prix on the Mega Drive, Nigel Mansell's World Champsionship
was definitely on my "play" list.
It's a decent enough racer by Gremlin Graphics, released on a variety of platforms.
The original Amiga incarnation offers all the usual options and tracks, providing a
playable and somewhat compelling experience.
But what if I were to tell you that you don't need to sit there, waggling around that joystick?
Yes, you?
There's another way, a much more realistic way.
Introducing the SpectraVideo Logic3 Digital Freewheel.
Yesss.
A steering wheel which seemingly works by magic, being unconnected to any kind of steering
column or dashboard.
The first time I saw this was on Bad Influence, Season 1, episode 5, airing on the 11th November
1992.
Violet did her best to explain this new device, but I was left feeling unclear as to whether
this thing was actually any good, or just a chunk of throw-away plastic.
Regardless, I wanted to get my hands on one and experience this new level of "realism".
Because that's what the 90s were all about.
Devices on the cusp of emerging technology, designed to enhance your gaming experience,
but often falling incredibly short of their targets.
This time though, we had a pairing.
Nigel Mansell's new game was designed specifically to work with the FreeWheel, it's even in the
manual, so was this a WINNING combination.
Let's try it out....
There's no real setup needed, you can just unplug the joystick, plug in the FreeWheel
and away we go.
Everything is pretty straight forward, left turns left, right turns right, the buttons
accelerate and tipping the wheel towards you brakes.
Essentially it just mirrors the joystick movement, so tipping the wheel forward should mimic
pressing the joystick up, but as that's not a mapped control for this game, it does nothing
(unless we change to manual transmission, but we'll get back to that later).
Now surprisingly, it's actually quite responsive.
We're not talking Wii controller levels of sensitivity, but everything works as it should,
and it's actually quite a pleasing arrangement.
Although you'll need a desk to lean your elbows on, otherwise your arms are just going to
ache themselves into oblivion.
The wheel works in all game modes with ease...
Really, the problems only set in when you go through the menus.
They're monumentally hard to navigate.
I had to essentially chuck the wheel all over the shop until I got the option I wanted,
and then rapidly press the fire button before it moved anywhere else.
Fluid movements just don't seem to work here and I couldn't even work out which way I should
be turning the wheel to select which options, it feels like there's little rhyme or reason
to proceedings.
Anyway, if you can get to the control menu, then you'll find options to specifically tell
the game you're using a FreeWheel.
It doesn't make much difference for me as I'm using the Digital variant, but if you're
fortunate enough to have the analogue version, then you can choose that option and be rewarded
with an elevated level of control.
With my digital version I'm essentially just clicking the joystick left or right when I
turn in those directions, and as we all know, digital controls don't allow for the most
fluid of movements.
It also means that me chucking the wheel as far right and left as possible makes absolutely
zero difference to the severity of the turn, and it would be far more efficient to just
make small movements in each direction.... but instinct takes over and I use the wheel
just like I do in my car.
Yep, this is exactly who I drive in real life.
If we crack open the wheel, inside we find a very simple layout.
One PCB, one controller chip and several what I believe are mercury switches.
When you move in a given direction, the mercury sloshes about in these little caps completing
a circuit at one end.
Depending on how you hold the wheel, different circuits will be completed, telling the controller
how it's being held.
Of course, analogue versions work on a different principle, just like the accelerometers built
into Wii controllers, and are far rarer than the digital incarnation.
This is party as they were a tenner more expensive on launch, but also because they're less compatible
with other software, acting more like a mouse than a joystick.
I certainly wouldn't like to try controlling Canon Fodder with one of these.
But as noted on this advert, wouldn't it be the dream to combine this steering wheel with
the Quick Joy Footpedal controller, and have a racing experience so damn realistic, it
could blow your face off?!
Well, it just so happens, that's what I'm about to do.
Now this thing is incredibly easy to connect, simply slip it in line between your controller
and the Amiga.
We can then use these scaled up dip switches to assign a button or direction to each pedal.
So I can assign the accelerator button to the green, up to yellow and down to orange...
essentially copying the clutch, brake, accelerator layout of your typical car.
Now, if I press the green pedal, you can see the car accelerates on screen.
Amazing stuff.
Obviously this needs to go on the floor...
this isn't Coyote Ugly.
OK, now, if we were using manual transmission before, we'd have to do an irritating flick
forward to change gear, like Violet explained earlier.
But with the pedals attached, well, everything is much easier.
In fact, the whole experience is enriched dramatically, despite the somewhat cheap and
nasty feel of the pedals themselves.
[
Now, I can shift up with the yellow pedal, brake and automatically shift down with orange
and accelerate with green, and it really comes together quite nicely.
I wans't sure how this would pan out, but I. AM.
IMPRESSED.
Of course, this is never going to feel REALISTIC, despite what we were told by marketers, but
it's a step closer, and a nice way to play ANY racing game on the platform really.
These controllers were both available for a variety of consoles, so I'd recommend grabbing
a set on your platform of choice and giving it a bash.
Just remember, you won't be able to react as quickly as a joypad, and you're arms are
gonna hurt.
Of course you're not even restricted to Nigel Mansell.
You can play practically any game with this combination.
Take Micro Machines for example, it's a driving game and it works well.
The only problem here, is the true nature of digital is revealed.
Micro Machines is a game which requires twitchy directional pressing, dabbing left here, right
there.
With the Logic3 Digital, you're either essentially holding down left, or holding down right,
with it taking a lot longer to swing a steering wheel in the opposite direction, as opposed
to moving your thumb around a D-Pad.
But it's not just driving games.
For example, this arrangement works impressively well with Desert Strike, and in fact, probably
all manner of Amiga games.
I'm not going to sit here and go through each of them, you get the general idea.
Anyway, there's the Logic3 Freewheel and the Quick Joy SV129 Footpedal controller.
I can't think of a more beautiful combination.
If you can, tell me all about it in the comments.
I'll be riveted to find out.
Thanks for watching!