[typing] [country music]
Greetings and welcome to "LGR Oddware"
where we're taking a look at hardware and software
that is forgotten, odd and obsolete–
Wait! No, it's not. This is new!
Oh, man.
This thing could be Oddware. This is ridiculous. [laughs]
This is the Saitek Heavy Equipment Precision Control System
for the PC.
It is officially the, uh...
I guess, best way
to control "Farming Simulator 15,"
but really it's just for all sorts of games.
It's a very versatile giant controller that, uh...
It reminds me of, like, "Steel Battalion"
in its largeness and, uh, specialization.
But, yeah. Saitek actually sent me this through a PR agency to review.
They didn't sponsor– nobody's gettin' paid here, but...
I just wanted to cover this. Um...
because it's weird, man. And it's– I love "Farming Simulator."
And all the other things that this thing can work with.
So, uh, yeah. Let's go ahead and take a look.
Alright, so this is the complete edition of the Precision Control System.
And there are actually some that are divided up into sections, if you just want some of it, but
this one costs $300.
Or if you want, like, just the wheel and pedals, that's $150.
Or just this panel here, that's $150.
I kinda wish they discounted, like, the whole thing together.
It's the same price either way you go,
which is kind of funky, but...
Let's just take a look at each one of these components individually
and, uh, see what you get here.
Alright, so here's the steering wheel portion of the controller.
And, uh...
as far as thing, I mean, it's super basic. It's just–
it really is just a wheel. There's nothing too special about it.
Except maybe this little– the brodie knob kind of thing here,
which is... awesome. [laughs]
I love the fact that they've included this.
This is pretty common in a lot of tractors, before they had power steering and, uh,
like 18-wheelers and forklifts and things like that,
and even certain vehicles I know people that had trouble driving in their cars, they have one of these.
But, uh, yeah. It does have some really nice quality Xbox 360 analog thumbsticks here.
Which is good. In fact, the whole setup
for most of this is just
an Xbox 360 pad stuffed into a wheel,
which is pretty common for a lot of steering wheels nowadays.
It even has the left and right trigger
around here on the back,
and around here on the side, this is where you're going to plug your pedals in.
It has a USB cable to plug the
wheel and pedals together into your computer.
It's a 6-foot cable, so it's pretty substantial.
And then along the back here, you have
the clamp for the desk mounting apparatus deal.
This is also really cheap plastic, but it works.
Just don't screw it in too hard.
I don't see anywhere to actually mount this to, say, like a steering wheel mount.
Like a proper stand for steering wheels. So that's kind of a bummer.
But I'm sure you could probably make something work.
It's just not really meant for that.
Next up are the pedals. And yeah, these are just pedals.
They're plastic and they're
the cheapest part of this thing. [laughs]
They are the cheapest things.
Uh, it uses your typical RJ-11 sort of phone-ish style–
It's not really RJ-11, I don't think, but...
This plugs into the steering wheel, like I said earlier.
And yeah, it's just plastic pedals.
You get like 20 degrees of movement or something here, so it's not
massive.
But it has these nice little pads in the back,
so that at least feels good.
But yeah, the rest of this– I mean, this is...
Good grief, this is cheap!
And lastly, we have the control deck
side panel thingy here that goes out to the side of it and does
all the really cool stuff
because really, the wheel and pedals– I mean, you can do that with
just a normal set of wheel and pedals, and
you'd have a pretty good time with "Farming Simulator." But this?
Oh yeah, this is where the specialized kind of stuff comes in. So...
this has also, uh, got the desk mount here.
Same sort of quality and everything, and USB 6-foot cable separately.
And that just plugs into the computer.
And all this is plug and play. You don't have any drivers or anything.
This doesn't either. It just recognizes it as a–
a joystick with, like, 30 buttons, which is pretty sweet.
So all these up here are just
really basic kind of buttons. They're nothing, um...
You know, they're not microswitches or anything, so they don't have a really satisfying click.
These look like they should toggle up and down, but they–
They don't. They just press in.
Same with this big one here.
What is kind of interesting, though,
is you have this little dial,
which is kind of like a throttle control from a joystick from back in the day.
But no, this is actually for
fine tuning the cruise control
on your vehicles, and
this is really neat. I like the fact that this is here.
And then you have the multi-axis control input.
This is basically like your crane controls and also for front-loader stuff on vehicles.
This is awesome!
Um, it– it's, you know, does right here on this axis, you have all this.
And there's two different buttons. This right here will toggle between modes.
So if you want to, like, switch to
looking around, it'll do that, or if you just do this, it'll do your tools.
Really versatile little setup here.
Ooh. That, I guess, comes off pretty easily.
Aw, well, I mean, that's typical. That's like an arcade stick.
But, ah, let's give it a shot
and see how it actually is in practice.
Alright, so let's go ahead and try out the game that was really–
this was made for. This is "Farming Simulator 15."
This is the Gold Edition,
which it does not come with, but I already had it because I love these games!
This is why I really wanted to cover this because, man,
this is just– it's such a complex
and yet relaxing game, and
I mean complex, dude. Look at this control list, okay?
This is why you need so many buttons!
There's a crapload of 'em here.
In fact, I could see this also being very useful for flight sims and stuff.
Just using this as a– a separate piece
in conjunction with, um,
you know, a stick, and, uh...
rudders and everything. I mean,
this is a pretty cool little setup here.
So here's how it goes.
This is my basic tractor that I have on my farm here.
It says Button 17 will enter it. And that does that.
I can actually change the view here like that.
And so, I have
just full reign and just like
everything can be done!
Right here!
Like... [giddy shout]
One-to-one, all this going on.
I got a horn. [honks horn]
It's great!
I got pedals.
I can drive around. It's a tractor.
Oh, yes.
And then we got the classic
little dealio here, which I love this knob.
I love the fact that they included that!
Oh, it's so cool.
This feel like a tractor, man. Like it should!
Aw!
So yeah.
All of these are going to be doing different things, depending on what you have hooked up.
These are gonna control, like, your– you know, some of your different
screens that you may want to keep a look at here.
So some of them will, you know,
require, like, mouse and keyboard still, so you'll want to keep those on hand. But...
you can quickly see some of this overview stuff.
These'll control the speed of time,
which is really handy, depending on what you're doing.
These will do different things.
And these right here
will do different things depending on the–
the tools or different things you have
hooked onto the tractor.
So I can hook things to the back, hook things to the front,
or...
I can get out of it
and, uh, admire the scenery.
Or go to another vehicle entirely, which I happen to have one of these.
[giddy laughter]
And this–
well this is a monster!
Um... ha ha!
I specifically, like, sold off so much of my equipment
just because I wanted one. This right here is for cutting down trees.
And it is scary.
[Southern twang throughout] Yeah, well...
You know, whatcha gotta do
find one'dem trees...
it's got a right kinda wood cuz...
you try wit da wrong tree,
and da wood ain't right, it'll say it's not supported, so...
Ya gotta be like, mmm-hmm.
Find a one'dem gooduns.
Cuz dats gon' be da kinda wood y'alls need.
Y'all see dees tree right here?
He's gon' be tree wit wood dat're good, so...
Change, uh, cut length... [clicking]
Seven meters.
I dunno why we're usin' meters here.
And, uh, Button 5...
Cut yer tree!
And just like that!
Looka dat!
We got us tree! Dat sucker's been cut right off!
Right... a'here...
[hearty laughs]
Ah! I got a tree!
[grunts]
[drops twang] Now what do I do with it?
I dunno. I never gotten that far! [laughs]
Aaahh!
What am I doing?
Oh, noooooo... [laughs]
Put it back! [laughs]
Gotta do– [laughs]
Okay.
Uh, right there. [laughs]
Oh...
Oh, I found the view control. That's good, that's good.
Alright, let me put that
back over there.
[grunts]
Okay, we gotta take this back to the farm.
I think.
Here.
Hey! Got a tree coming through!
It's inside my cabin! I can't see!
Sorry!
[tires screeching and crash] Aargh!
[truck horn]
I told you to watch out! Ya jerks.
It'd probably help if I let go of this thing. How do I do that?
Oh, yeah! [click]
Man, I feel stupid.
How cool is that!
Yay, it worked! Ay!
Oh, yeah! We gotta try "Doom" with this thing because
you know, if there's something that, uh,
I think of
when I think farming controllers, it's "Hurt Me Plenty."
"Knee Deep in the Dead."
Alright, so I have got the pedals set to go forward
and backward for, uh,
gas and brake.
Um, the steering wheel...
[laughing] sort of turns you left and right.
Uh, strafing we got right here.
The horn is fire because what else would it be?
And yeah. I'm just gonna try to get through this because it's like steering a truck.
[laughs]
It's just like–
the exact thing you don't want for "Doom," ever.
Heavy trucker Doom guy here.
Uh...
Or 18-wheeler
Doom guy– Oh!
Gotta honk at the enemies to kill 'em!
Oh, yeah!
Here we go.
If you kind of work the dead zone just a little bit– ooh...
It works.
That was a nice dodge there! Did that with the brake!
Oops. That– that was not good.
Would you suck it?!
Okay...
[whispering] here we go...
I just wanna get out of this level! Oh!
This is ridiculous!
Ugh!
Friggin' wear out this wheel just playing "Doom."
I lied! Oh, no! I knew I was gonna run out of ammo! Aha!
Defeated by punches.
You know, if there's one game I can think of
with some of the most brilliantly simple controls,
is the 8-bit Super Mario Bros. game.
So we're gonna play "Super Mario Bros. 3" here and ruin that brilliance
by using a controller made for farm equipment.
So, I have this set up in the most convoluted way possible, of course.
The gas pedal goes right.
This thingy goes up.
Brake pedal goes left.
Uh, these are A and B.
Start and Select over here.
So...
It's gonna be great!
Here we go.
Yes!
Alright.
This is actually my time even trying
these controls, so, uh... [chuckles]
Ooh! Okay, that's...
That's kinda to be expected. I dunno.
I don't know, I think I can do way better.
Here we go. Alright, this is gonna be good.
Do I dare run, is the question.
Whoa-ho-ho!
Oh...
[grunts]
I want that. I want that!
[laughs]
Okay...
Augh! Here we go...
No!!
Oh, well, screw it. It's gone now.
Here we go.
Okay, I can totally run. I'm feelin' cocky! Ooh...
Okay... ahh!
[nervous noises, laughs]
Okay. I wanna use the wheel for something, but I don't need to.
[pensive grunt]
[laughs]
Well...
Okay.
Maybe this is a terrible idea. Hmm...
Well, now we get right down to it.
Is the heavy equipment
control system thing by Saitek
worth the $300? Well...
You know, it's hard to say.
It's a lot of fun. I have a lot of fun playing with this thing, but that's–
That's the thing: 300 bucks is
kind of on that edge for me for something like this.
I mean, you know, the control panel itself is
probably the most useful part, but the steering wheel, those pedals,
they feel like a toy.
I am the kind of guy to spend–
I spend 600 bucks on a racing wheel setup.
No lie, I love sim racing, so...
I'm going to do that.
But that thing feels like it could come of a race car, you know?
This feels like it came out of Playskool.
Uh, not that there's anything wrong with that at all.
In fact, there's a place for this kind of thing. [chuckles]
It's just not for 300 bucks, in my opinion.
So, maybe just get this. This is pretty awesome to have.
And you can just get, like, another wheel.
Logitech G27, even something kind of cheaper
that feels really nice.
That would be cool to have.
Because really the wheel is just a wheel. There's not much there.
But this? Yeah! I mean, this is pretty useful.
I mean, imagine pairing this with mech games, "Euro Truck Simulator," bus simulations,
whatever, man. Helicopter games. I mean, this is– this is awesome.
Um...
There's way better quality control panels out there,
but, you know, having this little guy right here with the rotating stick is kinda unique, at least,
from most of the ones that I've seen that are in a similar form factor.
Uh, but yeah.
It is what it is. So, maybe if you have a real big interest in this,
might be worth a look.
And if you enjoyed this video and
would maybe like to see some other similar stuff
then I've got lots of it here on LGR.
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