I've been wanting to try a wheel for racing games for years, but was never too enthused to actually pull the trigger. Well I guess there's a day for everything.
Shop G923 Racing Wheel. Features next gen force feedback, launch assist control, premium build, RPM indicator, on-wheel controls, progressive brake pedal and more.
www.logitechg.com
Shop Driving Force Shifter for G923/G29/G920 Racing Wheel. Features 6 speed H pattern with reverse gear, steel and leather construction, and durable built in clamps.
www.logitechg.com
Got this pair and will be interested how these work. Only bad thing is I'll need to constantly mount/unmount them from my desk since I don't have the room or money to get one of those racing frames that you can mount these to.
I'll be curious how it feels. I think that at least my ultrawide 38" will prove to be very useful.
I also haven't ever driven a car and don't have a permit, and was never really interested in getting one.
I wonder what the chances are at learning at least the basics of driving on something like this.
With 3 pedals and a manual gear lever, nice! It's good-looking too. You'll see, racing sims are a completely different game with a FFB wheel drive.
I bought a T500 RS long ago. Maybe not the best because of the belt system, which tends to lose grip after a while when you play for more than short sessions, but cheaper than direct drive and doesn't require a special stand (direct drive are real beasts).
I did buy a stand (
Wheelstandpro). It's easy and quick to install, and you don't get vibrations and shocks on your desk all the time, so I highly recommend it. But you'll see how it goes without it; maybe it's fine for you.
Finally, if the 38" proves not to be enough, you should check tracking devices like TrackIR or competitors. It's less often used with racing sims than with flight sims, but I find it more immersive. But yeah, yet more things to buy and more wires to trip over.
Don't expect to learn much about driving a normal car with simulators, even good ones like rFactor 2 or Assetto Corsa. Perhaps you can train somewhat to learn how to use a clutch on a manual transmission, but sims are very race-oriented so most of what you'd use to drive every day isn't there (no turning indicators, no parallel-park exercises, no finding your way in the middle of a traffic jam, ...). Though I remember a game,
City Car Driving I think, which was about driving normally in a city environment, but I never tried and it seems pretty old now (perhaps there are more recent ones - I'm not into that any more).
EDIT: If the question was more a concern about using your device, don't worry. I think you can learn that pretty quickly even if you don't drive IRL.
The FFB is very different from one game to the other, and it usually requires a little time to get used to it and feel what it's telling you. Once you get it, it's hard to go back to a simple pad. It's like playing in 3D for the first time after playing platformers.
Do you have a particular game in mind? The 3 I found great were
rF2,
Assetto Corsa (I started with AC, then ACC when it was released), and
R3E. Before that, I spent some time with Project Cars, but it's not good. I've heard very good things about
Automobolista 2, too. Then there's iRacing, but it's online, requires a subscription, and it's mostly US cars and tracks unless you buy extra packs.