My new controllers arrived! And…I don’t know what to think.
Here is what I ordered:
As you can see, they are brand new/unused. They came with a decal sheet which makes it appear that they probably came from a “Formula Un” set of some kind. I mentioned in my earlier post about controllers that I had purchased these without really knowing how they worked since the price on them was very reasonable and it was the only set I’ve seen, leading me to believe they are hard to find. Well, they probably are hard to find, and there’s probably a reason for that; for it turns out that my assumption (which is exactly what it was) of how the controls worked was wrong; the “wheel” on the side is not a “boost” feature, it is the controller itself, analogous to the trigger on a standard controller; and it is the small trigger that functions as the “boost”…such as it is.
That might be fine if they were structured a little differently, but take a look at these pictures and you tell me: what is the right way to hold and operate these during a race, either with your left or your right hand?
The only way I can see that makes sense is that these are meant to be 2-handed controllers; to hold the handle with the left and operate the “wheel” with the right and hit the trigger with your left finger when needed. That makes sense, but the confusion doesn’t end there…The most confusing-and disappointing-thing about these controllers is that the trigger and the thumbwheel appear to do the same thing; apply the full range of power, yet the trigger has so little travel that it is not useable as a controller; tap it and you’re instantly at full throttle. I believed from what little info I could find that the second control was to add additional power, but it does not appear that that happens; when going hard into the straight with the thumbwheel pushed all the way open and then tapping that trigger, it doesn’t appear to me that any extra power is applied, leaving me again to wonder, what, exactly, is the concept here? Am I just a moron and can’t figure this out? Maybe, but frankly, I see no advantage to the 2 types of controls if they do the same thing and using them together produces no results.
The good part is that they appear to be of superlative quality, very well made, and have a nice feel to them; the rheostat travel is even and smooth and easy to get the right amount of throttle with, and the finish is excellent…but although I don’t hate them, I honestly can’t see myself using these. Oh well…it was worth what I paid for them to try them out, and maybe at some point in the future, something will become clear to me that isn’t now and I’ll have a use for them but, as it is, I think I’m just going back to my regular Aurora/Russkit triggers, since my replacement set for the one I broke on New Year’s Day arrived late last week. They work, and until I find Parma controllers with the exact right resistance, they are the best thing I have.