Thrustmaster Enzo Ferrari Force Feedback Wheel Review

Thrustmaster has tried hard to reproduce the world-famous Enzo Ferrari steering wheel for PC racers. Aesthetically, it has succeeded at creating a model worthy of the Ferrari tradition. However, once you’re behind the wheel, the experience feels more like it’s from a kit car than a sports car costing more then half a million bucks.

Any racing-sim enthusiast will tell you a wheel’s clamping system and pedals make all the difference, especially when driving the intense Daytona 500 in Papyrus’ NASCAR sim. The Enzo Ferrari’s clamping system well made – it keeps the steering wheel secure to the bench even when you’re whipping around the hairpin turns. The same cannot be said of the ultra small Mini Cooper quality pedal setup. Undersized and lightweight, the pedal platform constantly slips during aggressive racing, while the pedal’s spring mechanism feels rigid and lacks pedal flow.

Thrustmaster’s force feedback implementation proved smooth and responsive during a tour on the NASCAR circuit. But after moving from the track to the street in Need for Speed Underground, the force feedback effects became jerky and overbearing even after recalibrating the wheel, a process that proved problematic. During force feedback driver calibration, both the gas pedal and button accelerator fought for control, eventually crashing the system numerous times. Disabling force feedback altogether fixed the problem.

The Enzo Ferrari’s layout offers lods of buttons for a customized racing experience. With an eight-way D-pad, nine action buttons, gas and brake controls, and a pair of wheel-mounted gearshift levers, you won’t have to peck at your keyboard during the race. At $80, this wheel is priced to move – but that doesn’t mean you should be moving it to your PC.