To all people arguing about the "innacuracy" of this test, you are missing some points of the video. 1- This test *isn't* only about the absolute performance of both steering wheel and controller. 2- This test wants to show the *ease of driving* of both supports *in few laps*, so which one is the best to drive. 3- I have 20 years of experience with controller and 5 with steering wheel. Just in the 1st case I was faster with controller, but it's just a particular case. In the other examples I was faster with steering wheel: that proves even if I have more experience with controller, the car is easier to drive (and faster) with steering wheel. 4- I think there should be a mutual respect between pad drivers and steering wheel drivers. Just because someone prefers to play racing games with pad, doesn't mean he's a "noob". Of course, racing sims, are meant to be played with steering wheels because they want to simulate the reality. But for some people, the steering wheel represents an important investment that they can't afford for economic reasons. This is the main reason why I called this video "the (in)famous battle". 5- I like critics, since they help me to make better videos for your entertainment, but please: don't be that superficial on analyzing this test. Thank you for your comprehension.

i cant go back to a pad. its just 100% more fun with a wheel.

Yeh i can confirm, bought a wheel recently and i've won almost all the Mario Kart championships.

1:16 I did practice laps in order to get used to the braking zones. 1:29 *overshoots braking by a mile*

Keyboard gamers - hold my beer

The reason I bought the G29 was to improve my laptimes and have a better experience while playing. Actually I wasn't able to beat all my laptimes with the wheel, but it feels way better. I can feel the handling of the car now. And for the first time I can handle cars like the Red Bull Prototype from GT6 for example. I couldn't controll them with the pad. PS: I really like your videos, viperconcept. I've seen your footwork on an other video. Could you explain in a video what you are doing there and what it's for?

With a wheel you can hold a racing line way more easily and you don't accidentally bump into other Cars because of constant corrections on a stick. It's a lot more natural movement.

Realism is the key they say... So that's why I drive with my keyboard.

I guess the price of a wheel is what keeps some people from getting one.....it is in my case

i don't think anyone prefers a pad over a wheel. it's just that some people can't afford a wheel

If you want to compare A to B you need more data. Do 100 laps with PAD with the same car on the same track, then another 100 laps with Wheel. Take the average of both and then you can have a somewhat decent comparison. What you did is completely pointless since it's normal to have a difference in lap times from one lap to the next. But bottomline is, if you're an expert with playing with a PAD and also an expert with a Wheel, the wheel will beat the PAD. But if you compare 1 player with wheel and a second player with PAD, there's no way to tell if their time difference is due to what device they are using or if simply player A is better than B, so again pointless.

Personally I’ve only had a wheel for 2 days now. I’m faster with a controller but I’m having way more fun on the wheel

Like many, I've used both, for years at a time, and I can say, unequivocably, that the combination of wheel with paddle shifter and pedals, increased my lap times considerably, at times as much as 10%. The difference was that more precisely graduated handling gave me a more accurately controlled turn and let me ride the proper apexes much easier, tire wear was massively reduced because I wasn't jogging the stick, the paddle shifter was faster than the stick with zero mis-shifts, and I was always in the correct power band with the manual transmission for maximum acceleration exactly when and where I needed it. Maybe some people do better with controllers, but when it comes to performance, for me, the winner is the wheel and pedals.

Steering wheel is better because you can drink coffee during a race!

When you have tried steering wheels, you will never come back to pad. There is no big différences in terms of speed and control, but a steering is way more immersive.

Pad: simpler Wheel: more control and realism Take whatever you prefer, if you think you'll win with more control go for it.

Steering wheel, gimme the steering wheel, come on, move....

The best is keyboard

once you played with a wheel, you never want to play with a pad again

now ultimate test without any driving aids

the thing about using a wheel is that its easier to follow the racing line as it offers much more precise control over the vehicle, whereas a controller, you have to make very small inputs which is difficult enough. However it is also made worse by the size of ones hands, dexterity in their fingers or even the controller vibration.

p.s a lot depends on your setting... a powerful car and no traction control and abs will hurt when doing it with a pad and steering is smoother then because of the better control of the throttle

Top professionals use keyboard

And here i am playing dirt rally 2 with keyboard

1.) you were faster with the wheel in all 4 races, you just ran off the track in the first one 2.) car control is a considerable advantage in racing. The easier a car is to control the faster you can go. Nutshell: I agree that you can beat a steering wheel gamer on a pad because I’ve done it. But the advantage IS clearly steering wheel because you have better car control not because of a clutch or shifter, you were still faster in the first race with the sequential gearbox w/ auto clutch. It’s all on car control, the wheel gives you better feel and control as opposed to an analog stick. That’s kinda why they made racing wheels. Not just so you could feel like you’re in a real race car

When I drive with ped, my car spins like a Fidget Spinner ...

I use a pad. not gonna defend it in any way I'm just poor as shit

The thing with controller Vs wheel on most sims is that a wheel allows you to take off all the assists and still have a super easy learning curve because the openness of the wheel means that you don't have to move in micro movements to make the same adjustments you would have to make on a joystick.. and the pressure on the brakes have a lot more give than triggers on a controlller.. So the room for error is much bigger on a wheel than it is on a controller if you turn all assists off... and you usually find that racing on a controller with all assists off is just so ridiculous that 99% of the playerbase cannot do it, whereas any clown can go fast with assists off on a wheel. So wheels end up being 4 seconds a lap faster than the majority of controller users, because the majority of controller guys are still racing with assists on due to the ridiculous difficulty of using a controller with assists off.

It is very important to be able to say that you have your own steering wheel and know how to handle it well, not just having tried it a few days. This is because the steering wheel mainly conveys unique sensations, and the pad does not. In terms of times I think they are the same, even playing with the keyboard in many games gives equal times. But what really makes a difference are the sensations.

I qualified for GT Academy in 2014, using the gamepad. On the final day of qualifying......i thought i'd give the wheel a shot, at my cousins place. I ended up being 1.5 secs slower. But in 2015.....i got myself an entry level DFGT wheel and with some getting used to......i was able to destroy every gamepad lap record i had set on GT6. Not only did i qualify for the GT Academy nationals that year, but also made it to Race Camp (Silverstone). A few things that i noticed along the way, was that the different between the pad and the wheel depends on the kind of car you choose and the number of driving assists that are enabled. U might not notice a huge difference when driving an R35 on Racing Softs, with all assists enabled.......but switch to a RUF BTR 86 on Sports Hard, with everything disabled and you will realise the potential of a wheel. Gamepads can be competitive......but only under certain conditions.

Steering wheel is better for people who know how to drive a car.

A wheel will always be faster. Your steering input can be much more gradual and smooth allowing to better choose your line and better control the car's weight transfer. The Clio lap was just a question of getting used to the car and setting up your sensitivities to match the Clio's driving style. Fortunately the general level of play in Project Cars online racing is not high enough to let the difference be substantial, from personal experience I can say that a pad is a perfectly reasonable alternative.

i think the main diference is that with the whell the driver could be constante,setting lap times almost identical every lap...and also less tire wear than the pad! and when the tires are in bad conditions with the whell its more easy to fell and control the car,thanks to the force feedback... so,this combo wins races...a pad could do same good laps,with short races,with good tires,but in medium range races or up,the whell destroys! ive experienced that in gt6 for example!

If a pad coms even remotely close to a steering wheel that can only mean there is a flaw in the physics engine.

this is so inacurate! clearly you cant compare the 2 as the car on the right is blacker and absorbs more light

The difference is the length of travel between a wheel and a pad. On a pad one has around 90 degrees of travel not incl in game steering ratio. On a wheel one has up to 900, again, not including in game steering ratio. Rule of thumb here is - at high speeds you don't want small inputs to have big consequences. But it's your choice. My opinion is - If the pad was that good, they'd be using it in the real world. There is a reason why we use the wheel.

The summary of the video is that wheel supposes to make you feel more realistic but not necessarily faster.

I can't afford to get a wheel. It's just not my priority, there are other things I need to buy/pay for. I know people take sim racing very seriously, but it's just a videogame to me and I treat it as such. So yeah, pad is more than enough for me to have fun.

The steering wheel is only superior when you blast EURO BEAT

one thing the wheel adds is a higher level of immersion, like playing a shooting game with a controller or a gun, bot fun but one feels more real. anyway good vid

Steering wheel just makes the driving more immersive and fun. Keeps you playing longer other than a controller

Wheel would have won the first one as well, but you decided to overdrive just about every corner... Really an inaccurate test since some of the cars were over driven A LOT!!! Get two clean laps and then we will talk

Obviously a wheel is always better for driving. End of discussion.

Arrow keys for maximum immersion and response time. 4 buttons and 1 hand is all you need for the ultimate driving experience.

now use keyboard and cry

ThE CoLoR MaDe It FaStEr

1:28 "Surplisingly" viperconcept chinese confirmed

Legend use keyboard to play racing games

With practice the wheel is much better. You have a half inch of thumb stick on a controller. The wheel is much more precise allowing far greater consistency in lap times. There really is no comparison. Plus, the wheel gives you feedback on what the the car is doing as far as traction and suspension wise.

I think it's clear to anyone with a working brain that with enough practice playing with a pad can match performance of playing with a wheel. The difference is in the amount of practice needed, with a wheel (especially if you drive IRL) you can jump in an unfamiliar vehicle after just a few minutes of practice whereas with a pad you'll need to practice much longer to get that smooth control that you need if you want to go fast. The biggest thing is that a wheel allows much more precise and consistent control. So in longer races drivers that are using pads will gradually fall back or crash out - because it's easier to make a mistake when your lock-to-lock travel is an inch instead of 14+inches, all those tiny millisecond delays and mistakes add up eventually. If you just want to occasionally race around with some friends a pad will do fine, it's when you're looking for a higher level of performance or realism that you will need a wheel.

The cars in this game sound like someone is taking a crap in the blender.

The best comparison would be to run an actual race with each controller. Time trials are fine but you're the only car on the track. Put 30 other cars on the track with you and it totally changes the dynamics and I think the wheel will prove superior.

I just play with controller cause the wheel is too expensive

In all cases except the Bentley, with the wheel you seemed better able to stay on top of the car when it started fighting you, meaning you were better able to approach its limits and recover from mistakes. Pad driver was more cautious.

It depends by the game and by the car. I bet on Need for Speed you can drive even with a dance pad.

Nah, gotta use the ol'good keyboard. I've completed almost the whole Karting series with it

Kimi raikolen be like "steering Wheel steering Wheel"

The 1k people that dislike this don't have a race wheel

I've absolutely destoryed racing wheel users on many games with my assists turned off. I think it's down to personal preference more than anything. I have better control over my entire car using a controller.

RWD high power cars are nearly impossible to control with the pad.

And keyboard + mouse seems to be a hybrid between the two

Steering wheel,gimme the steering wheel,somebody...hey!steering wheel somebody tell him give me the steering wheel!HEY!!!

The reward from a wheel is so much greater whether you are slow or fast with it as it brings you closer to the real deal. Thanks for video

The only occasion the pad was faster was when you overcooked a corner. So in fact the wheel is better in all cases.

People say the pad is better than wheel cuz they can't afford a wheel. In conclusion the wheel is highly expensive, but the pad or controller is good to start with. Boom, there u go.

the steering wheel is always going to be better than the controller because of one reason you can drive a lot smoother and a lot cleaner which allows you to get faster lap times simple

If a gamepad was better than a steering wheel, why wont race cars in real life use those instead? I prefer the steering wheel.

Paddle is often more easy to use, but with a good experience you do better with a wheel.

I use a 8-bit NES Zapper with helmet piercing bullets. I never finish any race but neither does my competitors.

For me its more about what is more fun. Wheel is way more fun.

I only use a gamepad because I'm too poor to buy a wheel lol.

Smooth=Fast Wheel=Smooth I've played racing games all my life with gamepads. I KNOW that the sticks get flicked to make turns. Long sweepers are a bitch. The only way to negate this flicking tendency is to have greater micro-movement control of the sticks {{less sensitivity or a taller stick}}, practice, or get a wheel.

A pad or a wheel is just a input device. The driver has to create the inputs. I would say whatever device you as a driver are more comfortable with will be faster for you.

Its always going to be personal preference. I've always used a controller until April when I bought a G29. I'm definitely MUCH better on the wheel, and faster than I was with the controller, but it depends on the game, too. I don't think anyone should bother with comparisons, try both and see what works for you.

It very much depends on the game. Set aside the gearshift, which is a separate issue. If the game is an actual simulator, and thus simulates the contact of the wheels with the ground, the steering wheel has to be faster, because any jerky movements caused by usage of a pad of keys should slow the car down. Now, some games (notably GT, Forza) will smooth out the jerky action for you, because they value common gamer's satisfaction more than realism, so the issue becomes much more complex there.

A wheel provides greater immersion, especially when coupled with VR, but I think a skilled pad user can compete just as well but it won't 'feel' like you are driving, it will feel more like a game. If you enjoy a pad then fine, if you want ultimate immersion use a wheel. I like using the steam controller's giro and VR, it's good enough!

Pad turning looks unnatural and jittery.... Not smooth at all. It doesn't look fun.

Arcade: pad, sim: Steering wheel

With a Pad is more easy but with wheel is more realistic...thats the reason for playing with wheel

its easier to learn pad, but if you master the wheel,there's nothing stopping you.

The joystick is the clear winner. It cost far less and you get similar lap times without getting tired. I personally think that people who buy a racing wheel (like me) don't simply want to race, they want the satisfaction to feel the car, to have an immersive experience.

But a steering wheel does make a lot of fun.

looks so much smoother with the wheel. that and probably a more entertaing experience

Believe it or not, steering wheel is smoother then pads

Why this music from horror films? :-)

driving with the stearing wheel looks smoother than the pad , but a proper wheel setup costs a lot, so i guess i'll just go play nfs on my keyboard

Some people have better pad control. So I can't say the steering wheel test works for everyone.

This is a no brainer. If you are playing a sim the wheel will always be superior. If it wasn't superior manufacturers would check steering wheels out of cars and just have you plug in a control pad every time you sat down in your car. A game like Need For Speed or Asphalt thats geared towards the arcade is a different story.

I have never really played racing video games with a steering wheel (maybe once when I was a child.) But I'd assume that a steering wheel would really be easier (and more fun) to play with simply because it gives you the feel of driving an actual car.

Pads have auto steering correction added to them in most games.

I don't think it's easier to drive with a steering wheel, it's just way more fun!

I’d recommend you use the thumb sticks when you drive. For me personally, I use (on PS4) L3 to steer and L4 to accelerate/decelerate. Shifting, I use L2/R2 to shift. Using the thumb sticks makes it easier for you to fine tune your steering (maybe not as much as a wheel) and the same for acceleration/deceleration.

In order to make test results more accurate, do at least 5 laps on each around the same track with the same car and the same setup. Show the best of those 5 and then the average of these 5 and then you are left with results best laptime (avg laptime)

I can't afford wheel,so I'll play games with my 4$ keyboard

weel wins because it's more fun

I'm an old fart and new to gaming consoles but I can tell that the future is VR. That means the subject motion has to be as smooth and linear as it can be to avoid motion sickness. Those jerky movements of the pad will be magnified on VR and will be problematic.

I heard someone complain about the lack of mouse steering support in the early access of Assetto Corsa Competizione. Mouse. Steering. Why does no one talk about that?

while here i am using the arrow keys in my keyoard.. :3

I started using wheel about 3 years ago and since then i have totally forgotten how to play with the pad. It's so fun to drive in ams

Great video! And by reading your comments i like your mind set even more :) Thanks for taking the time to do it.. Finally some solid info