| Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel | |
| Manufacturer: | Microsoft |
| Type: | Steering wheel controller |
| Generation: | Seventh generation |
| Power: | Standard Xbox 360 controller battery (2 AA battery)
|
| Connectivity: | Wireless (2.4 GHz) |
The Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel was developed by Microsoft for the Xbox 360 and was introduced at E3 2006. Released in November 2006, the force feedback steering wheel controller includes the standard gamepad buttons along with floor-mounted accelerator and brake pedals. Although the wheel is capable of running truly wirelessly from a standard Xbox 360 battery pack (rechargeable or two AA batteries), use of the force feedback and active resistance features requires an external AC adapter.[1]
The original limited edition of the force feedback wheel included a force-feedback capable version of the racing game Project Gotham Racing 3. This was discontinued in November 2007 when the price of the wheel was dropped to $99.
The wheel was developed in conjunction with the video game Forza Motorsport 2.
The following games are "fully supported" with force feedback for Xbox 360:
† Bundled Xbox 360 race game.
The following games are supported on Windows Vista x64. This does not include force feedback- steering and rumble only:
The following original Xbox games are supported. This does not include force feedback- steering and rumble only: Xbox 360 backward compatibility:
On August 22, 2007 an announcement on the official Xbox website stated that Microsoft will retrofit for free all the Wireless Racing Wheels that were manufactured during 2006 and 2007. This is due to a component in the wheel chassis that in rare cases may overheat and release smoke when the AC/DC power supply is used to power up the wheel.[3]
According to Microsoft the retrofit of the Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel is only required on products with SKU numbers 9Z1-00001, 9Z1-00002, 9Z1-00003, 9Z1-00004, 9Z1-00009, 9Z1-00011, 9Z1-00012, 9Z1-00013, 9Z1-00017, 9Z1-00018 and Wheel part numbers X809211-001, X809211-002, X809211-003, X809211-004, X809211-005.
The SKU number can be found on a label on the bottom side of the retail carton and the Wheel part numbers are found on a label on the bottom side of the dashboard assembly. Any SKU or Wheel not included in this list will not require the retrofit.[4]
The Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel was discontinued in 2007 when the price of the wheel was dropped to $99. It no longer seemed to be supplied to stores, and Microsoft had removed mention of it from the official Xbox web site.
The successor, the Microsoft Xbox 360 Wireless Speed Wheel was released on September 26, 2011.[5]