It’s missing the built-in shifter and faux-carbon of the Driving Force GT, but it does offer force feedback and, of course, the ability to play Gran Turismo unencumbered by realism-killing wires–a first for Logitech. It’ll work with both PS2 and PS3 for US$100. [Product Page]
This top-down Google Maps-based driving simulator is one step closer to our ultimate dream: simulated driving on any street, anywhere, based on data available from Google Maps/Google Earth. Geoquake’s 2D Flash version may be really simple—you only have a choice of four vehicles and there’s no actual collision detection—but it’s got the right idea. When someone can take in street data and feed it into a 3D driving engine so we can simulate a trip to the Grand Canyon without leaving our desks, that’s when we’ll know the future has arrived. [Geoquake]
Logitech’s no stranger to racing wheels, but their latest PlayStation 3 wheel looks even fancier than its predecessors. There’s a 900 degree lock-to-lock turn, which means you can maneuver it much like an actual wheel on your Toyota Corolla when sledding about the tracks of Nurburgring. There’s also a horn, shifter, the standard PS3 controller buttons and measures 11-inches in diameter. Best of all, it’s even backward compatible with Gran Turismo 3 and 4 on the PS2 so you won’t have to wait until April for the PS3 GT5 Prologue. [Logitech via Crunchgear]
newVideoPlayer("toyotasim_gizmodo.flv", 475, 376);A week ago we told you about Toyota’s new driving simulator and now we’ve gotten our hands on some sweet video. Labelled one of the world’s most realistic virtual driving environments, we’d love to load the new Forza into the simulator’s 23-foot dome that moves over 6,000 square feet. Something tells us that Toyota doesn’t share our interest. Or our taste in music. [carscoop] More »
