The first step is to assemble the three units of the gaming / racing wheel together. Mount the steering unit on to your PC table. Keep the pedal on the floor and the gear box to your side. Connect together the units to the gear box using connectors (relim connector or the like). Connect the 15 wire cable with the male DB15 connector attached, to the gameport at the back of your computer. Once the position is set well, we can proceed to configure the steering wheel in Windows.

Open Control Panel in Windows and open the Game Controllers. This brings up the Game Controllers dialog box. Please note that the steps being mentioned varies in different versions of windows. Hence illustrative diagrams are not given.

In the Game Controllers dialog box, click on Add. This brings up the Add Game controller dialog box. Click on Custom. In the dialog box that appears, choose Race Car controller. Choose the Axes as 4 and Buttons as 4. Enter a name of your choice in the Controller Name field and click OK. Now the new controller should be displayed in the previous dialog box. With the new controller selected, click OK.

If the device works fine, the game controller dialog box will display OK beside the controllers name. If anything went wrong, a Not connected status will be displayed for the device. If that is the case, read the section in the yellow box below. If the gaming / racing wheel is working well, click on Properties button, with the device selected. This brings up the Testing and calibration dialog boxes. If the wheel is not centered in the test area, go to Calibrate and follow the instructions to complete calibration.

During calibration, first rotate the wheel in both directions. Before proceeding to the next step, press down the accelerator pedal completely to calibrate it. Now the test pointer should get centered approximately. Then proceed to the next steps and calibrate the other pedals. The Z axis, Throttle, Rudder etc are terms used to designate the remaining axes. Keep in mind that the first X axis is assigned to the steering, first Y axis to the accelerator, second X axis to brake and second Y axis to the clutch.

Note: Since the device is a gameport device, it might need to be calibrated every time you connect it to the computer. Also long hours of play might cause slight changes in calibration. Simply open the Game Controllers from the Control panel and perform calibration when ever needed.

If the device isn't detected: If the device status reads as 'Not Connected', probably some connections might have went wrong. Try adding a new device with fewer axes and see if it gets detected. If reducing the number of axes solves the problem, loose contact is somewhere in the X1, Y1, X2 or Y2 wires. If not, the problem may be in the +5V wires or ground. Perform a thorough check on contacts and joints. Verify the continuity of all wires using a multimeter.

If the pedals doesn't respond even after calibration: The resistance value may be too high or too low. Disconnect the wire from the extreme terminal of the potentiometer and connect it to the other extreme terminal. This should solve the problem. If not, loosen the potentiometer from the plywood base and rotate it to a position near one of its end points and fix it back.

We can only provide a very generalized view on this, since each game is different in configuring the controllers. Which ever be the game, move on to the game's controller configuration section and choose the steering wheel's name from the list (the name you entered in windows game controller dialog). Then use the steps for assigning each axis to the games' unique function. You can assign the horn and hand brake switches to any function of your choice. Some games provide advanced calibration options.

Do keep in mind that most games do not support clutches in a variable axis form. If your game supports it, you can use it. Otherwise simply ignore that pedal.

If during calibration, one axis appears to keep on interrupting other axis assignments, simply depress the troubling axis' pedal slightly and try reassigning the other axes. The problem should have now got resolved.

If when you start the game, the axis seems to act in the reverse direction, look for an option to Reverse the Axis in the game configuration itself. Otherwise try reassigning the axes once more.

Move on to the next page to read on how to implement an H shifting (6 way shifting) in the gear box of the gaming / racing wheel and also for instructions on proper usage of the device.

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