The first thing you notice about Microsoft’s Xbox 360 Wireless Speed Wheel is the build quality and aesthetics. This is a controller that looks stylish and feels great in your hands. Putting in the batteries is another reminder of the attention to detail that went into the design: press in a little switch and out pops a cover for a compartment that holds two batteries at 90 degrees to each other. This is a bit strange but it works exceptionally well. Everything slots back into place and you wouldn’t even know the battery compartment is there without looking very closely.

The controller works by rotating it similar to the way you use the wheel in Mario Kart Wii. This is different though, the Speed Wheel is obviously designed with driving in mind and its sensors are a lot more fine tuned than the standard Wii Remote. You can also turn the wheel more than 90 degrees to get an even sharper turn, so it feels a lot more like a real steering wheel.

The Speed Wheel impersonates a standard Xbox 360 controller, and each of the functions on the wheel is mapped to standard controls. You hold the controller with two hands – one vertical bar in each, and your index fingers rest on the left and right triggers. Your left thumb can reach the D-pad and your right thumb the A, B, X and Y buttons. In the center is the Xbox Guide button and Start and Back. The only things missing are the bumpers, the analogue stick buttons and the up-down axis of the analogue stick. The wheel supports multiple axes of movement, but in all the driving games I tested only rotation matters, thank goodness.

I tested the wheel with Project Gotham Racing 4, Forza Motorsport 4 and Need for Speed: The Run. The wheel worked correctly in all three games, but I found using the controller for Forza took a lot of getting used to, and even then it was a frustrating experience as well as tiring. Forza needs a lot of tiny correction and this is difficult to do with a wheel you’re holding up yourself without your arms getting tired. I also found changing gears in Forza quite tough, especially when braking at the same time, because braking and pressing down on the D-pad at the same time proved difficult. These problems might be corrected if you devote enough time to getting used to the controller, or if you don’t learn the game with the standard controller first like I did.

However, for Project Gotham Racing 4 and Need for Speed: The Run the wheel was fantastic and easily as accurate as a standard controller, with a whole lot more immersion. I think that for those not good at the very fine little movements often needed for driving games this wheel would work very well because it allows for true analogue steering. The triggers also feel a lot nicer than the Xbox 360 controller triggers, with plenty of travel in them to allow for fine control over acceleration and braking.

The Xbox 360 Wireless Speed Wheel is a fantastic controller for arcade racing, but it becomes a little too much like hard work holding a wheel up in the air for more intense, realistic racing games like Forza Motorsport 4. It’s a good buy if you play a lot of racing games on your Xbox 360 and don’t want to fork out the money for a full racing wheel.

The Xbox 360 Wireless Speed Wheel is available now at retail stores and online for R499.