When it comes to competing with a first party peripheral, there are only two ways you can succeed: You can either offer similar performance at less cost, or better performance (possibly with less cost as well, but that’s not strictly required). Memorex’s Racing Wheel chooses the latter route, using Nintendo’s peripheral as a starting point and improving on it while still costing about the same as most online retailers seem to offer both products for around $10-$15.
Like most other ’Racing Wheels’, this product is actually a plastic shell shaped like a small steering wheel that you set the Wiimote in. I’ll go ahead and say it outright: If you’re an experienced ’core gamer’ that doesn’t need an accessory like this to handle steering controls in Wii games, then this product isn’t for you and that’s fine. Several people do prefer a controller shell as a visualization aid however, and for them Memorex’s take on the concept has some real merit.
Memorex’s shell stands out from Nintendo’s in a few ways. The most important of them is that it has MotionPlus support, done by opening a rear panel on the wheel and placing the MotionPlus within (if yours came within an extended Wiimote jacket, you’ll need to remove that first which is fortunately a reversable process). A sliding hinge on the side panel then hooks into the Wiimote’s expansion port, connecting it to the MotionPlus despite them being in different parts of the wheel. This works surprisingly well, and while there may not be too many MotionPlus compatible racing games at this time, it’s good to see Memorex is essentially offering ’forward-looking compatibility’ here.
Another noteworthy difference is the side panels. While both the Memorex wheel and Nintendo’s wheel use white plastic as their main color, Memorex’s offering has colored side panels, such as red or green. It’s a minor touch, but if you plan to buy multiples for friends and family then this helps individualize them since each one could be a different color.
Beyond this, the Memorex wheel mostly and competently copies Nintendo’s wheel. The Wiimote sits in a cradle slightly elevated from center, with a little window so the Wiimote sensor can point outward. The only real change here is that the lower left and lower right parts of the grip are smaller than they are on Nintendo’s wheel. This wasn’t a problem for me, but I have hands that are on the slightly small side for an adult male; those with larger hands may have a problem while those with even smaller hands may find this to be a better fit than usual.
Ultimately, this racing wheel is like most of its kind; it’s simply a plastic shell that helps players visualize using a steering wheel. Presuming it fits your hands properly, you’ll play as well on this as you would with Nintendo’s wheel and that’s about as good as one can hope for. It bears repeating that if you’re an experienced gamer and don’t need a shell to pretend the Wiimote is some other device, then this product does nothing for you. But if you prefer such visualization aids, then Memorex has managed to make a wheel that is mostly better than Nintendo’s and costs about the same. With that in mind, anyone looking for a racing wheel attachment would do well to check this one out.
