Buying A Logitech G27 Steering Wheel In 2023

My review for the Logitech G27 Steering Wheel

Episode Contents:
In this video I will discuss the G27 Wheel at a glance, then I will deep dive into it's gaming performance and known issues.

I was able to upgrade my wheel and improve a few things so I hope you enjoy that.

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro
0:30 Sim Racing At A Value
3:01 In Game Experience
5:00 Known Issues & Fixes
6:10 Teardown
11:09 Should You Buy The G27?
11:55 Outro

Weedragon ☮

[SamBeast]

As someone who bought a G27 in 2022, I appreciated this a lot! Sounds like I have some goodies to order. Looking forward to future videos!

[zeusmid]

Did not expect this to be so well informed and easy to watch. Thanks.

[DJSPYROOF]

Bought my G27 new in 2010 for €210, - and used it almost daily since then. Never had any issues. I also ran a programm about 2 years ago that automaticly calibrated the steering wheel to reoptimize everything after all those years and make it more precise again. (Not the stock g27 logitech profiler). It runs a programm and your wheel will turn and test things for a few minutes. After that my wheel was noticably more accurate in assetto corsa. Still works great!

I Also tried my friends G920 and the G27 feels better imo. I also just read somewhere that the g27 has stronger FFB or something so that makes sense

[JayJay-jvwd]

One of the best product reviews i have ever seen. Thank you for all the information🙏

[jochenpunie]

The knobs are probably not broken or stuck. They are supposed to stay down, so they aren't in the way. Turning them a bit will allow the spring to push up the knob allowing the user to rotate it manually.

[ArcitecAudio]

Its great that you took it apart and literally made the design better!

[GeoffreyBronson]

I treasure my G27, it's lovely piece of kit.

[SumRndom]

Thanks for sharing, ive bought a g25 and g27 with the purpose of sticking it into an old dual arcade racer cabinet. Im removing the casing and thanks to you will also mount some fans. These older wheel are compatible with older consoles

[kc]

I currently have an MIA G27. The first thing that broke was the reverse gear selector switch, where you press down on the shifter. I managed to reconfigure my controls in Grand Prix Legends and Euro/American Truck Sims to select reverse using a button. But then I started to get the alignment problem. Everything is aligned ok on the grid, but after only a couple of laps, I'm having to turn the wheel about 45 degrees to the left to get the car to go straight. It happens even faster if I'm using force-feedback and bumping the car/truck over kerbs.
But after watching this video, I might try getting myself some Hex/Allen Keys and opening up the case to find the encoder wheel. Hopefully, like you, I can find a way to stop it spinning on the shaft.
Thanks for the inspiration! 👍
EDIT: I've just tried to find the follow-up video that you said you were going to make, with more details about your repairs, tools, materials etc, but I can't find it. Did you smoke a blunt and forget all about it? If so, that's why I don't like drugs! 😂

[buxycat]

Thank you so much for this.

I bought my G27 new maybe 10 years ago, for my PS3, but not used the wheel in over five years. I bought a gaming PC some years ago, with plans to upgrade to Fanatec gear. Fanatec stopped selling what I wanted and my interest in driving games stopped. Spotted a G29 on Amazon sale (not much of a saving really), which lead me to research if it was worth me buying.

I had no idea about the over heating issues, or the fake air vents, or the encoder wheel issue of the G27. From what I've read on a quick Google search of G27 v G29, there are the same inside, so the G29 will logically have the same issues.

I do know that the wheel clamps are a pain on my thighs and just get in my way as my wheel is bolted to a stand. I have seen a video on how to remove the clamps, which I didn't want to do when the wheel was under warranty, then I got kind of scared of breaking the wiring, taking the wheel apart to remove the clamps.

I would never have thought to replace the grease. I would never have thought to open the vents up. I would never have had the genius idea to use RC motor heat sinks.

You have inspired me to stick with my G27, . I have subscribed and will look forwards to your other videos on the G27.

[Acecool]

You can push those spring-loaded knobs down and turn slight right to lock them out of the way. If they are getting stuck you need to clean them out.

[scgmike]

Mine cost $180 Canadian for the whole kit.
I played 1000 hours. I paid 18 cents/hour to sim-race. That is less than 3% of most people's payroll. Worth it to sim race.

[Zipdrive]

The clamp locking screws can be locked into a lower position once you've tightened the wheel base and shifter to your desk/rig. Just twist and push down on them.

[Yankijs]

My suggestion for the encoder - buy a brass encoder instead of gluing the same plastic till it breaks again. Change it to a brass encoder and you will Never have the alignment problem ever again.

[SianaGearz]

This is quite a spectacular guy. The placement of the encoder on the back of the motor shaft is plain bad though, they should have found some spot for it away from direct heat source.

The reason it cracks is that this is polyamide (the family of plastics that Nylon belongs to) and the way it's made, it comes out of the mould undersized and brittle; then they bag it with water and condition it to absorb about 4% of its weight and volume in moisture, maybe a little more, it not only becomes super tough ans supple, it also expands in size. It's then easily applied to the shaft, and then en route to you, silica gel in the package absorbs whatever excess moisture comes out and it shrinks right on and it's solid, it won't fail for a while. This way it's good for 10-30 years of life in most mechanisms.

But the problem is you need to avoid excess heat, as it drives the moisture out of the plastic, and as it shrinks and becomes more brittle, the force of the metal shaft pressing outwards on it is guaranteed going to break it. It's not the centrifugal force, that's basically nothing. It has some ability to regenerate because it's strongly hygroscopic, but it's limited. Of course that shaft is going to be quite warm in use, you see the problem. Also you're gradually pushing up against the design life of that now well aged plastic piece, and some climates are more brutal to it than others. The reason it broke was that it had to be already on the brink of failure due to moisture loss.

It can be reconditioned by the same way it was done at a factory, but when it's cracked it's too late and polyamides can't be permanently glued (low surface energy, it rejects foreign chemicals), and solvents that can weld it are restricted in availability. It's better to get a replacement encoder anyway, aftermarket ones are either metal or made from resins that don't share this failure mode, they should all be fine long term.

[mrchilled]

great video i did pickup a g27 that was not working for £50 and turned out it was the encoder was cracked looked on ebay and got a stainless steel encoder that fits and working great now so got a full working setup for £72 that works out around $80 usd

[MrLdemo]

Thank you for the video. In Sweden, these cost no more than $80. In addition to the heat sink, if you don't mind the appearance, you can drill/cut a larger hole in the base and install a small fan to pull all hot air out.

[imgrumpy]

Great video. I had a thrustmaster tx until it broke over a year ago. So went back to my trusty logitech dfgt and I'm still using it. Might upgrade to one of these some day!

[simon_]

I bought and fixed one a few weeks ago(calibration problem)
and I've ordered the same heat sinks, some smaller ones for mosfet chips and a 24v computer fan to hook up to the power plug
The fan will turn whenever the power is plugged in and it might have to be glued to the upper shell but other than that it's probably fine

[LTNGStrike]

get this man to a thousand subscribers