Anyone know about steering wheels/driving 'games'?

[LifeInAHamsterWheel]

Sorry for the vague title! DS (almost 15) is keen to get a steering wheel & pedals so he can 'drive'. He has a PS4. He's not really looking to do F1 type racing, he says he'd love to be free to drive around roads (virtually, of course!) rather than be stuck with a set race trace/course. It doesn't necessarily have to be a PS4 game, but I don't want to have to shell out a small fortune for another console either.

Can anyone recommend something?

Just spoken to my DS, who is a really keen driving gamer. He only knows of 2 games where you can free roam, The Crew and Grand Theft Auto GTA, but you can't use a wheel with GTA.

As for the wheel & pedals, it all depends on your budget.
Have a look on Amazon/Argos, an entry level wheel such as the thrustmaster t80, will cost you around £100-110. These wheels are ok, but they are not brilliant, they are nowhere near as responsive as the more expensive wheels.

Me and my DH have a Logitech G29 wheel, which is currently £199, it's much better than the t80. We are both early 50's and still love driving games.
Which ever wheel you buy I would recommend a stand to bolt it onto, such as the GT omega, which is £110. You can attach them to a table but the stand is miles better, it makes it really solid.

Be aware it can become very expensive, our son started out with the t80 wheel but now he has got a very expensive steering wheel set up, with a full stand including sliding seat and a £500 wheel.

The best driving games in my opinion are Gran Turismo, Project Cars and WRC, but none of these games are free roaming.

@Itsagrandoldteam thank you so much for all that information! I'll talk to DS and see what he thinks about the games you mentioned and the steering wheel options.

I'll second what was said about it can be expensive, I started with a g29 and now have a full rig costing about £2k in my spare room

One of the best games for this would be forza, you can use a wheel for that but it is xbox/PC only.

Thankyou, I might be able to donate a PC to him so that's good to know!

Abysmal be recommend anything similar for an Xbox?

I’m fascinated… for you or your kids?

If he has a PC there are numerous driving simulators he can play: truck simulator, bus, just normal driving ones, etc. that allow you to just drive.

Definitely for me! It's all set up for me and would be a right nightmare to change it all so the kids can use it.

They used my old wheel but that was simpler, this is a more serious rig now and not a "toy" so they are not allowed to use it.

I love it, I do get a lot of usage out of it

Does your wife / partner also have a spare room set aside entirely for her?!

My husband has a racing rig set up in his gaming room (and yes I have a room too - we each have our own office/hobby room). Sometimes DD(3) wants to have a go of driving a bus or lorry, which is quite funny to watch! His is a Thrustmaster wheel I think.

I live alone, so no need :)

My kids have their rooms, I have my room and I have a spare bedroom which is used for a home office/racing room.