How to tell whether your racing game wheel is analog

Question

I imagine that are two kinds of controller wheels:

1. Good, where there are multiple steering levels (analog)
2. Bad, where is there is just right or left (like a keyboard button)

How can I identify in Windows 7 which kind my steering wheel is?

Answer 1

It's been a while since I've done this, so I may not remember it exactly but try going to "Devices and Printers" from the Control Panel, the right clicking on the controller you are talking about and selecting "Game controller settings" from the menu, then clicking "Properties" on the popup window. Then all you have to do is move your wheel left to right and watch to see how the axes change. If the controller is analog (or at least digital with more than two positions) you should see the pointer or bars move smoothly.

So in summary:

1. Go to the Control Panel
2. Click on "Devices and Printers"
3. Right click on your wheel
4. Select "Game controller settings"
5. Click "Properties"
6. Turn wheel
7. Watch for movement

Answer 2

You could always just ask the manufacturer. That’s probably the easiest, most authoritative answer you’ll get, particularly for less common hardware like this.

Answer 3

Analog game controllers are thing of the past. They connect to gameport, then computer has DSP to read actual position. Modern game controllers have ADC in device.