- Joined
- Jan 11, 2012
- Location
- North Carolina
I'm not sure if this is being posted in the right section or not, but I am emulating consoles on my computer.
Basically I'm running ePSXe and PCSX2, as well as a less-important SNES emulator, but the main two are the PS1/PS2 emulators. I grew up with the PS1/PS2 through most of my childhood/teens and some of my favorite games were on those consoles. The last console I had before I went PC was a PS2 and I'd occassionally dig it out of the closet to play a few games, alone or with friends/family that I used to play with, just getting our nostalgia on... except there's more beer involved these days.
The trouble is my controllers and console are wearing out, and my game disks have suffered from neglect, whether it's scratches or CD rot, and the ones that haven't become completely unreadable and hopeless have skipping audio and sometimes freeze. It's not working out so good anymore, so I learned about emulators. I've known about them for a year or two now, but never really looked into them until this weekend. I got a couple of my favorite games for PS1 working on ePSXe and I'm stoked.
(I don't believe I've ever used that word before, ever. Ever.) I haven't even flashed the BIOS from my PS2 for PCSX2 yet, but I'll get around to it soon enough. So far the PS1 games look so much better with the plugins available to the emulators, so even if everything isn't perfect, I'm extra happy with the fact that they work and look better than ever! 
But, as can be imagined, using a keyboard to play games intended for console is annoying, if not difficult at times. Plus, I want two-player capability as well. Mostly the games I will be playing are driving/racing games; Gran Turismo 1 through 4, and Twisted Metal 1 through 5 (Black).
First off, I'm still new to emulators so I have no idea if analog functionality is even supported through ePSXe/PCSX2 with Gran Turismo games, but I always told myself that one day I was going to get a steering wheel controller... I never did. Well, now I want one that is analog (I'm kinda assuming they all are due to the nature of driving/racing sims) with steering wheel and pedals, gear shift would be nice but it isn't necessary, and it has to absolutely be compatible with emulated racing games on a PC most likely running Windows, although Linux support would be nice. It looks like all steering wheel controllers are fairly expensive (lowest price I've seen on a sketchy one is ~$40), some more, but I'm wondering if anybody has used this with emulated GT games and what is the best bang/buck.
I may not get a steering wheel just yet, or one at all, but it would be nice.
Otherwise I would just like a couple of analog dual-shock style controllers like I'm used to. The trouble is from reading reviews on most of the ones I can find, not all dual-shock style controllers out there are analog, and not all of them work, or they only work with certain games/emulators and not others... however the Xbox 360 controller for PC seems to have really good reviews for functionality in all scenarios. I'm not sure if it's analog or not though... I would assume so.
If there is a good dual-shock controller that anybody knows of that would definitely work, I would prefer them over an Xbox 360 controller, but I can get used to an Xbox controller if anybody knows if they would definitely work.
Thanks for any advice, I'm hoping somebody here has some experience with emulators and controllers, it would be really helpful before I spend $80 on two Xbox controllers if there's better, and hopefully cheaper, alternatives.
Basically I'm running ePSXe and PCSX2, as well as a less-important SNES emulator, but the main two are the PS1/PS2 emulators. I grew up with the PS1/PS2 through most of my childhood/teens and some of my favorite games were on those consoles. The last console I had before I went PC was a PS2 and I'd occassionally dig it out of the closet to play a few games, alone or with friends/family that I used to play with, just getting our nostalgia on... except there's more beer involved these days.
The trouble is my controllers and console are wearing out, and my game disks have suffered from neglect, whether it's scratches or CD rot, and the ones that haven't become completely unreadable and hopeless have skipping audio and sometimes freeze. It's not working out so good anymore, so I learned about emulators. I've known about them for a year or two now, but never really looked into them until this weekend. I got a couple of my favorite games for PS1 working on ePSXe and I'm stoked.
(I don't believe I've ever used that word before, ever. Ever.) I haven't even flashed the BIOS from my PS2 for PCSX2 yet, but I'll get around to it soon enough. So far the PS1 games look so much better with the plugins available to the emulators, so even if everything isn't perfect, I'm extra happy with the fact that they work and look better than ever! But, as can be imagined, using a keyboard to play games intended for console is annoying, if not difficult at times. Plus, I want two-player capability as well. Mostly the games I will be playing are driving/racing games; Gran Turismo 1 through 4, and Twisted Metal 1 through 5 (Black).
First off, I'm still new to emulators so I have no idea if analog functionality is even supported through ePSXe/PCSX2 with Gran Turismo games, but I always told myself that one day I was going to get a steering wheel controller... I never did. Well, now I want one that is analog (I'm kinda assuming they all are due to the nature of driving/racing sims) with steering wheel and pedals, gear shift would be nice but it isn't necessary, and it has to absolutely be compatible with emulated racing games on a PC most likely running Windows, although Linux support would be nice.
It looks like all steering wheel controllers are fairly expensive (lowest price I've seen on a sketchy one is ~$40), some more, but I'm wondering if anybody has used this with emulated GT games and what is the best bang/buck.I may not get a steering wheel just yet, or one at all, but it would be nice.
Otherwise I would just like a couple of analog dual-shock style controllers like I'm used to. The trouble is from reading reviews on most of the ones I can find, not all dual-shock style controllers out there are analog, and not all of them work, or they only work with certain games/emulators and not others... however the Xbox 360 controller for PC seems to have really good reviews for functionality in all scenarios. I'm not sure if it's analog or not though... I would assume so.
If there is a good dual-shock controller that anybody knows of that would definitely work, I would prefer them over an Xbox 360 controller, but I can get used to an Xbox controller if anybody knows if they would definitely work.
Thanks for any advice, I'm hoping somebody here has some experience with emulators and controllers, it would be really helpful before I spend $80 on two Xbox controllers if there's better, and hopefully cheaper, alternatives.
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