HORI HPS-83 ZeroForce Steering Wheel (ステアリングコントローラ ゼロフォース)

[M'cin]

Hi everyone, I obtained a PSX controller from title. Deal is, that I'm interested in gaming history, backstory etc and thus I'm curious about the wheel, how it came to being, how was it advertised, had it any reviews, what's the gamer's opinion about the device etc. And I can't find ANYTHING in the web, not even a Youtube/Niconico video, a blog post, only few auctions and an Wikipedia entry stub with no source provided. I think the reason is a) late release better PS2 controllers were at the time b) overall poor quality aka noone gave a damn about the controller... which is awkward, as HORI has a solid reputation among gamers as a company that releases no duds.

Real question is - do you know anything about the controller? And If not, can you direct me to a place I should look into? I tried finding some Japanese message board, but it seems their internet is formed somehow different than western, message boards are scarce, and whenever i find something its geofenced. Well, I managed to find one site that didn't block me, but it is not gaming-related and noone replied.

And uh, other reason for my research is that my unit has a serious precision problems, to the point it's unplayable, and I'd be grateful if one lets me know if it's just worn off or it is a general problem with that model. I don't even hope for schematics or ifixit-style manual...

 

[mdchachi]

There's a page on Amazon for it but not much detail. It was released over 20 years ago and, as you said, probably the sales were low which might explain the lack of info.

Perplexity AI says the following about it but not sure if its information is correct.
The HORI HPS-83 ZeroForce Steering Wheel (ステアリングコントローラ ゼロフォース) is a steering controller designed for the PlayStation and PlayStation 2. It was released around 2001 and is compatible with games such as the Gran Turismo series and Shutokou Battle (首都高バトル). The product seems to have multiple modes, including digital and analog modes. While it is compatible with both PS1 and PS2, some customer reviews suggest that its practicality may be limited. The price of the product was around 6,578 yen at the time of sale. Unfortunately, detailed technical information about the product is not available in the provided search results.