Hi.

I came across the DVD for this game while clearing up the house, and decided to try it again. So, after some problems getting it to install (EA really need to test their software before releasing it), I got it running and came across the same problem I had last year, which is why I removed it in the first place.

The car constantly pulls to the right when controlled with the keyboard. It makes the game much more difficult than necessary, and very irritating. I have tried it with a wheel, and it was completely unusable. EA don't seem to understand analog input devices at all. The pull-to-the-right issue came about after that, I think, and I can't get rid of it, even after deleting and recreating all the profiles and reinstalling the game. Any ideas, anyone, or do I just uninstall it again and sell it on ebay as a waste of time?

pca

I used to have no problems with need for speed most wanted and a steering wheel. It sounds like your steering wheel is not calibrated or something. Have you tried with the keyboard with the wheel unplugged from the usb (not just the power, my Driving force pro still steers without power, but no force feedback)
Logitech has some tools for calibrating here, don't know about other wheels: http://wingmanteam.com/latest_software/gadgets.htm

Edit: Oh, and for a proper physics engine, why not try: http://www.lfs.net/ (There is support built in for head trackers, so maybe you can use your helmet for racing)

I had trouble configuring NFS:Underground and NFS:Most Wanted exactly the way I wanted them with my preferred analog joystick, (had to reverse-engineer and hand-edit the binary config file for Underground, in fact), but it was worth the trouble. Those were two of the most fun games I've ever played.

Our difficulty getting certain controls to work with those particular games is not unusual, from what I understand. I know know why the controller input configuration on the NFS games is significantly worse than other games, but it is. Ah well.

Instead of a wheel controller or a keyboard, try a plain old analog gaming joystick. One of the ones with thumb controls, like the ones for playstations and xboxes and such. That's the way those games were meant to be played anyway.

I've been using a Nintendo Gamecube controller plugged into a USB port adapter, and aside from the configuration issues I've described, it's been really great for arcade-y games like that. I assume other joysticks of that general type would work similarly.

Regarding the "always drift to the right" keyboard steering, is it because mouse steering is turned on and your mouse is drifting? In any case, don't bother trying to play with keyboard steering, that's just no fun.

I love that game! Played it with no controller issues with an Xbox gamepad and the XBCD Windows driver. Just thinking about it makes me want to install it again and go for a drive