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eDimensional G-Pad Pro Gyroscopic Gamepad Review

Date Published:
11-02-2006

Written By:
Sludge

Edited By:
Diceman

Provided By:
eDimensional

Where to Buy:
CrazyPC

Discuss Article:
VH Forum link

Pages: 1 2

G-Pad Pro Gyroscopic Gamepad

Testing:

Vibration motor

Blue VRMS LED

VRMS GUI

After installing the drivers for the G-Pad Pro, the first thing I set off to do was check out the settings in the VRMS GUI. There is no one way to set up the controller. The settings I have can be drastically different from what you, the end user, may want.

After setting up the controller, I set out to play 3 different styles of games to get a feel for the G-Pad Pro. The games of choice are MS Flight Sim X to test how the VRMS works in flight, F.E.A.R. to test the FPS aspect of the VRMS, and FlatOut2 to test a driving game with the VRMS. I feel these games should give me an overall understanding of how well the Game Pad Pro will function in different game environments, both with VRMS enabled and disabled.

Test Rig:

ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ 2.4Ghz AM2 Dual Core Processor

2GB PC-6400

2 SATA Hard drives (120gb/250gb)

2 DVD RW's

Results:

Setting up the controller can be time consuming for each game, so be sure to save the profiles as you create them. The first game I played was MS Flight Sim X: a challenging game no matter what controller is used. In VRMS mode, game play was enjoyable and smooth. Tilting the controller back during take off was nice, and banking left and right felt comfortable.

Time for the racing game. Here I played Flatout2, which is a decent racing game with a host of different style tracks and road conditions. When using the Game Pad Pro in VRMS mode, getting used to tilting the controller left and right was tricky. The car was all over the road and it took some time for me get adjusted. I'm sure with some more tweaking of the sensitivity buttons on the controller, time, and patience, the VRMS function could work well.

Now for the FPS side of things. When I set up the controller, I only set the VRMS for turning left and right while keeping the forward and backward on the joystick. Well, to make a long story short, I didn't do well at all. I was all over the place, and had a hard time placing the crosshairs on the target. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm sure this can be done with tweaking of the sensitivity buttons, but I'm not a true believer of that video from the eDimensional site showing this G-Pad Pro being used in a first person shooter game. Any FPS fanatic is going to be using the WSAD keyboard setup, or maybe an addon keypad. At least for games like FEAR and HL2.

Conclusion:

The G-Pad Pro is a slick little controller with its VRMS features. The VRMS functioned well for me with the flight simulator and did OK in the racing game, but with the FPS games it was really lacking even with adjusting the sensitivity buttons. Now, keep in mind this is with VRMS enabled. While using it as a regular controller, it functioned much like any other stick controller. The twelve programmable buttons are nice and plentiful, and the vibrating motors add that special touch. It's also great to have the VRMS option on hand to use at any moment. So you just use the VRMS when it's the right time to use it and you disable it when it's not the right time to use it.

The G-Pad Pro is also a much more compact and portable option then flight sticks and steering wheels. Game pads and controllers, including flight sticks and steering wheels are plentiful in the market today. The hardest sell for companies that make these devices is trying to entice those hard to please, and very picky gamers. I think eDimensional has created something unique enough to garner some attention. As with everything, it's not for everyone, but it's a nice all in one VRMS solution that's quite compact and can also function as a simple gamepad.

I would like to thank CrazyPC for sending out this item for review.

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