I'm sorry to post this here but I'm hoping to get a quick (and mature) answer to a question about DiRT 2 on the PC. After not finding a specific "steering wheel" option in the Controls section, I finally tried just manually remapping the steer left/right etc. by wiggling my wheel and brakes etc and that's got the wheel/brakes fully working. But my problem is... to attach the wheel to my desk I have to push my keyboard out of the way (it disappears into a drawer under my monitor) where I can't reach it while the wheel is attached!

So the question is... is there any way to "control" the game totally from the steering wheel by mapping more of its buttons? If so, where do I do that? For example, to start the game it appears I have to hit the ENTER key on the keyboard, to navigate between options I have to use the LEFT/RIGHT keyboard arrows, and to pause or backout of a menu I have to hit ESC. I can't reach any of those keys... can I map them to buttons on the wheel?

It's a cheapo wheel (Thrustmaster Ferrari GT Experience $39) but it has lots of buttons I'm not using, including a D-pad and SELECt/START/HOME buttons. But those keys don't do anything, and I don't know where to "map" them. Anybody know if I can use them as proxies for the ENTER/ARROW/ESC keys? Thanks!

Well the dpad should show up as an option in the game controller layout in control panel. I suspect you would have to manually map each option in the game which is pretty crap but not that different than what you have to do with a joystick in many games.

Out of curiosity, does that wheel have force feedback? I was thinking of getting one for gran turismo 5 until I found a source for the logitech driving force GT but I could never find a source that said it had it

Easy answer = Yes.

How, read here
http://community.codemasters.com/forum/grid-tech-support-1020/287305-quick-fix-any-gamepad-game.html

Works for all games that only look for the x360 original pad - so not just dirt 1 and dirt 2 - but also many many many others.

Sidenote: I am not actually sure it works for *wheels* as well.... but theres no reason why it shouldn't... but your mileage may vary

AA, no it doesn't have force. It does have rumble though, FWIW. I got it right before Christmas at CostCo for $39. Pedals, wheel, 2 paddles, 4 thumb buttons (L1, L2, R1, R2), D-pad, 4 PS3 action buttons in the traditional diamond pattern, and 3 system buttons (select, start, home). It has a switch on the "dash" for PS3 or PC, and the attached cord has both a PS3 and a USB connector.

eRe4s3r, thanks for the link! Thankfully when I went back into the game tonight I noticed a setting in OPTIONS I'd missed before, called 'Choose PRESET". In this menu was an option specifically for the wheel (FGT RUMBLE 3-in-1) and amazingly this setup the D-pad and diamond buttons to enter/exit/navigate the menus. The assignements are a little wonky, but after a little experimentation I can do everything without touching the keyboard.

Ahh cool, cheers for that. Glad I waited to get the DFGT then, the thrustmaster sounds like it'd not have had the same impact that the DFGT has had on me.

How do you mean the wheel has a PS3 and a USB connector though? The PS3 uses USB

Yeah, I guess you're right. It must be a PS2 connector... flat, wide, plasticy with a rounded corner.