When buying a new joystick do you feel that the software should play a big part in the decision?
I am still entangled in an excruciating decision process. I just do not know what to buy. At the moment I am torn between two very different beasts the CH fighterstick + throttle and the Saitek X55 Rhino HOTAS.
Overwhelmingly yes. I think it's one of the most overlooked but most important aspects. The majority of games more than a few years deal with peripherals in a very simplistic fashion. It's very common to only accept one device, to no allow axis rebindings and so on. CH control manager and Thrustmaster TARGET both allow pretty much anything to be done if you're willing to work out how. Other brands however are very limited, and you're very much at the mercy of the game as to whether you can re-assign axes, or even use all axes. I'd say if you're going to use pedals, you should overwhelmingly consider thrustmaster or CH.
It's not just adaptability; controller functionality is much improved. CH for instance allows me (listing off a few things that I've used recently) to have just about as many 'modes' as you like (essentially each button does up to 5 things on my set, this can be changed to taste), mapping buttons (wsad) to axes, timed macros on keypresses, adjusted functionality for hold rather than click button. You don't realise quite how important or powerful a tool it is until you have it!
Basically, if you use pedals, or if you play a lot of old games, I'd strongly advise TM or CH.
