The Ultimate Home Racing Experience

Forza Motorsport 2 is the latest and greatest ultra-realistic racing game on the Xbox 360 (read game review), featuring 310 customizable cars from over 50 of the world's greatest manufacturers (and GM, too). But what's a high-tech racer without the extra gear to take that feeling of speed and danger to a new level? Here's our shortlist for what could create the ultimate racing experience.

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The Feel: Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel ($149.99)

Let's get this straight: wireless is one thing this wheel is not. When using it to its full capacity, you'll have a wire running from the sturdy, faux-leather-wrapped wheel to the pedal unit, and another running to a wall socket. But for all that cable confetti, you gain a superb racing feel: This wheel has motors that make it jolt, hum and kick in response to the forces acting on your on-screen vehicle.

Yup, at $149.99, it's pricey for a controller, but there's no substitute for actually being able to feel exactly what your car is doing. The force feedback in Microsoft's wheel is almost strong enough to wrestle control away from you if you're not expecting it, but still has the subtlety to respond convincingly to subtle high-speed changes in direction. It needs to be clamped to a table for full effect, and the pedals can tend to shift at just the wrong moment, but for real racing fans, this is the only way to roll. If you skip over all the other gadget recommendations in this guide, here's one you just have to test drive.

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The Sights: Westinghouse W4207 ($1559.99)

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Still got your Xbox 360 hooked up to your old standard-def TV set? Forza's spectacular graphics deserve something a little more modern. How about the Westinghouse W4207, a 42-inch 720p LCD set in stores for under a grand? It's the very definition of low-frills (it doesn't even have a tuner for TV viewing) but you don't need that stuff - you'll have no time for TV with your new-found Forza habit.

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The Cockpit: Playseat Racing Chair ($269.99)

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Face it. Your scraggly old couch is never going to be Michael Schumacher material, no matter how many Ferrari stickers you put on it. You need something a little more suited to your new-found status as a Forza driving superstar. Some Forza fans on tight budgets are resorting to buying real car seats from junkyards and welding up a rudimentary frame to support their wheel and pedals, but if that sounds like too much work, the Playseats range offers a mixture of style, authenticity and comfort at a reasonable price.

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The Noise: A new sound system ($500-1,000)

Like all 360 games (and, indeed, all Xbox games, period) Forza Motorsport supports 5.1 channel surround sound. If you're not part of the Dolby generation yet, what's keeping you? How else are you going to know when that Enzo that's been lurking in your blind spot decides to make a move up the inside? Wing mirrors are so 1990. Besides, Forza 2's sound, which reproduces the exhaust notes of its different cars faithfully -- and even modifies the exact tone as you make modifications -- deserves a good system.

Take our advice: Skip the cheesy, underpowered home-theater-in-a-box sets at your local Mega-Lo-Mart and do what the pros do: mix and match your own. Audio is notoriously a matter of personal taste, but some good names to try for buyers looking for quality on a budget include the Onkyo TX-SR504 or Yamaha HTR-5930SL receivers, speakers by Polk or Athena, and a sub from the fine folks at Hsu Research or Velodyne.

One more thing -- do yourself a favor, buy smart, and head for a dealer that'll let you audition the speakers at home, or one that'll take them back if you don't like them.

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The Limo: Virtual Racer X ($2,495-$4,995)

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Let's say, for a moment, you don't have the room or the inclination to buy all those speakers. Let's say, too, that you're looking for the perfect racing experience, and you have somewhere between two and five grand burning a hole in your pocket. Step this way, sir, you've come to the right place. Starting at a cool $2,495, the Virtual Racing X seat has to be the most advanced piece of racing hardware on the planet, featuring a chrome chassis, adjustable wheel mounts, an Italian-made seat and, on the $4,995 Pro version, its own 5.1 surround speaker system and LED light effects. Will that be cash or check?

How are you going to explain this new front room furniture away to your significant other? Crank up the subwoofer, take a drive along a rumble strip, and tell them it's one of those new-fangled massage chairs. Voila, instant kudos, and not in the Project Gotham sense either. Better make the most of it before the credit card bill arrives, buster.

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The Ultimate Experience (~$10,000)

Not excessive enough for you? Forza Motorsport 2 comes with one very special feature tucked away in the Options menu. To cut a short story shorter, it lets you network up to three 360s (each with its own display) and literally surround yourself with screens, each displaying a different view out of your car.

Price? A quick back-of-the-envelope calculation for the ultimate triple-headed setup (three 360s, three copies of the game, three Westinghouse TVs, a "modest" $3000 sound system allowance and a Virtual Racer X seat to top things off) weighs in at about the ten grand mark. Which is probably enough to buy your pick of the bottom-tier Forza cars, lightly used, for real. But where's the fun in that?