HORI PlayStation 3 Flight Stick 3

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $149.99
Sale Price: $128.29
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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program As an avid gamer I'm always in the market for new and quality gaming accessories for my PlayStation 3. Over the years I've owned countless joysticks, headsets, driving wheels and other peripherals for both PC and consoles. Manufacturers are always developing new gadgets for us gamer-types to throw our money at and HORI is no exception. As I always enjoy testing out new gaming devices here are my thoughts on the HORI PlayStation 3 Flight Stick 3;

Pros

+ Buttons are fully programmable with 3 presets to save.

+ Extremely realistic and sturdy HOTAS (Hands-On Throttle & Stick) design.

+ Adjustable sensitivity controls.

+ Adhesive suction cups.

+ Rumble/vibration options.

+ Hori quality product.

+ Compatible with PC after a few setting configures.

Cons

$150 is spendy for a peripheral.

Takes up quite a bit of space.

Must be mounted on a table or smooth surface.

Can't adjust the physical resistance of the stick and throttle. The resistance might be too stiff for some.

Flight simulators are a bit of a niche category on consoles and games will be limited.

The HORI PlayStation 3 Flight Stick 3 is by far of the best flight stick I've ever owned across both PC and consoles. It's amazingly well built, realistically designed, responsive and versatile. I've used it consistently on the following games without no issues; IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey, Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X 2, Air Conflicts and Ace Combat: Assault Horizon. If you're a big fan of flight simulators or air combat games then this is the peripheral for you. If you can stomach the $150 price tag, have the table/desk space for set up and some great flight simulator games to go along with it then you'll be happily taking down those enemy planes in no time.

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program Once you start using the Flight Stick 3 to play games such as Ace Combat: Assault Horizon playing the same game with the traditional PlayStation 3 Dualshock 3 Wireless Controller (Black) seems sad and pathetic.

I thought it might not be as much fun using the flight stick because you can't literally hold it in your hand like you do with the traditional controller, but I had no problem using this set on the coffee table in my living room.

It was not difficult to get the hang of using the Flight Stick 3. In fact, I found I have better control of the velocity and aiming than I do with the Dual Shock. For the first time, I was really able to get as close as I wanted to the planes I was chasing and keep the machine gun firing right up their tails. Besides the ability to change the settings of which button does what in your game software, the controller has some switches which make customizing your Flight Stick's sensitivity and function intuitive and easy even mid-game. And I especially like the addition of single buttons which press both L2/R2 and L1/R1 because this makes playing Ace Combat a lot more fun with the ease of performing counter-maneuvers and entering dogfight mode on those split second opportunities that I would miss with the Dual Shock.

Not just as a controller, but as a replica as well, the purely decorative features which are meant to give you the look and feel of real aircraft controls add to the pleasure of owning this device. Rather than simply add pieces of plastic that look like the additional controls that you wouldn't use in a video game, the dials actually move. There is very nice attention to detail here.

Though I only just received this flight stick, I have had a couple of others in the past which were flimsy and uncomfortable, and wouldn't stand up to heavy use over a long period. No such problems with the Flight Stick 3.

Lastly, it's important to note that this controller does give you the vibration feel of other Playstation Dual Shock controller, though not so strongly that it might cause your problems with comfort and control. The controller wont dance on the table if you let go of it from the vibrations. The fairly hefty weight of this set also contributes to its feel of quality and reality.

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program This is a fantastic flight stick made by Hori. I tried this out with After Burner, Hawx, Ace Comabt, and IL-2. The best response I got was playing a non flight sim like After Burner. When playing sim games, the stick felt a bit too stiff and I couldn't respond as quick as I would have liked. It probably takes some breaking in before it will feel perfect, but I have been playing with the PS controller so long that the flight stick seemed harder for me to control the aircrafts.

The quality of the stick is amazing, and replicates a real flying stick nicely. I took flying lessons before (only a few hours away from getting my private license) and have played flight sims with a yoke and rudders and I always felt those gave the best experience to flying. However, for air combat, a flight stick is more what a pilot would use. I had no problem with the stick moving once mounted on my glass top coffee table. You can switch up the buttons on the fly. Most of the games I tried it on did not have the Hori on as a default, but had Thrustmaster. If I could get an attachment for the rudders so I could use my feet to control the plane better, I think the experience would be even better.

It's a bit pricey, but if you are an enthusiast, you will love it. Hori did a good job with the quality of this controller. I would give it 5 stars if I was able to adjust the stiffness. All in all, I recommend this to all flying enthusiast. Others also mentioned it is PC compatible so that is a plus and might justify it's price tag for some.

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I bought this stick for my PS3 because I have a seat setup that I use for GT5 and I wanted to adapt that to have a real cockpit feel. This stick seemed to be the perfect option. I'm new to flight games so I wasn't sure what to expect. As others have noted, this stick looks and feels very real. There is a spacer that can be put on the stick if you have a smaller hand. The cable between the two units is plenty long so I was able to place the throttle and stick where I was most comfortable. The buttons on the throttle and stick are in the perfect locations I especially like the thumb button on the stick. I would typically use that one for machine guns and would map the trigger button to the rockets/cannons. For some reason, the trigger button doesn't seem to automatically map to anything that shoots straight out of the box. The vibration on the stick really adds to the feel of the game without disrupting it. I don't know if the suction cups are sufficient I used screws in place of the cups to lock both the throttle and stick down.

So, that is all the good stuff. Unfortunately, as others have mentioned, the stick is very stiff to move. Too stiff for me and there is no way to adjust it. Even with the sensitivity adjustments, I found it really difficult to shoot anything. Landings were also especially difficult. In addition to the stiffness, there is a big, and I do mean big, dead zone in the middle. The sensitivity switch doesn't seem to help with this. I would be flying in a straight line and I could move the stick around in a fairly large circle with no effect on the plane. This coupled with the stiffness of the stick made it very difficult for me to use. I used this stick with three games Blazing Angels 2, IL-2 Birds of Prey, and HAWX 2. I had the best results with Blazing Angels however several times in the game when I would shoot at something, the screen would jump in and out of `external view' ( the view that gives a look at the entire scene externally rather than from the plane) when I pulled the trigger, making it really hard to shoot anything. Sometimes when I would shoot, it would jump to external view and stay there and I would have to restart from the latest checkpoint to get out of that mode. I tried pressing every button on the stick and throttle to get out of that mode but it just would not. I tried several different configurations in the game setup and couldn't make this behavior stop. In IL-2, I couldn't get out of the training sessions since they all required me to exercise a button (fire a weapon, look around, enhanced target view, etc.) that I couldn't get the stick or throttle to do. There may be a configuration way to get that to work but after trying several of them, I gave up. For HAWX 2, I tried all the setups and finally got the last one to work (don't remember the name of the configuration but it was the last one in the list). I may have been able to get the other ones to work as expected by remapping all of the buttons on the stick and throttle (as well as the axis and throttle itself) to locations supported by that configuration but that's just too much work. As it was,when I got to the third or fourth mission where I had to use my cannons to shoot planes in a canyon (the enemy planes would just use their flares to decoy the missles) I couldn't get any of the buttons to fire the cannons. This was weird since I did make it through the training missions and I think I fired cannons there. I also found landing extremely difficult with this stick because of the stiffness combined with the large dead zone.

Anyway, these were my experiences. Although I spent a lot of time trying to get the configurations to work, adjusting the sensitivities and using various remappings, I ultimately found this stick just too difficult for me to use. Everyone else has given this stick 5 stars so maybe I'm doing something (or several somethings) wrong but it just wasn't worth it to me to spend endless hours figuring it out. In frustration, I went to a local store in town and played with the different brands of sticks they had on display (they didn't have this one). All of them were so much easier to both fly and aim/shoot (smaller dead zone, much less and/or adjustable stiffness) that I can't understand why this one was made this way.The funny thing is that the throttle does have a `friction' adjustment but the stick does not! I didn't try any technical support so I can't comment on whether they could have helped or not. Maybe they could have with the game configurations and maybe even the dead zone but I'm sure nothing can be done about the stiffness. This stick could have been so much better.

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program I'm embarrassed, as usual, when I find myself in such august company as the previous reviewers, since they are obviously dedicated gamers with vast experience with flight sticks. I would suggest you also read their reviews and you will undoubtedly find what you want to know about the Hori PS3 stick. I am, however, not entirely without a personal perspective on this neat controller, so I would like to just put down what I can tell you, for what it is worth. I hope I add even one little bit of information that is new and helpful.

Right out of the box, you have the main stick, the throttle, 8 suction cups, grip pad, and the instruction manual. I think it is obvious from the pictures of the Hori flight stick that you have an independent joystick and throttle, and you may have heard of this as being HOTAS, or Hands on Throttle and Stick. What that means is that it simulates real life and enables the pilot (you) to control all the plane functions without removing your hands from the stick or throttle.

One of the first things I noticed was how substantial this controller feels. Heavy, unbreakable. It does take up a good bit of space on a flat surface, so I don't leave it set up all the time. But it isn't like it's difficult to pull out and stick down. There is extra rubber on the throttle to improve your grip, which you know you need when you're hot on the tail of another plane....or there's one about to fly up your pipe. Okay, so that's comfort and control and realism.

As for customizing the control, all the buttons are remappable. The torque load on the throttle can be readjusted for rumble or vibration to enhance the sense of realism. You can quickly change between three preset throttle/rudder control responses with a single switch. I haven't even begun to explore all the ways the control can be customized to my personal style and touch.

I like using the flight stick so much more than my original PS3 controller, but the price still makes me wince. I think, though, if you want a flight stick you want a good one, right? Nothing is worse than struggling with an inferior controller. So in that sense it is definitely worth it.