If you know anything about racing cars, the name 'Modena' should automatically lead you to think 'Ferrari'. Thrustmaster has managed to license the famous prancing horse Ferrari symbol, which dominates a yellow badge in the middle of the steering wheel boss.

The Modena 360 is interesting because the 'real thing' in Ferrari and F1 terms has clearly influenced its design. The shifter paddles are large wings sprouting from the column instead of glorified buttons - just like on a real F1 steering wheel or some of Ferrari's road-going sports cars. Another interesting feature is that the paddles are actually split into two on each side. The extra functionality is designated for hand-controlled braking and throttle, although this isn't an authentic F1 feature. Besides up and down gear shifts, an extra paddle for manual clutch control is usually found in real F1 cars, but not brake or throttle.

However, this addition does mean you don't need to fit the bulky foot pedal unit if you can't be bothered. The wheel itself mounts securely via a metal bolt with a plastic and rubber grip. It's secure, but not as fast and easy to set up as the Microsoft Sidewinder arrangement.

The pedal unit was one of the better ones we tried and once again there was some thought put into the design. The brake pedal has much stronger spring, as you'd expect in a real car, than the throttle pedal. A small aside - the throttle pedal is extended downward, a design point in real sports cars so you can 'heel and toe' - brake and control the throttle with one foot at the same time.

Although the Modena 360 is not a force feedback model, it has generous centre-position springing and a feeling of dampening in its action, which makes it pleasant to use. This, combined with its digital motion sensing means steering control is easy and consistent. Another plus is support for both USB or traditional analogue game port interfaces. If that wasn't enough, the wheel also features a pair of small thumb-operated switched joysticks which can be mapped to other types of game apart from the racing type.