First of all, I hope you all consider this a "wheel" question, even tho it has more to do with pedals.

So, I bough a MOMO wheel (black) and I love it. I put my old MS wheel in the closet, until I figured out that I could use its pedals for manual clutch.

I tried it a few laps, and its way more fun, but my laptimes are way slower. So, I'm just curious if there are any real advantages to having this setup vs. using the auto-clutch?

And on a side note, anyone got any idea what to use the fourth pedal as?

And on another side note, what games have good/fun/realistic clutch options?

There is somewhat of an advantage, but only if you are really good and consistent. If you make mistakes, your done for... the race and your car could be toast. I still think the manual clutch in general is very wrong or just really wierd... If it were real I'd be using manual clutch all the time, but I find that auto clutch works just fine. Can get just as fast times and many world record holders still use auto clutch. It alleviates all the work done while driving, so you can focus on getting a faster time.

Auto Clutch is what I use, and can get fast times. Manual clutch only saves you about a 100th of a second for shifting in my opinion... or somewhere around there.

When you start to use clutch in racing sims.. You start to get dissapointed if there is no clutch support in a one or another sim.. Manual clutch is just more fun and after you get used to it, your shifting time will improve. And besides, I am also a drifter, so shift locks and clutch kicks are usefull for me.

edit:

Quote from Tweaker :

It alleviates all the work done while driving, so you can focus on getting a faster time.

Actually, after some time you don't even notice that you use clutch, it becomes as natural as walking.

Quote from kamkorPL :

Actually, after some time you don't even notice that you use clutch, it becomes as natural as walking.

Agreed.

I've been using manual clutch (Act-Labs Performance Pedals) for over a year and a half now and it's very natural for me. I can bang off shifts fast for maximum acceleration and also change gear smoothly under braking to maintain stability. When the spring broke I stopped racing altogether until I got a new spring. It just felt too weird going back to autoclutch.

when i got my DFP i started using a clutch and it's turned a fantastic game into an AWESOME one it's much more of a sim for me now, 'cos i'm using tecniques that i learnt years ago driving for real, it's just a case of getting a fairly realistic brake pedal 'cos the use of a clutch pedal seriously encourages the use of heel and toe. (less spare feet!).

I don't really see too many clear cut advantages to running a clutch but there are plenty enough reasons to keep my third pedal in use for some time!

BTW I use the 'spare' pedal as a handbrake, risky but surprisingly usefull!

The main difference for me is the change in my driving style that has come about due to my clutch foot fooling me into thinking i'm actually driving something! starts are MUCH nicer with a clutch but banger racing is HARD with a DFP @ clutch!