Hi toronto699,
I haven't purchased any features of RaceRoom Experience either. I plan to in the future as I get more experience in playing the game though.
Homepage here:
http://game.raceroom.com/Playing the game with a keyboard and mouse is the most challenging. All the controls are either "full-on" or "full-off", no progressive increase/decrease as far as I can tell.
I also thought I'd add "this" for those unfamiliar with racing wheels, a particular feature found on some racing wheels...
As Nate152 said, I have the Logitech G27 Racing Wheel. Also, both of our wheels have the built in "force feedback" feature. Force Feedback adds a new dimension to the racing experience. There is a motor connected to the steering wheel through gearing that gives the wheel a life of it's own, so to speak. When playing racing games that support this feature, the wheel is controlled to react to road conditions. This feature adds the realism of actually driving a race vehicle, as it gives a sensory input to your hands as to what the car is doing on the track. Examples are: rough roads = wheel jerk left & right, high speed = a stiffer wheel to turn, vehicle airborne = no turning resistance. It's an awesome experience the first time racing with a force feedback wheel controller.
The Logitech G27 Racing Wheel was discontinued late 2015 upon the release of their G29 Racing Wheel. Thus the current inflated price, nearly double of it's original selling price. It also appears that Logitech is getting out of the controller market all together. Sheesh, they had some good controllers.
The Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback Wheel USB 1.0 came out in mid 1998, and has been discontinued for a number of years. Many used ones can be found online, as well as a few NIB (new in box) ones at nearly $200 over the original selling price. If choosing this wheel verify it is the USB version, otherwise you may end up with an outdated serial port connection on it's cord.
Also to add, there may be a few games that doesn't easily recognize both our present wheels, at least without extra configuration within the games controller options/settings. RaceRoom Experience readily recognized the G27, but the Sidewinder needed some manual configuration.