My controller recommendation:

[ZedClampet]

Holy hells. At some point my old Xbox controller broke, and I couldn't find a wired one, so after shopping around Amazon forever, I bought a $30 SMS gamepad. I had great user reviews. All I used it for at the time was for Farming Simulator. I wasn't really playing any racing games then.

Then Forza Horizon 5 was ready to come out, and I started playing some racing games. I thought I was doing kind of poorly, but chalked it up to being rusty. Then Horizon 5 came out, and I had a hard time getting into it. No matter how hard I practiced, I was significantly worse than I used to be. I chalked it up to getting older and stopped playing.

Then the other day my SMS controller stopped working, so I went to Amazon and found an actual, wired Xbox controller and bought it.

I'm so happy.

I'm now good at racing games again. It's night and day. I mentioned on here recently that I just couldn't play Nascar Heat with a controller. That was bull. I just tested it out with the Xbox controller and did great. And I was undefeated in my Forza Horizon 5 play yesterday.

So my recommendation is to get an Xbox controller. I'm sure Sony's are good too, and probably someone like Razer, but I will never buy an off-brand controller again.

 

[Alm]

I have a series x and I think that the controller on that is my favourite so far.

 

[ZedClampet]

I have a series x and I think that the controller on that is my favourite so far.

On the box, this one said "Xbox One, Series X/S". I don't know what that means. It's probably the same as yours

 

[Brian Boru]

"Xbox One, Series X/S". I don't know what that means

It means they use the same company that are on retainer to name graphics cards.

My hypothesis is it's Microsoft's product naming dept doing a bit of moonlighting.

 

[JC.Denton]

I'm sure Sony's are good too, and probably someone like Razer, but I will never buy an off-brand controller again.

On the Sony side, I've been using a PS2 controller with a USB adaptor on PC for years now. Works like a charm. There's even software called x360CE, which emulates an Xbox controller with any wired controller.

Generic and off-brand controllers tend to cheap out on joysticks badly so you don't get the precision that you'd find on an A grade controller.

 

[Slasken]

I have more than 10 controllers laying around. A few Xbox one controllers, a few Xbox 360 controllers, a few PS4 controllers, a PS5 controller and an XBOX Series X controller.

Of them, I have two favorites. The original Xbox Elite controller which I preordered at a bargain price. Still works fine.

I also have the Razer Raiju Tournament edition controller. I bought this for PS4, as I prefer assymetric analog sticks. This gamepad has Mechatactile buttons, which I love. It has four extra buttons that you can configure, but I only use two of them, one for L3 and one for R3. Nice for those games that uses those a lot. It works for PC as well, both wired and wireless. For PC I don't mind wired controller at all. No hassle with batteries, and I am always using it at my desk.

 

[DXCHASE]

I have a PS5 controller and a couple dualshock 4 (PS4) controllers. They all work fine but they are all wireless which can be a pain in the butt to get working. Sometimes my family will play Streets of Rage 4 together on the couch and using wired controllers would be a hassle due to where the pc is located in accordance to my living room tv.

Going wireless is still a hassle in 2022 which is annoying, but i have no problems using them when they do work. I like the PS5 controller because it fits my hand nicely but i always loved the dualshocks.

 

[redmark_]

This was a great controller story, also I guess it's fine to try out other brands, not just the non-optimized cheap ones. 🤣