Should have added on my last post that Hristo has none of this fancy hardware. I think he has an old Thrustmaster non FF wheel and not sure what his monitor setup is. So fancy hardware might help someone of limited ability like me but doesn't seem necessary for the real tenticled drivers!!
And old Gameport version of MSFF actually, but I drive it with the FF turned off (doesn't work properly under XP, plus you have more freedom without FF). Monitor is 17" CRT. I'm not sure I can be faster with better equipment, it's a matter of getting used to what you have and feeling comfortable with it.
Trouble is I have 25 years of real life riding/racing/driving hard coded in to my old grey matter before I was involved in any of this virtual stuff. So anything that fools it in to thinking it's actually back in the real world seems to be of benefit to me!