If you're browsing in the UK, click here to find out where you can find the best PC joystick. And be sure to check out the end of the article, where I’ve put together a buying guide that highlights what you should keep in mind when you shop for a controller outside of our recommendations. Whatever you are looking for, I’ve rounded up the best PC joysticks below, organized by category. Other implementations of joysticks offer a surprising amount of innovation with some devices like vertical mice and fight sticks giving people better and more customizable ways to play. The right joystick can make you feel like Maverick in Top Gun, or perhaps Kara Thrace in Battlestar Galactica.
Over the years joysticks have delineated into several different types of controllers including your standard gamepad, flight sticks and fight sticks, and joysticks have even made their way into specialized gaming mice and PC keypads. These primitive rudders might seem simply by today’s standards, but it’s the granddaddy of all modern control schemes we have today. Before the analog stick or directional pad, there was the joystick.
