I have a white saturn wheel I got some years ago. The nifty thing is the top of the box folds into a handle, much like the handle on a pastry box, or the old dunkin donuts donut box. Then you can just carry the huge box home in comfort on the subway. I never used the wheel as it sat in my storage for over 12 years. I've seen the gold box, and the usa black wheel. I've often wondered why they made a white wheel when they probably had mounds of unsold stock from the grey model. (shrug, sega corporate decisions)
I think a lot of people didn't buy it cause it didn't have pedals. Got say though it is a must have for manxtt, that games almost impossible to control with a regular controller but with the wheel the control is perfect. It's one of those accessories I still like pulling out once in awhile.
Because they changed the style of their entire hardware lineup from gold to white/red, not just the wheel.