driving with an xbox360 controller

[ctccromer]

Hello there! My team, 3753, just got back from our regionals, so naturally some of us have lots of thoughts and questions about plans for next year! Our current programmer is a senior and I'm going to be replacing him next year as (probably) our team's only programmer (it's a pretty small team -- about 12 people total).
This was my first competition so I went around asking all the questions I could think of, and one thing I was told was that in order to use an xbox 360 controller, you have to install a separate driver. What exactly is the driver, where can I get it, does it cost anything, what would I need to do to set it up, etc? Is it a file I just download and put somewhere and we're good, or does it make things entirely different from joysticks and the ps2-like controllers? Can you use a regular wired x360 controller (and a wireless with the wired attachment thing) or do you have to buy a special one?

P.S. If anyone has any advice on different types of controls (joysticks vs ps2-like controllers vs x360 vs who knows what else), that would also be greatly appreciated. Thanks!