posted
There are loads of different options out there to get you started in sim racing. Budgets range from relatively small at just a few hundred pounds, to potentially several thousand depending on how far you want to go and how deep your pockets.
But there are certain things where it's definitely worth spending money, and carefully considering the sort of features you need. Some things are essential, some are very nice to have, and others are really more about 'quality of life' and immersion.
Here I'm going to break down the kind of things you need to consider, and look at some of the options available at various price points. This is going to be a long one, to grab a cup of tea, strap in, and let's get started.
Mounting Options
This is one of the most underappreciated parts of a good sim racing setup, and one of the most important. As a rule you want your kit to be mounted as solidly as possible, to eliminate wobble and flex. High end wheel bases can be extremely powerful, delivering highly detailed force feedback. But you want all that torque to be transmitted to your hands and your arms, not into whatever it's mounted to. A wobbly wheel base will lose all of the detail, and make it hard to turn the wheel accurately.
Decent pedals also include load-cell brake solutions which can require a decent amount of force to brake fully. A badly mounted pedal set might move away from you under braking, or your seat can slide or twist.
All wheel bases have to be mounted to something, and can't just be used on your lap. So let's look at the three main options when it comes to mounting:
Desk Mounted This is the most cost effective method of securing your wheel base. How good of a solution this is, will come down to a few different factors: how solid/secure your desk is, how good the desk mounting system is, the peak power of your wheel base, and of course whether you have a desk between you and your screen in the first place.
Desk mounting can be a good option for low-powered wheel bases, if the desk is fairly beefy. Typically you'll get some wobble, and a little bit of movement forward and back. As long as the mounting system is decent, it should stay put. Though a cheap desk may be damaged by the clamping mechanism. If you're using a monitor on the desk, it's likely to be wobbled around by the wheel base unless your desk is *very* robust.
The main downside to using a desk mounting solution is that there is no real option here to secure your pedals. Some pedals have a decent amount of grip on carpet, but most likely you'll need to have something behind them like a wall to stop them sliding away from you.
Wheel Stand Wheel stands can very a lot in both design and effectiveness. They also vary considerably in price, though good options can be bought from about £100. One of the main benefits of a good wheel stand, other than being able to securely mount your pedals, is that many of them fold away for storage.
Look out for a good, triangulated design that has supports at the sides. Decent wheel stands will have some kind of mechanism for securing them to an office chair, creating a relatively sturdy setup that will stop the stand sliding or lifting in use. Good solutions include products like the APEX wheel stand from GT Omega, or the very similar Wheel Stand 2.0 from Next Level Racing.
Avoid folding wheel stands that use a single centre post to secure the wheel base, like the Wheel Stand Lite from Next Level Racing, or the Wheelstand Pro. These will rock about in use, and the quick release systems are not very reliable.
A good wheel stand is the ideal solution if you haven't got the space or the budget for a full cockpit.
Full Cockpit This is the most solid option, as well as being the most expensive. Full cockpits will mount the wheel base, pedals, and a seat to a solid structure.
The main downside is space. A full cockpit cannot be folded away for storage and pretty much has to have a dedicate space permanently in your room somewhere.
Full cockpits fall broadly into two types - tube-frame and aluminium profile. Tube frame cockpits are pre-made from custom-formed metal tubes. Very solid, but no real options when it comes to modifying or customising. They look pretty good, but they tend to be expensive.
Aluminium profile rigs are made from pieces of extruded industrial aluminium profile. This kind of product has been around for decades and is used in all sorts of things from storage racks, factory equipment, you name it. If you're not familiar, it's comprised of long pieces of solid aluminium with slots cut into them, and a system of interlocking nuts that allow them to be bolted together in just about any configuration. This allows for an incredibly versatile solution tailored exactly to your own requirements.
Aluminium profile cockpits start from around £300, not including a seat, and can go up to around £1000. It's definitely the ultimate solution if you have the space and the money. But they're extremely industrial looking, so may not be to everyone's taste.
Wheel Bases This is the sexy bit of your setup that most people are really interested in. There are so many different options out there, it can be extremely confusing and hard to sort out what's good and what's not. There are a few different things to consider when choosing a wheel base.
Budget - this probably goes without saying but this is likely the biggest factor in how you're going to choose a wheel base. Sim racing is not a cheap hobby, and the sky is the limit in terms of what you can potentially spend if you want to. At the lower end, there's a bit of a floor of around £200, where anything cheaper than this is going to lack some of the most essential features. Speaking of which...
Essential features - at the very minimum, any wheel you consider should have force feedback, and at least 900 degrees of rotation. You'll only see these things mentioned on wheel bases that don't have these features; for most products out there it's a given. But watch out for being suckered by a low priced option.
Direct Drive vs Belt/Gear driven - there are two main ways in which force feedback is delivered in sim racing wheelbases; via a belt or gear, using a one or more motors that are separate from the input shaft, and direct drive where the steering wheel shaft goes directly into the motor itself.
Until fairly recently, all wheel bases used either a belt or a gear system for force feedback. The main benefit is that manufacturers could use small, off-the-shelf electric motors to keep costs low. These solutions have some inherent drawbacks: the belt or gear system is noisy due to friction, with a whining noise when in use, and the motors are limited in the amount of power they can deliver. They can also have a stepped 'cogging' feel when turning the wheel.
Then, in 2013, someone had the idea of using an industrial servo motor with a steering wheel attached directly to the output shaft. This allowed for totally silent operation, much higher levels of torque, and much higher fidelity. Since that first concept, most major brands have developed their own bespoke direct-drive wheel bases, refining and improving them to the compact products available today.
Direct drive wheel bases have higher power, greater detail, quieter operation, and of course a higher price tag than their belt or gear driven alternatives.
The power of the wheelbase is usually measured in Newton meters (Nm) with low end, belt driven wheels delivering between 2-4Nm of peak force, and direct drive wheel bases starting at 5Nm and going up to 20+ for the highest end models. 8Nm is a sweet spot for direct drive wheels.
Fixed or Interchangeable Wheels - lower-end wheel bases have one steering wheel, which is permanently attached to the wheel base and can't be changed (other than with aftermarket customisation. More expensive solutions allow the steering wheel to be swapped out, giving more options depending on the type or cars you like to drive. For instance you can have a round wheel for road cars, and an F1 style wheel for formula cars. Some manufacturers limit you to a range of wheels within their own product stack, while others allow you to use actual real life steering wheels through the use of universal hubs.
Pedals When it comes to the pedals, there are a few different things to consider. First, whether you want two pedals or three. All pedal sets will come with at least a throttle and a brake pedal, with a clutch pedal adding additional cost. Clutch pedals aren't essential, but depending on your style of driving you may get some added utility from having one.
The other main thing to consider is the brake pedal. The lower cost option will include a brake pedal which works in the same way as the throttle - a pivoting pedal on a spring of some sort, with either a potentiometer or a hall effect sensor to measure the pedal position. This is the more basic option, and while it works well enough, it does have some drawbacks. Most crucially, since the pedal is entirely linear, there's no change in resistance to gauge when you're getting close to the limit.
More expensive pedals work differently, replacing the sensor with a load cell that measures the force applied to the pedal rather than the pedal position. The coil spring is also replaced with a stack of rubber bushings which compress and give resistance. This type of brake pedal replicates with much more accuracy the feeling of a real brake pedal in a car. The important difference here is to do with muscle memory - with a non-load cell brake pedal you have to remember the pedal angle at which the brakes start to lock up. Whereas on a load-cell pedal, it's to do with the amount of force. This leads to much more accurate and consistent braking, which in turn leads to better lap times.
While a load cell brake pedal is not absolutely essential, it should definitely be very high on your list of priorities.
Other Accessories We've looked above at the really important bits of your rig. With a wheelbase, pedals, and something to mount it to, you've got everything you need to get racing. There are some other things you might want to add however, to further enhance your experience.
Shifters - Almost every wheel you buy will include paddles on the back for shifting gears. However, there are lots of options for additional shifters, both H-pattern, and sequential. These definitely won't improve your lap times, in fact they may make you slower. But there's something to be said for driving a classic road car, stirring the shifter through the gears and slamming through heel-and-toe downshifts.
Handbrake - How important you find this will, again, depend on the type of driving you're interested in. You can map a button on the wheel to use as the handbrake, but since the wheel moves this can be quite hard to use. A separate handbrake allows you to quickly reach across and grab it for a handbrake turn. In Gran Turismo, if you're not doing much of the rally driving, it's probably not that important. But for rally games, or for drifting, this is worth considering. They're generally not very expensive and most manufacturers have a product available for less than £100.
Haptics and Motion Rigs - Just mentioning this really for the sake of completeness. GT7 has some limited support for haptics such as 'buttkickers' (little audio based rumble devices attached to your seat), and DBOX motion rigs that allow 6DOF motion. Honestly, I've tried some of these, and I don't think they're great. Absolutely not necessary, and the motion rig systems are extremely expensive. Best avoided in my opinion, little more than a gimmick.
Compatibility and Brands
Logitech When it comes to steering wheels and Gran Turismo, Logitech are the OGs. They created the first dedicated wheels for GT, with models like the GT Force and Driving Force Pro, which was the first commercially-available wheel to feature a full 900 degrees of rotation. Those were released in the early 00's and they've been developing and refining the solutions ever since.
Today, Logitech are a good budget option, featuring belt-drive wheelbases with fixed steering wheels and basic pedal sets. Everything you need to get you started. Popular models include the G29 and the G923. These are a great option if you want to mount to a desk, but they are lower power compared to direct-drive wheelbases. G923 has a peak force of around 2.3Nm
At the time of writing you can pick up a G923 which includes a set of three pedals, for around £270.
Pros: Low price, 'all in one' solutions, good for desk mounting, G923 features 'TRUEFORCE' which gives additional FFB detail and effects
Cons: Low cost comes with lower overall quality and more of a 'toy-like' feel. Wheels are smaller than real car wheels, and being belt-driven they are quite noisy in operation. FFB will be less detailed than direct-drive options. Steering wheel cannot be changed (though there are plenty of mods to make adjustments)
Recently Logitech has joined the direct drive club with their RS50 wheel base. This is an 8Nm direct drive base with interchangeable wheels. They also have a range of higher-end pedal options including load cell brakes. These are considerably more expensive and aren't especially competitive with other brands.
Thrustmaster Thrustmaster have a big range of options when it comes to wheelbases, from budget-friendly belt driven wheels, to more hardcore direct drive solutions. As with Logitech, the lower-end wheels are generally not great quality, though at the mid-range they are superior in terms of overall feel and feedback. These lower-end solutions also include bundled pedal sets, but they are often only a brake and throttle, with no clutch pedal. The lower-end includes models like the T98 and the T128 which are basically trash and to be avoided. The higher-end models are pretty decent though and worth considering. A good budget solution would be the T248R which you can buy for around £250; this includes a 3.1Nm wheelbase and a set of three pedals with an adjustable brake pedal using hall effect sensors.
Pros: Solutions to fit most budgets. Higher-end wheels offer decent FFB and interchangeable steering wheels. Mid-range options offer lots of functionality and have higher power and larger wheels than Logitech options at a comparable price. Good range of accessories including H-pattern shifters and handbrakes.
Cons: Lowest-end wheel sets are complete rubbish and should be avoided. Quality is not amazing and low-to-mid range models have some nasty materials. Wheel base designs are quite bulky and, in my opinion, ugly. Bundled pedal sets are a bit flimsy.
Fanatec For decades, Fanatec have been the go-to brand for high-end sim racing hardware. Their range is aimed at the enthusiast market, and the prices reflect that. All of their wheel bases are direct drive, with options starting at 5Nm going all the way up to an arm-breaking 25Nm. Fanatec have the license for Gran Turismo branded wheels and they have two wheelbase models with compatibility - the Gran Turismo DD Pro wheelbase with 8Nm (€599.95), and the Clubsport DD+ which features 15Nm (€999.95). While Fanatec do sell desk-mounts for these wheel bases, they really need at least a very sturdy wheel stand, or ideally a dedicated cockpit setup.
Unlike the options from Logitech and Thrustmaster, Fanatec's products are completely modular. So the prices above are just for the wheelbase - you would need to buy the steering wheel and pedals separately. The range is pretty massive and includes options for mounting a real car steering wheel, as well as F1 and GT style wheels. The wheel range even includes licensed collaboration models; for instance the Podium Steering Wheel Bentley GT3, Podium Steering wheel BMW M4 GT3, and the Podium Steering Wheel Monte Carlo Rally, have all been used in their real-life counterparts. When it comes to authenticity, it doesn't get any better than that. But prices for those options are absolutely outrageous, with the Bentley wheel setting you back an eye-watering €1999.95. And that's literally just for the steering wheel, not the wheelbase.
Coming back down to earth a little bit, Fanatec do bundles which include everything you need to get racing. At the lowest end, they have the Gran Turismo DD Pro 5Nm wheel and pedals combo for €699.95. This includes a 5Nm direct-drive wheelbase, licensed Gran Turismo full sized steering wheel, two-pedal set, and a desk-clamp. Another hundred Euros gets you the same bundle but with an 8Nm wheelbase (it's actually the same wheelbase but with a different power adapter..). There are higher end options but the price ramps up very quickly.
Pros: Extremely high quality hardware featuring very solid construction and wheels that feature aluminium, leather, alcantara, carbon fibre, and other high quality materials. Highest available levels of force feedback, giving the best precision and detail. Enormous range of products in the ecology, with dozens of different steering wheels using a quick-release, allowing you to use the appropriate type of wheel for whatever car you're driving. Modular product design allows you to upgrade components later on. Gran Turismo license and bespoke GT wheels ensure highest possible levels of compatibility.
Cons: Massively expensive compared to other brands. Most bundles only include very basic pedal sets (though you can customise your bundle and add things like load cell brakes). Some products in the range are pretty dated now, in particular their higher end pedal set and H-pattern shifter, the latter of which has been known to be a bit flimsy. Product stack is a bit bewildering with many options which would not be compatible with Playstation - Playstation compatible wheelbases also carry a premium.
My recommended options are:
Budget Thrustmaster T248R. Either bolted to a desk or ideally with a wheel stand. Cost £240-£350
Midrange Fanatec 5Nm Gran Turismo bundle with CSL Pedal load-cell kit for a total of €779.90, then pair this with a wheel stand such as the GT Omega Apex for around £120.
High End Fanatec 8Nm Gran Turismo bundle with load cell kit as above for €879.95 plus a CSL Steering Wheel GT3 for Formula and GT cars, for an additional €199.95. Total €1079.90 plus approx. £120 for the wheel stand.
Ultimate Fanatec Clubsport DD+ wheelbase with Clubsport BMW M3 GT2 steering wheel, Clubsport Steering Wheel Formula V2.5X, Clubsport Pedals plus brake performance kit, Shifter, Handbrake, and a full aluminium sim cockpit such as the GT Omega PRIME. Total, approximately £3500.
In Conclusion There are loads of great options out there, and other than a few very cheap products, just about all of them will deliver a really good experience. Prioritise getting a higher-powered wheelbase, with direct drive if you can afford it; having enough power to allow the wheel to slide through your hands to catch oversteer will mean far fewer spins.
The ability to swap wheels is great, and using a Formula style wheel with Formula and high end GT cars will really enhance the experience, but ensure that you have one circular steering wheel at least. You can drive any car with a conventional wheel, but you'll have a bad time driving a rally car with a Formula wheel.
Consider pedals carefully. While most things wheel-related are about enhancing the experience, a good load-cell brake pedal will make your driving much more consistent and make you faster overall.
And whatever you get, make sure it's mounted as solidly as possible so you can get the best out of it.
Printer-friendly view of this topic