7 Best Racing Wheels of 2023 [Tested and Reviewed]

FFB is short for Force Feedback, a feature that vibrates the wheel according to the road surface and adjusts the weight of the wheel depending on your speed. Driving on a bumpy road, such as in the desert or on gravel, will cause the wheel to shake, while speeding up will increase the resistance of the wheel, delivering a true-to-life experience.

This makes it easier to execute high-level maneuvers, such as drifting or cornering around a tight curve. As a bonus, the different vibrations really immerse you in the game.

It is said that being able to win by pulling off advanced moves is the appeal of racing games, but adding on the appeal of realistic driving drives the experience to new horizons. FFB completely changes the game and adds a whole new layer of excitement to the genre.

The perfect drift requires just the right amount of speed and precise timing. You can gauge the state of the car through the wheel, such as when the wheel gets heavier or the power of the turn, as if you were actually driving it.

With FFB, you can feel the exact moment the road curves or changes to a different surface, allowing for more precise movements. Catching onto these changes quickly will give you a massive advantage over other players.

We had testers try out racing wheels with and without FFB, and the results were dramatically different.

In particular, the testers really liked wheels with FFB by ThrustMaster and Logitech. They praised the ease of handling and stated that the resistance when steering was realistic based on the movement of the vehicle, as applying force is necessary to keep the wheel under control.

The steering wheel in a standard car can turn 1080 degrees or three rotations. This is also true of race cars.

Racing wheels can turn anywhere from 180 to 1080 degrees, but the closer you can get to the range of a real car, the more realistic it will feel when backing up, turning right, and performing other actions that require you to turn the wheel frequently.

Some racing games allow you to play from a first-person perspective. This gives you a narrower field of vision compared to a third-person view and is more suited for experienced players. A racing wheel can make this perspective feel more immersive. However, if the wheel has a limited range of rotation, it won’t match up with the wheel on the screen and will take away from the level of engagement.

Regardless of whether you’re playing in first-person or not, you’ll have to adjust how you turn the wheel to match the wheel in-game if it doesn’t line up well, which can take away from your enjoyment of the game.

For this article, we looked at products ranging from 270 degrees to 1080 degrees of rotation.

We found that if you can turn it at least 900 degrees, it’s easy to control. When it comes to drifting and cornering, our testers preferred products that could turn 1080 degrees.

Conversely, wheels that couldn’t turn more than 360 degrees made it hard to control the car in-game and were overall difficult to use. Not only that, but you have to adjust the sensitivity and dead zones to account for the limited range of rotation, which is a real pain. Whether you are new to racing games or an experienced veteran, you want to be able to turn it at least 900 degrees.

Most pedals that come with racing wheels are made from metal or plastic. We tested products made from both materials for this article and found that metal ones not only provided a more real-to-life experience, but were also more user-friendly.

Metal is heavier than plastic, making it easier to make slight adjustments. This helps you control your speed more easily and reduce the risk of applying too much or too little pressure, pulling you further into the racing experience to make you feel like a true racer.

Since plastic pedals are lighter, you run the risk of pushing the gas harder than intended. We recommend going with metal to avoid this.

The angle of the pedals is very important for stable operation. They are placed at an angle in real cars for this reason as well.

At the right angle, you can push forward on the gas and brake as if you were actually behind the wheel. Because stepping on the pedals feels realistic, you can drift and corner like you were really driving.

If the angle of the pedal is too flat, the range of motion is limited and you have to push it down from above, making it hard to operate. Because you only have a little space to work with, it’s almost like playing with a controller in that you can’t adjust how far you’re pressing the pedal as much as you’d like.

After testing a variety of products, the consensus was that nearly perpendicular pedals made of metal were the most comfortable to use. Our testers remarked that they had good resilience, the springs worked well, and it was easy to control their speed with the gas pedal.

Plastic pedals were too light and made it harder to apply the exact amount of force desired when attempting complex maneuvers. There were complaints that it was hard to make precise adjustments and that they often pressed the gas or brake too hard.

If you’re looking for the optimal driving experience, go with metal pedals at a wide angle.

Configuring the advanced settings on a racing wheel can be hard, so if you’re new to the game, you’ll need to do some research. Also, be wary of products that come without software. For example, the PXN requires complicated driver installation and is set up via your smartphone, so it can be confusing for beginners.

Logitech’s “G Hub” software makes your settings easy to understand and uses simple sliders to adjust dead zones, brake sensitivity, and other options. This makes it intuitive to use even if this is your first racing wheel, so you can focus on enjoying the game.

Some racing wheels won’t work properly unless you install the necessary drivers first. In particular, wheels with FFB won’t give you the right feedback unless you set them up properly.

The wheels from Logitech can be used right away and don’t require as much tedious setup as some other models. It comes with a lot of in-game presets as well, so you can hop right into the action.