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Sim racing sounds great on paper, but unless you have a dedicated space for a cockpit chair, pedals, and a wheel, it demands a lot of faff. Setting it all up when you want to use it is a pain, making sure the pedals aren't going to slide away from you as you stomp down the brake is a classic problem, and bolting one of the best PC racing wheels to your desk could cause a monitor to vibrate its way to the floor.
I really wish there were more accessible solutions out there, and thankfully, Turtle Beach has an answer. The Turtle Beach Racer Wireless for Xbox and PC is, as it sounds, a wireless steering wheel that looks to simplify the hassles of sim racing while also giving people a bit more novelty in their driving games.
Straight off the starting line, I'll say that this is not going to be one for veteran sim racers to consider. There's no force feedback here, and there aren't even pedals. Perhaps what's worse, from my experience of using it, there are huge deadzone issues that even the companion software can't fix.
Cruising around the tracks of Forza Motorsport was pretty difficult when I had to massively oversteer just to get a small correction on my racing line to register. Setting deadzones both in the game settings and the Turtle Beach software to zero did nothing to help that either; it very much felt like a baked-in issue due to the design of the wheel.
And yet, I really want to like this Wireless Racer. It has some really clever design elements, like its lap mounts, which you can adjust to your leg size and sitting position. You don't need to mount it to a coffee table, desk, or PlaySeat Formula Instinct; it rests on your lap really securely.
The bigger issue is with go and stop. Without pedals, you use the gear shifter paddles on the backside of the wheel to accelerate and brake, but when you're squeezing the brake on a corner, that means your arms are going to tie themselves in knots. Combine that with big deadzone issues that mean you need to turn the wheel about double the amount that you should, and you've got a big ol' problem with the steering lock in any virtual car you drive.
At the same time, I don't want to tear down Turtle Beach's trend setter too much. I can see it being a novel Xbox Series X accessory for any junior gamer this Christmas. A kid probably won't notice deadzone issues because they'll be too busy smiling from ear to ear that they have a functional steering wheel on their lap. Not to mention, the average Xbox steering wheel can easily set you back double or triple this amount. Turtle Beach's VelocityOne KD3 costs £329.99/$449.99, and it's priced fairly competitively.
I'd also love to see Turtle Beach innovate more on wheels like this, and for other sim racing brands to join the wireless party. What if one of these options had some pedal compatibility? What if there were some basic vibration through rumble motors to satiate the want for force feedback? I really do think there's a place in the market for more accessible (and affordable) racing wheels - we just need one with deadzones that make small corrections possible.
- Turtle Beach VelocityOne Race KD3: $449.99
- Turtle Beach Racer Wireless: $179.99 at Turtle Beach
- Logitech G RS50: $699.99 at Amazon
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