Playseat Trophy Logitech G Edition review: "Cleverly designed, well built, and mighty comfortable"

If you’re looking to take your sim racing that little bit more seriously, there’ll come a point where bolting a racing wheel to your desk or (in my case) that old £6 IKEA coffee table just doesn’t cut it anymore. When you reach that point, it’s something like the Playseat Trophy Logitech G Edition you’ll want to turn to.

Building off the stock Playseat Trophy that made its debut at the beginning of 2022, the G Edition arrived to support the launch of Logitech’s premier G Pro racing wheel (which we're currently in the process of reviewing) and brings a couple of Logi-centric tweaks with it. A freestanding racing cockpit with a unique seat, the Trophy should offer everything you need to start shaving tenths off your lap time in comfort. 

$599/£529 represents a sizeable investment even in the best gaming chair arena though, particularly when you consider the G Pro wheel alone adds £999 on top. So is the Playseat Trophy Logitech G Edition strong enough to bring home a podium finish?

Assembly

As far as racing seats go, the Playseat Trophy Logitech G Edition is all singing and dancing. This is a full-size racing cockpit with an integrated seat, wheeldeck, and pedal tray. Knowing this, I was amazed at how compact the packaging of the Trophy G Edition was. Laying its different elements out on the floor before assembly, I counted just eleven pieces that needed slotting together to form the Trophy’s steel frame.

With so few bits to put together, construction of the Playseat Trophy G Edition was a simple task and even tackling it solo I had it all together and ready to race in about half an hour. Compared to even simpler console gaming chairs, that's really pretty streamlined. If you’ve ever put together a flatpack wardrobe you’ll be just fine, the (remarkably high quality) printed instructions are clear but with so few bits I would have backed myself to put it together without them anyway.

With the Logitech G Pro racing wheel clocking up to 11Nm of torque, it’s comforting to see how far Playseat has gone to ensure the Trophy Logitech G Edition can withstand the stresses of direct drive wheels. Every joint is secured with multiple Allen bolts, up to six for a single connection in some places, which feels both like overkill and a sign of quality at the same time. All the bolts and keys are included in the box, as well as a pair of white cotton gloves - snazzy.

With the frame together, the final step is the most unusual. Rather than a pre-fabricated seat, the Playseat Trophy Logitech G Edition features what I can only describe as a racing hammock. A snug sleeve that slides over and forms around the outer frame with no rigid, physical support in the seat itself. I’ll get on to the merits of this approach later, but it’s an immediate win for packaging as it folds down to a tiny footprint in the box. The sleeve slipped on with a bit of a squeeze but no real fuss. A heads up though, ignore the instructions here as what the illustration shows doesn’t line up with the actual design. Go with your gut when it comes to strapping it down.

Design and Features

I hesitate to call the Logitech G Edition of the Playseat Trophy an upgrade. It’s not quite an evolution either, compared to the standard version the changes are only skin deep. Rather than a matte black outfit, the powder-coated finish of the high carbon steel frame is glossy grey, and there are accents of electric G blue and the addition of some Logitech logos too.

While others tend to favor brutalism and hard industrial edges, the flowing lines of the Trophy’s tubular frame feel high-end and modern. Everywhere you look is a rounded corner and it softens what would otherwise be a very dominating cockpit. This is a racing seat that will find a home in living rooms and gaming dens alike, without looking particularly out of place in either. Regardless of where it ends up though, it’s going to need plenty of room as at 1m wide and 1.5m long it certainly takes up a surprising amount of floor space - even more so when paired with the Logitech G Pro pedals which stick out an extra few inches.

The frame may be a sturdy mix of steel and aluminium but the Playseat Trophy Logitech G Edition weighs just 17kg without one of the best racing wheels for PC attached which rather goes against its beefy appearance. There’s no logical point to lift it from so you’re stuck with sliding it along the floor for the most part. On the other hand, a lack of rubber feet meant the Trophy could be moved around with little resistance and was easy to park up off to the side when not needed.

There’s no shortage of adjustment options on the G Edition Trophy but getting things tweaked and tuned to your liking isn’t as easy a task as it might have been. It’s clear Playseat has prioritised strength and rigidity which means you’ll need to keep that Allen key nearby. Both the angle of the seat and wheeldeck can be adjusted but there’s no translation up, down, in, or out. The wheeldeck has a slight exception as it can be installed either way around to extend reach. In testing, I actually preferred it one way around with the Logitech G920 and the reverse for the G Pro so it’s worth trying both when you first set it up.

There’s more in-depth control when it comes to the distance from the seat to the pedal tray too, with the frame being able to extend by around six inches. It’s a faff though as it takes fiddling with eight Allen bolts and four vanity panels to get there, plus you’ll need to tighten everything up again before sitting down and checking it’s the right size. I get it, 11Nm of torque is a lot and you don’t want to slam the brakes on and have the chair separate from under you, but a quick-release system would make a world of difference here, particularly for those sharing this seat with a second driver.

Making adjustments to the pedal tray is far simpler and offers an insight into what could have been used elsewhere. Bright Logitech blue thumbscrews align with an array of mounting positions and angles to offer a remarkable level of customization. This was the most easily adapted part of the Playseat Trophy Logitech G Edition and I quickly moved between almost all the available options to find the one that felt just right. Like the wheeldeck, this turned out to be completely different positions between the G920 and the G Pro pedals. Depending on your setup, it’s worth taking the time to play around and fitting things to whichever PS5 steering wheel you might have.

Performance

After bolting on the Logitech G Pro wheel and pedals and taking the time to dial things in, I jumped into the cockpit and fired up F1 23 on the Xbox Series X. 

It only took a few laps around Silverstone to realize Playseat and Logitech are onto a winner with the G Edition Trophy. This is a comfortable, stable racing seat and both attributes come largely thanks to the Playseat Trophy’s uniquely frameless seat. Because just like The Foldable Gaming Chair, it’s more of a sling than a chair. You nestle into it and start to feel like you’re part of the rig rather than just perched on top of it. It conforms slightly around your body to offer support and helps absorb those little movements as you wrestle with a chicane.

I’m generally not one for heavy or firm lumbar support on chairs, but in testing, I found the two straps on the back of the Playseat Trophy added a noticeable boost in comfort. The lower strap in particular felt like it played a key role, providing solid resistance even under heavy braking. The seat bucket is relatively shallow and there’s plenty of open space around the frame so it was surprisingly easy to hop in and out without banging your knees or losing too much dignity along the way.

I tested the Logitech G Edition of the Playseat Trophy with both a Logitech G920 and Logitech G Pro racing wheel and unsurprisingly it took both wheels in its stride. There’s a full suite of predrilled holes in the base of the wheeldeck and pedal tray and clever white highlights guide you to the right ones for Logitech wheels.

Across a number of races the Trophy never so much as coughed - this thing is the epitome of rock solid. Even the wheeldeck which cops the full brunt of the G Pro’s hefty torque didn’t loosen, creek, or shift and seemed just as secure after a few hours as it did when I first attached it.

The Playseat Trophy’s base never moved either, even on a rug and I always felt the cockpit as a whole was locked in underneath me. This is a key win for me, with cheaper wheel frames I’ve used in the past you’re constantly wrestling both the car in-game and the frame in front of you, needing to make little adjustments to keep the wheel where you want it to be after it slowly slides to one side. Thankfully that’s not the case with the Playseat Trophy Logitech G Edition which I almost forgot I was sitting in by the first round of pit stops.

Should you buy the Playseat Trophy Logitech G Edition?

The Playseat Trophy Logitech G Edition is a statement of intent. A racing seat of this caliber is a sign you’ve turned off all the assists in-game and are looking to take your racing sim gameplay seriously.

$599/£529 is a lot to add on top of the cost of a high-spec racing wheel like Logitech’s own G Pro but the results here are worth the investment. As a companion to any of the best steering wheels for Xbox Series X, it’s very, very good. The Playseat Trophy is cleverly designed, well built, and mighty comfortable - even by the later laps of a particularly intense Grand Prix. I won’t go as far as to say the chair made me a better racer, but it did make the experience more immersive and simply better overall. 

If you can handle the cost and you’ve got the floorspace, you’ll struggle to find a better racing seat option than the Playseat Trophy Logitech G Edition.

How we tested the Playseat Trophy Logitech G Edition?

The Playseat Trophy Logitech G Edition found a home parked in the middle of my living room for a number of weeks before this review. I tested it on both a wooden floor and high pile rug while connected to an Xbox Series X to play GRID Legends, F1 23, and Forza Horizon 5. I mounted both a G920 racing wheel and Logitech's new G Pro wheel to it to test how different accessories would attach, closely comparing the feeling of immersion and comfort I experienced using the same racing wheels on a tabletop. 

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