High end wheel comparison

Brian Sohn, one of the Direct Drive experts in iRacing forums, made a useful comparison in may of the all available high end wheels in the market. Prices have not change and nothing new is expected at short term, so the comparison is still valid. A nice chart to choose a Xmas gift!

I just thought I would post this as an informational thing for those considering a high end wheel..

I have organized it from Lowest to Highest power based on published specs.. Pricing, Specifications, and Warranty Information is from Fanatec, SimXperience, Simracingbay.com, and Pro-Sim when it could be found.

Note all prices in US$ as of May 22, 2017

Additional Software for immersion is that the Accuforce comes with Simvibe software as part of the SimExperience software package which is a reasonable added value if you are planing on having transducers added to your set-up.

Note: the Accuforce V2 DIY Mounting Hardware Bracket is priced not Directly from SimXperience. The DIY and Accuforce YW (your way) ButtonBox and Wheel estimate may also be more expensive than listed if you end up needing a Male Side Quick Release Hub. The Hub Included in the YW and listed for $35.00 in the DIY is a direct Wheel mount hub which MAY be able to be used with the Accuforce button box (replacing the QuickRelease Hub) but I am not sure as of this writing.

If any information is wrong or you know some information that is unknown please let me know so I can adjust the chart..

Small and Large Mige:

I thought I would add this that I wrote for another thread to this one detailing the differences that I feel between the Small and Large Mige Servos.. Since this is something that is ALWAYS asked..

In addition once I can get any information about the Fanatic Podium Wheel I will update the chart on the first page with what I find out about it.

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Anyway being probably one of the only people who has actually so far run BOTH a Small and Large Mige on the new Firmware I will give you my thoughts and you can take them for what they are worth to you.. My setup otherwise is an IONI HC and a SDR-480P-48

I ran both units at .6:1 Specific output and tuned to that as such in my testing, Both Servos were set to allow full power runout meaning that they are set up to be capable of delivering 100% of their power at some point or if I turned the sliders to allow for 1:1 output.

Small Mige with the 40K encoder – This servo is very capable of course and is more on the lively side. Its lower static inertia and wiring make it rotate and switch direction very rapidly. With no filtering it can feel as if the wheel is Driving you rather than you driving the wheel as it tends to be very abrupt and quick responding when you hit bumps, curbs, or other road noise.. It tends to also feel a little floaty, such as having over inflated tires with does not quite give that feeling of being totally connected to the road. This attribute also contributes to is quick responsiveness as the wheel sometimes can feel too easy to turn relative the speed of the cars travel and the type of corner. I have found that this wheel with the new software requires a little bit of dampening and a little bit of friction to get a feeling of being connected to the road. It tends to require no added inertia in filtering because t doesn’t need the help to rotate. With the 40K encoder I find that it is a little difficult to get full confidence in the wheel for me at speed as there is a fine line on the amount of friction you can add (too much and it seems to just kill the wheel) adding inertia at this point helps a little but it’s just not the same. One major limitation that you could have with this week is if you venture to use anything over about a .45:1 specific output in iRacing.. above that point you will find that Heavier cars such as the DW12, V8SC, as well s pertinent curb strike and braking forces end up being clipped on cars like the 488GTE as they will use up all 20Nm continuously or for a split second of information leaving you with a lifeless full force wheel (when clipping occurs) this will cause times when the wheel will be vague on entry to a corner or go completely numb mid corner.

Large Mige 40K – This servo is considerably more powerful than the Small 30% more to be close to exact and with that power the last issues I mentioned with the small goes away as far as the specific output clipping as you can run at .45:1 up to about .6:1 without ANY car having significant clipping. For feel the winding and static inertia create a more subdued feeling which is not quite as active, This creates a more in the road feeling naturally without any filtering some of the bumps and strikes can feel like they come on with a slight delay as it translates things with a bit less reaction.. this means that it will feel as if a little nudge escalates to a full shove rather than being punched like the Small Mige.. For settings I have found that the Large Mige requires about the same amount of Dampening as the Small but is completely opposite regarding friction. Since you are not trying to create an in the road connected feeling it is more that you are trying to get the natural motions of the wheel to feel more natural.. So I no longer use any added friction with the Large but have started using a decent amount of inertia to be able to turn the whole push to shove into a feeling of a shove, which again is not as abrupt as the punch that comes from the Small Mige. This is my choice of servo for feel as you can get it very natural feeling which allows you to drive at high power levels for longer periods of time with less fatigue, which is how a real car is. One detriment to this is it is about $200 – $250 more US than a small mige set-up as it pretty much requires the HC and the SDR power supply.

Small Mige SinCOS 900K+ – Now this is a new option with the new firmware and I have tested with it and the SinCOS encoder basically fixes almost EVERY issue that I have with the small Mige. Everything smooths out it no longer punches as bad and the feel is great. Dampening is the same, Inertial is the same but I could just about cut the friction requirement to get that connected feeling in half. It as well reduced some vibratory effects that the small Mige has at power when loaded in a corner (i.e. banking at Daytona) that were quite annoying as they were unnatural, Note: the Large Mige has this effect as well but it is a lot less pronounced and the SinCOS on the small brings these effects to the level of the Large Mige. For feel I would actually consider this a little bit better than the Large Mige 40K but significantly better than the Small Mige 40K. You STILL though have the issue of the power headroom in that it will clip on power levels higher than about .45:1 and the other issue is that the SinCOS encoder alone is generally about $400.00+ which makes it a significant cost upgrade which for me is hard to justify over a well tuned Large Mige.. but it is close, It does feel really nice.

Large Mige SinCOS 900K+ – I have yet to test this, I do have it and if it has ANY jump in feel close to what the 40K to SinCOS did on the small Mige I will be hard pressed to say much in the way of Mige’s is any better.. Only issue will be that $400+ upgrade cost as that is literally about the same cost as the servo alone…

Anyway if you didn’t gather I would suggest the Large Mige and it is not fully about the power (though that headroom I feel is VERY important to have for road detail) it is about the natural feel you can achieve. However, if you are used to and happy with a more Active wheel which is what most of the lower end wheels provide the Small Mige will be a closer resemblance to those wheels in feel but with massive improvements. I am guessing that this is sort of the same reason why Beano mentioned that the Large may be preferred by those who actually drive race cars as you get both the natural feel and the power to make it realistic (which can make you sweat).