As we mentioned a few days ago, we have the Moza Racing GS wheel with us today, and as we mentioned in our Moza Racing R9 review, the feelings we’ve had testing it couldn’t be better.
If you recall our review of the Moza Racing R9 base, we stated that Moza is a relatively new company when it comes to simRacing hardware, but in just a few months, and thanks to being a functional and established company for ten years, they have evolved very quickly and now have several wheels, bases, pedals, and even a display.
This formula steering wheel is more than just an addition to their overall ecosystem; in terms of quality and price, it becomes the brand’s main wheel.
Features
Already, the packaging in which the wheel is packaged is a good idea. It is the perfect size for the wheel, which comes wrapped in a cloth sleeve and housed in a rigid mould. It is completely protected and fitted so that it does not move. There are also plenty of stickers to label the functions of all the buttons, as well as an allen key to disassemble the magnetic paddles and fit some rubber pads if you want to reduce the noise of these and the instructions.
The first thing that strikes you when you open the box is its robustness. It is not a particularly heavy rim, but it conveys a sense of high quality. The steering wheel measures 300 mm in diameter and has Alcantara grips (made in Italy), while the button box is made of 3 mm thick carbon fiber. It has a dual set of paddles, allowing us to control not only the gears but also the clutch, and it is finished in carbon fiber of the same thickness as the button box. Ten of the buttons on this wheel have LED illumination, including two thumb rotaries, five front rotaries, and two joysticks. There are no unusual switches because, while these two joysticks are used as such, they have free movement and do not rotate.
On the visual side, there is an LED strip for increasing the number of gearing lights that can be configured via the Moza Pit House application, as well as the lights of each of the buttons, which can be configured directly from the wheel itself without entering the software. The connection to the base is made via the QR’s internal pins, making it “wireless” for the user, eliminating the need to configure devices or worry about batteries.
One of the strengths of the steering wheel is the same as the base, the QR, as the system that Moza has chosen for its rims is of great quality, assimilating concepts used in professional motorsport and that until now we could only choose in other NRG Quick Releases imported from the real world.
The quick release amazes us with its solidity and finish, and as we said in the analysis of the base, we can only congratulate Moza for their choice.
Installation, software and configuration
Both the steering wheel and the base on which you are using it need Moza Pit House for its correct functioning, so once we have already seen in the previous analysis the functioning of the software for the base, we will briefly see the few options provided by the rim. Few for its configuration for use with the base, of course, as you will have to spend some time configuring the wheel in each of the simulators you are going to use if you want to make use of all the rotaries and buttons.
In the unique wheel configuration screen found in the software, we can select the operating mode of the clutch paddles (as a single paddle, two independent paddles or buttons), 4 or 8-way mode on the joysticks, LED brightness configuration and RPM LED strip illumination configuration.
As for the colour illumination of the buttons, it is not done through the software, but from the ring itself. To do this, we have to press the 2 buttons of the thumb rotaries at the same time and after a few seconds the colour configuration mode is activated. To change the colour of the rotaries, just press the button whose colour you want to change until you find the one you want from the 8 available. Once finished, press both buttons again and the choice will be fixed.
Testing
As usual, this has been our “titular” steering wheel with the Moza Racing R9 as we don’t have another one, but we can assure you that this combination is a really interesting bet. The diameter of the rim means that the strength of the base does not soften too much, as well as the information that comes from the base in terms of detail and speed. Be careful with this point, because as we saw, the base holds perfectly well transmitting a sustained force and in certain vehicle/circuit configurations it can be especially hard.
The steering wheel is at a high level of finish and function. The industrial aluminum finish of the QR means that there is no play or anything like that. The base mounting is perfectly solid, perfect. The feel of the buttons is just right so you know when you’ve pressed a button or when you’ve reached the halfway point. The feel is clear and unmistakable. The cams are at a high level, although they are perhaps a little loud and Moza is aware of this, which is why they include a set of sound deadening rubbers.
The alcantara grip is very pleasant to the touch, you can tell that the material is of high quality, and it is shaped in a way that allows you to hold the wheel in a good position. After many hours with the wheel using all kinds of vehicles, we have no complaints about the position of the buttons or the grip itself, the hands are in a very natural position.
The rotaries, both front and thumb rotaries, precisely mark each position and step. It is not easy to make an unintentional movement. The thumb buttons need a bit of use to get rid of the hardness of a brand new product, although it is true that we have not used them as intensively as other buttons.
The 2 joystick buttons, which are not funky switches, are not fully functional for our taste and we miss the fact that they are not funky. The main difference is that we lose the functions and functionality of a funky.
Funky joysticks have 7 functions: 4 independent button-like directions (some have 8 but we don’t find them practical either), rotation and pressing. These joysticks have 4 or 8 directions (detected according to the position of the free movement of the joystick) and the press. This means that we don’t have feedback when we move the joystick in one or other of the positions and they don’t have the rotation function, so useful to manage all the functions of a black box with a single button.
Conclusions
It is a steering wheel that impresses at first sight and when you hold it in your hands you quickly notice the quality with which it has been designed and developed. Some might see reminiscences of other successful products, and there is no better compliment and proof of functionality than that. However, we are pleasantly surprised that in such a short time Moza Racing has achieved such high quality products as this one. For us, this wheel almost becomes a must buy for every owner of this base brand and who uses mainly formula cars or GTs, because for drifting or rallying it is not the most suitable.
Prices and availability
All Moza Racing products, with discounts of 2% using our links or our code (SFYOPTF7ZMR98), can be found on the Simufy website. In this case, the Moza Racing GS steering wheel costs 499,90 euros and is in stock for immediate shipping.
