Review by Oscar G of a product provided by Sim-Lab.
Can significantly different results be achieved between manufacturers using the same technological solutions? This is one of the questions that has intrigued me the most since simracing gained mainstream popularity in the pre- and post-pandemic era.
In recent years, the proliferation of manufacturers entering this sport has been astounding compared to the previous decade. The days when Heusinkveld or RealGear hydraulics dominated the dreams of users who saw their limited budgets stretch only as far as plastic-heavy, potentiometer-based pedals are long gone. Similarly to what happened with Direct Drive technology, it took a few years for other manufacturers to embrace simracing, introducing competition that started to affect prices. For pedals, the great revolution came with a system present in every bathroom scale and kitchen weight: the load cell. An extremely simple and inexpensive technology that required only efficient calibration and the right polymer selection (elastomers) to become the standard under our feet.
As is natural in any discipline closely tied to hardware, simracing evolves at the same pace as its underlying technology. However, innovating, going beyond the present, and creating true revolutions remains an adventure reserved for companies with the economic strength to take risks in uncharted territories. True innovation, the kind that marks a before and after in any technological field, requires substantial time and highly qualified personnel. Moreover, innovation is neither easy nor, unfortunately, guaranteed to succeed. Breaking away from the norm exposes companies to significant economic risks, which is why we see few groundbreaking developments in our lifetime. Current examples include Cammus with their C5, Simucube with their active pedals, or Thrustmaster trying to reinvent Direct Drive technology once again. Beyond these original ideas—sometimes extravagant like the R7 Simgrade pedals—most competition boils down to price or component quality.
According to their website, “Sim-Lab started in 2015 when founder Richard Schouteren couldn’t find the ultimate racing simulation cockpit without spending a fortune. So, he set out to develop a cockpit that was both extremely rigid and fully adjustable.” I’m not sure if this sentiment is shared, but it seems to me that in the past five years, more companies have entered the race to create fantastic simulation gear than actual opportunities to find it without making the billion-dollar investment we mentioned earlier. While Sim-Lab may have revolutionized the cockpit world, with the XP-1 pedals, they present their version of a well-known technology. Again, I emphasize the same question with which we began this review: Can a new business space be found by using the same principles as the competition? Is the leap to these new models from the pioneers of load cells like the Fanatec V3, with as many years behind them as units sold and around €100 cheaper (including clutch and mounting base), justifiable?
When a pedal—regardless of brand—falls within the €400-€500 range and employs the same technological context (load cell), barring a major error, it’s mandatory to assume that all internal components will be of excellent quality, that the design will ensure all parts fit together perfectly, and that the control and calibration software will work flawlessly. This holds true no matter the manufacturer’s name. Furthermore, what does a set of pedals outside the natural ecosystem of my wheel base offer me? Many users, once committed to a particular brand, find it cheaper or more convenient (connections, drivers, software…) to purchase the complete set or continue trusting the same brand for other accessories.
XP-1 pedals by Sim-Lab fall within the €500 range we’ve discussed, as is now the standard among most manufacturers. According to the concept coined by politician Overton—about subjective price perception shifting based on market trends—a two-pedal non-hydraulic set priced at €500 would once have been considered mid-high range, leaving HE and similar brands at the high to very high end. Today, with the price window wide open, ranging from €2K for Simucube active pedals to €130 for Thrustmaster T-3PM, the €500 Sim-Lab set (accelerator + brake, no base) feels like an entry point to serious (non-plastic) simracing hardware. Not coincidentally, this is where 90% of manufacturers’ most affordable products also reside (e.g., HE, Moza, Asetek, DC, BJ), all based on the same load cell technology.
CONSTRUCTION
Aluminum is undoubtedly the king of simracing in this decade. From the cockpit bars to the base plates for pedal mounting, and even the button box on your wheel or the tray for your keyboard. Until graphene and other exotic materials go mainstream, the conclusion remains: if it’s not aluminum, you’re an odd one out. However, all pedals in this price range (DC, BJ, or HE) have found their sweet spot with steel. Despite Sim-Lab’s expertise with aluminum in cockpits, they also chose this alloy. What advantages does a steel pedal offer over an aluminum one in a simulator? Is it just a budget decision? Will we see more aluminum pedals besides Asetek at entry prices of €500 in the future?
Considering only the exterior, the two XP-1 pedals are certainly heavy (2kg each), as robust as if they were designed for Robocop, and impeccably finished. They are, following founder Richard Schouteren’s vision, “extremely rigid and fully adjustable at the same time.” This doesn’t surprise us because Sim-Lab’s aluminum cockpits have been a benchmark for years. Their brutalist design expertise is evident here, this time using steel. Both pedals share the same spirit and offer the same elegant shades of gray, black, and blue.
Unlike today’s trends where every gadget seems to become a blinking light show, XP-1 has no LEDs on any of its components. While this may or may not appeal depending on how much you like to show off when guests visit, it can be problematic if you overshoot a turn. Neither the connection box nor the pedal circuits include a visual indicator to confirm functionality. This omission, debatable as it is, hearkens back to the days when a small light served a purely practical purpose: to indicate that an electronic device was operational.
Does this reduce consumer costs and increase profit margins? We’re unsure to what extent, but it’s disappointing that many manufacturers exclude a way to confirm proper operation without launching an app. Because while everything works fine, life is wonderful—as the great Andrés Montes used to say. However, if you face USB issues (and if you’re like me, your PC’s rear end has more hanging cables than a 1940s telephone switchboard), a poorly crimped RJ11 connection, or other random disasters, troubleshooting without a status LED can waste a lot of time. I say this from personal experience.
As designer Dieter Rams once said: “Good design must make a product useful.” Thanks to Sim-Lab entering the pedal market a bit late, it seems they’ve learned well from others, offering numerous axes for adjusting attack angles and component heights. This has become a crucial feature over the years, marking the first major evolution in load cell pedals compared to Fanatec’s V3. Driven by the simracing boom from 2019-2023, the number of aluminum cockpits in users’ homes has skyrocketed. Gone are the days when the average user was confined to a wooden desk and a non-dedicated seat. The customization of cockpits, along with the variety of simulated cars and disciplines, has forced manufacturers to cater to individual user preferences. Crashing in a Formula is not the same as wrecking a GT4. One involves lying almost flat, while the other requires an upright posture over a bucket seat. Different back, hip, and foot angles for countless height and foot size combinations. Unless targeting a specific discipline (rarely the case), manufacturers must address these variables, and the XP-1 delivers.
Another peculiar debate is the issue of the mounting base. For years, the responsibility of installing pedals onto a plate has fallen solely on the user. And that, in my opinion, is fine if you’ve chosen to spend a good part of your family budget on your hobby instead of investing it in your children’s education. This might be acceptable for mid-to-high or high-end pedals, where a change is often expected over time—whether because you’re uncomfortable, a friend insists you’ll be faster with a different set, or you’re simply bored and want to try new sensations. However, at these entry-level prices for the XP-1, I believe the typical user will likely upgrade from Fanatec V3, Thrustmaster, or any other plastic pedal set that came bundled with their wheel. The first will do so to update hardware that’s almost eight years old, while the second will upgrade to improve their current setup without needing a second mortgage. Based on my experience and that of my friends, we can safely assume that this user won’t have a mounting base because they never needed one before. This detail will force an additional purchase, usually around €70-90 depending on the manufacturer, raising the XP-1 to a price tier where those same competitors from whom Sim-Lab sought to differentiate itself with aggressive pricing are found. Is not including a base—like the V3 and other manufacturers do—a marketing tactic to cut costs while maintaining profit margins, or a miscalculation of the product’s target audience? I believe—though this is highly debatable—that any pedal with a load cell in the €400-500 range should include its proprietary base.
INSTALLATION
After the wiring, always a hassle, and setting the angles and distances using the nearly 400g of screws and washers that Sim-Lab provides for any cockpit setup you may have at home (clearly showing Sim-Lab’s origins), it was time to install the software.
Perhaps this won’t be an issue for you, but in my case, I immediately noticed something was off. The calibration failed, and whenever I attempted to press a button, the Race Director control software would crash without warning. Restarting or reinstalling the software didn’t solve the problem. Lacking physical LEDs (see above) or a log file to see what error I was dealing with, I had to reinstall the firmware on both pedals using a different Sim-Lab program to get everything running as it should. Not the exciting first impression I hoped for, and certainly one I hope no other user has to experience, except during an official update.
With the pedals operational, I sat in the cockpit ready to feel what sensations it delivered on the track and whether its more robust design compared to the V3 affected the overall load cell experience.
ACCELERATOR PEDAL
I think I’ve already mentioned this in my previous reviews of Asetek’s Prima, Forte, and Invicta pedals. No one in the sim racing industry should fail at designing an accelerator pedal. You would almost have to do it on purpose for a rod and spring equipped with a Hall sensor to not work as intended. Unless you’re aiming to be an esoteric (and innovative) manufacturer, not much more is needed to simulate the linkage between a metallic pedal and a carburetor (or digital system). Nowadays, any €2 magnetic sensor should quantify at least 16-bit resolution (65,536 unique positions within 360°). The leap from older 10-bit (1,024 positions total) or 12-bit (4,096 positions total) systems was significant, and with 16 bits, we may have reached the resolution limit at which a human limb can move within such a small space. For example, if our foot travels 3.5 cm along the sensor’s circumference at a distance of 10 cm from its axis (a typical accelerator pedal setup), it covers only 20° of the total circumference. If the 16-bit resolution is distributed across 360°, this results in 3,646 distinct steps over those 3.5 cm, or a real resolution of 0.0054°, which even the world’s most experienced driver likely wouldn’t notice. From a technical standpoint, we could discuss the signal-to-noise ratio in the electronic circuit and how 16-bit systems better prepare for electrical interference in the analog-to-digital converter, but that’s another discussion.
After several sessions in iRacing, the 16-bit Hall sensor on the XP-1 pedal has performed as efficiently as any pedal from other brands I’ve tried. The difference, as expected, is in the feel. On the XP-1, the motion is much smoother compared to my La Prima /Invicta pedals, and the sensation reminds me more of the Fanatec V3 pedals I owned before. The default spring provides a pleasant feeling, and with the standard 3.5 cm stroke calibrated via the three screws, it’s comfortable to use. Once again, Suzuka’s “S” curves helped me confirm that nothing feels lacking and that the XP-1 accelerator pedal fulfills its purpose perfectly. There’s little more to add for a system where Sim-Lab employs similar mechanics to other manufacturers in its price range (or in most price ranges, really). If I could ask for more, it would be for some haptic feedback like a small ERM motor (eccentric rotating mass) or, better yet, a LRM magnetic motor, as the Fanatec V3 already did. These differentiating details could create more opportunities in an already saturated market.
Regarding internal customization, Sim-Lab also gives us the ability to swap the spring for others with varying stiffness levels, as well as adjust the total pedal travel via the front screw. This ultimately comes down to personal preference, how much time you’re willing to invest in feeling more comfortable, and the number of excuses you want to justify your lap times.
BRAKE PEDAL
This is where everything is on the line. It’s pointless to have a design that could make even Jonathan Ive of Apple swoon or add more colorful screws than a Pollock painting if the brake pedal doesn’t deliver the performance it should. Manufacturers know this, which is why you’ll find parts at CERN’s particle accelerator with less research behind them than what’s gone into sim racing brake pedals.
Sim-Lab didn’t go overboard with the internal design of the XP-1 brake pedal. A metal rod supports a pair of elastomers (preload and load) working alongside a spring, all connected with adapters to ensure the components remain in place. The culmination is a load cell that translates the force from your foot into a specific voltage. This concept has been around for decades, so, in theory, the system should work flawlessly.
Since the engineering behind using force to deform a metal strip isn’t exactly groundbreaking, the spring-elastomer combo takes center stage as it creates the unique sensations that each manufacturer aims to establish as their hallmark. Like with any load-cell-based pedal, the spring provides resistance, and the elastomer delivers the feedback (damping). It’s a simple setup that’s even simpler to tweak; without liquid pressures or electronic actuators, customization boils down to: if you want it firmer or softer, swap the spring; if you want it more or less compact, change the elastomer. That’s why Sim-Lab offers a set of three elastomers of varying densities, three smaller ones for preload, and two springs with different resistances.
Load cells are chosen based on several factors: measurement accuracy (error margin), how the reading changes with temperature, the type of mechanism, and material fatigue, among others. However, in sim racing, the focus is usually on the maximum weight factor the cell can handle before saturation.
Sim-Lab chose to include a load cell with a 200Kg maximum load capacity. This means that if your foot applied force directly onto the cell, 200Kg would be the maximum it could convert into voltage before reaching its overload threshold (after which it would always output the maximum value). However, in a pedal system, your feet don’t press directly on the load cell but are at a distance X from it, reducing the system’s overall force in the XP-1 to half. This is why Sim-Lab specifies a maximum force of 100Kg for your foot, even though the load cell is rated for 200Kg. Is 100Kg a standard value in sim racing? More or less. In real racing cars, pedal force can exceed 150Kg and even reach 180Kg, but that involves systems with immense deceleration inertia, unlike an inertial cockpit (without modifying force). So, 100Kg could be considered the standard benchmark for most manufacturers.
With the XP-1, we enter the endless debate over different braking simulation systems and sensations: Stiff Brakes (rigid, with only a few millimeters of travel) or Soft Brakes (soft, with several centimeters of travel). The former begins braking the instant you press, while the latter brakes gradually as you travel the distance. It’s said that Stiff Brakes can shave off milliseconds lost with Soft Brakes. In my experience, for a casual driver like me, those extra centimeters are noticeable only during long sessions, where muscle memory helps you respond more consistently and reproducibly, improving consistency over time. This isn’t just my opinion but has been validated by experts—and I’ve experienced it with the Invicta. However, we’re talking about different price ranges and technologies, so comparisons are unfair.
Where is the magic in a Soft Brake like the XP-1? From my point of view, it’s in the overall design of the parts that will hopefully make the pedal last longer than my legs, in the weight of the pedal that gives it robustness, and in the freedom of angles to adjust it to my posture.
Because the load cell has been well-known for many decades, so without other intermediate brake stages (such as those proposed by, for example, Asetek), it will be the post-calibration system via software that will define the overall brake dynamics (also known as fullscale, or the total range of values from the weakest to the strongest it can measure). And here is where most of us make mistakes. Once you have the pedal angles adjusted so your foot doesn’t get dislocated every time you brake, the challenge of finding that perfect tightness that whispers to you when you’re about to lock or helps you apply the same pressure in the same spot every time (consistency), becomes a game in itself that you’ll never stop tweaking.
Like all the mid-range pedals I’ve tried in my life, it’s typical for the elastomer and spring to maintain their elastic properties for many years. That too will be revealed by time. In the sessions I’ve raced with the XP-1, everything seems fine, allowing my brain to understand the formula that if there’s equal weight/pressure on the pedal, there’s equal response from the car.
Thanks to the details described earlier (robustness, weight, and angle freedom) the overall braking experience with the XP-1 is more complete than I remember with the V3. The default elastomer travel is smooth and dampened with a very comfortable elastic rebound, which allows me to perform a tail-brake with control. Still, I admit I would need more time with them to understand their limits, because in these weeks, I still can’t forget my experience with a hydraulic brake in “wall” mode and I’m locking more than I usually do. As always happens with hardware, until you internalize its mechanics, times don’t really start to improve. In Suzuka, for example, after several long sessions, I’m still behind my times with the Invicta. Let’s see if in a few weeks, I manage to break that barrier.
Race Director
The control software is the brain of any electronic beast. Simple and intuitive, Race Director allows you to limit the forces and travel of the pedal before the simulator’s own calibrator. Additionally, it lets you create dead zones both at the top and bottom margins. It’s crucial in pressure systems that you can decide when – and to what extent – the response occurs, preventing, for example, the brake from starting to act when you just rest your foot on the pedal. Lacking a load cell with adjustable sensitivity, this post-calibration method is the only possible way to configure response thresholds.
The only issue with the dead zones can occur during tail-braking, that technique which allows you to brake hard at the entrance of the curve and ease off as you go through the curve. If calibrated well, it will allow you to go very smoothly, but if you overshoot or fall short, you won’t feel comfortable.
With unlimited profiles in JSON format, you can modify the sensation and response of both pedals as needed and reload them later to make all the necessary tests, something expected in any software in this price range.
CONCLUSION
XP-1 is leaving a good impression on me due to its robust construction and, except for the small scare during installation, its reliability and performance have remained flawless. With years of experience in cockpit construction and the choice of a well-established technology like the load cell, the XP-1 from Sim-Lab is a safe bet if you’re looking to upgrade from your potentiometer-based plastic pedals, replace your old V3 pedals from Fanatec, or any other pedals that came with your wheel. However, let’s remind ourselves of the previous thought about pedals and accessories that don’t belong to the same ecosystem as your wheel, for instance, and all that this implies in terms of integration.
Another added thought concerns the base and the clutch pedal. As mentioned earlier, for 500€ we feel there’s quite strong competition from manufacturers who either include the base or the third pedal within that price range (if not both). This can be easily fixed by creating bundles or offers, but we’ll see what decisions Sim-Lab makes in the future.
Is it worth upgrading if you already have a 500€ load cell pedal at home? It doesn’t seem justifiable to look for another option within the manufacturer’s catalog unless you want to try a different technology, which is hard to justify since hydraulic systems currently require double the investment. In the end, it will all come down to brand preference (VRS, Sim-Lab, Heusinkveld, Moza…), overall design style, and how marketing convinces you that their elastomer (or set of them) interacts with the spring. In all cases, the load cell will be similar, so it all comes down to personal choices driven by aesthetics.
We would like to thank Sim-Lab for providing these XP-1 pedals and welcome them to the complex and fascinating world of brake pedals. We’ll see you in the next review.
They can be purchased at their store for 499 euros:
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