Sim Racing Deals August 2026: What to Buy and Skip

August is traditionally sim racing’s dead month. The iRacing season is dragging, half the paddock is on holiday, and the brands are saving their ammunition for Gamescom, Frankfurt and Black Friday. That has one very concrete practical consequence: what is discounted now is leftover stock from the previous campaign, and what is about to arrive has not dropped in price even once.

So this guide runs in two directions. On one hand, everything you can buy today at a genuine discount. On the other, and probably more important, what you should leave in the basket until October, because buying it this week is throwing money away.

The calendar: four dates worth noting

Fanatec: the deepest campaign running right now

Fanatec’s summer campaign is still live and, as of today, it is the most aggressive source of discounts on the market. The clever part is that savings are passed on 1:1 to bundles: if a product is discounted individually, the same discount automatically applies to every pack that includes it.

Wheel bases

Ready2Race bundles

The CSL DD QR2 Ready2Race 5 Nm at €379.95 is, without embellishment, the best value on this entire list. Direct drive base, wheel and pedals for less than a decent pedal set costs on its own. If anyone asks you where to start in 2026, start there. Yes, 5 Nm will feel short eventually, but the base accepts the Boost Kit 180 to step up to 8 Nm whenever the wallet allows.

Steering wheels

The R300 V2 at €229.95 has fallen the furthest in proportional terms and is the one nobody is looking at. A 300 mm round wheel, which is exactly what you need if you drive touring cars, classic GTs or rally and have spent two years suffering with a formula wheel purely because it came in the bundle.

Pedals, shifters and accessories

This is where the real money is. The half-price accessories are the best part of the whole campaign and almost nobody talks about them because they don’t appear in the pretty photos. The CSL Pedals Load Cell Kit at €79.95 turns a basic set of CSL pedals into something with a load cell: it is the highest-return-per-euro upgrade that exists in sim racing, full stop. And if you own several wheels, the QR2 wheel-side at half price is your chance to stop undoing bolts every time you change car.

Cockpits

• CSL Cockpit V1.5 + seat: €429.90 → €379.90 (−11%)
• ClubSport GT Cockpit: €1,014.95 → €914.95 (−10%)
• CSL Cockpit

Sim-Lab DDS TorqueSync: not a discount, but the clearest deadline of the month

Sim-Lab opened pre-orders for its first direct drive wheel bases on 1 August, and this belongs in a deals guide for one reason: the entire first run ships as a Founders Edition, and that is not a paid extra.

Every launch unit includes the Xero-Play Quick Release V2, which Sim-Lab otherwise sells separately, plus a serialised engraving and a collector’s booklet. In other words, the real discount is the QR you won’t be paying for. Orders are placed with a refundable deposit and shipping starts in the last week of October.

Two honest warnings before you hit the button. First: iRacing’s 360 Hz FFB mode is not in the launch firmware and will arrive in a later update. If that is non-negotiable for you today, wait. Second: this is the DDX shown in Dortmund, and the €1,399 early-bird price did not survive to launch; the 26 Nm base costs €1,499 whether you order today or in December. There is no artificial urgency on price, only on first-batch units.

For the overwhelming majority, the DDS26 is the correct answer and it isn’t close. That €500 difference does infinitely more good in a set of pedals than in 13 Nm you will never use.

From the rest of the range, if you are rebuilding the rig anyway: the GT1 Pro cockpit, the XP1 pedals, the SD-43 display and the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup replicas: DDU and button box console. And for anyone going straight for the indulgence, the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS cockpit.

CONSPIT: until 20 August

CONSPIT’s summer promotion runs to up to 15% off and ends on 20 August. It is one of the very few campaigns with a firm closing date inside this article’s window, so if the brand was on your radar, this is the actual deadline.

CONSPIT has grown a lot in the upper-mid range and the catalogue is now fairly complete:

Wheel bases

• Ares 10 Nm
• Ares Platinum 18 Nm

Bundles: the better route if you are starting from scratch with the brand

• Ares 10 Nm + 290 GP Formula wheel + QR
• Ares Platinum 18 Nm + 290GP Formula + QR

Steering wheels and hub

• 290GP Formula
• MAX01
• RX320
• DX320
• CX295
• H.AO Hub

Pedals and handbrake

• CPP-Lite
• CPP-Evo
• H3 Handbrake

MOZA: the strangest moment of the year to buy

Complicated situation. MOZA dropped three things at once in the last week of July, the HMA150 motion platform, the R16 Ultra and the R5 Pro, and signed as a Gran Turismo World Series partner, with native PS5 compatibility on the way.

Translated: the new gear is not going to be discounted, and the previous generation is about to be left out of step. If you were eyeing an older R5 or R16 at a discount, go ahead, but knowing the replacement already exists. And if PlayStation is your platform, the answer is to wait: buying MOZA hardware for PS5 today is not possible, and what you buy now for PC will not magically convert.

Wheel bases: R5, R9, R12, R16, R21, R21 Ultra and R25 Ultra True Torque.

Pedals: the mBooster active pedal (or the full set) keeps the argument it has always had: roughly half what the direct competition costs. Below that sit the SR-P and CRP.

Steering wheels: KS Pro, CS Pro, FSR2, RS V2, GS, Porsche Mission R and Lamborghini Essenza SCV12.

Accessories: HBP handbrake, SGP sequential shifter, HGP H-pattern shifter, CM2 HD dash and quick release.

Active pedals: Simucube and Simagic

Neither brand is running an official discount campaign, but there are two routes to saving money that plenty of people don’t know about.

Simucube runs a pre-owned programme with a full two-year warranty. And within the current catalogue, the ActivePedal Pro is the smart buy against the Ultimate: maximum force drops from 1,700 N to 1,100 N, but virtually nobody sustains more than 80 kg of braking pressure. You are paying considerably less for almost the same experience. The range is completed by the dedicated throttle and the conventional pedal set.

If you are shopping for a base too: Simucube 3 Sport, 3 Pro and 3 Ultimate, plus the BavarianSimTec Delta Pro SC. The previous generation is still available and is usually where the interesting prices appear: Simucube 2 Sport, 2 Pro and 2 Ultimate.

Simagic attacks from a different angle, adding haptic reactors to conventional pedals rather than motorising the whole pedal. They don’t change the stiffness or the travel, but they do reproduce ABS, traction control and grip loss. Compatible with the P1000, P1000i, P2000 and the TB-RS handbrake. Note one detail in the small print: fitting them to another brand’s pedals voids the warranty.

Alpha EVO bases, in case the retailer discount works out for you: Sport 9 Nm, Standard 12 Nm and Pro 18 Nm. Wheels: GT Neo, GT1 and FX Pro.

A warning that applies across this whole category: an active pedal demands a rigid aluminium profile cockpit. If your structure flexes under 100 kg of braking, you have wasted the money. Check your seat mounting too; a seat that shifts destroys all the consistency you just paid for.

Entry level and consoles: Logitech and Thrustmaster

The entry tier rarely appears in the premium brands’ campaigns, but it is where street prices move most. If you are coming from a controller or a wheel from five years ago:

Logitech: the RS ecosystem is the generational changeover: RS50 wheelbase, the PlayStation-compatible version or the complete system. It is rounded out by RS pedals, shifter and handbrake, H-shifter, wheel hub, QR adapter and the Track, Round and McLaren Formula wheels. Above that sit the G PRO Racing Wheel and G PRO Racing Pedals.

Thrustmaster: this is the brand where it pays most to watch Amazon, because official pricing and street pricing drift apart considerably: T598, T818 and T818 Black Edition, T248 and T248R. For add-ons, the Hypercar Wheel Add-On, the EVO Racing 32R Leather and the TH8S and TH8A shifters.

Cammus, for anyone chasing very cheap direct drive: C5, C5 bundled with pedals, C12 and the DDWB 15 Nm.

Asetek: wait for Gamescom, but look at the pedals

The Danish brand launches its shifter and handbrake at the end of August, which leaves its ecosystem incomplete for exactly this month. That said, its pedals are among the best you can buy today and they don’t depend on that launch: La Prima, Forte, Invicta and the Forte S and Invicta S versions, with their clutch units and the universal footrest.

Wheel bases: Initium, La Prima, Forte 18 Nm and Invicta 27 Nm. The La Prima bundle with wheel usually works out better than buying the pieces separately.

Cockpits and seats

If this summer’s plan is structure rather than electronics — which is usually the smarter decision:

Next Level Racing — GTElite, F-GT Elite Wheel Plate, F-GT Pro, the ERS3 and ERS3 Hypercool seats, and the HF8 Pro haptic pad.

Trak Racer — TR8 Mach 3, RS6 Mach 3, TR80 Mach 2 and TR160 Mach 2.

OverPower — GT Lite, GT, Formula Lite and Formula.

iRacing goes up on 18 August

Not hardware, but the date with the biggest impact on your wallet this month.

Between 12% and 13.5%. Cars and tracks are not going up. You can extend by up to two years before that date and the time stacks onto the end of your current subscription, so you lose nothing you have already paid for. The maximum saving is around $28, and remember that iRacing lists prices without tax: add your local VAT on top.

Is it worth it? If you race several nights a week, yes, it is money lying on the ground. If you have spent two months saying “I’ll hop on this week” and you haven’t, don’t prepay two years to save the price of a decent lunch. And if you are just starting out, wait: the genuinely big discounts land in November, not August.

What you should NOT buy this month

This is the part almost no deals guide will tell you, because it doesn’t generate commission.

Asetek shifters and handbrakes. They are announced for launch at Gamescom, at the end of August. Buying the alternative now, at full price, when there is less than a month until another option reaches the market, is bad maths.

Any high-end direct drive base. Between the Sim-Lab DDS arriving in October, the Frankfurt announcements and the Black Friday campaign, the final quarter of 2026 is going to move prices across the whole category. If your current base works, hold.

MOZA hardware intended for PlayStation. It doesn’t exist yet. What exists are adapters and workarounds.

High-end pedals if your cockpit is tubular or foldable. Reinforce the structure first. The order matters, and it is counterintuitive: cockpit, pedals, base, wheel. Almost everyone does it in exactly the reverse order and then wonders why the lap times aren’t coming down.

Summary for anyone who scrolled straight here

• Under €400: CSL DD QR2 Ready2Race 5 Nm at €379.95. No debate.
• Best return per euro: CSL Pedals Load Cell Kit at €79.95.
• Purchase with a real deadline: Sim-Lab DDS26 Founders Edition, with the quick release included while the first batch lasts.
• Before 18 August: renew iRacing if you race regularly.
• Before 20 August: the CONSPIT promotion.
• Wait until October: everything else.

See you on the track!