iRacing

Jimbeam3678 · 23 Jun 2025 at 12:10

carrot1401 said:
@Jimbeam3678 Can try it for a full year via the above

Thanks I signed up for a month and I’ll see how it goes. If I like it I’ll use that code via a new account

Jimbeam3678 · 24 Jun 2025 at 21:55

Thinking ahead as like to research things, what are the recommended wheels and pedals with out spending silly 4 figure money.

imtoooldforthis · 24 Jun 2025 at 22:13

Jimbeam3678 said:
Thinking ahead as like to research things, what are the recommended wheels and pedals with out spending silly 4 figure money.

This would be a good start

CSL DD QR2 Ready2Race McLaren Elite Bundle (8Nm)

Officially licensed by McLaren Automotive Limited, this is a full-size, detailed reproduction of the steering wheel used in McLaren GT3 race cars. The overall shape, as well as the size of the switches, paddles, and dials is based on original McLaren CAD data.

www.fanatec.com

or you could downgrade the pedals and FFB strength and get this one (it's a sizeable downgrade with regard to the pedals and FFB though).

CSL DD QR2 Ready2Race McLaren Bundle (5 Nm)

Officially licensed by McLaren Automotive Limited, this is a full-size, detailed reproduction of the steering wheel used in McLaren GT3 race cars. The overall shape, as well as the size of the switches, paddles, and dials is based on original McLaren CAD data.

www.fanatec.com

or take a look at the Moza bundles

MOZA Racing Global | Professional Sim Racing & Flight Simulation Gear

MOZA Racing delivers high-performance direct drive wheels, pedals, flight sticks, and FFB bases—engineered for immersive sim racing and flight simulation experiences.

mozaracing.com

Personally id go with the first link, i had the same wheel base and pedals before i upgraded a couple years back. You won't be disappointed with is as your first setup.

You'd also need a table clamp if you intend to use it on a desk. This clamp below is compatible with all the links i've posted above and is considerably better than the official Fanatec clamp

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/moza-racing-table-clamp-for-r9-wheelbase-rs12-gc-00l-mr.html?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=17347617581&gbraid=0AAAAABRAesGw_oDX0zGOxgloIawaklKQF&gclid=CjwKCAjwmenCBhA4EiwAtVjzmnMZNOX2tt0sNSuEgRO2ls708StshKLK-W4KGLU8ResXMW6mikMG4BoCAGkQAvD_BwE

GravyMonster · 24 Jun 2025 at 22:20

Personally I would avoid Fanatec like the plague. Lots of issues with the company and poor service and quality of products.

Aside from budget, the wheel you go for will really depend on whether you're racing in a rig or a desk.

imtoooldforthis · 24 Jun 2025 at 22:30

GravyMonster said:
Personally I would avoid Fanatec like the plague. Lots of issues with the company and poor service and quality of products.

Fanatecs reliability problems are somewhat overhyped and mostly based on their hardware before the Direct Drive revolution happened.

DD bases rarely fail or develop issues like the old belt drive bases used to and the CSL DD has proven itself to be a great entry-level base with minimal issues.

Also they sell vastly more units than all the hardcore sim racing brands put together and thus you will see a lot more 'ive got an issue' threads than you would for niche brands with much smaller customer bases.

Their customer service is their weakness but that's also improved since Corsair took over.

On top of that they are pretty safe company to buy from if you are in the UK as they have their own UK based repair centre, saving you the hassle of having to ship things across the world like you would have to do with Moza.

GravyMonster said:
Aside from budget, the wheel you go for will really depend on whether you're racing in a rig or a desk.

Given he has no wheel or pedals i assume he also has no rig, unless he's a mad lad with a rig and a joypad !

conuk · 24 Jun 2025 at 23:48

After trying Iracing for many years and dipping in and out of the subscriptions (and usually vowing not to join again this draconian subscription)

Im now liking very much Le Mans Ultimate... if you haven't tried it give it a whirl.

Jimbeam3678 · 25 Jun 2025 at 06:41

Thanks for the suggestions, I would be desk mounting it. @GravyMonster Alternatives to fanatec’s ?

Do they get discounts over the various promotions? Or is the price generally the price?

teh_captain · 26 Jun 2025 at 11:23

With your budget and requirement for desk mounting and wanting a complete wheel/rim & pedals bundle for under £1k you are probably restricted to Fanatec and Moza. Not a lot of other brands provision for desk mounting as well, and tbh they are 10+Nm so a desk wouldn't be sturdy enough.

Fanatec are starting to be sold on 3rd party sites (like OcUK/Amazon etc) and Moza get resold through GT Omega in the UK so that will save on import duties etc. Asetek will be launching a proper entry line under La Prima but I assume that will take a while before they come to market, but their even with their current entry lines for what you want you'll still be spending over a grand. The benefit (and possibly downside) of these brands is that you get a lot of choice within their ecosystem but then it's costly to get out of it if you decide to switch e.g. wheelbase.

Simagic are decent and in theory you could get an Evo Sport, GT Neo wheel and P500 pedals for a smidge under £1000 but the pedals are out of stock at a lot of places.

Jimbeam3678 · 26 Jun 2025 at 14:10

Thanks for the suggestions went with Moza R5 bundle from Argos for £399 which seem more than reasonable.

MCFC_ANDY · 27 Jun 2025 at 06:13

Jimbeam3678 said:
Thanks for the suggestions went with Moza R5 bundle from Argos for £399 which seem more than reasonable.

got R5 myself, greater starter set using the wheel around 8months now, my first DD wheel, find it great, pedals are woeful though, ended up buying some simsonn pro plus pedals, around £100 at time, game changer for braking i say.

Jimbeam3678 · 27 Jun 2025 at 06:21

Do you use them on the carpet or in a rig
?

MCFC_ANDY · 27 Jun 2025 at 10:19

Jimbeam3678 said:
Do you use them on the carpet or in a rig
?

Not designed for carpet as load cell but you can pick up an upgrade kit for the moza pedals, it will help

MCFC_ANDY · 27 Jun 2025 at 10:56

conuk said:
After trying Iracing for many years and dipping in and out of the subscriptions (and usually vowing not to join again this draconian subscription)

Im now liking very much Le Mans Ultimate... if you haven't tried it give it a whirl.

what put me off LMU is lack of tracks, i only really played acc on LFM and tbh im finding same issue there, same tracks all the time, so ive plumped for iracing at £3.39 for first month to try

nutsnut · 27 Jun 2025 at 22:05

Just dug my wheel back out and subscribed for 12 mounts via steam summer sale, bargain at £21 for the year. Just done 6 back to back races and I'm a sweaty mess haha. Need to take my wheel apart this weekend though as none of the face buttons are working.

conuk · 28 Jun 2025 at 11:25

MCFC_ANDY said:
what put me off LMU is lack of tracks, i only really played acc on LFM and tbh im finding same issue there, same tracks all the time, so ive plumped for iracing at £3.39 for first month to try

yeah no brainer to try at that price .... look out for the deals once or twice a year where they offer discounts for year or 2 but not much else during the year.
Wish they would offer a bit better loyalty but I guess they don't need to for a reason.
(also after buying a number of cars and tracks you lock in a permanent discount) but not the subscriptions sadly.

No one sim has it all but I do end up going back to Iracing .... but I would say LMU (and hopefully gets better) and it looks like it will is a very good number 2... sadly also has a subscription model - so eventually I would like to go with just one .. but I don't think LMU will ever catch up and take over per see - Iracing is just so established.
More Chaching lol £££

MCFC_ANDY · 28 Jun 2025 at 18:33

Takes forever to setup I'm finding trying to sort hotkeys graphic settings using 3rd part for feedback. But first few laps felt so strange after acc. Going to take an age to get used to it. Get round to race one of these days.
Trying to find races is perplexing found one race for the MX-5 but couldn't figure out how I could practice on that track. Every time I want to practice on a track it comes up saying you need to buy that track.

Setups seen to preload, found the new rookie class BMW is like a shopping trolley :cry:

, Mazda was a laugh around lime rock though lol.

One steep learning curve, never watched so many iracing setup vids :cry:

Jimbeam3678 · 28 Jun 2025 at 20:32

MCFC_ANDY said:
Takes forever to setup I'm finding trying to sort hotkeys graphic settings using 3rd part for feedback. But first few laps felt so strange after acc. Going to take an age to get used to it. Get round to race one of these days.
Trying to find races is perplexing found one race for the MX-5 but couldn't figure out how I could practice on that track. Every time I want to practice on a track it comes up saying you need to buy that track.

Setups seen to preload, found the new rookie class BMW is like a shopping trolley , Mazda was a laugh around lime rock though lol.

One steep learning curve, never watched so many iracing setup vids

I’m the same, I’ve watched loads of setup videos. I’m still on my 1 month sub so playing around with various things until I create my proper account with the 12 month sub.

Mr.Cookie · 29 Jun 2025 at 00:31

Just payed up for a year, mx5 and the 1600 formula car are great, m2 wants to kill me and quite liked the oval dirt stuff, looks really good in vr and runs smooth as for me

MCFC_ANDY · 29 Jun 2025 at 04:43

Managed a few rookie races before work this morning. Omg Utter carnage everywhere. They fighting for everything. Don't they realize it's just for SA :cry:

conuk · 29 Jun 2025 at 23:26

yeah best tip for Rookie - is try and stay out of trouble - let them take each other out in first few corners - usually first corner! and reap the rewards.
Dodgem cars at the start!