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Apr 18, 2023

Logitech G Pro Wheel & Pro Pedals: Direct Drive Arrives!!

One of the biggest names in sim racing finally has a direct drive wheel base

One of the biggest names in sim racing finally has a direct drive wheel base & load cell brake set!!

Logitech G is one of the longest-standing sim racing manufacturers out there. Their current range of wheels are often a go-to for those looking to make the jump from controller to wheel.

However, more serious racers and those with esports aspirations have always gone elsewhere for their wheels, namely to wheels that utilise direct drive motors and offer huge amounts of torque.

That is about to change as Logitech G is finally in the direct drive business with the Logitech G Pro Wheel. We have been lucky enough to take the Pro Wheel and Pro Pedals, Logitech G's brand new set of sim racing pedals, for an extended test drive.

Product tested on PC across a range of games. Units provided by manufacturer.

The new Pro Wheel and Pro Pedals are impressive bits of kit.

The wheel base boasts a maximum 11Nm of torque with 1080 degrees of rotation, along with a 16-bit hall effect sensor, magnetic hall effect paddle shifters, dual clutch paddles, and an OLED settings display built into the top of the wheel base.

Of course, Logitech G's own True Force system features here too, adding refinement and guaranteeing a 1ms report rate for force feedback, even on console. A lot of companies making their first venture into the world of direct drive would start small, but not Logitech G!

Meanwhile, the pedals feature a 100kg load cell brake, hall effect accelerator and clutch, aluminium pedals, and a completely modular design that allows for tool-free adjustments to pedal stiffness and easy rearrangement and spacing changes. You can even completely remove the pedals from the base and mount the brake and clutch inverted if you were so inclined.

Logitech G have clearly thought long and hard about making their new pieces of hardware as accessible as possible, and it works to brilliant effect.

While the Logitech G Hub is there for PC players to make adjustments to settings, you can also use the OLED display screen to adjust all the wheel settings, even if you are playing on console.

You can adjust the input from both True Force and the force feedback itself. You can tweak torque, audio, and filter from True Force, the torque of the force feedback, the wheel rotation, and even the brake force you get through the wheel.

Best of all, you can save these under different profiles. That means you can set it up for multiple people or for multiple games. You can have 360-degree rotation and full 11 Nm of torque set for F1 22, and then a profile that opens up the rotation and lowers the feedback strength for WRC Generations.

BUY THE LOGITECH G PRO WHEEL & PRO PEDALS HERE

The pedals likewise have been engineered with accessibility at the core. Every pedal can be individually removed with just one allen key to be swapped over or individually mounted. The Pro Pedals come with four different springs for the gas & clutch, and changing them couldn't be simpler. There is no need to dismantle anything, you just pull the cover upward toward the pedal, unscrew it, and you can swap out for a stiffer or softer spring.

The same goes for the brake pedal's load cell, which comes with another set of brake elastomers if you want to change the feel of it.

Everything in the Pro Wheel & Pedals feels excellently crafted.

Let's start with the wheel rim that comes included in the Pro Wheel. There is no plastic buttons or cost-saving going on here as you have for example in Fanatec's GT DD Pro wheel rim. From the leather wrap of the wheel to the satisfying weight of the gear paddles and buttons, it all has a quality feel and one that will really last.

The hall effect gear paddles will last for an age, and the dual clutch paddles can either be set to give you launch control or re-assigned as throttle and brake, adding a layer of accessibility that is rarely seen in sim racing. The buttons are almost entirely within the sweep of your thumbs, while the selection wheels are easy to reach and operate, and again feel like they will be extremely durable. There is also a quick-release system for the wheel rim, which is incredibly easy to use.

While the wheel base does not support other brands of wheel rim, the fact that there is a quick-release system implies that Logitech G will soon be producing other rims for the Pro Wheel, hopefully including a formula-style one. That is unconfirmed for now, but would make sense.

BUY THE LOGITECH G PRO WHEEL & PRO PEDALS HERE

All of this build quality goes double for the pedals. The aluminium plates are superb and offer a great feel for those that race without shoes. Like everything else in the pedals they can be unscrewed and adjusted with ease. The simple modification capabilities also mean that you aren't going to accidentally strip screws or crack anything when making changes to them.

Perhaps the best part of the build quality and design though is the table clamp. The clamp is undisputedly the best on the market right now.

It clips easily into the front of the wheel base and has enough clearance to get around most supporting beams on a table. That is something that was lacking in the previous range of wheels from Logitech G and can be a nightmare with other manufacturers. My own Fanatec GT DD Pro wheel base came with a clamp that is complicated to attach and made up of multiple pieces of lumpy plastic. The Pro Wheel's clamp is totally different.

With just one clip into the front of the wheel base and a screw, you can go racing anywhere with this wheel. It's a superb piece of engineering and is incredibly user-friendly. This is something that will be greatly appreciated by many. With so few moving parts it is also, like the rest of the wheel, built to last.

The wheel base itself is a chunky piece of kit but everything is easily accessible. There is one big red power button on the front and a small screen option button at the top by the display.

At the back all the cables are easy to plug in. You just have a USB cable from the pedals, a micro-USB to the computer or console, and a power cable. That's it. There are additional USB slots for peripherals, and the Pro Wheel will support all existing Logitech G items such as the H-pattern shifter and even older sets of wheels, however an adapter will be required which is not out until early next year.

So what about actually racing with these new bits of kit? Well, we’ve been lucky enough to try out both the Pro Wheel and Pro Pedals and we love them.

There is always a tricky transition period when you use new kit. As mentioned previously, my normal setup is the Fanatec CSL DD base (with their Formula V2.5 rim) and CSL Elite pedals. As expected there was certainly a learning curve with the new Logitech Gs, especially for the pedals.

The load cell brake won't be to everyone's taste and is very tricky to fully depress if you are a desk racer, but when bolted to my rig it is superb. The pedals have almost no deadzone whatsoever, and while there is very little travel in the brake pedal it is much easier to trail brake when compared to a more basic brake pedal. This is especially true once you build up some muscle memory. Likewise the throttle pedal has a very realistic feel and is much easier to modulate than others I have used.

At its maximum power the Pro Wheel is not really suitable for use on a table, just like the pedals. Even when turned down to 5 Nm it hard to maintain consistency with your racing when you aren't attached to the wheel. Again though, when bolted onto a fixed rig the Pro Wheel comes alive.

The Pro Wheel base has a triangle bolt setup that fits my GT Omega Prime cockpit perfectly, and once setup there we could turn it up to the max and go racing!

We found native support for the Pro Wheel at the time of writing to be less than ideal, with Assetto Corsa Competizione being the most welcoming to the new Logitech G Pro Wheel. This is as expected with PC titles and a brand new piece of hardware, but nearly every game recognised inputs and remapping controls was a relatively simple one-off process.

BUY THE LOGITECH G PRO WHEEL & PRO PEDALS HERE

For those few that didn't recognise an input during our testing period, the Pro Wheel's compatibility mode was able to bridge the gap. Easily selectable thanks to that OLED display on the wheel base, the compatibility mode effectively makes the base a G923 for detection purposes, which meant we were able to go racing on every title in our Steam library.

In this mode we found force feedback implementation to vary across titles, with Autombilista 2 and WRC 10 seeming to do the least with such an effective piece of hardware. This should change as developers get access to the new hardware.

When racing in ACC the Pro Wheel is mind-blowing. You get incredible fine detail through the wheel even at lower torque settings. When set to the same 5 Nm power as my Fanatec CSL DD base I was getting far more information through my palms with the Pro Wheel.

This is thanks to TrueForce sending things like engine note vibrations through the wheel, giving you a more visceral experience. TrueForce's addition in the G923 seemed to make the wheel rattle, but with a direct drive motor behind it the power of the system is finally unleashed.

You begin to truly feel where the edge of grip is, where the bumps are in a track surface, and especially where performance to be gained is. It's a great experience, amplified by the pedals beneath your feet and the quality of the wheel rim in your hands.

When turned up you can really sense the power of the car you are driving. How applying the throttle on corner exit really pulls at the car. You can feel where the over- or under-rotation is and make corrections almost subconsciously. It feels easier to go faster with the Pro Wheel, not that it will be any substitution for practice, hard work, and talent!

So finally, how much is all this going to cost you and should you buy the Logitech G Pro Wheel and Pro Pedals? Well, anyone with some experience in sim racing will be able to tell you that direct drive does not come cheap.

The Logitech G Pro Wheel comes in at €1,099 and that is just for the wheel base & rim. The Pro Pedals are sold separately and will cost €389.

That is a big price tag, and much more expensive than any sim racing equipment Logitech G has produced previously. However, it is in line with the usual cost of a direct drive wheel base and load cell pedal set and the Pro Wheel in particular sits in a very strong position within the market.

While you would only pay €400 more for the 25 Nm Fanatec wheel base, that does not come with a wheel rim, and you would almost certainly be turning the power of that base down to the range of the Pro Wheel. Likewise, you can get cheaper direct drive wheel bases, but they are weaker and usually come without a wheel rim too, or have a very plastic and basic one in the case of the Fanatec GT DD Pro.

The biggest consideration really is that when you buy a direct drive wheel base you are buying into that manufacturers peripherals too, and at the moment that is a big unknown.

Given the strengths of the Pro Wheel and the Pro Pedals it is safe to assume that Logitech G will be bringing the same impressive design and build quality to bear on future peripherals, but the timeline of those are yet to be revealed.

Overall the Pro Wheel is an amazing piece of kit. It sits in a sweet spot of power between the entry-level direct drive and the esports-only, uber-powerful bases. Making it perfect for those who race regularly and semi-competitively.

It doesn't have any real weaknesses beyond the compatibility issues I have mentioned above, and those are sure to be resolved sooner rather than later. Its viability really comes down to what you personally need from a wheel. If you are racing 8-10 hours a week and in a variety of genres then this wheel is a true do-it-all and absolutely ideal for you. If you really want to feel like you are an F1 racer, then waiting to see if Logitech G do a formula-style rim is the play.

I have really loved my time with the Pro Wheel, but the standout is the Pro Pedals.

At first I found them a bit awkward. Going back to a three-pedal layout and having a much stiffer brake pedal was tricky, but after getting them secured onto my rig and putting in the laps they really are a joy. I can feel myself braking later and more consistently, trail braking has never been so easy, and I can apply throttle more smoothly.

The Pro Pedals are individually compatible with any wheel base if you are playing on PC as they can be directly connected via USB to your PC. That means you can buy it right now and get a superb upgrade for almost any setup if you are a PC racer. Which is what we recommend.

Overall Logitech G has done a great job with this immense step forward in their sim racing range. The Pro Wheel and Pedals provide a headache for their competitors, and fill a gap in the market that players have been waiting to see filled.

BUY THE LOGITECH G PRO WHEEL & PRO PEDALS HERE