What is the best racing wheel? There is no bigger upgrade for driving games and racing sims than investing in a proper racing wheel. Not only do they just look the part but they can really boost your immersion and enjoyment while actually enhancing your real-world driving skills too. We’ve tested dozens of options to bring you our top choices.
The best racing wheel for most gamers is the Thrustmaster T300 RS. Its balance of decently powerful force feedback and easy upgradability for an affordable price makes it a great option for beginners and more experienced drivers. Step up to the Fanatec CSL DD QR2 or Nacon Revosim RS Pure and you unlock a world of more powerful and precise feel, build quality, and customization. Meanwhile, if money is tight, the Thrustmaster T128 will get you a start in the world of force feedback racing wheels for a low price. Not sure what to look for? Check out the how to choose and FAQ sections of this guide for more advice.
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Best racing wheel 2025:
Nacon Revosim RS Pure bundle
Best value direct drive racing wheel
| Force feedback | Direct drive, 9Nm |
| Rotation | 900° |
| Number of pedals | 2 |
| Wheel material | Faux leather and metal |
- Powerful, detailed force feedback
- Fantastic value for a direct drive wheel
- Great build quality
- Expandable
- Limited expansion options right now
- Gear paddles are a little lightweight
- Power button hidden on the back of the base
The Revosim RS Pure is a brand new racing sim wheel range from Nacon that jumps straight in with a powerful, direct drive base partnered with a quality wheel and set of pedals. It’s not a cheap option but it’s incredible value for a full wheel kit with such a powerful direct drive base.
While the whole kit is very well built, the base is the star of the show. 9Nm may not be all that powerful for a direct drive model but it’s a huge leap up over cheaper wheels and the lack of gears and belts getting in the way means you get superb detail as well as raw power.
As for the included wheel, its faux leather and metal build really gives it a premium feel, although the gear shifters are a little light to the touch, making them feel a bit trigger happy. This aside, it’s a great starting wheel for a kit of this type.
The pedals are fantastic quality too, with a brake pedal that includes up to 100kg load cell, for a realistic response and feel. However, it does only come with two pedals. That might be forward facing as far as electric cars and Formula 1 style racing cars but there are still many other car types that can’t be emulated without a clutch pedal.
In theory, adding in a third pedal is an easy upgrade – along with adding a manual shifter and handbrake, but these accessories aren’t yet available. Likewise, no other wheels or bases have yet been added to the range.
Still, even without these possible future upgrades, this is a fantastic value direct drive kit that undercuts the price of its chief rivals, in terms of a full kit with a base this powerful.
Read our full Nacon Revosim RS Pure review for more information.
How to choose the best PC steering wheels
Selecting the right racing wheel for your needs can be confusing, thanks to the wide range of features and prices to choose from. However, armed with a few key factors to keep in mind, it shouldn’t take you too long to hone in on the right choice for you.
The first factor to consider is force feedback. This is where the wheel your interacting with includes a motor that rotates the wheel to mimic how a real steering wheel would feel on the road. All the bumps and rumbles from the road plus the steering forces you feel when cornering at speed and fed back to your hands, giving you a more accurate feel of how the car is handling. Technically, there are racing wheels that don’t include force feedback but these are so basic we outright don’t recommend them other than, perhaps, for children. Otherwise, you’re better off with one of the best PC controller options until you can upgrade to a “proper” racing wheel.
The type of drive that a wheel uses is also a crucial consideration, and there are three main types: gear, belt, and direct. As there names suggest, these mean the wheel connects to a motor either via gears, belts, or directly to the same shaft as the motor.
Gear are generally the cheapest, with the least accurate feel and they can be noisy. Belt drive models are smoother and quieter and a little more expensive. Meanwhile, direct drive models used to be very rare and exclusive as they provide the most power and accuracy while remaining quiet. These days there are many reasonably affordable direct drive models, though.
Another factor is the overall upgradability of a wheel. Cheaper wheels tend to have the wheel fixed to the motor base and have few other upgrade options. Meanwhile, more expensive models allow for detaching the wheel from the base so that you can upgrade to a better quality wheel or even have different wheels for different styles of racing game.
Some companies also offer more accessories than others. Fanatec and Thrustmaster have a really wide selection of extras with lots of cross compatibility between wheels and bases. Logitech’s selection is a little narrower and more restrictive and while Nacon’s new entry looks set to have lots of upgrade options, none are available yet.
One key advantage of Logitech’s wheels, though, is excellent console compatibility, with you able to buy Xbox and PlayStation compatible versions of its wheels (all of which also work with PC).
A racing wheel can significantly improve your experience in racing games, but it can only go so far. Many gamers like to buy PC handbrakes or even chairs made especially for racing wheels. We’ve included a couple of these on the list for good measure but be sure to check out our list of the best racing sim cockpits to get the full picture.
Which of the best racing games you’re playing should influence your decision too. Games like Forza Horizon 5 actively benefit from a wheel, but we’d stick with a gamepad when playing Burnout Paradise Remastered because of its arcadey approach. That’s not to say you can’t have some fun with a dedicated wheel at your fingertips in any racing game, but they don’t always justify the cost.
PC racing wheel FAQs
Are racing wheels for PCs worth it?
If you’re a gamer who spends a lot of time playing racing games, a PC steering wheel is a near essential investment. The extra immersion and connection to the sense of really driving is just transformational to your fun. If you’re just a casual racing gamer, though, you might prefer to save your money for other upgrades while sticking to a quality PC controller instead.
Why are PC steering wheels so expensive?
There’s just a lot of mechanical stuff in a proper force feedback racing wheel. Gears, belts, and high quality stepper motors combined with lots of extra buttons and the need to build a wheel robustly enough to cope with humans putting their full body weight into their racing inputs means they’re not cheap to make. Quality pedals also add considerably to the cost of a full setup, as they will simulate the pneumatic feedback you get from a real brake pedal. Cheap wheels without force feedback are indeed much cheaper but they’re also a bit of a waste of time.
Is a steering wheel easier than a controller?
Not necessarily. If you turn all driving assists off and try to emulate precise steering via a gamepad thumbstick, you’re not going to do as well as someone with a proper racing wheel. However, with a few assists you can actually get faster times using a controller. Ultimately, a racing wheel is about improving your immersion and enjoyment of the game, particularly for sim-styling racing that you might one day dream of emulating in real life.
Which racing wheel brand is best?
At the very top end of racing wheel options, there are some very expensive boutique brands that are slightly outside the realm of what we’d recommend to most buyers starting out. The likes of the Simucube 2 Pro R2 is well over $1,000 just for the wheelbase, and that’s the brand’s cheapest option. Fanatec (now owned by Corsair) has bases starting at $300 but they can rise to $1,500.
However, for most gamers, the main brands to look out for are Fanatec, Logitech, Moza, Nacon, and Thrustmaster. These brands have entry level options (at least for bases) available for under $400, with Logitech and Thrustmaster having for wheel kit options below $200.
The main differentiator between these brands is that Logitech lacks customization, with fewer options for upgrading its wheelbases and wheels separately. Nacon is also only just starting out into sim racing, so its range is limited. Thrustmaster offers more customization and some reasonably high-end options. Meanwhile, Fanatec and Moza have lots of customization and some very high-end options.
If you enjoyed this article, you might also want to read the story of how a PC steering wheel saved somebody’s life. For more guidance on building out your setup, read our guides on the best gaming mouse or the best gaming monitor – each component plays its part in creating the perfect gaming experience.