[STEAM] The Moza R12 Racing Experience, Hands On Impressions, and Less Than a Motza Prices

[Steam 0]

Right off the starter grid, I must admit I was sceptical during the unboxing process of this Moza racing setup. You see, I was first drawn to the R12 Wheel Base, the CRP Pedals, and the GS V2P GT Wheel for three reasons—Moza's sterling

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, the fact that it was a GT3/F1 configuration not offered by my current wheel, and because I’m a fiend for greater force feedback. The latter didn’t seem probable here, despite Moza's superior FF numbers.

I’m very much a simmer who feels the need to feel the speed. My

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, a Logitech G Pro Racing Wheel, is no slouch in the FF department with its not-unimpressive 11Nm of torque. That said, the R12’s direct drive servo system goes ******* at 12Nm.

The

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leap from eleven to a dozen sure amped me up, but I recoiled when spotting the footprint differences of these similarly priced wheel bases. As I was grease monkeying everything off my sim rig, it was impossible not to notice the dashboard-like Logi Pro wheel base (30.5 x 29 x 20cm) dwarfing Moza's ultra-compact R12 base (22.5 x 15.6 x 12.3cm).

I caught myself wondering: Is it even possible to get more power out of such a svelte package? In short order, the answer came back as a resounding, wrist-rattling yes.

We'll delve into the details of that in a sec, but for now, let’s get some best price options for anybody who clicked in here with their mind made up already. Everybody else can skip all that window shopping by

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to continue to my hands on impressions.

The Moza Racing Test Setup

Moza R12 Wheel Base

Long story short, the R12 Wheel Base is a solidly built nerve-centre that will serve as your HUB for Moza’s highly interchangeable racing ecosystem. Boasting an aviation-grade aluminum alloy housing with ***** laser-etched accents, it certainly looks the goods after I bolt it onto the business plate of my trusty Playseat Alcantara sim seat.



From here, it’s a wiring noodlefest as you connect the base to a (considerably sized) power brick, and then to a wall socket. The next extra step I had was linking the base to my (optional) Moza Sequential Shifter. It’s also worth noting that there are dedicated ports available for hi-definition Digital Dash readouts, Handbrakes for the hairpin heroes, and an E-stop switch.

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The last step of the great connect-a-thon is threading from base to pedals, which require their own mini daisy-chain connection process with short wires running between the accelerator, brake, and clutch pedals before a single, dedicated cable can be snaked out to the base unit. This sounds like a pain, but it’s actually a one-off hassle, and the no-nonsense labelling of all ports makes for a painless process.



Last but not least, you’ll need to slot on a wheel style of your choice onto the base. As mentioned before, I went for the GS V2P GT (GT3/F1) setup, and it effortlessly snaps onto the base via an automotive-grade conductive slip ring system that provides limitless max wheel rotation. And, for the record: Moza’s other wheel styles include an ES (ideal for street/drifting), a CS (what I’d use for rallying), and there’s even a very self-explanatory TSW Truck Wheel. As a wheelman who enjoys all the meats of the sim racing stew, I'm looking forward to testing those variants in the future.

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Moza GS V2P GT Wheel

While the R12 wheel base is *****-looking but also unassumingly box-like, it’s difficult to not be wowed by the busy aesthetics of the GS V2P wheel once freed from its box + totebag prison. Authentically-sized and wonderfully weighty-feeling at first touch, this bad boy is positively bristling with bells and whistles. It's absolutely stuccoed with more dials and switches than your average gamer would know what to do with.



Thanks to exceptional design, I found I had easy thumb access to this cacophony of buttons and doodads. Beyond the main dials that rest at the centre of the unit, it feels like every other input has been perfectly placed around my fingertips. Likewise, the build quality of everything feels befitting of the considerable price one is paying.

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Noise-wise, the functions that rest on the back of the wheel will be very intent on letting you know they’re back there. The aftward clutch pedals are generously sized and non-cacophonous, though they’re certainly clicky. The individual gear up/down shifters are the main culprits, as they're definitely noisier than they need to be—just beefy, metal-on-metal clanks aplenty. Though it’s a minor pain in an already lengthy setup process, you should 100% take the time to apply the (optional) rubber dampening pads that come with this unit.



Powering up the wheel results in a cheerful disco of lights as the RPM strip and ten face buttons run through their initialization checks. Speaking of chroma, I love that this V2P version of the wheel has upgraded to individual LEDS instead of the old sequential LED RPM setup. Looks better. Works better.



I also dig how stocky and durable this wheel feels, thanks to a stronger reinforced backplate. It’s also mighty comfortable in the mitts with its perforated microfiber leather grips (an epidermis-friendly finish that’s also found on Moza's more premium FSR wheel). Lastly, at 300mm across, I appreciate that this unit is slightly wider than quite a few competing F1-style wheels out there. Call me shallow, but I’m always of the opinion that ******* is better with wheels—it just sells the illusion that much more.

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The excellent build quality extends to the inputs themselves. Those ten backlit push buttons dominating the radial reach range of your thumbs all feel nice to the press and have a surety that reduces the likelihood of accidental pressings. This lack of finickiness is invaluable when you’re racing as I do, ensconced in a VR headset with no option for a quick downward glance at the wheel.



Note: if you do exist at the other end of the spectrum and like the occasional glance at your wheel, I love that there’s a quick button combo that allows the individual cycle changing of LED colours for every push button. For example, you might want to slap a big “no no” red on your pit-limiter function to prevent accidentally crapping out your transmission along the main straight of Monza.



Likewise, the rotary encoders that sit at the centre of the unit have just the right amount of resistance to them. When ****** as a bat in VR, I found that I could still intuitively reach out, find what I needed, and then twist to the correct number of units required. I'm quite happy that there's a degree of further customisation with these too—Moza’s software suite allows you to easily change these from rotary encoders to simpler, individual switches. Every creature comfort has been thought of.

Moza CRP Pedals

When it comes to putting actual pedals to the metal, Moza’s CRP set is a high-quality offering. They require the most construction of the peripherals in this article, but also the most latitude to tweak things into one's absolute ideal setup. You’ll cobble everything together, from the metal base plate and heel-stop strip, to slotting in the three pedals into a surprisingly large array of spacing slots on offer.



I never thought I’d say this about something designed to be relentlessly trodden on, but these CNC machined aluminum alloy pedals look...beautiful. Weirdly, they never ******* to catch the eyes of even my non-gaming mates and draw positive comments. I was also pretty impressed by the genrously sized toolkit that came with this—a veritable Mechano box of adjuster tools, spring swaps, and rubber dampeners.

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Once I bolted everything to where it needed to go, I was struck by how large the face area is for these single-spring pedals. I’m used to the Logitech approach where you’re all toes and the ball of the foot–Moza’s determined to let your whole sole get involved. These pedals also leverage rear-mounted load cell sensors and magnetic Hall Effect Sensors, which are much preferred for their durability over many, many hours of stomping.



Overall, I loved the sensation of these very linear feeling pedals, and there’s plenty of travel provided to cater to a wide variety of sim setups and disciplines. With minimal monkeywrenching, you can fairly quickly transition from short 'n' snappy F1 responsiveness to the deeper pedal pushes one might want for heel-and-toe shift driffting or a big mutha-trucker rig racer.

All Together Now

When everything finally came together for game-time, the Moza ecosystem performed brilliantly. Obviously, with the F1 nature of the GS V2P GT, I veered ******* towards open-wheeler experiences with a dash of GT3 thrown in here and there. Furthermore, as a Force-feedback junkie, I made a beeline for the titles on Moza’s official FF compatibility list, such as:

• Both Assetto Corsas
• Both Dirt Rallys (and 4)
• F1s 2018 through 2023
• All Project CARS
• iRacing
• rFactor2
• Forza Horizon 4 and 5
• WRC 9/10/Generations
• Wreckfest
• BeamNG.Drive
• Mudrunner

In a general sense, the GS V2P wheel feels responsive and weighty. I'm also happy to say that when it comes to the quick release nature of the wheel and its stem, stability hasn't been sacrificed for quick-swap convenience—I detected only a tiny degree of lateral flex going on. That's great news if you’re one of those wheel stranglers who tends to twist your wrists a little during especially hairy turns.

For the most part, the unaltered default settings for the wheel felt perfectly adequate for most things I played, though I loved the degree of tinkering offered in Moza’s Pit House software suite. It’s an incredibly intuitive platform that allows you to scroll through the aforementioned list of sims and configure for them individually. No more diving into the guts of your game install directories to punch gobbledygook .ini files into shape.



In the interest of time, I downloaded a bunch of premade JSON profiles as a base to fine tune the experiences of my favourite F1 23 go-tos—mostly hot laps in iffy weather conditions around Interlagos, Bahrain, Silverstone, and Red Bull Ring. I found that being able to rein in maximum steering angle and overall FF intensity to be an absolute cinch via the Pit House android /iphone app as well.

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Feasibly, with said app and the quick-swap nature of the changeable wheels, you can radically overhaul what your R12 is capable of at the speed of a pit crew on red cordial. Obviously, Pit House goes a heck of a lot more granular than what I’m describing today, but to detail it all here would require a small Wiki—an especially particular petrolhead could spend hours in this tweaktown.

Initially, all my smooth brain wanted was to "embiggen" the force feedback the sensation of attacking those hair-raising corners and chicanes of my old beloved, Nürburgring Nordschleife. Pretty soon, however, I fell down a rabbit ***** into one of Moza’s newest settings called Base Force Feedback Curve. In layman’s terms, it provides a parabolic, visual means to assess and mess with the dynamic range of the grunt coming through the wheels and into your hands.



Massaging the curve ensures that you can inch up more linear effects, like road textures, fender kisses and rumble strips to have increased FF relevance while making those more overbearing signals—like spearing into a wall or t-boning a rival—less dominating.

Honestly, I found the results to be sublime, as so much more was being communicated to me. Experimenting with this non-linear range at the 12nm max output is such an extra dimension. I found it to be almost as much fun as tinkering with the parts of an in-game car.



Basically, though the R12 is technically only "one notch" beyond the force feedback I'm used to feeling, the nuance provided by Moza's impressive hardware / software marriage is a game-changer that opens up a wide range of possibilities.



Most you will be quickly impressed with the exceptional craftsmanship and auto-config experience of the R12 Moza setup, but I can already see the true joy of it will be spent chasing my dream settings and then, of course, those perfect laps that elude and drive us all.

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Adam Mathew is our Aussie deals wrangler. He plays practically everything, often on

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