Mr Viral
Turtle Beach Racer Wireless Racing Wheel for Xbox & PC Review
It’s been a while since I’ve been behind a (gaming) racing wheel, but it sure feels great. Over the past couple weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to go hands on with Turtle Beach’s Racer Wireless Racing Wheel. The wheel is designed for both Xbox platforms and PC, but I exclusively used it on my Xbox Series X. This particular racing wheel does not come with any foot pedals, so all the functions came directly from the wheel itself. Oh, and did you notice the part about it being wireless? If you’re a racing fan looking for a convenient way to get your laps in, Turtle Beach has you covered.
Lap It Up
The Turtle Beach Racer Wireless Racing Wheel is designed to function in a variety of gaming setups. But the best feature by far is the ability to sit the wheel comfortably on your lap, courtesy of the adjustable, non-slip attachments. That’s right, you can do laps, with it on your lap! And it works pretty well, too. I was initially concerned that since it wasn’t attached to anything, it’d be shifting around too much. This wasn’t the case at all. However, since I am an adult with adult sized-thighs, I really do wish the lap attachments were a couple inches longer, just to feel a touch more comfortable.
Of course, if you want a more traditional set-up, the wheel has built-in table clamps that work brilliantly. I used it on a wooden TV tray and it was great.
The wheel has a great look to it, and even better, if feels amazing! The wheel itself features a soft-touch texture which feels silky smooth. The action of the wheel turning – with a full 360-degrees of wheel rotation – is snappy. Turtle Beach made a product that feels hefty, but not to the point it’s unwieldy.
(Almost) Everything a Controller Needs
The wheel face features all the same buttons you would find on your Xbox Series X controller, and placed in mostly logical areas. Of course, there are no thumbsticks, but since most driving games use the left thumbstick for driving, the wheel takes on that role. However, games that also utilize the right thumbstick – for whatever purpose – are out of luck. In a game like Forza Motorsport, that means you won’t be able to look around as you drive.
On the plus side, the wheel face features two mappable buttons. I didn’t have a need for them during my testing, but it’s always great to have more options.
One amazing addition to the Racer Wireless Racing Wheel is Controller Mode. It’s a feature that allows you to play racing games that might not support wheels. Definitely a clever way to increase compatibility. While not every racing game will be compatible, Turtle Beach had the forethought of making an ever-expanding Game Compatibility Guide.
Putting in the Laps
Testing out a racing wheel requires diving into an assortment of driving games, and this time was no different! I tested Forza Motorsport, Crew 2, F1 2024, Need for Speed Heat and the iconic classic, Daytona USA.
Crew 2 and Need for Speed Heat handled… okay. In Need for Speed Heat, drifting requires pressing one of the face buttons, while holding the accelerator paddle and turning. It’s a bit awkward. Crew 2 was challenging because it required multiple face buttons to perform maneuvers while driving. F1 2024 wouldn’t work at all. I was able to assign the buttons/wheel to custom control settings, but when I finally got into a race, the wheel didn’t respond properly. My understanding is that other wheels don’t have this same problem, so hopefully Turtle Beach can work with EA Games to get this wheel to work. Daytona USA had a very odd bug where anytime I collided with a wall, the car would stop and the Racer Wheel would disconnect. However, that particular game was not included on the compatibility guide and was more of a “what if” test.
On the positive side, Forza Motorsport worked like an absolute charm, which suggests to me that simulation style games are definitely the best choice. Forza Motorsport recognized it from the get-go and all the controls functioned as intended. Of course, as mentioned earlier, there is the limitation of not being able to look around – but since most gaming wheels don’t feature thumbsticks, it’s hard to dock marks on the Racer Wheel for this.
Feature Rich
A few other features worth mentioning. First off, the Racer Wireless Racing Wheel is wireless and connects to the Xbox Series X via Bluetooth. The Bluetooth dongle is cleverly concealed into the wheel’s base – I mention it because it took a while for me to figure that out (pro tip: read the instruction manual). The Racer Wheel includes integrated audio controls, so you can connect any 3.5mm headset to it. The wheel’s D-pad doubles as a game & chat mixer. And finally, the Racer Wheel is compatible with the Turtle Beach Control Center 2 app on both Xbox and PC. This free app gives you the ability to update firmware, calibrate, and assign mappable buttons.
The Turtle Beach Racer Wireless Racing Wheel is a decent entry-level racing wheel that should get most aspiring racers out on the virtual track. Simulation games like Forza Motorsport are the best option with this racing wheel, but that’s primarily because they don’t utilize too many face buttons – if any – to provide a solid racing experience. Using the paddles to accelerate & brake works well enough, though I do wish they were slightly bigger as making a deep turn while holding a paddle down can be awkward. If you have your own set of racing pedals, you’ll be better off. The wireless feature seems to work well enough, I didn’t notice any input lag while racing and I was sitting about 12 feet from my console. While there might be better wheels on the market, this one should satisfy gamers that need the freedom of being cable-free, ideal for gamers with big game rooms or who want to pass the wheel around with friends who want a turn.
***Turtle Beach Racer Wireless Racing Wheel was provided by the publisher.***
The Good
Wireless with approx. 30 hours of charge.
Soft-touch texture feels awesome
Controller setting maximizes compatibility
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The Bad
Some games don’t recognize it
Paddles could be a bit larger
Lap pads could be a bit longer
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