I have long been a fan of racing games, yet I rarely play them these days. Generally, I stick to an odd round of Mario Kart 8, or Crash Team Racing: Nitro Fueled, opting for blue shells and beakers over accuracy and aerodynamics. The biggest reason is that, despite having held a driving license for longer than I’d care to dis, I absolutely suck at driving games.
I’ve wondered for years if having a steering wheel setup would improve my in-game driving, but the set up cost is hefty, so it’s never happened. Until now.
When I was offered the chance to test the Turtle Beach VelocityOne Race Wheel & Pedal System I jumped at it. Finally, a way to unleash my inner racing driver with a steering wheel and pedals. Not that I’d be needing the clutch. I don’t like driving a stick shift in real life, so I’m not doing it for fun.
I was eager to get started when the parcel arrived, but the first thing that struck me was how heavy it is. The description is packed with phrases like ‘Dynamic Brake Tek load-cell braking system’ and ‘ultra-realistic K: Drive force feedback motor’ so I did expect it to be chunky, but this was heavy enough to make me curse the fact my office and lounge are both up a flight of stairs.
Getting Ready To Race
The VelocityOne Race is a complex beast, but comes well-packed, and easy to assemble right out of the box. The unit comes in four main parts: base unit, steering wheel, pedals, and control unit. The steering wheel clips easily onto the base unit, which in turn rests on a flat surface and is held with clamps that slide out of the base. The control unit slides into the side, and the pedals are ready to go. There’s even a neat screwdriver inside the unit, making assembly fast and simple. A couple of cables link it all together, you plug it into a USB port, and away you go. Well, kind of.
Setting up the hardware is easy, but the software? Not so much. There are ten spaces to save configuration settings on the wheel itself, and you can use the app to store even more. I wondered why you’d need so many, then I realised that once you set this up for a specific game you’ll want to ensure you never have to repeat the process. The challenge before that however, is finding a compatible game.
The most notable exception is arguably the biggest one, Gran Turismo, which is missing not due to game incompatibility, but platform incompatibility. The VelocityOne Race only works with Windows 10 or 11 PC and Xbox One or Xbox Series X|S, immediately limiting its potential.
VelocityOne Race is Turtle Beach’s first foray into racing peripherals and this is likely the reason why the compatibility list covers a reasonable number of games, but is missing a couple I’d hoped for. You’re in luck if you love Forza, Nascar, Assetto Corsa, F1, WRC, or Dirt, but on the other hand, Need For Speed and MotoGP didn’t make the current cut, and there’s nothing a little more light hearted, like Hot Wheels Unleashed. Only serious titles for serious racers here, so my hopes of testing more familiar racing titles were dashed.
While most of the games are plug and play, anything declaring ‘profile setup required’ takes some effort. When I went to play Grid Legends it was a test of patience to get the steering wheel recognised and then reconfigure it all. Thankfully the website instructions got me there, but hopefully more titles will move to plug and play going forward.
There’s a setting to swap between PC and Xbox compatibility, so making sure this is set correctly is your first step.
The good thing is that once you are set up, the hardware is solid. The wheel didn’t budge from the table at all, and the screws didn’t need retightening over the six weeks or so it was set up and in use. The pedals also stayed firmly in place on my carpeted floor. I was terrified of damaging it, especially with it being a loaner, but I needn’t have worried. Even my enthusiastic teen son couldn’t put a dent in it, although it will put a hefty dent in my wallet when he inevitably wants one since the price comes in at a hefty £630 in the UK and $650 for those over the pond.
So, Did Race Make Me A Better Racer?
In short, yes. There’s something about being able to fully employ the muscle memory of driving that helped me keep control of the car far better in whichever title I loaded up. There’s also the sheer joy of how much fun it feels to actually steer, and have to hit the brake with your foot. I often find myself moving my foot when I’m playing racing games instinctively anyway, so it feels amazing to have it actually do something besides make me look stupid.
Racing games just feel a bit wrong on a controller, and I never understood why until now. A racing game can be as hyper realistic as it likes, but when you’re twiddling a thumbstick and holding down a trigger button it’s so far removed from actually driving that there’s always a disconnect there. I usually need to remove the realism to cope with the jarring difference.
But with the VelocityOne Race, no matter how you drive, if you’ve got the time and patience to invest in it, you can completely customise the setup in so many ways – I only scratched the surface. Despite my inexperience with the tech, I worked out how to adjust the feedback and sensitivity, and I was surprised by just how I could get the response to how my own car feels.
When I learnt to drive my instructor told me absolutely not to drive “like you’re playing an arcade game” but this modern experience is far removed from my teen years and much more ly resembles actual driving. Those days of racing against my brother in a Sega Rally Championship arcade that had a wobbly steering wheel and a brake that only worked if you absolutely smashed it to the floor are long gone now. This is the future, and it’s very shiny.
The wheel has settings and information galore, and while some of it is limited in specific games, if you love to know all the facts about torque, horsepower, and fun physics things, this setup is for you.
The steering wheel lights up with a dashboard that would be at home in an F1 car, and with a flip of the switches by your right hand you can scan through them to maximise your information, and your performance.
Or, if you’re me, you can ignore all those things and just enjoy the experience of coasting along beautiful roads in Forza Horizon and experiencing the feeling of driving combined with the views of the open digital road. All without the panic of having to drive on the ‘wrong’ side of the road.
If you’re looking for a steering wheel setup that has a lot of fancy features and customisation, the Turtle Beach VelocityOne Race is certainly worth a look. The unit is well-built and easy to assemble, and it feels nice to use, with no slippage. It’s very customisable and the feedback feels realistic, offering an immersive experience.
However, it is clearly built for someone far more into the stats and configuration than I am, so for a more casual user like myself, while it’s an incredibly enjoyable experience, there are likely cheaper options out there which, while they may not be as well-built, may be better suited as an entry point.
A Turtle Beach VelocityOne Race was loaned to TheGamer for the purpose of this article.
