Moza Drives Virtual Racing Into the Fast Lane

Forza Horizon 6 is the best racing game of the year and the best one released in many years. It doesn’t deserve the perfect scores that too many critics gave it — as you can read here — but few arcade racers offer a better way to cruise around a beautiful, large open world in an enormous range of cars.And yet, the experience that I — and the majority of players — have is a limited one. Using a controller or keyboard in a racing game is a little like driving a remote-controlled car; it’s fun, but it has little in common with driving.With a wheel-and-pedal setup, you get linear throttle, clutch, brake, and steering inputs, plus force feedback and resistance through the wheel. You no longer control a toy car with a rumbling controller; you can feel the grip bite as you slide around a corner, apply real pressure through the brake pedal, and feel a bit more like you’re actually in that Supra.Wheel-and-pedal setups have existed for years, but — at a moment when tech components are getting dramatically more expensive — they keep getting better for less money. And, for PC racers, nothing offers better value for money than MOZA’s R5 Pro bundle, announced today. I’ve been testing an early unit for the past several weeks, and it’s basically flawless.MOZA makes simulation hardware for driving, flying, and trucking, with its PC lineup starting with the entry-level R3 bundle, running up to the $899 R25 Ultra wheelbase. It’s a little hard to understand the differences if you haven’t tried many setups, but the R5 Pro is the best value in that lineup, giving you much of the feel of the top-end systems at a price closer to MOZA’s entry-level hardware.Courtesy of MozaAt $399, it costs $20 more than the current R5’s sale price but comes with a new direct-drive wheelbase producing six newton-meters of constant torque, up from the R5’s 5.5 newton-meters at peak; uses a 600 MHz processor in the same class of it’s R21 Ultra and R25 Ultra wheelbases — roughly twice as fast as the old R5′ — and it has a 21-bit magnetic encoder, up from 15-bit on the original R5.Courtesy of MozaIn nontechnical terms, the R5 Pro responds immediately, is sensitive to small inputs, and has enough torque to hurt your wrists if you run it at full force and do something stupid. Thankfully, MOZA’s Pit House app lets you adjust the force feedback in minute detail and dial in the feel so that won’t happen, and you can have different profiles per game. And if you don’t want to tweak the settings yourself, it comes with a set of presets, including one for Forza Horizon 6.Courtesy of MozaThe box also includes a desk clamp, bolts and hardware for attaching the wheelbase to a stand, a 280 mm D-shaped ES Lite steering wheel, and an SRP Lite2 metal two-pedal set. MOZA does not sell a stand itself, but any third-party rig with the standard four-hole bottom mount will work. You can upgrade the wheel with round or formula-style mods and the pedals with add-on kits. I like the standard wheel — it feels solid and comfortable, with clicky aluminum shift paddles and 22 buttons — but the pedal upgrades are worth the extra money. Out of the box, the pedals are pretty light, but the accelerator performance kit and brake performance kit give them proper weight and feel, and the clutch is nice for driving stick.Courtesy of MozaIt’s a fantastic set, and it significantly undercuts its main competitors from Thrustmaster and Fanatec on price. The key advantage those rivals hold over the R5 Pro is console support, as MOZA’s R5 Pro is PC-only. But that’s the best way to play a racing game anyway, and if you use a keyboard or controller, this is the best upgrade you could do.

Moza Drives Virtual Racing Into the Fast Lane

Moza Drives Virtual Racing Into the Fast Lane

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