MOZA Racing FSR Formula Wheel – Review

MOZA Racing FSR Formula Wheel – Review

With the FSR Formula Wheel, MOZA Racing has launched its first own steering wheel with an integrated screen. MOZA’s 28-centimetre Formula-style steering wheel is aimed in the direction of the high-end segment. Will this be a successful step forward?

Ordering and shipping

The steering wheel can be purchased from MOZA directly as well as from various third-party suppliers. There, the FSR Wheel currently costs 689€ excluding shipping, taxes and customs.

The German shop Sim-Motion provided the steering wheel for this review (no conditions were placed on this review by the supplier, no influence was exerted). There, the FSR Formula Wheel is currently also available for 689€ + shipping, but including VAT and without additional customs duties.

Technical data

Scope of delivery

The scope of delivery is very limited. In addition to the steering wheel, the package contains four pads to dampen the relatively loud shifters, a hexagonal spanner and a cloth bag to protect the steering wheel:

• FSR Formula Wheel
• Tool Kit: Hexagon screwdriver / Mute pad x 4
• Portable cloth bag

Compatibility

The MOZA FSR Formula Wheel is compatible with all current MOZA wheel bases. If you want to use it with a third party wheel base, you will need an additional MOZA HUB, which will be available soon, and a connection cable.

Scope of functions

Function keys

The FSR Formula Wheel offers the following function keys:

• 10 buttons, which are designed as “mechanical keyboard keycaps”. These are therefore rather soft and have a comparatively londistance until they are triggered. Although they are reliable, they do not come close to the high-quality buttons of other high-end steering wheels.
• 5 rotary controls, each of which is additionally equipped with a push function. The caps are made of aluminium and are very well manufactured.
• 2 thumb encoders, which are also equipped with a push function. They are placed in such a way that they can be easily adjusted while driving, although pressing the encoders is relatively difficult.
• 2 JoySticks, which can be configured as a D-pad in the software. This works well in principle, but the 7-way switches that are now common on many steering wheels would be more convenient to use because of their clearly defined paths.

Shifter and clutch

On the back of the steering wheel are the shifters already known from the GS Wheel and the double clutch. The latter can be used as a double clutch with combined axles, as separate axles or as normal buttons. The magnetic shift paddles have a strong feel and are very loud. It is advisable to fit the pads supplied to dampen the noise.

Various users here often report shifting problems. The solution is usually to recalibrate the paddle shifters using MOZA’s software.

Screen and LEDs

The highlight of the FSR Formula Wheel is of course the 4.3 inch screen with a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels. Unfortunately, the viewing angle is not very wide and for an optimal image, you should adjust your sitting position accordingly.

In addition to the screen, MOZA has installed 10 LEDs for displaying the speed, as it did with the GS Wheel. These are arranged in the form of a band and can be configured via the software. Also equipped with LEDs are the 10 push buttons, which can be illuminated in seven different colours.

Software

Various settings can be made in the MOZA Pit House. First of all, you can choose between 15 different dashboards. Unfortunately, these are not customisable, as you are used to with Simhub, for example. Depending on the intended use, you can definitely find a suitable display design here, but all in all there is still a lot of room for improvement. The fonts with different widths of different characters are particularly annoying and make the current lap time “jump” unattractively, for example.

Otherwise, the usual settings can be made and the software does a solid job here.

Materials

MOZA uses a 5 millimetre thick carbon plate for the front and 3 millimetre thick plates for the shifters on its flagship model. In combination with the knobs and the aluminium housing as well as the professionally manufactured plastic components (no FDM printing) on the front, the result is a very high-quality overall impression. You don’t have to worry about problems with torsional stiffness at all.

The good overall picture is rounded off by the handles now covered with perforated leather, which are a clear improvement over the previously used handles made of Alcantara. In the future, however, we would like to see rubber handles here, which are now becoming more and more popular due to their good grip properties and easy maintenance.

Driving impression

Conclusion

With FSR Formula Wheel, MOZA has succeeded in creating an excellent piece of hardware. High-quality materials with a very nice finish make for an absolutely solid steering wheel that is also equipped with a multitude of function buttons. These, in combination with the 4.3 inch screen and the RPM bar with ten LEDs, offer almost everything you could wish for in such a formula wheel.

Unfortunately, MOZA does not yet offer Simhub integration or other options for personalising the dashboards. This is currently the only real downer of this otherwise very good steering wheel.