Leoxz DDU800 Simracing Dashboard – Review

Leoxz DDU800 Simracing Dashboard – Review

With the XF1 Sport and the XF1 Pro, Leoxz currently offers what are probably the most affordable steering wheels with a display and high-quality materials at the same time. The manufacturer from China is now expanding its range with the DDU800 and is also offering a dedicated dashboard for the first time.

Ordering and shipping

The DDU800 can be ordered directly from the manufacturer’s website. The price there is currently 189.95€. For Europeans, shipping costs, taxes and customs duties have to be added, resulting in a total price of about 300€. Alternatively, you can also order the dashboard from various retailers; Sim-Motion, for example, is currently offering it for 249€ + shipping.

Scope of delivery

The DDU800 is delivered in a plain white box in which it is well protected. In addition to the Dash itself, there are four carbon brackets for mounting, including a USB cable and various screws.

• DDU800
• USB-Type C 1.8m Cable
• 2 x M4x10 hex bolts
• 2 x M6x10 Fanatec hex bolts
• 2 x M8x12 Simucube & Simagic hex bolts
• Fanatec Mounting Bracket
• Simucube & Simagic Mounting Bracket

Screen

The heart of the DDU800 is a 4.3-inch VoCore IPS display with a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels. Leoxz operates this via its own Simhub plug-in in combination with a more powerful chip. This allows 60 FPS instead of a maximum of 30 frames per second and also enables dithering on the software side (see image below for comparison). The latter makes colour gradients appear finer and significantly reduces visible gradations. This significantly upgrades the already very good VoCore screen and sets it apart from the competition.

LEDs

For the LEDs, the manufacturer opts for the following layout:

• Left: 3 RGB LEDs
• Middle: 12 RGB LEDs
• Right: 3 RGB LEDs

The LEDs are individually controllable and can be adjusted in colour and brightness. They are very evenly illuminated and can be set very brightly without causing glare.

Additional features

As a little goodie, the dashboard has four small buttons on the back that can be used for various actions.

Materials

As with the previously presented steering wheels, Leoxz relies on high-quality materials for the DDU800. The housing is made entirely of CNC-machined aluminium and is sealed off on the back by a carbon cover into which two threads for mounting are integrated.

The workmanship is also almost flawless. Only at the edge of the dashboard can a very small part of the VoCore frame be seen when looking closely from the side.

Software

To control the LEDs and the display, Leoxz, like almost all manufacturers at the moment, relies on the popular Simhub simracing software. This allows the LEDs to be controlled individually and thus enables effects of all kinds: from the classic RPM bar to complex self-defined effects.

The DDU800 is controlled via the Simhub extension called SimBridge by Leoxz, which can be used to manage the dashboards (e.g. available for download at racedepartment.com), adjust the brightness and configure the four buttons on the back. These can be used, for example, to switch the current dashboard, to control the brightness of the LEDs or the screen, and to perform self-defined actions.

A standard profile is stored for the LEDs, which, in addition to the RPM, also displays flags, ABS and TC effects, a spotter function and other functions such as the pit limiter. This can then be further adapted to your own needs. A special dashboard design is not supplied by the manufacturer. Here you must either use one of the designs from Simhub or one of the many dashboards created by the simracing community.

Note: To use Simhub with 60 instead of 10 FPS, a full version is required. This is already available from 6€.

Mounting and connections

The DDU800 uses a single USB-C port on the back and, according to Leoxz, should be connected directly to the PC. During the review, however, it also worked perfectly with an active USB hub (Asetek Forte Base).

For mounting on the wheelbase, a similar system is used as with the previously tested AW4 Dash (link to the test). Two brackets each are screwed to the back and are adjustable via slotted holes. The brackets are made of solid carbon and are compatible out-of-the-box with e.g. Fanatec, Simagic and Simucube wheelbases.

DIY Project: Asetek Bracket

For this review, the dashboard was used on a Forte Wheelbase from Asetek. In theory, two spacers and longer screws (M6x50) would be sufficient to mount the dashboard with the brackets supplied.

As a small free DIY project, a one-piece bracket was then created from the 3D printer as part of this review.

Conclusion

The DDU800 Dashboard from Leoxz is currently probably the best implementation of a 4.3 inch VoCore display. The slim and high-quality housing in combination with a comparatively low price and additional features such as the buttons on the back and operation at full 60 FPS as well as dithering currently set the Dash apart from the competition and make it an absolute buy recommendation.