MOZA Racing TSW Truck Wheel – Review

MOZA Racing TSW Truck Wheel – Review

With the TSW Truck Wheel, MOZA Racing is the first major sim racing manufacturer to enter the truck steering wheel market. The steering wheel with a diameter of 40 centimetres stands out from the wide mass of steering wheels on the market and is therefore likely to be the wheel of choice for fans of LWS, ETS and other truck sim titles.

Ordering and shipping

MOZA Racing is now offering the steering wheel as well as an optional HUB and a table clamp for sale on their website. The products are available there for the following prices:

• TSW Truck Wheel: 329€
• Clamp for Truck Wheel: 55€
• MOZA Universal Hub Kit: 49€

Shipping costs, taxes and any customs duties must be added. Alternatively, various European distributors offer the products in Europe as usual at similar prices, but including VAT.

The product tested here was provided by the manufacturer. No influence was exerted on this review at any time.

Specs

The main feature of the truck wheel is undoubtedly its massive diameter of 40 centimetres, compared to other simracing wheels, which is the same or very close to the size of most current truck wheels.

Scope of delivery

The TSW Truck Wheel comes securely packaged with two large sticker sheets and a quick start guide in a foam padded box. The familiar MOZA QR is already pre-assembled:

• TSW Truck Wheel
• QR (pre-assembled)
• Sticker sheets
• Manual (Quick-Guide)

Features

The most striking feature of the steering wheel is, as already mentioned, the 40-centimetre steering wheel rim, which immediately conveys the feeling of driving a real (road) car. This impression is further emphasised by the chosen button layout.

Inputs

MOZA offers a variety of input options, which can be categorised as follows:

• 14 buttons: There are seven buttons on each side of the steering wheel, as you would expect from conventional steering wheels for normal road traffic. The buttons have a relatively short travel and a very crisp pressure point, which makes operation very pleasant. Three of the buttons on each side are within easy reach and can be operated directly without having to reach round. The buttons are also individually illuminated, whereby the illumination is very even unless the brightness is set very low.
• 2 joysticks: There are also joysticks on both sides, which offer the user four additional input options (left, right, up and down). They are most comparable to the joysticks on the first PlayStation Portable: The joysticks are comparatively flat and are essentially pushed to the side instead of being tilted. The flat design means that accidental activation in the heat of the action is virtually impossible.
• 2 thumbwheels: The function keys are supplemented by a thumbwheel on each side. These are made of aluminium and have a textured surface for better grip. During the many hours of testing in Truck Simulator, the left wheel took over the speed adjustment function for the cruise control, for example.

LEDs

The steering wheel has various RGB LEDs that can be customised via software. In addition to the backlighting of the individual buttons, there are ten additional LEDs in the upper area of the steering wheel centre, which are primarily used to visualise the rpm of the engine. These can be operated in two modes and can also be individually colour-customised.

Steering wheel rim

The steering wheel rim of 400 millimetres, which is very large for a sim racing steering wheel, is ideal for truck simulations such as ETS/ATS or the popular farming simulator, for example. The size is slightly smaller than most real truck steering wheels (e.g. Mercedes Actros: 450 millimetres), but can therefore also be used more universally for normal road vehicles, for example. According to MOZA, “Microfibre Leather” is used as the material for the cover, which is sewn by hand. In combination with the chrome accents on the textured plastic front, this lends the steering wheel a very high-quality look. But there is also no need to worry about flex. MOZA Racing relies on an internal construction made of four millimetre thick aluminium for reinforcement. Equipped in this way, the steering wheel gives the impression at first glance that it could easily be installed in a real vehicle.

QR

The well-known QR from MOZA is located on the back of the wheel. This supports all current MOZA wheel bases and supplies the steering wheel with data and power at the same time:

The steering wheel communication supports both wireless and conductive slip ring modes meaning full compatibility with all MOZA bases

MOZA Racing

Thanks to the simple QR system, the steering wheel can be changed in just a few seconds and the QR is also well designed in terms of flex.

Stickers

The steering wheel comes with two large sticker sheets in four colours: Black, yellow, red and blue. These offer a mixture of neutral and function-specific symbols that can be placed next to the buttons. Even though replaceable button caps will of course always be the more elegant solution, you at least have the option of labelling the functions.

Software

MOZA Racing has revised its software (Pit House) for the TSW Truck Wheel and offers various adjustment options:

• Steering wheel settings: The function of the two joysticks (D-pad / four separate buttons) can be defined here and the brightness of the LEDs can be set.
• RPM LEDs: Here you can enable the RPM LEDs (or switch them on or off completely) and then select one of two modes (symmetrical / classic from left to right). You can then adjust the behaviour of the RPM LEDs. These can either be used in three preset profiles with different timings or individually set either to a certain percentage of the maximum RPM or to an absolute RPM value. This means that it is now possible to define vehicle-specific shift timings. However, different settings for different gears are not yet possible.
• Telemetry LEDs: The RPM LEDs can also be configured for telemetry effects here. These include, for example, intervening TC or ABS as well as waved flags or an active DRS system.
• Further settings: It is of course also possible to adjust the colour of the individual buttons. You have a free choice in the RGB range (16.7 million possible colours). The wheel’s firmware can also be updated with just a few clicks via the corresponding tab in the software.

Accessories

Hub

If you want to use the TSW Truck Wheel with a base from a third-party manufacturer, this is easily possible with the MOZA Universal Hub Kit. The optionally available kit (price approx. 50 euros) includes an adapter to the standard bolt circle of 70 millimetres and a hub to which the spiral cable, which is also included, can be connected.

Mount

MOZA also has the ideal solution for use at a desk. Here, the manufacturer offers an alternative desk mount that allows the base to be mounted at a much lower angle in order to come as close as possible to the natural steering wheel position.

Multi-function Stalk 

MOZA Racing is also planning to launch an additional multi-function stalker on the market in May of this year, which will offer a total of 26 functions, including settings for indicators, lights and cruise control. However, no information is yet available on the price of the planned product (as of March 2024).

Driving impressions

Normally you will see reports here about the first laps on the racetrack and how the steering wheel compares to other products (also in terms of performance). This time, however, things turned out quite differently. The steering wheel was reason enough not only to give Farming Simulator another chance, but also to buy and install ETS2 and ATS. What is certainly a lot of fun for many users with a “normal” steering wheel, became an experience in the truest sense of the word with the Truck Wheel. Particularly good steering wheels are often given a private hour or two on the racetrack in addition to the time scheduled for testing. However, the fun factor of the TSW Truck Wheel in ETS2 was so great that you could quickly call the journeys across Europe a part-time job. The feeling is of course fundamentally different from normal sim racing and cannot really be compared. Nevertheless, no steering wheel has ever been taken to heart as quickly as the TSW Truck Wheel.

After a few hours (we’d rather not mention the exact number of hours at this point) in the truck simulation, we went back to almost normal sim racing. Automobilista 2 features a whole range of race trucks, which are much more fun with the Truck Wheel than with a small Formula Wheel. This also offers a completely new gaming experience.

Rig / FFB

If the steering wheels are changed frequently or if steering wheels from different manufacturers are used, this often results in varying distances to the driver, which must be corrected by moving the mount or other adjustment options. With a steering wheel as large as the TSW from MOZA, however, there is another aspect to consider, as the angle you are aiming for here is significantly different to that of most other steering wheels. You have to think in advance about how to realise this and what compromise you can make here. The position chosen during the review process, for example, is a mixture of a normal sitting position and a “truck position”.

With the FFB, there is of course the fear at first glance that the enormous size of the wheel will swallow up some of the FFB effects. However, due to the relatively low weight of only around two kilos for its size and the fact that trucks are moved differently than old formula cars without power steering, the 5.5 Newton metres of the R5 Base are enough for a lot of fun (especially in ETS2). However, if you want to utilise the wheel’s full potential, stronger wheel bases are better suited to avoid clipping too quickly.

Conclusion

The TSW Truck Wheel from MOZA Racing is fun – that’s the short and simple way to summarise the verdict on MOZA’s latest wheel. It offers completely new possibilities and opens up a currently unrivalled truck experience, not only for users from the company’s own ecosystem, whether in the farming simulator or in one of the truck sims. Both the choice of materials for the housing (the aluminium frame ensures sufficient stability) and the rim are very appealing and the numerous features of the wheel are also impressive. For fans of the genre, there is currently no way around the TSW Truck Wheel, as it clearly stands out from the alternatives available on the sim racing market in terms of quality. For everyone else: If you want to try something new and have the budget for it, go for it: Go for it, you will hardly find more fun in this price range!