MOZA Racing KS Steering Wheel – Review

MOZA Racing KS Steering Wheel – Review

The MOZA Racing KS Steering Wheel has a diameter of 300 millimetres and, at a price of around 300 euros, covers the mid-range of the MOZA Racing ecosystem. Equipped with illuminated buttons and an additional dual clutch, it is a combination of a relatively low price and a high number of functions.

Ordering and shipping

As is customary with MOZA, you can purchase the wheel either directly from the MOZA Racing webshop (taxes and customs duties may be added depending on the country) or from one of the numerous distributors. The price is currently €309 plus shipping.

Scope of delivery

The steering wheel is supplied in a clean box and is also packed in a reusable fabric dust cover. The scope of delivery additionally only includes a sticker sheet for the illuminated buttons.

• KS Steering Wheel
• Dust Bag
• MOZA Stickers

Technical data

The steering wheel has a diameter of 300 millimetres and weighs only around 1.2 kilograms including the QR, making it extremely light. The main material used is plastic with a carbon look, while the shift paddles are made of aluminium.

Compatibility

The KS Steering Wheel is fully compatible with all MOZA Wheel Bases. Both data transmission and power supply are provided directly via the MOZA QR, no additional cable is required.

If the wheel is to be operated with a wheel base from another manufacturer, it is possible to use the MOZA Hub. For this purpose, the steering wheel is equipped with an RJ45 port, which then enables the connection between hub and wheel via a corresponding spiral cable. There is also a suitable adapter for the QR that supports the standard 70mm bolt circle.

Features

With a diameter of 300 millimetres and a weight of only around 1.2 kilograms, the KS Steering Wheel is definitely a good all-rounder. Due to its size and shape, the steering wheel is predestined for GT cars, but is also suitable for formula racing cars or modern super sports cars. The relatively firm rubber grips provide a good grip and show no visible wear even after more than 50 hours of use.

Even though MOZA does not use the highest quality materials for the steering wheel, you never get the feeling of holding a “toy steering wheel” in your hand while driving. Apart from slight creaking noises at high FFB settings, the KS Wheel can certainly keep up with higher-priced wheels and its very low weight makes it ideal for MOZA’s small wheel bases.

Buttons

• 3 Rotary Switches: The three centrally mounted rotary switches can each be operated in two different modes (the setting then applies to all three switches). Either each position is assigned its own function (1-12) or each direction of rotation has the same output (+/-). The switches are fitted with plastic caps and have a medium trigger force.
• 2 Thumb-Encoder: There is a thumb encoder on each side in the thumb area. These are equipped with a plastic thumbwheel and engage firmly, but they could be a little stiffer.
• 10 RGB-Buttons: The ten buttons are each RGB-illuminated and have a pleasant, crisp trigger feel with a relatively short travel.
• 2 Joysticks: A joystick is optimally positioned on both sides, the function of which corresponds to a 7-way funky switch without a rotary function. This gives you five input options per joystick (up, down, left, right, press), which can also be configured as a dedicated D-pad via software. The joysticks are very practical for menus, for example, but do not come close to the crisp feel of a Funky.

Button-Sounds

You can find a video of the button sounds here: https://www.instagram.com/p/C8b_V7WtVVS/

LEDs

The highlight for a steering wheel in this price range is clearly the built-in controllable RGB LEDs. In addition to the ten individually illuminated buttons, a total of 10 RPM LEDs are installed in the centre of the upper section of the steering wheel. In addition to the optimum shift point, these can also display various telemetry effects. The illumination is thoroughly good, but the stickers used on the buttons could be of a slightly higher quality, even if they are perfectly acceptable for the price of the wheel.

Paddles

The aluminium shift paddles are located on the back of the steering wheel. These are divided into magnetic paddle shifters and two analogue axes, which can also be operated as a double clutch.

The paddle shifters are relatively smooth, but also correspondingly quiet. Those who prefer extremely crisp paddles will not be happy here, but during the test laps there were no incorrect gear changes, nor did the less powerful magnets of the shifters have a negative effect.

The two analogue axes achieve their resistance through a rather soft coil spring and have a relatively short stroke of just over one centimetre. This means that the analogue axles can be used very well as a double clutch, but they lack a little extra travel for use as a throttle and brake.

Software

MOZA has made significant progress in the area of software over the past year. In addition to the illuminated buttons, which can be freely adjusted in terms of colour and brightness, all aspects of the wheel can be clearly configured:

• Steering wheel settings: The functions of the analogue axes, the joysticks and the rotary switches are configured here, among other things. Key combinations can also be defined here (e.g. to set the steering wheel angle to 900° or to change the joystick mode), the paddles can be calibrated and the brightness of the RPM LEDs can be set.
• RPM LEDs: In this window, the colour and mode of the RPM LEDs (all LEDs have the colour of the highest active LED, all LEDs light up in their defined colour) as well as the RPM limits and the time of flashing can be configured. Even though it is possible to save your own presets externally, a setting that can be defined for each vehicle would be a significant added value.
• Telemetry LEDs: Various telemetry effects can be displayed on the RPM LEDs in freely selectable colours: Wheel Spin, Pit Limiter, ABS, TC, DRS, Flags).

Overall, the software does a solid job, but doesn’t quite come close to the leading contender Simhub. For example, it is not possible to dynamically adjust the lighting of the buttons (as a display for in-game effects) or to save individual profiles for each vehicle.

Driving impressions

Conclusion

With the KS Steering Wheel, MOZA Racing has responded to the wishes of the community and offers an affordable steering wheel with a wide range of features. With a diameter of 300 millimetres and a weight of only around 1.2 kilograms, it is ideally suited to the smaller MOZA Wheel Bases in particular, and people are certainly happy to accept compromises in the choice of materials. On the plus side, in addition to the very good price-performance ratio, there are the illuminated buttons, rubber grips, wireless data and power transmission when used on a MOZA Base and compatibility with third-party providers via the optional MOZA Hub.

Overall, the KS Steering Wheel is a clear recommendation to buy, especially for simracers with an R5, R9 or R12 wheel base from MOZA.