Logitech G RS Wheel Hub and RS Track Wheel review

Owners of the Logitech G Pro Racing Wheel rejoice! We can finally upgrade our sim racing setup as we always had hoped. With new shifters, handbrakes, and, as I'll cover here today, new wheels and wheel hubs. Logitech has two new racing wheels on offer, one designed for the track and another largely aimed at the rally or even classic car crowd.

There are two parts to this latest release: the RS Wheel Hub ($130), containing the interface, paddles, and electronics to attach the wheel to the Pro Racing Base; and either the RS Track Wheel ($70) or RS Round Wheel ($70), which are simply metal and a rubber-like plastic.

For a complete set-up, you'll also need a Pro Racing Base ($600) and Pro Racing Pedals ($350). And there's also the optional RS Shifter and Handbrake ($150).

That all adds up to a grand total of $1,300.

The alternative option for newcomers is purchasing the Pro Racing Wheel ($800), which contains a Pro Racing Base and a hub and wheel combo. However, I made the mistake of assuming that the hub used on the Pro Racing Wheel was the same, or at least compatible, with the RS Wheel Hub.

It's not—the layout is different—you would need to purchase an RS Wheel Hub and RS Track/Round Wheel separately with this unit to swap out to a different wheel design. Altogether, you're looking at a total of $1,500 ($1,350 without the shifter).

Still with me? You don't necessarily save anything by going for the Pro Racing Wheel versus the Pro Racing Base with RS Wheel Hub and RS Track/Round Wheel. If you decide down the line to buy a round wheel to go with your track wheel, or vice versa, you can buy another RS Wheel Hub and the corresponding wheel for $200. You could swap your wheels between one hub, however, it just might be a bit of a pain to undo the six bolts and three screws every time.

But wait, there's more. PC players can play with any of Logitech's bases/wheels/hubs/shifters—they're all PC compatible. However, if you want Xbox/PlayStation/PC compatibility in a single wheel, you should buy a PlayStation-compatible Pro Racing Base and an Xbox-compatible RS Wheel Hub.

The other thing to consider is that you can use any pedals, shifter, or handbrake with the Logitech gear provided you plug it into your PC separately. The Logitech stuff all combines into a single USB cable via the USB hub on the rear of the Pro Racing Base/Wheel.

Got all that? Phew. It's a lot to chew through.

If you already have a Pro Racing Wheel then the only bits that matter are the RS Wheel Hub and RS Track/Round Wheel. So let's talk about those.

The RS Hub contains 15 buttons, one-directional stick, two dials, and two rear paddles. Compared to the Pro Racing Wheel, the RS Hub offers two extra buttons and a better overall layout with symmetrical dials, which are easier to use while racing. However, it disappointingly lacks the dedicated clutch paddles.

While only useful for launches at the very start of a race, F1 cars use a clutch paddle rather than a pedal. As an F1 fan who was hoping to use the RS Track Wheel for a more authentic experience, it feels a bit odd that I can have either a round, non-F1 style wheel with clutch paddles or an F1-style track wheel with no paddles, but never both optimal options at the same time.

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Them's the breaks. The RS Track Wheel does make it up in other ways, at least.

Rounding off the RS Wheel Hub is an RGB LED strip that corresponds to your revs in-game. This actually takes over from the rev meter already included on the Pro Racing Base as standard—the difference is the one on the RS Wheel Hub is diffused, which is a bit love-it or hate-it, and can be customised to show all sorts of different colours and varying rev patterns, including inside-out, outside-in, left to right, right to left, or other designs of your own creation.

I must say I'm a fan of the diffused rev lights, which erupt from green to yellow to red to purple to blue when I put my foot down. They're positioned more upfront and are more obvious than the more traditional rev lights on the base, even if they are maybe a little less accurate at a glance for the added diffusion.

Onto the RS Track Wheel. It's a hunk of metal over 3 mm thick and wrapped in a moulded TPE grip. TPE feels a lot like a hard rubber, though it's a type of plastic. That's capped on either side by plastic. It feels like it'll last a good few thousand laps, at the very least, but it does lack the softer, more premium feel of the Pro Racing Wheel, which comes wrapped and stitched.

Combining the RS Wheel Hub and RS Track Wheel couldn't be easier. Slot the wheel over the hub and it fits snugly into place. Then go around attaching the six included bolts with the larger of the two included Allen keys. The smaller key is to fit the three screws on the rear—one on the middle stem of the wheel and the other two slightly awkwardly under the shifter paddles. They're easy enough to screw in all the same.

Once combined, I weighed up the combined RS Wheel Hub and RS Track Wheel versus the standard Pro Racing Wheel, uh, wheel.

• Pro Racing Wheel (hub and wheel): 1,451 grams
• RS Wheel Hub and RS Track Wheel: 1,220 grams

The Track Wheel weighs a good bit less and combined with that smaller size and open-wheel style design, I felt like I could really throw it around at high speed. It's agile but with the option to fully grip either side to steady it during a tough corner with 11 Nm of torque pushing through it.

It's also wicked fun.

I have to admit, I've had a blast with the Track Wheel installed. It just feels right to be racing around in F1 24 with a compact wheel like this. Easing into the deep corners with a full rotation, like the pros, is really satisfying.

I've also taken it for a spin in Forza Motorsport and something altogether more absurd: an old Lotus F1 car at Brands Hatch. Phwoar, that thing goes. The grip on that thing is otherworldly and I could nail the speed through the corners with accuracy with a little tweak of the Track Wheel either way.

Altogether, I'm itching to get back into the racing seat even as I write this. It's a world of fun and more than I was expecting more or less a new wheel design to be.

Considering this is a competitively priced unit compared to even Thrustmaster's cheaper F1-style wheels, I'm thoroughly impressed with it. Pulling it out of the box, it feels all the premium product you want it to be and maybe a little more for the money.

The lack of clutch paddles is a bit of a shame—these would really bring together an F1 sim experience nicely—and I was really expecting this to work neatly with my pre-existing Pro Racing Wheel hub. Nonetheless, it's a great upgrade for a sim racing setup, and undeniably fun, too.