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So you have £1,000 to spend, and you fancy buying the best sim racing wheel that you can buy for your budget.
Well in this guide I’ll run through your best options to maximise your budget. And I’ll run through the best racing wheels under £1000.
I’ll show you a few options including racing wheels which also come bundled with pedals. So you will have a good example of just a £1000 racing wheel. Along side my recommendation for a racing wheel and pedal bundle for under £1000.
Jumping straight in, I’ll start by showing you my number 1 recommendation for a £1000 racing wheel.
This racing wheel is at the higher end of the mid level tier. Sitting just underneath the much costlier direct drive racing wheels in terms of performance. This is the best racing wheel you can get before making that direct drive jump.
And the wheel I’m talking about is the sensational Fanatec ClubSport Racing Wheel V2.5 BMW GT2. And the good news is, this racing wheel actually comes in a few hundred under £1000 at £780 / €840 / $995.
If you have ever had the pleasure of racing with a belt driven racing wheel, you already know how smooth it can feel. It is a huge step above the gear driven motors that are found in more budget racing wheels such as the Logitech G923.
Fanatec have built their whole reputation on developing the absolute best belt driven racing wheels. And the ClubSport V2.5 is the pinnacle of that development.
The German manufacturer do offer a cheaper belt driven wheel, the CSL Elite, which in it’s own right is a fantastic racing wheel. Yet the ClubSport V2.5 outperforms the CSL Elite in every department.
It produces force feedback with more fidelity, and with much higher peak torque. The ClubSport V2.5 outputs 8Nm of torque. Which is more than enough to give you arm ache across a full race session!
The ClubSport wheel base is one of the best, if not the best belt driven wheel base on the market. But the BMW GT2 replica steering wheel is really what completes this racing wheel package.
It is almost a 100% like for like replica of the GT wheel that has been used in real racing series for years. Everything from the button placement to the machined metal frame and the real Alcantara wheel finish is spot on.
When clutching it while throwing your car around Silverstone in Assetto Corsa Competizione, you can real feel the authenticity that this wheel offers.
From the accurate 320mm diameter of the wheel itself, through to the weight, it feels like a real steering wheel. And it’s a world away from the more budget racing wheels you can find. After all, a sim racers goal is to achieve true immersion, and this racing wheel is a step in the right direction.
Your only real option if you want to buy a brand new Fanatec racing wheel, is via their web store. There aren’t any official Fanatec resellers at all, as the German company would rather keep all of the sales in house.
Buy this racing wheel bundle from Fanatec directly.
The Fanatec ClubSport V2.5 BMW GT2 is a brilliant wheel, however it doesn’t include everything you need to go racing. It only includes the racing wheel itself.
That is where our next recommendation comes in. Below is the best racing wheel and pedal bundle for under £1000. It includes everything you need to start racing without any need for separate peripherals.
The Fanatec Xbox Competition Pack utilises the same wheel base as our previous recommendation, the ClubSport V2.5. And that is possibly the best wheel base you can pick up for any sub-£1000 racing wheel setup.
So we’re off to a great start with this bundle. I wont talk too much about the wheel base as I’ve already covered how good it is in our previous recommendation.
Paired with the ClubSport wheel base is the Xbox Elite steering wheel P1. This is where some cost cutting is made so that this wheel bundle falls under £1000.
The Elite P1 wheel is a very nice wheel in its own right, however it doesn’t have the weight or replica appearance that the BMW GT2 wheel boasts. This is actually one of Fanatec’s entry level steering wheels.
Despite being one of Fanatec’s cheaper wheel rims, it still features some lovely elements. It is finished in real Alcantara and solid metal, and has extremely positive shifters.
It is a steering wheel which is vastly superior to budget racing wheel offerings from the likes of Logitech and Thrustmaster.
The final part of this extremely good sim racing bundle are the pedals. Included are the CSL Elite two pedal set. This is a lovely pedal set which is constructed entirely of solid metal.
It features two pedals which can be configured in any way that you like.
They move fluidly horizontally, allowing you to configure them into the perfect position for your driving style.
You can also pick up an optional load-cell pedal to turn this pedal set in to a full three pedal set. And we would highly recommend doing this.
Within our budget of £1000, we can afford to spec in an additional loadcell. Meaning you can buy a full racing bundle including wheel base, steering wheel, and a three pedal set including loadcell pedal.
And that is one heck of a good racing setup for under £1000.
Buy this racing wheel bundle from Fanatec’s official store.
While you’re at it, pick up the option loadcell brake pedal here.
Within the budget, if you want to spend up to £1000, there aren’t too many other racing wheels where you can do this. There are a selection of racing wheels which are significantly cheaper than £1000.
These come in the form of the highest end racing wheels from Thrustmaster. And one of the best Thrustmaster racing wheels is the TS-XW Sparco.
This is a wheel which will only set you back around £650. This means you’ll have plenty of room in your £1000 budget for pedals or other accessories.
The TS-XW really is the best that Thrustmaster offer, and it is a fantastic racing wheel. This is a racing wheel which, in a similar manor to the BMW GT2 wheel rim, boasts a replica steering wheel. It’s a 1:1 replica of the Sparco P310 racing wheel which is widely used in motorsport.
The Best F1 24 Racing WheelsThe wheel base in this bundle features brushless motors, which are capable of producing around 6Nm of torque. This is less than the Fanatec ClubSport and puts it into a similar range as the CSL Elite, Fanatec’s entry level wheel.
It isn’t really designed to compete with the mighty ClubSport wheel base, which is far superior. Despite this, the Thrustmaster TS-XW produces mighty force feedback which is extremely detailed. And it makes a great wheel for a sub £650 price tag.
As we’ve just touched on with the TS-XW, budget racing wheels really aren’t designed to compete with the Fanatec ClubSport. In a side by side comparison, the Fanatec ClubSport wheel base would out perform almost any belt driven wheel.
So, in a nutshell. No. Budget racing wheels aren’t a good alternative for the ClubSport.
You can get very good racing wheels under the price of the ClubSport, including the Thrustmaster TS-XW and Fanatec’s own CSL Elite. But these wheels really fall into an inferior product category.
You wouldn’t want to be spending close to £1000 on any of these other racing wheels. If you are looking for the cheapest Fanatec wheel you can buy, we’ve written a comprehensive guide on which Fanatec wheel offers the best value. Read that here.
The Fanatec ClubSport wheel base is easily the best racing wheel under £1000.
Spending up to £1000 on a racing wheel will definitely elevate your sim rig to another level. This means that for many spending this large sum on a racing wheel is almost certainly worth it.
You wont necessarily find lap time instantly just by upgrading your sim rig. But if you opt for a replica wheel such as the BMW GT2, you can certainly add immersion to your rig.
When using wheel rims such as the BMW GT2, your racing wheel setup will feel authentic in your hands.
We would recommend that when spec’ing up a £1000 racing wheel setup, that you do factor in the cost of pedals.
As we’ve shown with the ClubSport Competition pack bundle, you can get a very good racing wheel setup with pedals included for under £1000.
If you decide to go this way, the great thing is that you will be in the Fanatec ecosystem. This allows you to change in new wheel rims as you wish. Meaning over time you can add an upgraded wheel rim to your setup, bringing it in line with our BMW GT2 recommendation.
Our recommendation
You can use the links below to shop for your favourite sim racing products, or for any products that we may have recommended. These links are affiliate links, and will earn us a small commission, with no additional cost for you.
Rich is the co-founder, and one of the main F1 setup creators and content writers for SimRacingSetups. With over a decade of experience as a graphic designer, marketing director, competitive sim racer and avid motorsport fan, Rich founded SimRacingSetup.com to share his passion and knowledge of sim racing and Formula 1 with other sim racers.
View all articles written by Rich
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