In this guide, I'll run through how to correctly set up, adjust and configure the Simucube ActivePedal and Throttle. I'll look at adjustments, mounting, cabling and configuring multiple pedals.
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The Simucube ActivePedal is one of the more revolutionary pieces of sim racing hardware. It is the first sim racing pedal to truly introduce force feedback into the pedal, making for an incredibly immersive experience.
However, with the new sensations and force feedback come a lot of settings and options when it comes to configuring an ActivePedal. In this guide, I’m going to run through how to set up the Simucube ActivePedal, as well as how to pair it with a passive throttle, change the pedal position and layout and more.
Much like a good wheel base, the ActivePedal uses an internal motor to generate force feedback through the pedal itself. These forces can simulate a variety of different effects that include traction control rumbling, an ABS effect, brake lockups and g-forces.
What this means is that as you apply too much brake or throttle, the pedal itself will start to vibrate and rumble. It will do this in different ways to simulate different forces. For example, if you start to lose traction, it’ll vibrate relatively lightly, but if you lock your brakes or the ABS starts to engage, it will vibrate and move a lot more aggressively.
The Simucube ActivePedal can even simulate g-forces and motor effects, giving you nice subtle rumbles and feedback at almost every part of a lap. Using an ActivePedal can teach you when you are engaging driver aids such as ABS and traction control in games like Assetto Corsa Competizione and iRacing. This information can help you adjust your driving style, and in some cases be able to lap faster.
| Pedals | Info | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Simucube Throttle | Load cell throttle | €337 / $369 |
 | Simucube ActivePedal | FFB brake pedal | €2398/ $2299 |
 | Simucube Pedals | Complete Pedal bundle | €2928 / $2889 |
When you unbox the Simucube ActivePedal, you’ll get everything you need to get started. There is the pedal of course, as well as its power supply which is just as large as the power supply that many racing wheels come with.
You also get the required cables including an RJ45 cable, USB cable and the Simucube Link that is required. The Link box acts as a go-between for many Simucube products and can connect to a range of products and translate data to your PC.
Finally, you’ll get a box of screws and bolts to allow you to mount your pedal, a Torx Allen key to adjust your pedal and a few pieces of paper. These include some stickers and the quick start guide.
With a pedal of this value, you’d expect a lot of control over how it is set up and the adjustments you can make. And Simucube hasn’t disappointed us in this department. There are a lot of adjustments you can make to the overall positioning of the pedal, both manually and via the Simucube Tuner software.
I would recommend making a lot of these adjustments before mounting the pedal. Configuring the pedal before you mount it will give you better access to all of the bolts and adjustment areas, as these can be harder to access when mounted, especially if you mount the Simucube throttle right next to the ActivePedal.
In terms of adjusting the pedal position, you can move the faceplate up and down and adjust its angle by loosening the screws fixing it to the main pedal arm. This lets you find a comfortable position where your foot makes contact with the pedal.
You can also adjust the angle and offset of the entire pedal by loosening the bolts on the top of the orange pedal rod. Then you can manually adjust the length of this rod and retighten the bolts. You need to update your settings in Simucube Tuner so the software knows that you have lengthened or shortened the pedal rod.
While changing the rod positioning, you can also flip the orange part of the pedal rod to adjust the overall pedal travel and force. The way the ActivePedal comes pre-installed leads to higher force and less pedal travel, flipping the mounting of this rod will change how the pedal feels.
Read our complete Simucube buyer’s guide for more information on the ActivePedal and Simucube’s entire ecosystem.
I recommend making any hardware configuration adjustments before mounting, however, some adjustments may require you to use the ActivePedal to find your ideal set-up. This leads me to how to mount the ActivePedal to your sim rig as the next step.
I would highly recommend mounting the ActivePedal to a sturdy sim rig. It is one of the only sim racing pedals to include a motor that creates force feedback. If it isn’t securely mounted, the forces generated could cause unwanted shaking, vibrations or worse.
You can directly mount the Simucube ActivePedal and the passive throttle to your sim rig if you wish. This could be ideal if you have a pedal deck already in place. However, Simucube do sell a pedal mount if you would prefer a heel rest and to have your throttle and ActivePedal mounted together.
The pedal mount does make mounting the pedals to a sim rig easier. Rather than trying to line up the six mounting areas of the ActivePedal to your sim rig’s pre-drilled holes, you will only have to mount the pedal mount using four bolts. This can make it much easier to adjust your pedal position independently of the mounting holes on your sim rig.
One downside of using the Simucube pedal mount is that it adds a lot of length to the already long ActivePedal. When fully assembled, the pedal mount comes in at 560mm in length. This will almost certainly overhang your pedal tray on your sim rig and can look and feel a little bulky in some scenarios.
The Simucube pedal mount is included as standard as a part of the ActivePedal Primary set.
The Simucube ActivePedal includes six individual slots that you can use to mount it to either your sim rig or the pedal mount. The pedal also comes with the required bolts included. There are bolts of varying lengths which helps you always have the correct size bolts for your mounting preference.
You can mount through the pedals and tighten with a hex nut on the underside, or you can choose to mount into T-nuts which is good if mounting to an aluminium profile sim rig. I’d recommend using all six mounting slots as the ActivePedal is pretty powerful, so ensuring it is fully secured is important.
If you are mounting to your sim rig directly, try to line up as many of the six slots as possible. If you are mounting to the Simucube pedal baseplate, you will be able to use all six mounting slots and you’ll have a lot of adjustability in the pedal position.
The Simucube throttle uses the same mounting method as the ActivePedal but only includes four mounting slots. This is due to the throttle being shorter in length than the ActivePedal. The slot gaps for mounting are also shallower meaning you can use a shorter bolt. But much like the ActivePedal, the throttle includes a variety of different-length bolts to allow you to mount it in various ways.
If you do opt to use the Simucube baseplate, it will make positioning your pedals easier, and it gives you a nice heel rest whilst sim racing. It can also be easier to mount your pedals to your sim rig. This is because you only need to mount the baseplate using four bolts. If you were to mount the ActivePedal and throttle directly to your sim rig, you’d have to use ten bolts.
The baseplate is made up of a variety of aluminium extrusions with pre-drilled mounting positions. There are slot gaps and bolt holes giving you a choice of where to position your mounting bolts. Again, much like the ActivePedal and throttle, the baseplate includes a set of bolts for different mounting methods.
Once you have your Simucube pedals mounted to your rig, the next job is to connect all cables and get your pedals powered up and connected to your PC. Due to the internal motor on the ActivePedal, you will need to connect them to a power supply as well as connect them to your PC. This is different to many sim racing pedals that normally only require a data connection to your PC.
The cabling diagram essentially results in your ActivePedal being connected in three ways. You’ll need to connect it to the included power supply. You will then need to use the included RJ45 cable to connect the pedal to the Simucube Link Hub. This hub allows various Simucube products to be connected to your PC.
If you have multiple ActivePedals, you can daisy chain them from a single power supply using the power in and power out connection ports. If you are using a Simucube throttle, there is an included data cable that connects from the rear of the throttle directly to the ActivePedal. You cannot use the Simucube throttle without an ActivePedal.
Finally, you will need to connect the Simucube Link Hub to your PC using the included USB cable. Once you are done connecting all cables, things should look like the below.
The Simucube throttle is included in the Simucube Primary Set and is the perfect partner for the ActivePedal. You can use multiple ActivePedals in a single configuration, using it as both the throttle and brake, however, this is an incredibly expensive route. A much more accessible option is to use an ActivePedal as your brake which is by far the most important pedal in any pedal set. Then use the much cheaper Simucube throttle as your throttle pedal.
This option will save you a lot of money, and the Simucube throttle is in itself a very good piece of hardware. Plus, you can still feel throttle effects such as the traction control enabling through the ActivePedal, even if it is used as a brake pedal.
Much like the ActivePedal, you get a lot of adjustments with the throttle, in fact, there are more mechanical adjustments that can be made. You can change various elements from the pedal faceplate position and angle to the entire angle of the pedal and various adjustments to the spring and pedal travel.
Starting with the faceplate, you can adjust both the angle and position. Adjusting the height of the faceplate can be done by loosening the two screws directly behind the faceplate. You can then move the faceplate up or down and retighten the screws. You may not need to ever make this adjustment as the faceplate uses a tall design which should cater for most sim racers in its default position.
Adjusting the angle is something that more sim racers will probably do. This can be done by loosening the four acres that connect the faceplate to the main pedal arm. There are a few positions that the angle can be set to. Once you have your preferred position, retighten the screws to secure it back into place.
A much more extreme adjustment that can be made is to change the entire tilt angle of the pedal. This can greatly change how the pedal feels as you activate it and caters for a variety of seating positions.
To make this adjustment, loosen the screws that fix the pedal to the main chassis. There is a single screw on either side located at the bottom of the pedal chassis. Once loose, you will be able to tilt the entire pedal backwards and forwards into your desired position. Make sure the screw is fully tightened once you have your favoured angle set.
There is a mechanical way of adjusting the overall force and the input curve. You can change the mounting position of the spring arm in relation to the pedal arm. Do this by loosening the screw that is fixing the two arms together. There are three different positions to mount this joint.
Using the higher option will increase the force required to depress the pedal, whilst lowering the mounting position, will make the pedal easier to depress and give the input curve greater fall-off as you reach 100% input pressure.
A very quick adjustment that you can make without any tools is to the pedal travel and the preload. Both of these can be adjusted using the two screws on either side of the spring. Rotating the screw nearest the pedal arm will affect the pedal preload. This can make the pedal feel lighter or heavier to depress.
Rotating the screw at the bottom of the spring near the rear of the pedal will adjust the maximum pedal travel. As you adjust the screw, you’ll see the bump stop moving up and down the rod. Moving it higher will shorten the pedal travel, whilst lowering the bump stop will increase the travel.
Another hardware adjustment that affects the strength of the pedal is changing the spring. The throttle comes with a second spring included which can be swapped in to greatly affect the force and the force curve. The red line below is the spring that is pre-installed, whilst the secondary replacement spring is in blue.
The process of removing and changing the spring can be done without any tools and is largely dictated by the end stop at the rear of the pedal. Start by unscrewing the end stop located at the very end of the pedal. This will allow you to pull the entire pedal forward removing the shaft from the rear assembly. You can then pull the spring off and away from the pedal rod.
You will need to remove the plastic rings from the spring and push these into the ends of the new spring. Then, reposition the new spring back onto the rod and re-insert it into the rear assembly. Ensure the small spring at the base of the pedal arm doesn’t come out and is in the correct position.
With the new spring in place and the pedal back in its normal position, screw the end stop back onto the pedal to finish the adjustment.
All of the adjustments above are hardware adjustments that can be made to the pedals themselves. There are a lot of other adjustments that can be made to the ActivePedal and throttle using the Simucube Tuner software.
This piece of software is required for your PC to recognise your pedals and will be your hub for configuring profiles, presets and making adjustments. You can download the Simucube Tuner software on the Simucube support website.
I won’t dive into the Simucube Tuner adjustments too much in this guide, instead, I’ll create an entirely separate guide for the Tuner software, as there are a lot of adjustments available.
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Most sim racing pedals utilise load cells to simply measure the pedal input. This then gets translated to your racing sim. The Simucube ActivePedal has an in-built motor which can generate force feedback depending on how your car is behaving on track. This force feedback is unique to the ActivePedal.
To use a Simucube Throttle, you need to have it connected to an ActivePedal. It unfortunately cannot be used individually or with pedals from a third-party brand.
You can mount all Simucube pedals individually to your sim rig. You do not need the baseplate, however, the baseplate can make mounting multiple pedals to a sim rig easier in some scenarios.
Rich is the founder, F1 car setup creator and content writer 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. Regularly writes for sim racing website SimRaceReviews.com
View all articles written by Rich
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