Simucube 3 Pro Review

The Simucube 2 wheel base was a class-leader, there is no denying that. So, the Finnish sim racing brand really needed something special to follow it. This is the Simucube 3 Pro. The latest high-end wheel base, designed to take the baton from the outgoing Simucube 2 wheels.

I have been testing this Simucube 2 Pro for months, alongside a range of different steering wheels. And now I’ll share my thoughts and full review. To see whether you should be running out to buy one, or hanging onto your Simucube 2.

What is the Simucube 3 Pro at a glance

Much like the Simucube 2 before it, the Simucube 3 comes in three different forms. You have the Sport which is the least powerful at 15Nm, and I’m definitely going to steer away from using the term “entry-level”, because even the SC3 Sport is a hugely capable, high-end wheel base.

Then there is the Pro, which is the version I have here. This outputs 25Nm of peak force feedback. A big step up from the 15Nm of the Sport. All for a relatively small increase in price of a few hundred.

Finally, you have the Ultimate, which has an eye-watering 35Nm of peak torque. Realistically, the Ultimate should never really be in most buying conversations. It’s over £1000 more expensive than the SC3 Pro, and really, how many of you would run a wheel base at 35Nm?

While the headline force feedback numbers look pretty similar to the previous generation Simucube 2, there are a fair few changes to know about. Of course, there are new force feedback algorithms which I’ll talk about later, but there are a few more systematic changes.

These include the adoption of the Simucube Link Hub and the Lightbridge system.

What is the Simucube Link Hub and do I need one for Simucube 3?

Previously, the Link Hub was only used with the ActivePedals, now the SC3 uses it as well. It essentially serves as a single USB hub connecting all Simucube hardware to your PC. Instead of attaching your wheel base, pedals and other peripherals to your PC via different cables or third-party USB hubs. All Simucube products go into an ethernet switch, through the Link Hub to your PC.

It also removes any electromagnetic interference and connectivity issues, ultimately making connecting your hardware simpler. This sounds great, however, the SC3 wheel bases don’t ship with a LinkHub included, and do require it. So that’s an extra £90 on top of the already pricey wheel base straight away.

What is Lightbridge?

Lightbridge is definitely kinder on your wallet, and is the term for the contactless technology that is in built into the quick release. It provides both data and power transfer from the wheel base to your steering wheel. Fantastic. That means no wear and tear, no USB cables, and no wireless receivers.

The only downside is, not many steering wheels utilise Lightbridge currently. If you want to utilise this feature, you have the Simucube Savu wheel which I have here, or a BavarianSimTec wheel. Apparently, more compatibility is coming with high-end brands such as GSI and Ascher Racing coming on board soon. Until that point, this neat technology is a pretty closed system.

Other changes from Simucube 2 to Simucube 3

Outside of these two changes which both give and take, Simucube has made some nice quality of life updates. The wheels now have bottom mounting for the first time, making them much easier to mount to your sim rig. And the included control box has some nice new tricks such as quick strength adjustments and easier mounting.

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Price of the Simucube 3 Pro

So how much do these improvements, and this next generation Simucube wheel cost? Well, as you would guess, quite a lot. Below are the prices for each model, with and without the Link Hub.

Region	Price inc Link Hub	Price Excl Link Hub	Buy
SC 3 Sport	£1159 $1399 €1303	£1242 $1499 €1405	Buy SC3 Sport
SC 3 Pro	£1399 $1599 €1554	£1482 $1699 €1656	Buy SC3 Pro
SC 3 Ultimate	£2899 $3299 €3362	£2982 $3399 €3463	Buy SC3 Ultimate

As you can see, this is a pricey wheel base. And that isn’t a surprise. The Simucube 2 also followed this format, with the SC3 being around £100 or so more expensive across the lineup compared to the much older SC2 at launch, which is minimal.

However, compared to other brands, things look a little less savory. Fanatec’s range-topping Podium DD with 25Nm of peak torque costs €1,099.95 or $1199.99. Thats around €500 less than the equivalent SC3 Pro. Asetek’s 27Nm Invicta wheel costs €1,175 before tax, with the 18Nm Forte wheel base costing under €800. And I could go on with less high-performance focused brands such as MOZA etc.

The trend is that the SC3 lineup remains at the top of the price range across the board.

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The design of the Simucube 3 Pro

With that established, let’s take a look at this wheel base in more detail to see where the value lies. I’ll first look at the design and build, followed by the set up and then the most important category, the performance.

Design and build quality

Right from the outset, the Simucube 3 wheel base is without a doubt a more refined product to look at than the older SC2. The Simucube 2 had a really industrial, raw look to it. There were sharp corners and lines, with a little bare metal on show.

This new Simucube 3 wheel softens it all slightly. There are new chamfered edges, and everything feels a little more rounded and friendly. I would say there is a distinct lack of design cues, with no ridges, fins or flashy elements that other wheel bases often lean into. But that choice is a design cue in itself.

This is a toned down, all black, all metal design which isn’t shouting look at me. Instead, its understated, with just a hint of Simucube orange to show you mean business. I like this approach, and I particularly like that every part of the wheel is metal. No plastic end caps in sight.

The dimensions of the Simucube 3 wheels are similar to those of the 2. The 135 x 135mm front profile is just 5mm larger than before, although the new wheels do feel chunkier as the corner round out, rather than in.

The new wheel bases are also slightly longer. The smallest Sport model is 278mm deep, the Pro is 303mm and the Ultimate is 323mm in length. That’s an addition of around 25mm across the range compared to the same level Simucube 2 bases.

New quick release

One genuine area of improvement is with the brand new quick release. This was always one of the weaker elements of the Simucube 2, which required a physical pin to lock any wheel into place. This pin is thankfully gone, and replaced with a Fanatec-style system with interlocking vertical bars.

This is much friendlier and avoids the all too common problem of losing the locking pin. Plus it is rock solid, with absolutely zero flex. I have two small annoyances with the quick release. The first is that the top and bottom flaps can be a little awkward. I much prefer the circular rings that Fanatec and other brands utilise, as they are just easier to grip.

Then, there is the price of wheel side adapters. If, like me, you have multiple steering wheels, you’re going to need more than one wheel-side QR adapter. And these will set you back £149 each. That is pricey! Just to get a couple of extra steering wheels ready to go, that’s another £300.

There are electronics inside for the Lightbridge technology. Maybe Simucube could introduce a mechanical only version in the future at a lower price point.

Plus, just for a little bit of extra insult, the quick release only provides a 70mm bolt pattern. This isn’t surprising and the SC2 QR only had a 70mm bolt pattern. But for some wheels that only have a 50.8mm layout, an additional adapter is required. Again more cost.

Installation

Another area that is vastly improved with the Simucube 3 is the mounting situation. With the SC2, you had to front mount it, or buy a bracket to adapt for bottom mounting. Now, the Simucube 3 wheels all feature bottom mounting as well. And Simucube has done it right.

There are two rails on the underside, with built-in T-nuts. This can be slid to any position for easy mounting. And when not in use, the resistance between the nuts and wheel base is strong enough to avoid any rattling while sim racing.

If you do wish to re-use your front mounting from an SC2, the front mounting points are identical to before. This provides a lot of choice for sim racers to set up their wheel base in a variety of ways. The only real exception is the lack of side mounting still. But hey, I’m taking the win with the inclusion of bottom mounting.

Setting up the Link Hub with Simucube 3

Simucube wheels have never had many ports on the rear, and the SC3 takes this to a new extreme. There are just three ports. You have the power connection, the control box which is essentially the emergency stop button. And the Link Hub port.

You’d think this would make connecting an easy process. However, you need to connect and mount your E-stop or control box somewhere. This is easier now though as the control box has four easy to use mounting slots.

Then connect the SC3 to your LinkHub. This can either be directly into the LinkHub if this is your only Simucube device. Or, if you are using other hardware such as ActivePedals, you’ll need to connect your wheel base to an ethernet switch, then into a LinkHub.

As you can see from the diagram below, routing these cables can become a little confusing when compared to most wheel bases that have a direct to PC USB connection. And to be honest, I much prefer the simplicity of connecting my wheel base directly to my PC, rather than routing through multiple hubs.

When everything is wired up though, the results are pretty pleasing as you do only have a single USB to your PC, receiving data from all hardware.

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Software setup

Simucube has come a long way with its software. Previously we had True Drive, which in all honestly was a bit dated. Now, we have Tuner (version 3.1 at the time of this review). Thankfully this software is so much better than True Drive.

It is a central hub where you can control every piece of Simucube hardware. When launching Tuner, you can quickly see and activate all of your devices at once, including compatible steering wheels. You can then jump in and manage a wide variety of settings including some pretty in-depth force feedback settings and effects.

All of your settings can be saved to custom profiles, making it easy to switch profiles between say an F1 setup and a GT3 setup, all from the home screen of the app.

One neat feature is you can save individual car and game settings as well. So when you jump into a Ferrari in F1 26, you can set it to have a different rev pattern compared to a McLaren or Audi. This is most useful when swapping between GT cars in ACC or LMU.

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Performance while sim racing

Now, the wheel base is mounted, software setup and I’ve got a steering wheel attached. So the only thing left to do is go sim racing, and test the performance. And everything else aside, this is really where things need to add up to really justify the high price tag.

Simucube is a brand built on force feedback quality. It is great to say that this really hasn’t faltered with the Simucube 3 wheel bases. Loading into iRacing, the force feedback is just so smooth and detailed.

Force feedback quality across many brands has come a long way in the past year or two. Brands such as Asetek, SIMAGIC and others have released new wheel bases that are quite simply fantastic. However, you’ll often find that many other branded wheel bases that try to challenge the Simucube 3 have certain areas where they ever so slightly falter.

That could be in their smoothness or just a slight lack in detail here or there. Not the Simucube 3. This is a wheel base that just nails every part of the force feedback, and then brings it all together to put on an absolute masterclass.

The Simucube 3 brings a new and improved direct drive motor, a new algorithm and individual calibration for every single wheel base before it leaves the factory. What does this mean in practice?

It means some of the smoothest, most precise force feedback I’ve felt. The sheer level of detail in every single track surface change, marble, kerb, along with the precision of each direction and weight change is outstanding. And all of it without any artificial interference or noise.

One area all brands have really worked on in this generation of wheel bases is anti-cogging. This is the sensation of feeling notches or gear-like sensation when rotating the steering wheel. With the Simucube 2, this was already minimal, but ever so slightly apparent under some low-load scenarios.

Much like other parts of the Simucube 3, this has been focused on and dialled in. The wheel shaft glides from left to right, and there is zero sensation of cogging whatsoever. Brands such as SIMAGIC and Fanatec lent on this in their marketing, and Simucube has just come along and once again set the benchmark to aim for.

Quite honestly, this is the best force feedback I have ever felt from a wheel base, regardless of price. Everything is polished beyond belief and I can’t find fault, even after 3 months of testing.

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Final thoughts

And that brings me onto my final thoughts. Simucube have spent their time refining and evolving, and the combination of this produces quite simply one of the very best sim racing wheels available, if not the best.

The polish behind the force feedback, the level of detail achieved alongside the smooth and refined delivery is quite something to experience. And this level of refinement extends beyond the force feedback, which was honestly excellent to begin with in the older Simucube 2 generation.

Now, with the addition of a true current generation contactless quick release, new mounting options and an understated, yet superbly high-quality construction, all culminates to make this wheel base one of the very best.

The true question comes down to the value. As mentioned, the Simucube 2 was already great from a performance stand point, just lacking in some usability with the annoying QR pin. And other wheels that have released over the past year or two have all gone a long way to offer outstanding performance, some at a considerably lower price point than this Simucube 3.

However, if you’re in the market for a new wheel base, want the very best performance available and are happy to buy into this ecosystem with everything that it currently delivers and promises for the future. Then any of the Simucube 3 wheel base lineup would be a great choice. And you can rest comfortably knowing that although your wallet may be significantly lighter, you’re wheel base is quite frankly the best money can buy.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Pros & Cons of the Simucube 3 Pro

Pros

• Class-leading force feedback
• Clean no-fuss design
• Extremely high build quality
• Easier mounting than SC2
• Better quick release compared to SC2
• Excellent software

Cons

• Fairly closed ecosystem currently
• Expensive
• New quick release handles can be awkward
• Expensive accessories
• LinkHub can be fiddly and complex with multiple pedals

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