MOZA Racing R16 Direct-Drive Wheel Base Review
This is the MOZA Racing R16 direct-drive wheel base paired with the RM digital dash display. Today, I’ll be taking these products through my review process, telling you all what I like, what I don’t like, and everything in-between. Stay tuned for the separate reviews I will also be releasing on the MOZA wheel rim add on as well as their load cell pedals in the near future.
What is MOZA Racing?
MOZA Racing has been a main talking point within the sim racing community within the last few weeks mainly since they seemingly came out of nowhere. And while they're sim racing products are brand new, the company itself didn’t just pop out of nowhere. You see, the company called “MOZA” is widely known for their professional camera gear and especially their gimbal technology. MOZA Racing is a separate division (aka one of the brands of MOZA) but instead of camera equipment, they focus on the sim racing market. So basically, it’s an established company that has now also entered the sim racing market. Kind of like how Logitech creates keyboards, mouses, headsets, and also sim racing peripherals.
Before I get started, I should also mention that I did receive these products for review, but regardless, I have complete control over what I say. As you all know, I always try to be completely honest with my reviews, and this one won’t be any different. Anyways, let's finally get started.
MOZA R16 Specifications
The MOZA Racing R16 is a direct-drive wheelbase capable of exerting up to 16nm of torque. For reference, the Logitech G29 and G920 give about 2.1Nm, the Thrustmaster TS-XW gives off about 6nm and the Fanatec CSL DD gives up to 8nm with the booster power supply. So in essence, this is on a completely different level. This wheelbase itself retails for $1000, however, If you for whatever reason want even more max torque, the R21 wheelbase, which you guessed it, can give up to 21nm of torque, retails for $1200. Although not cheap, they're certainly competitively priced with other top-of-the-line offerings in the segment.
Review
If you ask me, this is the best-looking direct-drive wheelbase in the market today. It features no plastic, is constructed from a full aluminum alloy body, looks mean and aggressive, and is finished in a golden orange and black colorway. It also weighs around 20 pounds or 8.9kg, so it certainly doesn't feel like a toy either. I should also mention that this wheelbase only works on PC, so unfortunately for all you console users, you're out of luck once again. In terms of mounting, this wheelbase gives you a few options. It has four hard mounting holes on the bottom as well as side mounting support if you have the optional mounting bracket. As you would imagine, you will only want to be using this wheelbase on a sturdy cockpit and not a desk or anything of that sort. Attaching compatible wheel rims is no problem as this wheelbase features a professional quick-release mechanism.
Before I start talking about its in-game performance, I of course have to mention the digital dash display which sits on top of the wheelbase. This 5-inch display can be purchased separately, connects right on top of the wheelbase, and offers an immense amount of telemetry data. It has a full-color 60hz display which looks incredible in-game and is also built from a full aluminum alloy body. Within the wheels software, you can configure this display to show various telemetry data. Whether you want to see your tire temperature, your speed, position, lap time, or many other things, you can specify all that here. It's important to note that not all games support this, but almost all of the most popular ones do. In my case, Assetto Corsa, Assetto Corsa Competizione, Project Cars 2, Dirt Rally 2, and the F1 titles, which are the games I primarily play, all did work with this. Moreover, you can also adjust the brightness of this screen to best suit your needs and surrounding environment.
Talking about this wheel's software, this is probably where I was most pleasantly surprised. Prior to setting this wheel up on my rig, I was seriously concerned by how difficult the setup process was going to be. I assumed that since this was a new wheelbase, with many gimmicks such as the 5-inch display, and a brand new software, getting everything to work was going to be a nightmare. However, setting this wheel up could not have been easier. All I had to do was connect everything, download the MOZA PitHouse software onto my computer, and everything immediately worked. Within the software, I’m able to calibrate the wheel and pedals, play around and fine-tune the various force feedback settings, change the information the telemetry screen displays, and even launch the sim racing games I have downloaded on my PC. All the games I tested instantly recognized the wheel, and I was pretty much good to go as soon as I launched it up. One of the best parts of all of this was that I was able to fine-tune and adjust the various wheel settings on the fly. For example, if I wanted more or less resistance or to change the data I was seeing on the display, I could simply tab out of the game, make those adjustments, and get back into the game without having to completely quit and restart my PC. This made it fast and intuitive to get everything set up the way I like. Moreover, the software comes with set presets for different car types. Everything from Formula 1, karts, to drift cars, the presets make it easy to adjust the feel of the force feedback. Finally, the settings of the wheel base, steering wheel, pedals, etc. can be modified through the MOZA APP.
On track, having never used a force feedback wheel before, the MOZA Racing R16 wheelbase is truly game changing. This wheelbase reacts so incredibly quickly, it gives off every bit of detail from kerbs to bumps to probably even a little pebble you pass by and provides more resistance than I will ever need in my lifetime. To put this into perspective, I’ve been using this wheelbase with its force feedback set to only 40% on ACC and 30% on every other game because anything higher and I’m practically sweating after one or two laps. More than all that however, it's also surprisingly silent. Granted, this was a little expected since there are very little moving parts and no gears or belts dancing inside, but since this wheel has no cooling fans or anything of that sort, it was even quieter than I expected. Yes you heard me right, this wheelbase has no cooling mechanism. To be fair, I’m still not sure how I feel about that, but according to MOZA Racing, “the temperature control system monitors the motor temperature in real time, to avoid any possible temperature abnormalities”. I don’t really know what that means If i’m being completely honest, but what I will say is that even after using this wheelbase for hours on end, I could not feel it heat up or lose performance in any way. So I guess I don’t know how it works, but I will say that it does work… if that makes sense. Something I will admit I’m not a fan of however is the bright blue light that shines whenever the wheelbase is on. Not only is it pointed directly at you, but its also very bright which makes it annoying especially when playing in the dark. This of course can be easily resolved by placing some black tape over it, but I figured I’d mention it anyway.
To wrap up my thoughts on the MOZA Racing R16 wheelbase and RM digital dash display, I am seriously impressed. Together, they come in at $1300 but I can honestly see why. Not only is it a game changing piece of hardware, but it performs as good as it looks. In terms of how it stacks up compared to other similarly priced direct-drive wheels, I couldn’t tell you, but I will say that this is a serious contender in the top of the line sim racing market and so far, it’s the best sim racing wheelbase I’ve ever owned.
