PXN V10 Review | The NEWEST Entry-Level Force Feedback Wheel!
The PXN V10 is the newest entry-level force-feedback wheel to enter the market and with a 3-pedal pedal set, an H-pattern shifter, and a force feedback wheel, it's aimed to compete directly against other entry-level wheels. In this review, I’ll give my thoughts on the PXN V10 telling you everything I like, dislike, and everything in between.
The PXN V10 is the company's first force feedback wheel featuring a dual-motor system and PXN claims it delivers up to 3.2Nm of peak torque.
The PXN V10 is compatible with PC, Xbox One, S and X, and the PlayStation 4. I do not know if this wheel works on a PS5 since it is not stated on their official website. It may or may not be, I just can’t say for sure. For this review, I only tested it out on PC where I had zero problems setting it up.
Check out the PXN V10 here on Amazon!
Kicking everything off, we’ll start with the pedals. They include a clutch and come with a spring-loaded system which gives each pedal its respective feel. Slight adjustments to the pedal's resistance can also be made by tightening a plastic knob on the back. The pedal set is made primarily of plastic with a silver finish on the heel and pedal plates, reminiscent of the Thrustmaster T-LCM’s. Each pedal plate can also be slightly adjusted up or down and side to side. Paired with the slight adjustments that can be made on the springs, these are technically more adjustable than their competitors in this segment, albeit not by much.
For a beginner pedal set, they do a decent job. The clutch and throttle have a nearly indistinguishable feel when pushing down with the brake pedal being only slightly stiffer. Even with the brake pedal at its highest resistance, I was still easily able to push it down with my hand. On the bright side, you’ll have no problem using this pedal set laid on the floor, and considering most people buying it will be doing just that, it makes pretty good sense. If you’re wondering, yes you can hard-mount these pedals onto a cockpit or chassis as I’ve done with mine. I found all three pedals to have good travel and after a few hours of use, I got fairly used to them. These aren’t a high-end pedal set by any stretch of the imagination, but for a beginner just jumping into the hobby, they’ll suffice and with good practice, I’m sure you can be quick with them.
A gated 6-speed H-pattern shifter is also included with this set. Reverse gear can be accessed by pushing down the knob and moving it into the 6th gear position. Moreover, the two buttons up top control the parking brake as well as the higher gears mainly intended for truck simulators. No hard mounting holes are found on this shifter so you’ll have to attach it using the clamp mechanism which I found did a good job regardless. Despite me constantly up and downshifting, it remained in place and didn’t fidget or move around. The shifter is made entirely from plastic and similar to the pedals, does a decent job for what it is. The shifting feels consistent across all gears though there is no notable feel when flowing through them. In that sense, it feels very similar to the Logitech one. Due to the short travel and distance between gears, I found miss-shifts to be a common occurrence, especially when racing. Granted, I would expect these to become rarer as I continue to practice and get well used to everything. Overall, the H-pattern shifter is ok with regards to realism and appearance but it’s at least nice to have included in a beginner set. Moreover, the parking brake and higher gear buttons give it slightly more functionality than others.
Moving onto the wheel rim, it surprised me for how small it is, in fact, it’s the smallest sim racing wheel I’ve ever had. Anyways, the rim is wrapped in a synthetic suede material that feels good and grips well onto my hand, I would like it to be slightly thicker, but that's just my preference. The rim also features good quality stitching throughout and features enough buttons for most users. Overall, the rim felt good in-game. All buttons are close and easy to reach and the rim held up well with no notable flex or wobble when on track. Behind the rim, you find the paddle shifters along with clutch paddles underneath which is a nice feature for this segment. The up and downshifts have a clicky feel and sound whereas the clutch pedals underneath are dead silent and feel very dependent. My main complaint with regards to this wheel other than its small size is that I found the paddle shifters to be too close to the rim which meant that even with my thin fingers, I found the paddle shifters touch up against them when pressing down. This is only because I shift with only one or two fingers so it could or could not be an issue for you. Despite that, I do wish they were further away. The plastic quick-release found on the wheel is very basic and is simply tightened in and out of the wheelbase. It does a good job at firmly maintaining the wheel in place and is a good feature to have, especially if PXN plans on releasing optional wheel rims for it. Overall, the wheel rim is decent and with regards to looks, feel, and functionality, it holds up well with its comparable competition.
Of course, all that’s left to talk about is the wheelbase. It has a sleek and modern design and is surprisingly small in size. It comes with a metal plate attached that will facilitate hard mounting it onto a cockpit or wheelstand. That being said, it also comes with table clamps if you don’t have a dedicated rig and want to play on a table or desk. Behind the wheelbase is where everything plugs in including the pedals and shifter and at the front, you’ll notice this wheels quick release which as I mentioned, does the job well. As opposed to the PXN V9 which I reviewed around a year ago, I had absolutely no issues getting this wheelbase to work on PC. I simply plugged everything in and bound everything in-game. I didn’t need to download any drivers or troubleshoot anything which is a massive positive. This wheelbase supports a maximum turning radius of 900 degrees and from my experience, was very silent especially compared to loud and clunky gear-driven wheelbases at this price point. At 3.2nm of torque, I still feel the wheel has relatively low resistance and fine details struggle to be felt. Road textures, different surfaces, and bumps are curves are there but are certainly not as apparent as with other systems. Likewise, the relatively low power meant that catching slides and imperfections was also tricky though still miles above wheels with no force feedback. The gear-driven mechanism did a good job at delivering accurate feedback but could be a lot smoother as at times, it felt a bit too mechanical and slow to react. I reckon a lot of these smaller imperfections could be improved with time and especially with proper drivers so I’m optimistic about it in the long run. This is a brand new wheel so as with all new products, there will always be imperfections to be addressed. Now, with all that said, I was still able to nail some clean laps in and get the benefits of a force feedback wheel. I felt how the car was reacting and how it was going to react, so the force feedback does work as intended in that regard. Overall, the wheelbase comes in a sleek form factor and works as intended. I do wish it had a bit more power to really bring all of the effects to life, but compared to wheels without force feedback, it’ll still be a massive difference.
Before giving my final thoughts, I’d like to give PXN some suggestions to improve this product that I believe a buyer should know before purchasing. For starters, the wheel rim is very small, in fact, way too small in my opinion, and yes, smaller than the comparable Logitech and Thrustmaster wheels. This not only makes it look like a toy, but it also hinders performance if your hands are bigger than a child's. Also, the paddle shifters are way too close to the rim itself and need to be moved further back.
With regards to the shifter, it’s made entirely from plastic which gives it a cheap look and feel, especially compared to Logitech's competition at this price which features a leather knob and boot. Moreover, I found the shifter knob has significant wobble and is clearly not attached firmly. This not only gives a sense of low quality, but it makes me wonder how this product will hold up in the long term.
Finally, with regards to the pedal set, while it’s nice that you can slightly adjust the resistance of all three pedals, even at the maximum resistance, the brake is still FAR too light, so much so that I can easily move it with my hands. I think PXN should include a stiffer spring on it, especially if they want to market this product to an older target market and not just children.
In essence, to make this a stronger competitor in the entry-level segment, PXN should increase the diameter of the wheel rim, include a stiffer spring on the brake, ensure the shifter knob is tightly attached, and increase the distance between the wheel rim and paddle shifters.
With an included H-pattern shifter, compatibility for both PC and consoles, and a detachable rim among other things, the PXN V10 provides benefits that others do not. On the flip side, at $360 it retails for higher than the competition from Logitech and Thrustmaster (At least in current the North American market) and has significant room for improvement. With this in mind, I believe the PXN V10 would be an ideal product for a young target market who is not looking for outright immersion and pace on track, but rather something to introduce them into the world of sim racing and even cars. With low levels of force feedback, a small steering wheel, and little force needed to push down the pedals, a young kid would not only be able to use this wheel without any trouble but would be amazed by everything it offers. To satisfy an older target market though, many improvements need to be made. While I’ve enjoyed my time with this wheel and believe it's a big leap for the company, only time will tell how the PXN V10 stacks up to the fierce competition in the entry-level sim racing market.
