Why the Moza VGS Wheel is A Shift Up in Excellence and the Best Prices For It

We get mitts on with Moza's newest premium wheel and hunt down the current best prices for it in Australia.

Oct 11, 2024 - 03:00
Why the Moza VGS Wheel is A Shift Up in Excellence and the Best Prices For It

Even though I'm a satisfied owner of Moza's GS V2P, the Vision GS wheel's extra features blew me away. Space age enough to look like it belongs in some kind of anti-grav hoveracer, the VGS, as it's known to its friends, represents a new peak of engineering within Moza's family of swappable wheels.

I was fortunate enough to put this beast through its paces recently and have gathered my thoughts below. For now, though, let's identify the first hurdle of entry if you're of a mind to wrap mitts around one yourself: price. You can, of course, skip that eye-watering window shopping by clicking here to jump right to my words instead.

Our Moza Test Setup

Moza VGS Steering Wheel

Let's kick off with the positives, because they're certainly in the majority with this premium peripheral. I dig that the VGS has got a bit more real estate and heft to my 'old' GS V2P—we're wider from 300mm to 310mm and a kilogram heavier for a total of 4. As you veterans probably already know, larger wheel diameters always sell the experience a bit better, though you do take a slight hit on force feedback strength because of it. Not a big problem with the R12 I’m using, though, as it arguably has too many Nms of force to begin with.

The biggest and most obvious addition, however, is that handsome new face. Boasting a 60Hz refresh and responsive touch capability, this fully customisable 7.1 cm screen is as gorgeous to gaze at in the flesh as it is handy to have. Better yet, it’s absolutely brimming with in-built presets, so you can more or less load up Moza’s Pit House software, skip the tinkering, and instantly reap some benefits in your favourite sim.

What those benefits are is up to you, your imagination and needs. With north, south, east, and west flicks of your finger, you can transition into whatever info you desire. Gears, revs, position on a track map, tyre telemetry, split time lists, or just a big ol’ analog speedo that’s probably anachronistic for your favourite F1 car—the possibilities are uploadably/downloadably endless.

This fully customisable 7.1 cm screen is as gorgeous to gaze at in the flesh as it is handy to have.

The only limitation here is the need to play a sim that will share/play nice with its telemetry. There’s a stupidly comprehensive list of which games do that and to what degree here. Personally, I had great compatibility with iRacing and my modded-up copy of Assetto Corsa Competizione. So maybe start with those and wait for support to grow outwards from there with Moza's (reasonably frequent) updates.

The wow factor of the Digital Dash doesn’t quite stop there, either. Moza has also implemented a gyroscope function that ensures your info stays right side up and readable, even when you’re hand-over-handing out some doughies. Sadly, there is a slight delay present here—sort of a compass-like jiggle that’s slightly imperfect but not hugely detrimental to Moza’s intent to keep you informed.

But, hey, if that’s somehow not your preferred way to get your info, you can always just sight your RPMs the old-fashioned way. The VGS includes a top-mounted 10-pip indicator that can also be tailored to your chromatic preferences to the tune of 16.7 million colours. Alternatively, you can configure them to represent race flags. Super handy stuff.

Build quality-wise, this sticks to Moza’s usual m.o. by looking and feeling exactly like what you’ve paid for. We’re talking about an aerospace-grade aluminum alloy backbone fleshed out with a composite carbon-fiber faceplate and high-quality grips skinned with hand-stitched faux leather. I can confirm after many an endurance race: the VGS is durable, comfy, and has no flex issues at the wheel base connection point.

I’m also all about the inputs, in particular the extra and highly accessible rear-mounted buttons you can set to just about anything (I went with KERS and DRS). Having middle-fingertip access to those feels natural and effective, but your thumbs will still be kept well busy with a 72-input smorgasbord that includes a 7-way funky switch, a universal joystick, 3 rotary encoders, 2 thumb encoders, and short-travel/backlit buttons. I couldn’t find a bad egg among any of them in terms of placement or responsiveness.

At the end of the day, I think Moza has once again proven to be quite the innovative and release-happy competitor. The VGS is well-built, brimming with tactile inputs, is highly customisable, and performs brilliantly. Vanity side bonus: its Digital Dash and visual aesthetics—clearly inspired by the Porsche Vision Gran Turismo—make it a real head-turning piece of hardware, even for non-racer normies. And when it comes to your actual petrolheaded peers, well, their eyes are going to be greener than an Aston Martin.

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Adam Mathew is our Aussie deals wrangler and has Five Star Games to thank for a VGS test unit. He plays practically everything, often on YouTube.

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