Cube Controls has been considered one of the more high-end brands when it comes to Sim Racing hardware for quite some time now. We’ve been lucky enough to review quite a number of their wheels over the years including the GT-Pro and Formula Pro Wireless, the CSX3 with integrated dash and the F-PRO and while all of them have been great, the price point has placed them out of the question for the majority of sim racers.
So we were very excited when they reached out and asked if we would like to review the new F-CORE wheel. As the name suggests, this wheel takes what Cube Controls have identified as the core essential features from their more expensive wheels, and makes them available in a more affordable 290mm diameter formula style wheel.
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Cube Controls F-Core Features
- 290mm Diameter
- 12 x Momentary Buttons
- 2 x Toggle Switches
- 2 x 7 Way Funky Switches
- 2 x Front Rotary Encoders
- 2 x Thumb Encoders
- Hall effect sensor paddles for sifters and clutches (sold seperately)
- Nylon-Carbon Fibre Injected composite material for shifters
- Die Cast Aluminium body
- 4mm thick carbon fibre facia
- Charges in 2-4 hours but useable after 15 mins or so of charge for a 20 min race if you forget. Can be used plugged in of course too.
- 50-60 hours of battery life.
- Magnetic Q-Conn connector
- 50.8 and 70mm bolt pattern on universal hub – Otherwise 50.8mm bolt pattern on the wheel itself.
DRIVING EXPERIENCE
We were pleasantly surprised to find Cube Controls have done a good job with the construction of this wheel despite the cheaper price point. The wheel presents with the same overall quality as their more expensive wheels with the exception of the Nylon-Carbon Injected Composite shifters, which are a noticeable step down from the aluminium and carbon fibre shifter cages found on their more expensive wheels. This manifests as a slightly softer and more squishy click to the shifter by comparison, but also quieter.
The ergonomics of the wheel are fantastic. The wheel is very comfortable to hold and there’s absolutely no noticeable flex anywhere on the wheel thanks to the 4 mm thick carbon fibre fascia and aluminium housing.
The wheel is well weighted and balanced and the rubber grips are nice and chunky, although I do prefer the smoother rubber found in some of their other wheels as it’s less prone to feeling sticky and picking up dirt and debris from your hands or gloves.
The buttons are all easily reachable and have a nice high quality click to them, and the addition of moulded plastic shrouds makes it easy to know which button you are pressing by feel, without taking your eyes off the road which is also excellent for VR.
The wheel can be connected via USB or Bluetooth directly to your PC without relying on any 3rd party protocols, meaning it will work in conjunction with any other sim racing hardware. We experienced no connectivity or latency issues when operating with Bluetooth, although this will of course depend on your particular setup. The Magnetic Q-CONN connector makes it very easy to connect and disconnect the wheel and is strong enough that it won’t become disconnected unintentionally, but will protect the wheel and cable in the event of the wheelbase going haywire and wrapping up the cable.
Conclusions:
A wheel that offers the key features sim racers are looking for, with excellent build quality at a lower price point is most certainly a welcome thing, and the F-CORE delivers on what it sets out to achieve. For those reasons, I have no issue recommending this product if it suits your needs and budget. Costs have been cut in all the right areas to retain a well-functioning and quality wheel at a lower price point than many alternatives. I do wish they included their aluminium or carbon fibre shifter cages though as other wheels on the market do have subjectively better feeling shifters at a similar or in some cases even lower price point.
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