Today we’re jumping back into the world of Simucube 2 Direct Drive wheelbases for a head to head comparison between the Sport, Pro and Ultimate.
Which one is more appropriate for your specific needs will be determined by a number of factors, so let’s go through everything you need to know to make the right choice! Of course, Simucube isn’t the only choice when it comes to Direct Drive Sim Racing wheelbases, so we recommend you take a look at our detailed reviews as well as our comprehensive Direct Drive buyer’s guide to make sure you’re pointing in the right direction.
Be sure to also check out the video version of this article which goes into a lot more detail with demonstrations, etc.
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Build Quality
The Ultimate does use a higher precision 24bit “hiperface” angle sensor to determine the wheel’s position, but personally I can’t tell the difference between this and the 22 bit absolute sensor used on the Sport and Pro models and doubt anybody else would be able to either.
Size and Weight
Slew Rate
Simply put, slew rate is a measure of how quickly the wheelbase is able to achieve its maximum torque. with a slew rate of 9.5 Nm/mm, the Ultimate is able to achieve its maximum torque output of 32 Nm in 3.3ms. With its slew rate of 8.0Nm/ms, the Pro is able to achieve it’s maximum torque of 25 Nm in 3.1ms, and the Sport achieves its maximum torque of 17 Nm in 3.5ms with a slew rate of 4.8 Nm/ms. Keep in mind though that most people are unlikely to actually have the Pro or Ultimate models cranked up to their maximum torque, so in reality, assuming you have your max torque set to a reasonable 15 Nm, the Ultimate can achieve this in ~1.6ms, the Pro in ~1.8ms, and the Sport in ~3.1ms.
On the road, to me the difference between the Ultimate and Pro is for the most part indistinguishable, with only extremely subtle differences noticeable in titles like iRacing and ACC with their higher force feedback sample rates (iRacing recently introduced 360Hz FFB for Simucube bases which we explored in this video). Under most scenarios I would struggle to tell the difference between the two in a blind test, and in some scenarios such as drifting and rally, I actually find both of them to be a little too snappy and sensitive and end up winding the slew rate down to around Sport levels to compensate.
As the numbers suggest, the difference between the Sport and Pro is more noticeable, with the Pro feeling slightly more responsive under most scenarios, but we are only talking very fine margins here and I do feel that the Sport will be responsive enough for most people.
Dynamic Range
Dynamic Range is simply just the amount of power available for the wheelbase to produce force feedback. For example, a wheelbase with 30 Nm of maximum torque has double the dynamic range of a wheelbase with 15 Nm of maximum torque.
The resistance you feel through a steering rack or simulated through a wheelbase is a function of lateral force, slip angle and aligning torque. Most modern cars with power steering fall somewhere between 9 and 13 Nm of force required to steer them under normal driving conditions, and some cars without any power steering assistance can require up to 30 Nm to get them around the track. Of course in a real car if you hit a stationary object, the actual torque through the steering wheel can be much much higher (as Daniel Ricciardo found out in Turn 3 at Zandvoort in 2023).
Realistically, most adults with high end wheelbases will likely end up setting their equipment up such that cornering forces will be somewhere in the range of about 9 to 14NM (perhaps less for drifting and rally), so you might think “Why would anyone need more than that?”.
Simply put, if a wheelbase’s total dynamic range is being used to produce cornering forces, then there is no remaining headroom to produce effects like bumping into other cars, walls, kerbs, etc which is where we start to run into “clipping”. Clipping is simply where the commanded output is beyond what the motor can produce, so you end up with numb force feedback coming through your wheel instead of the fine detail you would normally expect. So it’s always a good idea to have some headroom available.
Many sim racing titles account for this by allowing you to set your force feedback to be non-linear, which essentially compresses the output so that all the force feedback fits within the available dynamic range instead of clipping, but this comes at the cost of varying amplitude in the finer detail like road surface textures, so this compromise is generally not recommended for more powerful wheelbases.
On the road, I tend to run my wheelbases with their maximum torque capped at around 15Nm. This allows me to feel all the detail I need, with cornering forces around 10-12 Nm and the last 3 Nm remaining for things like bumping into walls, etc. So for me personally, the Sport offers enough dynamic range to get the job done. For those who are stronger than me, the Pro is probably the better choice in this regard, but I find the extra dynamic range offered by the Ultimate to simply be unnecessary and think most would agree.
Conclusion
For me, the Sport offers enough dynamic range to get the job done, with the Pro being overkill and the Ultimate just being completely unnecessary.
In terms of responsiveness, given the massive increase in cost, I find the Ultimate to be completely beyond the point of diminishing return.
Given the smaller price difference between the Sport and Pro models, I think the Pro is subjectively “worth it” and that’s where I would be putting my money. However the Sport is still an amazing product that will more than likely satisfy the needs of even the most hardcore sim racers.
