The Complete Guide to Sim Racing

Sim racing is not a shopping list. This guide shows what to buy, in what order and why, on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S.

Sixteen sections take you from the first laps with a controller to a serious rig:

• Platforms and games: PC as the reference platform, PS5 as the strongest curated route and Xbox as the accessible ecosystem route, with an atlas of the games that matter, from iRacing, Le Mans Ultimate and Assetto Corsa Competizione to Gran Turismo 7, F1 25 and Forza Horizon 6.
• Compatibility and licences: why a wheelbase can be excellent and still invisible to a console, and how to check before you buy.
• Wheelbases, wheels and pedals: direct-drive torque explained, the right rim for each discipline, and why a load-cell brake usually finds more lap time than a stronger motor.
• Cockpits, seats and displays: from desk clamp to aluminium profile, seating geometry, field of view, triple screens, VR, tactile feedback and motion.
• Makers and budgets: what Logitech, Thrustmaster, Fanatec, MOZA, Simagic, Asetek, Simucube, VRS, Heusinkveld and Turtle Beach each do best, five budget levels and sample builds for every platform.
• Setup and the first 30 days: calibration, maintenance, high-torque safety, online etiquette, quick answers and a glossary.

Re-checked for 2027. Every hardware, game and platform fact was checked again in October 2026 against the makers', publishers' and platforms' own pages, including MOZA's first PS5-licensed wheelbases, the Xbox version of the Thrustmaster T598 and the PS5 date for Forza Horizon 6.

Apple Books edition with eleven diagrams. Costs are given as broad UK bands.