Five gifts to help get into sim racing this Christmas

Logitech G29/G920/G923

If you’re getting into sim racing, you need to graduate beyond a controller. The sad reality is, a lot of steering wheels are really really expensive and aren’t plug-and-play. This is where the Logitech G920/G923 come in. They’re relatively affordable and very much worth what you’d pay. The latter is the newer model, so it’s a bit more expensive with a few extra features, but it’s fundamentally an updated version of the former which is still excellent. G920s (G29 for Playstation players) can be had for as little as £150 brand new, when they’re on a sale, and they work as soon as they’re switched on with respective Xbox and Playstation consoles.

Logitech Pro Racing Wheel

If you’re wanting to graduate to a bit more of an advanced item but like the accessibility of Logitech, the new Pro Racing Wheel offers the beauty of direct drive but with that same plug-and-play compatibility. It’s still expensive, at £999, but it is brand new and undercuts most rivals significantly.

Logitech Driving Force shifter

Completing the setup (pedals are included with the G920/923) is the Driving Force Shifter. For as little as £30, you get a half-decent (if not weighty) manual shift, for that extra bit of immersion. There are nicer, more expensive shifters out there, with gated mechanisms and even sequential systems but for your money, there’s no beating this. Do make sure you have somewhere to mount it – anything from a dedicated bracket for your rig, to a coffee table will do.

Playseat Challenge

Speaking of rigs, you’re probably thinking, “where can I set all this stuff up?” and “aren’t racing seats really cumbersome and annoying to store?”. Indeed, I thought that and that along with my budget confined me, for the longest time, to an ironing board and a series of bungee chords. You have my permission to laugh. Then I discovered the Playseat Challenge, a proper racing seat that folds up into something easily vertically stored, behind a door or a curtain. A better compromise I've not yet found, beyond a rig and a dedicated room, but we’re talking about introducing yourself to the hobby here! It’s budget-friendly too, with savvy shoppers able to nab them for well under their £250 retail price.

Decent games 

Now you’ve got your rig set up, what do you play? It’s implied here that you already have an Xbox, Playstation or PC on which to play, so it’s likely as a casual gamer you may already have Forza Motorsport or Gran Turismo titles. These are great crossover points in terms of accessibility on the controller and being genuinely good on the wheel. To advance further and really develop skills usable in real cars, it’s best to graduate to more advanced sim racing games. We’ve been through some of the best sims to play in 2022 (and indeed in 2023, pending upcoming releases) but we’ll list a couple here worth getting if the person you’re getting gifts for has a rig but not a decent game with which to enjoy it.

Forza and Gran Turismo – to get you started.

Assetto Corsa – for all-round fun and learning more about driving fast, in race and road cars.

Assetto Corsa Competizione – for dedicated fans of GT endurance racers.

Project Cars 2 – for some great historic racing fun.

WRC Generations – for fans of rallying old and new.

F1 2022 – for the F1 fanatics.

Need for Speed Unbound – if this whole sim racing thing turns out not to be for you.