this post was submitted on 19 Oct 2025
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I've been wanting an F1-style steering wheel for sim racing for ages, but I didn't want to spend massive amounts of cash on a commercially-built steering wheel that could be great but had loads of features I didn't care about (especially LEDs and a screen) since I play in VR.

A colleague of mine, who is also into sim racing, built a steering wheel that was better than almost anything you can find from Fanatec/Moza/Thrustmaster/whatevs for around 500€.

So, of course, I decided to ~~buy the same thing~~ build it myself from scratch for the challenge and to save some money. Because I'm an idiot, I guess. I thought it would take me 2-3 weekends. It took 4 months. It's basically a wheel-shaped mechanical keyboard. It was the biggest non-essential project of my life. I learned a lot, including not getting myself delusional enough to start that kind of project on a whim.

Steering wheel's back

Features:

  • F1-shaped steering wheel, heavily inspired by Ferrari's one with the general shape and front. Back is closer to Mercedes'.
  • Magnetic shift paddles
  • Analog clutch (WIP)
  • 7 rotary encoders
  • 10 face buttons + 2 back buttons + 5 clickable encoders
  • Quick-release connection to the steering column
  • Aviator-style USB connector
  • QMK firmware
  • Everything is 3D-printed except for the aluminium mid-plate and the quick-release

If you guys are interested I have a few WIP pictures, so I could start a build log. WDYT?

Installed Front Installed Back

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[–] harrys_balzac@lemmy.dbzer0.com 19 points 6 days ago (2 children)

It looks really good.

Any decent alternatives to proprietary should be highly encouraged.

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 2 points 3 days ago

Sim racing used to be all DIY and open source. The profit margins on these electric motors is obscene.

[–] Wfh@lemmy.zip 5 points 6 days ago
[–] CallMeAnAI@lemmy.world 5 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I'd love a durability report eventually. This is very cool and I'd love to do it but I definitely am wondering how it's going to stand up long term.

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 1 points 3 days ago

You can use engineering grade filaments with glass or carbon fiber polycarbonates very close to 6061 aluminum for strength.

[–] TheLeadenSea@sh.itjust.works 5 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Content not viewable in your region

[–] Wfh@lemmy.zip 5 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Fuck fascist governments.

Seriously tho if you know a free image hosting site that doesn't geo block (most of them seem to do because of fucking morons passing idiotic laws), I'm all ears

[–] TheLeadenSea@sh.itjust.works 3 points 6 days ago

Doesn't lemmy.zip host images?

[–] Niquarl@lemmy.ml 2 points 6 days ago

Any instance running Lutim ?

[–] wjrii@lemmy.world 5 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I haven't really thought about anything remotely in spitting distance of sim racing since I was playing XBox One Forza games (mostly the Horizon one that is set in the Riviera-ish region) with a Thrustmaster TMX (I think?) clamped to a Home Depot Fliptop table.

This looks really cool. May I assume the Moza drive unit was the priciest component?

[–] Wfh@lemmy.zip 3 points 6 days ago

Yeah by far, although I don't consider it part of the build.

I actually started this build with a Thrustmaster T300RS in mind, but it took so long I upgraded to a Moza R9 partway 😅

[–] Glemek@lemmy.world 5 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Idk that I would ever build exactly this, but I defi itely want to see / read your build retrospective!

[–] Wfh@lemmy.zip 5 points 6 days ago

Honestly, don't 😅

I will try and write something down the line!

[–] Siff@mstdn.social 1 points 6 days ago

@Wfh Looks great! 👍