Steelseries SRW-S1 Review (PC)

Steelseries SRW-S1 Gadget or Simulator

Steelseries have moved into a new direction with the SRW-S1 steering wheel. It has no pedals, no desk mount. It’s a steering wheel with everything you need and more in one small package. The SRW-S1 has been co-designed by Steelseries and Ignite Technologies. Therefore, anything from setting assists to turning the lights on are all available on the wheel. As there are no pedals or desk mount, it’s completely portable and because all the settings are on the wheel its ready to use where ever you are. The accelerator and brakes are placed at the back below the gear pads, so you’ve always got full control. The plug in and play doesn’t mean this is just a toy and not for serious race fans. The hardest part to get used to, is just the feel of the wheel but that comes with any new steering wheel.

once you spend 10-15 minutes setting it up how you like it, It’s brilliant

To show you how serious the development stages were, the SRW-S1 wheel has been tested and approved by professional racing drivers including four-time IndyCar Series winner, Dario Fanchitti and double Indy 500 Champion, the late, Dan Wheldon. As well as SimRacing stars David Greco and Bruno Marques just to name a few. Steelseries SRW-S1When I first saw the SRW-S1, I immediately thought “that looks amazing but I bet it’s rubbish“. Well, it’s not. Looking at it you would think, “that’s going to be twitchy and a nightmare to keep the car in straight line“. However when you actually try it straight out of the box it’s very good and once you spend 10-15 minutes setting it up how you like it, It’s brilliant. The SRW-S1 has the same effect and control of a �300+ racing but without taking up space and costing only �100. I have owned a full racing setup with seat, pedals and everything but I had to get rid of it due the amount of space it took up. The SRW-S1 has the same feeling of control on your cars in game but without taking up the space. It only has one USB wire, which means you don’t have to spend 5 minutes untangling wires to put it away. Once I’ve finished playing with the wheel I just put in a draw under my TV out of the way and also it means children can’t play and break it when I’m not looking. As this is made by Steelseries, you know it has great durability even if you get annoyed and through it across the room. When you pick it up it will be intact. It feels solid and like it can take a few hits without even scratching it, which any real racing fan will tell you is worth its weight in gold. Steelseries SRW-S1Now, I didn’t just try the SRW-S1 with Simraceway as I knew it would be great as that’s what it’s designed for. So, I tried using it on the worst racing simulator I could think of which was Need for Speed: Shift. It changed the game completely and was fun to play. The SRW-S1 is so good it can make bad games good. It kept on working with games such as DiRT, which is a world away from the track. That isn’t about smooth driving and it seems to be even better here as you have the freedom so move how you want to move. The only negative comments I can say is that there isn’t any force feedback which a serious racer will be looking for. I’m sure Steelseries will be looking into. Also not having a desk mount may be great for space, but also means that you will need to have breaks every so often as your arms will need a rest. Again I hear that Steelseries have looked at this and there will be a detachable base due out in the summer, but no more details have been listed as of late. Without the base or something to hold it in place, I fear that people will overlook the SRW-S1, which is a shame. However, it’s refreshing to see that Steelseries is moving into new territory and giving games something new to try. If they add force feedback and a detachable base more people will be interested and they will get to experience what it can actually do. Specifications for SRW-S1 : Interface USB Systems PC Only Buttons and Controls 15 Buttons 1 Direction pad 3 Knobs 4 Paddles Responsive RPM / Shift indicator LED lights Dimensions Product weight (g) 577 Product width (mm) 228.6 Product height (mm) 155 Product depth (mm) 55.6 Cord Approximate length of 10 feet Included in the Box$10 Simraceway card

The Scores

Build
Build - 9 out of 10 9
Gold Y Award

Gold Y Award
Value
Value - 9 out of 10 9
Features
Features - 9 out of 10 9
Overall
Overall - 9 out of 10 9

The Good: Great Duribility.; Plug and Play style.; Frees up space.
The Bad: Arms get tired.; No force feedback


Control Map At an Angle At an Angle The Front The Back 


Gold Y AwardGold Y Award
4.5 4.5 / 5

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