Best racing wheel under €300: the 11 there are and which to pick

Under 300 euros there are 11 wheel and pedal kits in our comparison: 8 by official price, plus three that are above it on paper but usually sell for less: the Logitech G29 and G920 and the PC version of the Moza R3. And they are not all for the same thing. The first cut is not the brand or the rim: it is whether the wheel has force feedback and which console it works on.

First: it needs force feedback

Two of the 11 do not have it: the Thrustmaster T98 and the Hori Racing Wheel Apex. With no motor, the wheel does not push back, and they turn 240 and 270 degrees. They are fine for playing on the sofa, but in a Formula 1 game you do not feel the car: you cannot tell when the front starts to slide. If you are going to spend money on a wheel to race, this is not it.

The other 9: gears, hybrid and one direct drive

The three Logitechs (G29, G920 and G923) use gears: tough and well known, with 2.3 Nm of published torque each. The G923 adds TrueForce, which turns the game's audio into extra vibration. The Thrustmaster ones (T150, TMX, T128 and the T248 in its two versions) are hybrid, mixing belt and gears, which makes them smoother than pure gears. Of the Thrustmasters, only the T248R publishes its torque: 3.1 Nm, the highest figure in this price range. The others do not publish it, and we would rather say so than guess.

And there is one direct drive: the Moza R3, with 3.9 Nm. The motor turns the steering shaft directly, with no gears or belt in between, and that is the feel almost everyone ends up with when they race seriously. It only fits the range in its PC version; the Xbox one costs more.

Where you play decides half the list

Consoles only accept licensed wheels. For PlayStation and PC: T248R, G923, G29, T150 and T128. For Xbox and PC: the T248 Xbox version, G923, G920, TMX and T128. The G923 and the T128 are the only ones that cover all three, the G923 with a separate Xbox version. On PC any of them works, and the Moza R3 only on PC in the version that fits this budget.

The pedals, which is where you feel it most

Five of the 11 come with three pedals: the three Logitechs and the two T248s, whose T3PM set uses magnetic sensors that do not wear like a potentiometer. None in this range brings a load cell brake, the kind that measures how hard you press instead of how far the pedal travels: that starts a step higher. And none has a formula-style rim; all are round.

What we would pick

On PlayStation, the Thrustmaster T248R: the highest published torque in the range and three pedals with magnetic sensors. On Xbox, its sibling, the T248 Xbox version. If you want to spend as little as possible, the G29 on PlayStation or the G920 on Xbox: the same torque as the G923 without TrueForce. And if you might change console, the G923, because there is a version for each one. On PC, the Moza R3: the only direct drive in the range, and the one that will last longest before you want to upgrade, although it comes with two pedals and not three.