Can you perform simracing well without a steering wheel?

[Alphonse Uprising]

Hi there! I'm Johan, and I'm a 16-year-old from Germany living in the USA as a high school student.

I've been playing simracing games for about 3 years now (I have played Simraceway much earlier than this, but only for fun), but there's now a serious question in my mind.

Is it possible to be a good simracer without using a steering wheel? Or any other apparatus "required" to play simracers?

I'd love to play a simracer with a steering wheel-- I wish I could, but there is a problem. Although I actually already having a steering wheel, it can't fit into my room and it can only go into the living room. There, I play Forza Motorsport, but I feel like the competition for me is too unprofessional for me to actually consider it to be a real simracer. It has the physics calculations, but not the drivers.

I have a huge bed and my computer set up is right behind the side of it, and my chair sits tight in between the middle of them. It is so bad that if I was using an actual desk, rather than a table, my legs would be folded into my chest. Even if I could fit my wheel into this space, it won't stay on the table correctly since it's too thick. Obviously, I need a complete overhaul of my room, but this would be hell to go through and we-- my father, mostly-- simply don't have time or energy to do it.

So I end up resorting to using an Xbox Elite controller in order to play simracers like GTR2 and Assetto Corsa, and this just doesn't feel right at all. My dad does have an Alienware laptop that we share, and it's definitely possible to use that to play simracers instead, but it is a huge battery waster (when gaming, the battery goes from full to empty in about 40 minutes), creates obnoxious fan noises, and overheats easily. This method is simply not practical to me.

Any thoughts??

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Excellent question. In short: yes you can be an excellent simracer without an expensive steeringwheel but there are two buts in my opinion:

We have had some blistering fast drivers here on RD in recent years who were racing with console controllers. Drivers with keyboard or even mouse are not up to speed and is not really considered a safe alternative either.

Another aspect you should take into account is immersion. Although you can be very fast with a controller the real life racing immersion is completely absent. There is a massive difference in how you experience your racing with a controller on the couch or with your hands firmly on the alcantara leather of your awesome realistic steeringwheel.

If you don't care about immersion or realism a controller is your friend. Of course a tight budget can be a very good reason not to buy a wheel.

If you are serious with your online racing and are going to spend heaps of time with I'd strongly suggest a steeringwheel and just create the needed space for it because: awesome! If the outlined limitations are keeping you away from a wheel just stick to a decent controller and you'll be fine as well.

That's the cool thing of our hobby, you can make it as immersive and expensive/cheap as you(r budget) desire(s).

 

[RasmusP]

Absolutely agree with Bram!
I have the 360 and the elite controller and while you can be a very fast hotlapper, the problem begins when you need to stay side by side without touching each other through a chicane for example. Where you can go on a very unusual line with a wheel, it's extremely difficult with a controller!
With a controller you can learn to drive well, to have a very good line and be fast but for me it was just impossible to stay safe while being close to other cars.

But hey, just try it! I read you have assetto corsa and you're Premium already so just join us on a Wednesday or Friday for the social events in our AC Club and see for yourself

Edit: I forgot that you're in a US timezone so maybe better have a look at the US social events