Sim Racing on Steam Deck?

BP · Aug 10, 2022

So, after 13 months of waiting, my reservation for Valve's 512GB Steam Deck came up (please don't confuse it with Elgato's Stream Deck) and I have about 36 hours left to decide on completing the purchase (else I'd have to reserve again and wait another year most likely). Most reviews seem really great and my thought process was that I spend most of my gaming time at home sim racing on my PC...but I have a ton of Steam games that I haven't or barely played and it'd be cool to play them on the road (and all the games are already purchased).

My question is: Does anyone here have any experience using a Steam Deck with sim racing titles and sim hardware?

I usually don't bother with certain titles like Forza and the F1 series on the PC (I prefer stuff more on the realistic side when driving with a wheel), but I can definitely see myself playing them on the road using the Steam Deck's controls. Beyond that, I do have another wheelbase and pedals (Fanatec) that I could possibly use with the Steam Deck, would be cool to do some local 2 player racing as well...just wondering if anyone has tried it with any success.

I do also own a Switch OLED which is great, but the games cost a lot, and there's way more variety on Steam (the racing and fighting genres are sorely lacking on the Switch for example).

Mr Chip · Aug 11, 2022

I have had my 256GB Steam Deck for a couple of months now, and I absolutely love it!

For some context - I have a pretty decent sim rig with a 3080 card, and G2 VR headset; DD Wheel etc. I pretty much only race in Assetto Corsa, as I help organise a friendly Sunday Night league - www.cosyracingcommunity.com

Other "main" gaming has been on Xbox series X as I prefer to sit on couch with friends and chat with a normal headset, and play FPS with them, and some child friendly games with my 8 yo daughter, who has my old One S.

Since getting the Steam Deck, it really has exceeded all my expectations - I have played (and completed) more games than I have done in years; PC games in general are cheaper, lots of bargains to be had with Steam sales and key sites, not to mention "quacked" games/repacks.

The real ease of "pick up and play" cannot be underestimated in my circumstances, playing Fall Guys with my daughter with her still on Xbox, a couple of missions of The Division or GTA V at a time, is all very appealing and easy.

With regards to Sim Racing, I have not done a lot, and certainly not used any hardware such as wheels etc. BUT it is a mini PC and apparently is quite easy to do with fairly good results. I have, however just started dabbling with ACC on it. Its great fun as I don't take it too (at all) seriously, and with the right settings, looks and runs really quite well. Circuit Superstars is great on it too.

The biggest "problem" I have, is that it is a bit like sim racing for me, in the respect that you can tinker with it so much - I have upgraded the internal SSD, and added a 512 SD card. And with desktop mode and easy connection to main PC to stream/transfer files etc, I have found myself tinkering far too much instead of playing games sometimes

You can also play PC Game Pass games and Emulation is fantastic on it, so could possibly make Switch redundant. I wouldn't have any reservations recommending you complete the order for it; if you don't get on with it, you can easily sell it for (at least) what you pay for it...........

BP · Aug 11, 2022

Mr Chip said:
I have had my 256GB Steam Deck for a couple of months now, and I absolutely love it!

For some context - I have a pretty decent sim rig with a 3080 card, and G2 VR headset; DD Wheel etc. I pretty much only race in Assetto Corsa, as I help organise a friendly Sunday Night league - www.cosyracingcommunity.com

Other "main" gaming has been on Xbox series X as I prefer to sit on couch with friends and chat with a normal headset, and play FPS with them, and some child friendly games with my 8 yo daughter, who has my old One S.

Since getting the Steam Deck, it really has exceeded all my expectations - I have played (and completed) more games than I have done in years; PC games in general are cheaper, lots of bargains to be had with Steam sales and key sites, not to mention "quacked" games/repacks.

The real ease of "pick up and play" cannot be underestimated in my circumstances, playing Fall Guys with my daughter with her still on Xbox, a couple of missions of The Division or GTA V at a time, is all very appealing and easy.

With regards to Sim Racing, I have not done a lot, and certainly not used any hardware such as wheels etc. BUT it is a mini PC and apparently is quite easy to do with fairly good results. I have, however just started dabbling with ACC on it. Its great fun as I don't take it too (at all) seriously, and with the right settings, looks and runs really quite well. Circuit Superstars is great on it too.

The biggest "problem" I have, is that it is a bit like sim racing for me, in the respect that you can tinker with it so much - I have upgraded the internal SSD, and added a 512 SD card. And with desktop mode and easy connection to main PC to stream/transfer files etc, I have found myself tinkering far too much instead of playing games sometimes

You can also play PC Game Pass games and Emulation is fantastic on it, so could possibly make Switch redundant. I wouldn't have any reservations recommending you complete the order for it; if you don't get on with it, you can easily sell it for (at least) what you pay for it...........

Glad to hear it! I already gave in earlier this morning and bought it, but glad to get your feedback regardless. I did some reddit searching as well...some people say getting sim hardware to work in Linux other than Logitech wheels might be a struggle...but glad to hear ACC works well.

Initially, my plan was to just buy physical games on the Switch so I could sell it later whenever I got my SteamDeck, but I gave in to the simplicity of digital games after a year of waiting and now I have several, so reluctant to sell the switch now (plus I haven't finished BOTW and I can't part with Mario Kart 8, it's too good)...but hey, I could always walk with both on long trips, combined battery life should be good

How does Microsoft game pass work on Steam Deck? We're talking about while using the Steam Deck's original OS right?

Mr Chip · Aug 11, 2022

If you are (or will be) into emulation, then both BOTW and Mario Kart work well on Steam Deck have a look at:

Game Pass is a bit of a faff to setup but works very well once done, as long as you have a decent internet connection - you can only stream and not download games, unless you out Windows on it.