The SIMAGIC
Buyer's Guide.

Buying new, EVO every time. It's the platform SIMAGIC are actively investing in. Long-term firmware updates, future compatibility with whatever simulator drops next, all of that sits with the EVO line.

That doesn't make the Alpha bases bad. Quite the opposite, the Alphas are monsters. Read any SIMAGIC review out there and they hold up extremely well. The Napman put it best in a recent interview, “just because something is newer doesn't always mean it's better.” That applies fully to the Alpha line.

The one situation where I'd send you toward an Alpha over an EVO is if you spot a real steal of a price. A second-hand find from someone upgrading, a clearance on a new unit, anything where the discount is genuinely strong. The bases are tanks, if the connections on the back are healthy, you've got yourself a serious piece of kit for not a lot.

Four EVO bases, same architecture across the line. You're picking torque and price, not a different product. Speed, fidelity, encoder all sit at the same level. Higher torque bases also stay quicker and cooler under load, which is worth knowing if you race long sessions.

The 9 Nm Sport is competitively priced and a fantastic entry into the EVO platform, especially coming from a belt-drive base. Honest take, 9 Nm leaves me curious. Not because it's weak, plenty of torque for most cars, but because once you settle in you'll wonder what one rung up feels like.

The 12 Nm EVO is the meet-most-people sweet spot. Enough force for any car or category, very few people outgrow it, and the price gap to the 18 Nm Pro is small enough to make the call easy. If you're asking me where to land, that's the answer. The 12 is the money.

The 18 Nm Pro is my personal pick. Same EVO character, a little more push than the 12, and I just like a touch more weight in the wheel than most. I rarely run it at full chat, the headroom is what I'm paying for, not the strength.

The 28 Nm EVO Ultra is the flagship. Almost nobody needs to run all of it, the value of stepping up is in the speed and the fidelity of the platform, not in being able to hit 28 Nm. If money isn't the constraint and you want one base for the next decade, this is the one.

Worth knowing before you order. The Alpha EVO bases don't do front mounting out of the box. The original Alphas did. SIMAGIC made a design call to drop it, and there's now an optional bracket to bring it back.

If your rig is front-mount only, you'll need that bracket. It works on Sim-Lab and most aluminium-extrusion cockpits, and I haven't come across a rig where it couldn't be made to fit. Just budget it in. There's also a side-mounting bracket for wheel decks where you want a bit of angular tilt.

Sit with this before you splash on a wheel with a built-in display. Unless you're racing in a true formula driving position, where the wheel sits high and centred in your eyeline, the wheel screen is rarely in your line of sight. I race in a GT seat. To check my steering wheel I'd have to look all the way down past my dashboard on screen and past my rev light bar mounted to the bottom bezel of the monitor. By the time my eyes get there, I've missed everything that matters.

The classic curiosity trap is, “I've never had one, so once I have one the wheel will be finished.” Honestly, it usually isn't. The screen is a great feature when it's in your line of sight. When it isn't, it's a feature you paid for and rarely use.

If you've decided you want a formula-style wheel, both the FX Pro and the FX Formula (FXC) are excellent. Same shifters, same clutches, same general build. The FX Pro gives you the 4.3 inch LCD on the front and the top two extra paddles I actually love for cycling black boxes.

Personally I'd save the money and go FXC. You lose the screen, you lose the top two paddles, you lose a couple of rotaries that most people just use for volume anyway, and you keep a wheel that's a serious piece of kit. That's a lot of money for things I don't miss in a GT seat.

That said, the FX Pro is in a lovely price spot right now compared to where it used to sit. If the screen has always been the thing you wanted, fair play, get the Pro and enjoy it. Just go in knowing what you're paying for.

If a friend asked me for one SIMAGIC wheel pick today, it'd be the GT Neo without much hesitation. Light, stiff, beautifully built, SimHub compatible, optional Mag Link if you want to make it wireless on an older base. For $269 or so it's the bees knees.

The design philosophy on the GT Neo is what sells it. The way it mounts at the rear, by sheer geometry, means it flexes less than a wheel of similar size. Add the firm shifters, the clean button layout, and the fact that it's SimHub-ready out of the box, and you've got one of the best value wheels in simracing right now.

SIMAGIC have a clear bias toward formula and GT shapes, but the round-wheel side of the family is genuinely strong. Two routes in.

The Neo X Hub is the build-it-yourself route. You get the hub, the paddles, the shifter plates (two or four, you pick), and then you mount whatever round rim you want. Could be a Soul Peek, a GSI, any QR50 rim. The hub is SimHub compatible out of the box and only sets you back around $200. You can absolutely Daniel Newman Racing the lights on it and have a great time.

The pre-built route I'd point you at is the Neo X 330T Rally. Soft leather grip, no stitching, lovely little grooves under the hand. As round wheels go, it's a be of a wheel.

The newest thing in the lineup, and the reason I came back to this guide. The Zeus wheels are a fresh family built around the MagicDash 4, the magnetic 4 inch screen that clicks onto the back of the wheel. Three of them, and they line up neatly with the shapes I've already talked through.

The Zeus Formula is the F-style one, 280 mm, and it comes with the MagicDash 4 in the box. If you read my screen rant up top and you're genuinely in a formula driving position, this is where the screen actually earns its keep. In a GT seat the same honesty applies, gorgeous bit of kit, just be straight with yourself about whether you'll look at it.

The Zeus GT is the 300 mm modular GT wheel. The MagicDash is optional here, so you can run it clean and add the screen later if you change your mind. It's a step up in price and finish from the GT Neo, so if you want the modular face and the option of a dash down the line, it's a tidy buy.

The Zeus Sport is the 320 mm round one, aimed at GT, touring, drift and rally. If you want a round wheel and fancy the option of a screen, it's the modern take on the Neo X route I mentioned just above.

The DS-8X is my pick. H-pattern in one mode, sequential in the other, and a small Allen key on the side lets you adjust stiffness to taste. Standard gear knob is fine, you can swap it out if you fancy.

The reason I like it is the flexibility. If you race touring cars, GTs and the odd rally event, you're probably going to want both H-pattern and sequential at some point. A dual-mode shifter means you don't have to pick. One unit, both jobs, no faff.

The Q1S is a beautifully made dedicated sequential shifter. Planetary gear mechanism, adjustable damping, and if all you want is a sequential, it's probably the better feel of the two.

The reason I personally still pick the DS-8X is that I'm not willing to give up H-pattern entirely. If you are, the Q1S is your shifter, no question.

SIMAGIC sell a standard handbrake and a hydraulic one. The choice is mostly about how much rally you race. I'm honestly not pulling the handbrake very often, so for me the standard one would be plenty.

If you're a serious rally driver and the handbrake is one of your main inputs, the hydraulic one gives you a feel closer to the real thing. Up to you and your budget.