Test - Moza Vision GS: Racing luxury has a new name

Steering wheels don't always have to be purely functional. The eye follows along, even if it should actually be permanently glued to the virtual race track. That's why Moza offers all racing game enthusiasts what Fanatec promised years ago: a handy yet futuristically chic steering wheel attachment. Moza's Vision GS? Steering wheel attachment is a real eye-catcher that is fun in every way. The only thing that brings tears to your eyes is the price.

Competition stimulates business, they say. As soon as Moza brought the Vision GS onto the market, Fanatec came along and released the Bentley wheel that had been promised for years. It is certainly no coincidence that both designs look similar. Moza copied the idea of ​​the central round screen from Bayern, there is no doubt about that. In terms of price, however, there is a monstrous gap between the two designs. Fanatec charges an incredible 1,999 euros for the Bentley Wheel. Moza's counterpart costs less than half.

You don't treat yourself to anything else

It is undoubtedly difficult to part with 829 euros for a steering wheel attachment that is only suitable for computer game racers. But my dear Mr. Singing Club, you also get a spectacle in return. As soon as you unpack the Moza Vision GS, your eyes light up.

Everyone knows: Hell would sooner freeze over than such a design would be approved for road use in Germany. What the heck, it looks bombastic. This pretzel design, which with its beautiful curves ranks somewhere between a concept car and a Batmobile, the finely stitched artificial leather, the finely patterned carbon fiber plate, the round screen in the middle? everything at its best. Beguiling, even if the thing isn't yet on the steering wheel base.

But it is not only beautiful, but also functional. Eight illuminated function buttons on the front, two more on the back at the level of the index fingers? even before the two shift paddles and the analog clutch paddles. There are also two rotary encoders on the front and two thumb encoders. Not to forget a joystick and a funky switch.

All controls are easily accessible even during a race, which is definitely the main focus of a steering wheel, because beautiful design alone won't get you good lap times. When both come together, you are even happier. Even as someone who doesn't otherwise own Moza equipment. A socket for the Moza hub, which can be purchased later, is on the back in case you want to use the gem on a foreign base.

It's impressive, not to mention the centrally installed OLED touchscreen. This central 60Hz display measures 2.85 inches. It has a resolution of 480 x 480 pixels, although only in the middle because it is round and not square. It would therefore be more correct to state that the display area has a circular average span of 480 pixels. The ten-part speed indicator, which is embedded in the upper part of the ring, is somewhat coarser, but no less colorful.

So much luxury with a futuristic touch will warm your heart. One would like to ask Alfred to put the Dom Pérignon out of action because the gold-decorated leather seats of the Batmobile need to be put back in place.

compatibility

The Moza Vision GS fits any Moza steering wheel base from recent years. An adapter is only required for the very first models that had a different connector - see RS V1 or GS V1. So it also works on our existing R3 and R5 bases, although the luxurious design of these entry-level models leaves the impression that you are throwing pearls before swine.

However, it can only be used on the PC. Moza steering wheels may now be Xbox compatible, but you need a very specific steering wheel attachment that contains an Xbox ID chip. So far, an Xbox ID can only be found in a single standard steering wheel attachment - and unfortunately not in this luxury tool. So consoleros are looking into the tube.

Eye candy and fiddly work

As soon as it was installed on the bomb-proof quick release of the steering wheel base, it was already Christmas. All of the buttons on the 31 centimeter wide construction shine brighter than any Christmas tree string of lights. In which colors? Initially all in blue, but that can be changed with a few clicks in the Moza Pithouse software. Red, green, yellow, purple? whatever you want. And the way you think best fits the functional stickers that you can stick onto the buttons with fiddly millimeter work.

Which brings us to a small point of criticism: Why on earth doesn't Moza offer button caps that would be much more convenient to install? Although tweezers are included in the scope of delivery for attaching the stickers, they were too rough for us. We resorted to finer soldering tweezers, and even with these, Friemeln almost had a nervous breakdown. Despite the small plastic sockets, it seems impossible to maneuver the precisely fitting stickers exactly in the middle on the first try.

It's not just the wheel that's turning

Be that as it may, the design remains very classy even with slightly shifted stickers. Probably because the OLED screen gets the most attention anyway. It not only boasts rich, black and bright colors, but also a gyro sensor that ensures that the display is always displayed horizontally.

No matter what you want to see on the display, whether speedometer, gear engaged, tire condition, lap times or a combination of all of these, the display always rotates in the opposite direction and therefore remains easy to read.

On top of that, it can be flexibly adjusted. Seven pre-installed layouts can be browsed with the swipe of a finger. For example, you switch to a red analog speedometer or a slightly cooler-looking digital display. If you swipe to the side, secondary telemetry appears on the screen. For example, the condition of the tires.

Own designs

If you have the time and desire, you can even create your own dashboards and upload them to the steering wheel in the Moza Pithouse software. Even if some standard components are available for the design, it is best to have Photoshop skills and patience for individual designs, because the editor is very confusing due to a number of intricate functions. Especially since when programming he actually just cobbles together rough Java script lines.

With a little Java Script knowledge you can both speed up and refine the process. All functions can also be entered manually into a text field (or copied from existing Dewsigns) and this is often the more efficient way. In our opinion, this shouldn't be necessary. Given the price, an intelligently designed editor would be appropriate, as most average users will have enough to do with creating the layout.

Work is one way or another. We don't want to denigrate the fact that the option even exists. On the contrary, we think it is highly commendable that you can create your own dashboards that are not subject to any limitations. The process would just like to be a little more user-friendly.

Very comfortable but slightly faded

In practice ? so in the current game? the Moza Vision GS demonstrated its true strengths. It has an excellent grip, offers a very comfortable hand position and yet enough grip to immediately absorb any force feedback effect. Ergonomically, the design hits the mark.

However, the steering wheel is not completely flawless. On the one hand, the pixels of the OLED screen glow a little, causing numbers and pointers to blur into one another for very short intervals. When idle you can only see this in photos. But as soon as you turn the wheel, which motivates the screen to rotate the display, the display becomes unreadable for the entire time of rotation. Not least because the turning process seems a bit stuttery on the one hand and suffers from a delay on the other. Does it really matter? No! After all, your eyes should be on the track most of the time while playing. When you take a quick look at the steering wheel screen, delays are hardly noticeable.

It's not easy to forgive the shift paddles for their slight tendency to have a spongy pressure point. Their magnets aren't snappy enough for us, which meant switching through the gears quickly wasn't as easy as we would have liked.

This criticism does not mark a serious oversight, especially since the game is what matters. In Assetto-Corsa Competizione it bothered us less than in F 1 2024, where in the Grand Hotel hairpin in Monaco we had the feeling that our driving style didn't allow us to move from fourth to first gear quickly and smoothly enough. Since it's only a matter of fractions of a second, a little getting used to should help compensate.