The top-flight line of sim racing gear was missing one component for Asetek - and now, that gap is filled by the Asetek Invicta Formula Wheel. Is it worth a serious look? Let's find out in our review.
It has been in the works for some time, and now the engineers in Denmark have achieved their goal: The new flagship of Asetek's wheel range is here, the Invicta Formula Button Box - a high-quality steering wheel with which Asetek now clearly competes with high end brands such as SOELPEC, Cube Controls, GSI or Bavarian Simtec. This, of course, means that it is a more expensive product - we are talking about around €/$1400.
Asetek has a 3D online configurator with various customization options to choose from for the handles and faceplate material to the colors of the various key groups and encoders.
Build Quality
Everyone at OverTake who has tried the wheel recently has been really impressed with the quality, including our top iRacer Markus who stopped by for a visit. The weight is also relatively low for a wheel with a display, 1.5 kg or 3.3 pounds without the quick release, but very solid.They achieve this via a combination of an aluminium chassis and a carbon fiber front plate, for which you can choose either a forged or woven carbon finish In their presentation, Asetek gave a lot of insight into the development and even sent us a small 50% scale model of the aluminium mould from which the steering wheel cover is cast.
SimHub-compatible Screen
As you would expect for a top-of-the-line product, the Invicta BB wheel comes with plenty of features. The centerpiece is, of course, the 4.3-inch screen, which features a 800x480 resolution, a 60Hz refresh rate and an LCD panel. In case you were wondering if this would work with touch - theoretically, yes! However, there is no touch functionality at launch, and this is likely to be added in future updates.The display works with Asetek’s own RaceHub software that also comes with a number of different dashboards, but we found that it really shines when used with SimHub, which it is also going to be compatible with once the next SimHub update is deployed. Our favorite to run on the screen was the Lovely Dashboard, but at the same time, certain Asetek overlays for the likes yellow flags, brake bias and ARB adjustments or motor map changes still appear over the chosen SimHub dash.
This means you get so much information that you can usually only get on screen with third-party tools, such as competitors' lap times, average fuel consumption and so on. Asetek's onboard dashboards also show a lot, such as the expected number of laps in time-based races. This can really help with your fuel calculations.
They also feature a “keep level” function that allows the gear indicator or the rev counter to stay horizontal while you turn the wheel, similar to the MOZA Vision GS’s circular display, and it works noticeable smoother.
The screen is also surrounded by three LEDs to the left and right respectively, as well as 15 more LEDs at the top to use as rev and flag lights.
Buttons, Switches & Encoders
As for buttons, there are ten of them at the front and even two at the back, which is where you also find three pairs of paddles including analog clutch paddles. On top of that, six aluminium thumb encoders, two rocker switches, three aluminium rotary encoders and two kinky switches add up to 36 input switches in total – plenty to take care of any in-car adjustments you might need.I personally like Asetek's philosophy that not all inputs need to be louder than necessary. Both the buttons and the pedals are quite dampened.
Customization is also quite easy, as the front buttons are surrounded by lights, for which you can set up different colors to distinguish them better. You can also set different colors for pressed and unpressed, and they even offer a latching function that can be used for something that stays active, like a mute or unmute button or pit limiter activation.
They are not just a gimmick, though, as the button lights also serve as proximity indicators. If you are racing alongside a car to your right, the wheel’s button lights on that side will start flashing to warn you. The lights around the rotary encoders also act as an ABS activation reminder. Combined with our Simucube Active Pedals, you now have so many ways to get feedback from other than the Wheel Bases FFB, it is amazing.
Customization: Handles, Stickers & Third-party Wheel Bases
The LMP grips and 300mm diameter feel just right, the steering wheel is ergonomic and all the rotary encoders have just the right amount of resistance. There are plenty of buttons, all within easy reach. The two rear buttons also seem to be catching on with more and more wheels. To further customize the wheel to your wishes when it arrives, Asetek includes an extensive sticker sheet.As mentioned earlier you can also choose the colors of your buttons and encoders, as well as style and material of the handles – just keep in mind they are designed to have the best grip with proper gloves. LMP, Standard, Suede and XL options are available – if you already got a set of handles from a different Asetek wheel, you can also order the Invicta BB without handles.
Asetek provides a quick release for their own wheel bases with the wheel, but you can also run it on third-party wheel bases. Should you plan on doing that, you can order the wheel without a QR as well to save about 100 Bucks. The wheel supports the relatively common 70x6mm mounting pattern. We fitted the Invicta Formula BB to our Simucube 2 Pro, which was pretty easy to manage – just be aware that you will need an extra-long USB cable to hook up the wheel to your PC in order to use the display, buttons and all the extra features.
In our setup, this worked flawlessly, although the wheel itself does not have an “off” switch, meaning it will stay powered on until you unplug it from the PC or switch off your power strip, if you have one.
Verdict
With its features, quality and ergonomics, the wheel fits perfectly into our high-end rig. I was standing next to the rig with Markus and Yannik and I asked them if we could say anything negative about this button box, because the review so far does not seem very balanced. It is difficult because not only is everything extremely well thought out, but SimHub is integrated and the community is accommodated by leaving the option open to use the wheel with other bases. Everything just fits, but of course it comes at a price.Rating: 5 / 5
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What are your thoughts on the Asetek Invicta Formula BB wheel, the Danish manufacturer's new flagship wheel? Let us know in the comments below and join the discussion on our hardware forum!
