Paul Jeffrey
Premium
I’ve been fortunate enough to lay my hands on the upcoming Elemento high-end sim racing wheel from the team at VPG – and despite its pre-production status, the signs all point to this being a spectacular piece of hardware.
Firstly I will have to admit I’m rather addicted to sim racing wheels. Rally, road, oval or formula – custom-made or off the shelf – if it bolts to my wheelbase and I can go racing with it I’m usually pretty excited to get myself involved in the action.
Having now amassed a collection of wheels that constantly makes my wife both question my sanity and also my expenditure levels, I think it's reasonable to say I’ve got a fair idea of what a good piece of hardware looks like when I see it.
Normally I’m very much in favour of the replica race car design that you find so often within the sim racing marketplace, and when I started talking with the team over at VPG a few months ago, and they promised to send me over a wheel to review, I got pretty excited about the prospect of one of their Porsche or Ferrari rims coming my way.
Alas, as the weeks and months passed, the idea was floated to me about having a look at a new wheel currently in the design phase, that was broadly described as “a bit different, and based on the kind of style you might find in an aircraft”. Needless to say, at this statement my interest was piqued, but my heart sank a little. This was only ever going to go one of two ways – awesome, or awful.
Early renderings and teaser shots came my way in the following weeks, and I’ll readily admit I found myself surprised by how much I’d started to like the concept, from the flow of the lines to the obvious attention to detail that had been lavished on the wheel to ensure both form and function would be served in equal measure – however I’d still not seen the finished article in full – that would have to wait until a box arrived in the post a few weeks later.
VPG | More Information: Click Here.
While awaiting a pre-production prototype to be built, tested and shipped, I decided to have a little look at the company more closely, as it’s fair to say that I suspect many of the people reading this article probably won’t be aware of VPG, and frankly they certainly had all the right things to say about their products and goals, and in conversation everyone with whom I spoke to all came across as very warm and friendly, but in an age of home built sim racing hardware, promises of premium products aren’t always backed up when the money changes hands, and you take possession of the items in question.
Running through the various social media posts it certainly looks like the team have an impressive start to life as a wheel manufacturer, progressing from 3D printed designs to much more durable and solid aluminium and carbon fibre constructions with their previous Porsche and Ferrari products, with the Elemento representing the first attempt of the company to bring to the market their own custom designed wheel. It would be fair to say my level of expectation had already risen considerably ahead of receiving an early build version to review.
Then came the day of shipment…
Now, I’m not going to go into considerable detail here about the wheel itself, that I will leave to the full review video and article we will produce once the team send out the finalized public version of the rim in early April, however even in this pre-production state I was immediately hit by not only by the striking visuals of the design, but by the sheer quality of the materials and build of the rim – it really does immediately feel like a very high end and well build piece of hardware – from the inch perfect finish to the outer shell and backing of the wheel, to the virtually seamless and rock solid integration of the LCD that makes up much of the front of the design. Even little things like how the shifters and clutch are formed to complement each other in their shape – those little details, that small aesthetic touch really stands out the moment you lift it into your hands.
Damn pretty, customizable and solid as a rock – that’s a pretty fine foundation on which to start.
Having run the rim now for a week or so I’ve come across precisely zero issues in either the design or construction, although I did suggest to the team it would be nice to have slightly firmer buttons on the rim, which is feedback they have taken onboard and will be added to the public release version of the hardware.
VPG Elemento | Pre-Order: Click Here.
I’ve not had a significant amount of time with a formula style rim like this one before, and I really enjoyed the benefits of the LCD (powered by SimHub with the Elemento specific profile – although you can set your own if you so wish), and I’ve found it comfortable on both long and short runs in the rig, as well as it performing exactly as I expected.
Having spoken with the team just recently, the new version of the wheel will differ slightly from the one that I’ve been running up to now, as it will include a single USB lead that powers both the screen and the electronics within the wheel itself, it will have injection moulded rubber grips as opposed to the Alcántara on this version, changes to the buttons to add a firmer press will be applied and the rear of the wheel with the adapter for the quick release will be enhanced to give a more uniform and aesthetically pleasing finish. Oh and yes, folks who pick one up for themselves will also have a choice of colours to choose from, their name and number engraved on the back, and a unique model number that shows which of the planned 75 units they own (with this one being 00 for pre-production).
All in all my expectations have been surpassed with this wheel, and I can’t wait to give the finished version a try and share with you all my full final thoughts and review in the coming months!
Stay tuned to RaceDepartment.com in the coming months for the full VPG Elemento final version wheel review video and article – coming this April!
For more information on VPG, check them out here.
- Standalone USB racing wheel.
- Compatible with all quick release systems.
Firstly I will have to admit I’m rather addicted to sim racing wheels. Rally, road, oval or formula – custom-made or off the shelf – if it bolts to my wheelbase and I can go racing with it I’m usually pretty excited to get myself involved in the action.
Having now amassed a collection of wheels that constantly makes my wife both question my sanity and also my expenditure levels, I think it's reasonable to say I’ve got a fair idea of what a good piece of hardware looks like when I see it.
Normally I’m very much in favour of the replica race car design that you find so often within the sim racing marketplace, and when I started talking with the team over at VPG a few months ago, and they promised to send me over a wheel to review, I got pretty excited about the prospect of one of their Porsche or Ferrari rims coming my way.
Alas, as the weeks and months passed, the idea was floated to me about having a look at a new wheel currently in the design phase, that was broadly described as “a bit different, and based on the kind of style you might find in an aircraft”. Needless to say, at this statement my interest was piqued, but my heart sank a little. This was only ever going to go one of two ways – awesome, or awful.
Early renderings and teaser shots came my way in the following weeks, and I’ll readily admit I found myself surprised by how much I’d started to like the concept, from the flow of the lines to the obvious attention to detail that had been lavished on the wheel to ensure both form and function would be served in equal measure – however I’d still not seen the finished article in full – that would have to wait until a box arrived in the post a few weeks later.
VPG | More Information: Click Here.
While awaiting a pre-production prototype to be built, tested and shipped, I decided to have a little look at the company more closely, as it’s fair to say that I suspect many of the people reading this article probably won’t be aware of VPG, and frankly they certainly had all the right things to say about their products and goals, and in conversation everyone with whom I spoke to all came across as very warm and friendly, but in an age of home built sim racing hardware, promises of premium products aren’t always backed up when the money changes hands, and you take possession of the items in question.
Running through the various social media posts it certainly looks like the team have an impressive start to life as a wheel manufacturer, progressing from 3D printed designs to much more durable and solid aluminium and carbon fibre constructions with their previous Porsche and Ferrari products, with the Elemento representing the first attempt of the company to bring to the market their own custom designed wheel. It would be fair to say my level of expectation had already risen considerably ahead of receiving an early build version to review.
Then came the day of shipment…
Now, I’m not going to go into considerable detail here about the wheel itself, that I will leave to the full review video and article we will produce once the team send out the finalized public version of the rim in early April, however even in this pre-production state I was immediately hit by not only by the striking visuals of the design, but by the sheer quality of the materials and build of the rim – it really does immediately feel like a very high end and well build piece of hardware – from the inch perfect finish to the outer shell and backing of the wheel, to the virtually seamless and rock solid integration of the LCD that makes up much of the front of the design. Even little things like how the shifters and clutch are formed to complement each other in their shape – those little details, that small aesthetic touch really stands out the moment you lift it into your hands.
Damn pretty, customizable and solid as a rock – that’s a pretty fine foundation on which to start.
Having run the rim now for a week or so I’ve come across precisely zero issues in either the design or construction, although I did suggest to the team it would be nice to have slightly firmer buttons on the rim, which is feedback they have taken onboard and will be added to the public release version of the hardware.
VPG Elemento | Pre-Order: Click Here.
I’ve not had a significant amount of time with a formula style rim like this one before, and I really enjoyed the benefits of the LCD (powered by SimHub with the Elemento specific profile – although you can set your own if you so wish), and I’ve found it comfortable on both long and short runs in the rig, as well as it performing exactly as I expected.
Having spoken with the team just recently, the new version of the wheel will differ slightly from the one that I’ve been running up to now, as it will include a single USB lead that powers both the screen and the electronics within the wheel itself, it will have injection moulded rubber grips as opposed to the Alcántara on this version, changes to the buttons to add a firmer press will be applied and the rear of the wheel with the adapter for the quick release will be enhanced to give a more uniform and aesthetically pleasing finish. Oh and yes, folks who pick one up for themselves will also have a choice of colours to choose from, their name and number engraved on the back, and a unique model number that shows which of the planned 75 units they own (with this one being 00 for pre-production).
All in all my expectations have been surpassed with this wheel, and I can’t wait to give the finished version a try and share with you all my full final thoughts and review in the coming months!
Stay tuned to RaceDepartment.com in the coming months for the full VPG Elemento final version wheel review video and article – coming this April!
For more information on VPG, check them out here.
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Really curious what the new Thrustmaster F1 rim will cost though...
