RDTV: Leo Bodnar SimSteering2 Direct Drive Wheel Review

[Paul Jeffrey]

We get some time behind the wheel of the Leo Bodnar SimSteering2 direct drive wheel.

I’ve been fortunate enough to have had plenty of experience with direct drive wheels in my time, in fact I’ve got the SimCube OSW device attached to my rig right now, but I’ve never had the opportunity to spend much quality time with the Leo Bodnar SimSteering2 wheel... until now.

Having taken hold of the most current in the range of direct drive wheels from Leo Bodnar just prior to Christmas, I was excited to get it bolted to my rig and put it through its paces in a number of both old and new racing sims. From golden oldies like Race07 by SimBin, right the way though to the latest and greatest on offer from Kunos Simulazioni, the benefits of the DD really did shine through right from the very start.

Immediately before one even spends any serious time within your sim of choice, you are struck by the simplicity of setting up the wheel software. Unlike the OSW devices of which I’m more familiar, the SimSteering2 presents the user with a relatively sparse amount of customization opportunities within its own software. Initially this caused me some concern, as I understandably feared that lack of options would equate to minimal opportunity to tweak the wheel to my liking within my sim of choice - however these fears would prove to be unfounded once I took to the virtual circuit, and very quickly the minimal amount of tweaking and editing required would become one of the strongest features of the wheel. Without having to spend hours making adjustments and researching on the internet, I found a very solid and satisfying experience almost straight out of the box. Anyone reading this who’s gone down the rabbit hole of wheel adjustment testing with other manufacturers, will no doubt share my beliefs that driving is far more fun than near endless tweaking and testing...

With setup now quickly and easily taken care of, it was time for the fun to start. As I said earlier, I’ve given this a good test in many of the key sims, and in each and every one the improvements were noticeable and impressive, none more so than with rFactor 2, where using a DD wheel like this lifts the simulation into a brand new range of greatness... pretty much reason enough to go out and join the DD bandwagon all on its own...

Now I’m not going to spend time here discussing the wheel in more detail, you can check the video out at the head of the article for that, but what I will end on is this:

The Leo Bodnar SimSteering2 is very expensive, but cash is all relative to your own situation and expectations. After all, what price can you put on love at first sight?


Find out more about Leo Bodnar SimSteering2 Direct Drive wheel HERE.

For anyone who is interested, you can find my personal in game and on wheel settings for a bunch of sims HERE (as of Nov 2019)​

 

[Luis Mercury]

with 5000 euros .... I buy the kit to convert my car into an electric car.
with Lithium batteries and a range of 150 Km.....real feel

lol

 

[homecalendar]

One thing bothers me. If you buy the whole top-level set for simraсing, then the amount will be much higher than the used Civic. We are ready to pay for the illusion more than for real things.

 

[Alex72]

I would try to build the cheapest but really good DD wheel as entry model if i was in the business to catch more people. Once you catch them and they get bitten by the bug they will step up when they can, and surely also buy peripherals around it that you provide. Maybe Fanatec's DD wheel will be the one. There was that much cheaper one but we didnt hear much after initial PR of it? The black and red one with some flashy design (personally i like clean and simple/industrial looking as possible). Accuforce Pro has been the DD wheel i aim for in the future because of reviews, design, specs and price.

Sure LB sounds awesome but its "a bit" hefty price wise. Like mentioned though LB is for professional use with some sim racing fat cats being able to own one.

 

[Deleted member 197115]

One thing bothers me. If you buy the whole top-level set for simraсing, then the amount will be much higher than the used Civic. We are ready to pay for the illusion more than for real things.

People buyng this don't drive Civic, pal.

 

[RCHeliguy]

People buyng this don't drive Civic, pal.

Bingo!

I've seen a $16,000 RC jet come down in a fire ball. The owner wasn't happy, but you don't fly anything you can't afford to lose. He had others and his next was even more expensive.

RC helis are a weird sport like auto racing where you expect to crash and rebuild periodically. It's just part of the game.

I know people who race real cars out of their own pocket without sponsors. An expensive D-box, Leo Bodnar setup doesn't scratch the surface of the costs involved.

EVERYTHING IS RELATIVE.

 

[homecalendar]

People buyng this don't drive Civic, pal.

Civic it's just a metaphor. 15-20,000 is the price of a rally suspension. Try to guess next tip.

 

[homecalendar]

Bingo!

I've seen a $16,000 RC jet come down in a fire ball. The owner wasn't happy, but you don't fly anything you can't afford to lose. He had others and his next was even more expensive.

RC helis are a weird sport like auto racing where you expect to crash and rebuild periodically. It's just part of the game.

I know people who race real cars out of their own pocket without sponsors. An expensive D-box, Leo Bodnar setup doesn't scratch the surface of the costs involved.

EVERYTHING IS RELATIVE.

It is absurd that real life is replaced by a simulation. Because the simulation is already starting to cost too much. People are already hooked. And the brain can no longer analyze that hi level simulation equipment price are equal to prepare a real car for the race.

 

[billymitchell]

It is absurd that real life is replaced by a simulation. Because the simulation is already starting to cost too much. People are already hooked. And the brain can no longer analyze that hi level simulation equipment price are equal to prepare a real car for the race.

If someone is buying all this stuff to simulate driving a Civic around a local race track, then yes, you are right.

But that's very different than simulating a race around Road America in a Porsche 919 with 40 other GT3/GTE's on track. Some car+track combo's have NEVER happened in real-life, for anyone.

Now, if you're saying the experience of driving a Civic in a weekend road warrior competition around a local circuit is BETTER than simulating any car+track combo in the world against online, global competitors... that's a matter of opinion.

 

[MotherDawg]

The price of a Bodnar DD is ridiculous but I perfectly understand why.

It's actually quite simple :
1- Some people reading this here have a wad of g-notes in their pockets and couldn't care less about how much it costs. If they decide they want one, they'll get one. Case closed.
2- If Leo sell few a month, the mortgage on his yacht is taken care of. I mean, running a business is ball breaking... if it's not gonna pay, you do something else.

It come down to a question of volume. You can rig a production line to pump them out at cut throat margins or drop a few per week, making a killing on each that you slowly assemble every other day.

When you own the place, you run the business model of your choice.

 

[RCHeliguy]

It is absurd that real life is replaced by a simulation.

That's quite a bias!

Why does the amount of money someone spends on sim equipment mean that they are replacing real life by a simulation?

I've seen people who play games obsessively to the exclusion of life. That has nothing to do with what they spend on equipment.

I probably average less than 3 hours a week playing in my sim rig and I have over 6K in it so far.

 

[sebduloiret]

personally, I love this kind of materials with a very high price: it's such a pleasure to ridicule them in driving with my old steering wheel g27 to 150 euros
it reminds me when I was younger and semi professional bike: win the race and stay on the finish with my old bike to watch the advance I had taken to people who had bikes from the price of my car .
if these companies find people stupid enough to buy their products at such a price, they are right to have such a commercial method and E. bernays in heaven must be happy that these methods still work so well 100 years later. ...: D

 

[Deleted member 197115]

"If you can't afford something, just ridicule it"

 

[Spinelli]

It's a point of massively diminishing returns once you get to a direct drive OSW and probably even an Accuforce.

The next big leap in FFB will come when FFB technology itself will evolve. There are often too many proportionally over-powered forces with DD wheels and just overall behaviour is often quite different to real life. Part of this reason is that real life FFB is reactive while videogame FFB is active. You can often literally sense that there's something telling the wheel to do something (move here, apply this much force in this direction, resist and fight against the driver's inputs now).

We have to try to get rid of the FFB having a "brain" in order to replicate real life's FFB (reactive, not active).

Another issue is probably all the weight and inertia in real life steering systems (suspension, tires, etc.) compared to our systems which are on the extreme opposite end of the scale with incredibly low amounts of weight and inertia.


Question:
I was once told that, the way current FFB works, is that if my DD wheel is not close to clipping and I change my wheel rim to a much heavier one, the FFB will increase it's force (or at least in certain conditions) relative to the previous lighter wheel in order to make up for the heavier wheel rim so as to achieve the same (or as close to as possible) result. Does any one know if this is true? I tried using probably the heaviest mainstream wheel on my OSW, the Fanatec BMW GT2, because I thought it would help mellow out the often unrealistic behaviour of DD wheels' FFB (all other settings untouched) but I think it felt the same, if not worse, if I remember correctly. It's as if the FFB makes up for the heavier weight in order to achieve whatever speed/acceleration/position it's being told to output. Is this true...or something along these lines?

 

[Denis Betty]

It's a point of massively diminishing returns once you get to a direct drive OSW

I was thinking this myself earlier today. I think it's also a question of perception. If you tell somebody who never tried sim racing, that you spent £500 - £600 on your pedals, it's likely that they'd tell you that "you could buy a car for that."
I don't think I would have considered spending that much 2 or 3 years ago. I guess what I'm saying is, everybody has a pot of money - large or small - and it's up to them how they spend it. I wish I had the money to blow 5k on a wheel and be happy about it.

Paul, did they agree to give you the wheel yet?
Can I have your Fanatec if they do?

 

[RCHeliguy]

So let me see if I understand this thread.

If someone can afford a Ferrari, I should make fun of him for being a fool since you could buy an upcoming mid engined Corvette much cheaper and is should be as good?

We all have a financial pain point. I'd love to have a Tesla Model S right now, but I work from home and only put about 8K miles a year on my car and I'm waiting for battery technology to both improve and drop in price. I can't justify it for myself yet.

I have friends who own Tesla's. Do I tell them how stupid they are not to wait like I am? No, I'm very happy they are keeping Tesla in business so they can continue to evolve the cars until one day I decide it is the right time for me.

It sounds like there are a lot of jealous people who just want to feel better by tearing others down.

 

[Fanapryde]

@Spinelli
I moved from a smaller 30cm wheel to a larger 32cm that is also heavier.
What I had to do is turn FFB a bit higher to get the same feeling because the bigger wheel gave me higher leverage. So imo the FFB did not increase by itself.

 

[Denis Betty]

Maybe I wasn't clear, Heliguy just said more or less what I meant to say. An OSW costs a lot of money. The law of diminishing returns (did I just make that up?) means that if you want a "better" (incoming) wheel, it's gonna cost you a shed load more than an OSW. If you still want it and can afford it, well that's your choice.

 

[mrbungle83]

Sure i have seen that living room on pornhub.

 

[metalnwood]

@Spinelli
I moved from a smaller 30cm wheel to a larger 32cm that is also heavier.
What I had to do is turn FFB a bit higher to get the same feeling because the bigger wheel gave me higher leverage. So imo the FFB did not increase by itself.

Yes, a wheel outputting say 12nm at a given moment will still output that no matter what sized the rim is. As the rim is not 1M from the center it wont be 12nm felt and will be felt differently for different sized rims so you are exactly right.

Spinelli, what you have probably heard is that there are different factors at play with different weight rims etc and more power may be required for the motor to deliver that 12nm. So in one instance it may require 300W to deliver 12nm in a specific moment, in another it may require more.

Edit, actually the power requirements would be more for speed/accelleration rather than changing power requirements for force.

 

[RCHeliguy]

Nm is a measure of torque.

If you increase the weight of a wheel or the diameter which increases the lever arm of the weight than you need more torque or Nm to keep up everything else being equal.

Torque is all about acceleration or the ability to change direction quickly. More Nm equal more fidelity to the signal.

Newtons is work done.
Nm is the second order of N or the ability to change. N * m