I’ve had my Modmate modded F1 wheel for a week now so I thought I’d give you my initial impressions...
First of all I would like to say how stress free the whole process has been. One real bonus is that the Thrustmaster wheel is quite a bit cheaper to buy in Germany, and so Modmate arranged to buy that for me too...saving me money on buying one here in the UK and shipping it Germany.
Because Modmate offers a whole range of Mods for the Thrustmaster F1 wheel there are a few tough choices to be made but he was always prompt in answering any questions I had. And in the end, after changing my mind several times, I went for swapping all the buttons and adding SLI-m display with 5 rotary encoders.
I’m still not entirely sure I made the right decision going for the SLI-m. I think the wheel looks better with SimDisplay but I like having the 5 rotaries (with the Simdisplay you can only have 3 switches)...of course if you have slightly bigger budget you can get the best of both with the SLI-Pro display but I was determined to stay within my budget.
So far I haven’t customised the SLI settings too much as most of the sims work well out of the box using the SLImax software which costs a few quid. The Rev light LEDS are great and the brightness is assigned to one of the rotaries so it’s easy to get it just right...although I had blind spots in my eyes for ages when I turned them right up! There are also 3 customisable LED on each side of the gear display. Another advantage the SLI display has is that more LEDs can be added...we like flashing lights
so Modmate added 3 more LEDs for me below the gear display.
As well as the various LED colours there is a choice of colours for the Rotary scales.
With the buttons there are 3 choices – colour, button size and shield size. The NKK buttons have a very satisfying solid feel, the click is quite loud - you definitely know when it has been pressed. They are ‘momentary on’ switches which work just as well for quickly opening the DRS or being held pressed down for the KERS. The different sized buttons and shield make it easy to feel the different buttons without having to look down.
One final choice is what to do with the fake Ferrari dial in the middle of the wheel. I guess if you’re one of the Tifosi it would be cool to leave it. I decided to have it removed but it can be covered too (pics on Modmate’s site). I’m hunting for a nice decal to stick there...
So after making all those choices I was bit nervous about what the wheel would actually look like when it arrived. But when I opened the box I was just amazed at the quality of the finish on the wheel. The acrylic plates Modmate uses, covered in carbon fibre coil, are really neat looking. I think the wheel looks completely transformed without the fake dials and with a working display.
The wheel in action is a complete joy. Open wheelers feel completely different. The wheel reacts much faster than either the standard GT wheel or my even bigger Renaulsport steering wheel. So much so that I’ve dialled back the feedback when I’m using the F1 wheel.
I’ve done a lot of laps this week in the various F1 cars in my garage
It feels brilliant with the Formula Reiza in GSC, and even the Williams in iRacing was fun, but I’m getting addicted to the F150 in FVA!
The only slight quibble I’ve had with the modded wheel is the length of the curled USB cable from the SLI, which I found a bit short. I put a USB hub right beside the wheel but as I turned the wheel the curls in the cable were catching on the big flappy paddles attached to the base. The solution I have come up with is to Velcro the USB hub to the bottom of the wheel, so now the cable runs between the 2 paddles but is nicely out of the way. A minor issue easily solved.
And that really is the only slight negative I’ve found so far. I love the wheel. I’ve got more buttons, knobs, switches and flashing lights than I can possibly use! But most importantly it has completely transformed the driving experience in the open wheelers
I spent a long time looking at various options for a Formula style wheel and, although not cheap, Modmate’s wheel is at the cheaper end of the scale but you certainly won’t think so when you’re hurtling around the track. It feels like pure quality