MOZA R5: A Budget-Friendly Triumph in Sim Driving

Key Takeaways

The MOZA R5 Bundle is an entry-level direct drive sim racing wheel bundle that offers great value for money at just $499.
The bundle includes a 5.5 Nm wheel base, a D-shaped steering wheel with paddle shifters, and a two-pedal set, all made with strong materials.
Setting up the R5 Bundle is easy, and the Pit House software on PC allows for easy customization and configuration. The mobile app is also useful for adjustments.

The MOZA R5 Bundle is an entry-level direct drive sim racing wheel bundle priced at just $499. If you’re looking to upgrade to direct drive or plan on setting up your first sim racing rig, the R5 Bundle is a great entry point.

MOZA R5 Bundle

8/ 10

$520$700 Save $180

The MOZA R5 Bundle is a direct-drive sim racing wheel with everything you need to start your sim racing journey. It offers a 5.5 Nm wheel base with a D-shaped steering wheel with paddle shifters and a two-pedal set, all built with strong metals. At only $499 on MOZA’s website, it positions itself as one of the best value bundles you can get for your money.

Brand

MOZA Racing

Compatibility

PC Only

Forced Feedback

Direct Drive

Connection

USB

Wheel Size

11-inch

Pedals

Hall-effect brake and throttle

Paddles

Yes

Stick Shifter

Torque

5.5 Nm peak, 4.4 Nm sustained

Table Clamp

Yes

Bluetooth

Yes

Pros

Direct drive motor
Powder-coated wheel base, pedals, and table clamp
Made of strong materials
Smooth force feedback
Lots of customizability in PC and mobile appd
Infinite rotation
High-quality quick release
Sturdy table clamp
Precise hall-effect pedal sensors

Cons

Only 4.4 Nm sustained torque
No console compatibility without adapter or compatible steering wheel
Pedals have limited compatibility without Universal Hub
Mushy paddle shifters
Pedal faces are all the same

$549 at Amazon See at MOZA Racing

What’s in the Boxes?

For testing, we received the basic R5 bundle with all the included add-ons: the Formula Wheel Mod for the ES Steering Wheel; Brake Performance Kit; and clutch for the bundled pedals. I’ll be covering these accessories in detail later.

Jhet Borja / MakeUseOf

The R5 Bundle came in the largest box, housing the ES Steering Wheel, R5 Wheel Base, SR-P Lite pedals, table clamp, power supply, cables, tools, nuts, and bolts. It was surprising how well they could pack everything into a relatively small space despite not having to assemble anything except the table clamp. You will also need to move the brake pedal closer to the center since it’s way too far to the left to fit the R5 wheel base in between.

The accessories came in smaller boxes, with only the clutch pedal themed the same as the main R5 Bundle box, while the rest arrived in plain, white cardboard boxes with black text and an image.

MOZA R5 First Impressions

Taking out the ES Steering Wheel is the first thing you’ll do when opening up the box, and it’s certainly exciting. The faux leather feels and smells good, but apart from the touch, the shiny brushed design on the face and rattly buttons didn’t resonate well with me.

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Jhet Borja / MakeUseOf

The thing that caught my attention about the rim is the quick release. It was intimidating in a good way and instilled the sense that this isn’t a toy, but a serious piece of kit.

Jhet Borja / MakeUseOf

The R5 Wheel Base is dense and heavy, more than I imagined, further exciting me and solidifying its presence as serious equipment. It has a thick and durable layer of powder-coating, which is a nice touch, preventing scratches and fingerprints. It also has some fins, which I suppose are for heat dissipation.

Jhet Borja / MakeUseOf

However, the quick release on the wheel base feels like it’ll eventually get scratched, especially with a sticker stating that the quick release might have scratches from quality assurance testing.

Image Credit: Jhet Borja

The pedals are also heavy with a thick powder coating, but the edges are quite sharp, which makes them a little scary to handle. I was also disappointed to find that all the pedal faces are the same shape and size and completely flat with no adjustability. This could pose a problem, which I’ll discuss in the driving experience later.

MOZA R5 Bundle Hardware Setup Experience

Jhet Borja / MakeUseOf

Setting up the R5 Bundle was pretty easy; you probably won’t even need to look at the instructions since everything just makes sense. The only things that I had to use the tools for were to attach the table clamp to the wheel base, move the brake pedal to the center, and attach the Brake Performance Kit.

I was worried that I’d have a mess of cables to deal with every time I wanted to set it up and take it down, as I am just using my desk to race on. Thankfully, there are only three cables and I was quickly able to think of a system to set it up and stow it away easily after racing, which I’ll get into detail in the desk usage section.

I was able to clamp it to my desk and get in position after just about 20 minutes since unboxing—and that’s including adding the clutch pedal and brake mod.

MOZA Pit House Software

I thought I’d have a headache trying to get everything ready on the software side for driving, but the MOZA Pit House software on PC impressed me. It was able to detect the wheel and pedals without any hitches and even had pre-configured settings for all the racing simulators I wanted to drive except for Dirt Rally.

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I got driving immediately with the pre-configured settings on Assetto Corsa Competizione, but eventually had to tweak it since there’s lots of scary force feedback looping, making the wheel swing 90-degrees to either side if I let go.

Thankfully, there’s a Discord and Reddit community that freely share their settings for certain games. I was able to easily grab a configuration file from a local sim racer for Assetto Corsa, and importing it wasn’t a complicated process.

I did face two issues that were fixed by resetting the wheel base in the Pit House software. First was the “Hands-Off Protection” safety feature, which disconnects the FFB when your hands aren’t on the wheel in case of large crashes. It wasn’t working for me until I reset the wheel base. Even then, it still sometimes flicked if the crash wasn’t big enough, but still significant enough to cause some pain.

Secondly, and more significantly, the wheel base was turning on its own. It wouldn’t do this while driving, or not that I’ve noticed anyway, but the wheel felt grainy and turned about 60-degrees clockwise on its own. It wasn’t until four weeks into playing with it did I actually attempt to reset the wheel base and it made the wheel feel incredibly smooth, and it didn’t turn on its own anymore.

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MOZA Racing Mobile App Experience

The MOZA Racing mobile app is also quite handy, but I wasn’t able to make it work the first time. I left it alone for a few days to focus on the driving experience and using Pit House, but it magically worked when I tried it again. I may have just needed to restart either the wheel base, software, or my PC.

The mobile app has all the adjustments you can make as with the Pit House software, including the advanced FFB settings, but you can’t reset the wheel base or update it from the mobile app. That’s fine since you’d have it plugged to a PC to do those things anyway. I also noticed that applying different pedals curves sometimes bugged out (as you can see in the first image in the gallery below).

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The app could use some language improvements though, as the wording can be quite strange, such as “Enter the car” to change the settings, “SteeringWheel Recenter,” and “Unconnected to the screen”.

Desk Usage

Jhet Borja / MakeUseOf

The MOZA R5 is mounted on my desk since I don’t have a dedicated sim rig yet, but as mentioned, I was able to figure out a system for setting it up and stowing it away quickly.

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Jhet Borja / MakeUseOf

I’m using the pedals as a foot rest to replace a box that I previously used. I used the included sticky pads, and they were pretty effective without the brake mod, but with the brake mod, you will need to mount it to something. The sticky pads are also washable and reusable, so you don’t have to worry about dust getting on them.

Jhet Borja / MakeUseOf

I eventually had a wooden box made and bolted the pedals down to that. It’s not pretty, but it gets the job done, and I’m way more consistent with it bolted down. I don’t have to worry about the pedals moving and messing up my inputs.

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Image Credit: Jhet Borja

When I’m done racing, I usually stow it away at the far edge of my desk and unplug the USB and pedal cables. It’s pretty convenient to set up, as I don’t have to move the wheel base far. The wheel can also stay detached, so it’s not in the way all the time. My table is a bit wobbly though, so the monitor gets all shaky, especially when driving Rally cars.

Quick Release System

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The quick-release (QR) system is one of the greatest strengths of this wheel over something like the Fanatec CSL DD or the Cammus C5, where you can’t change the wheel. The MOZA R5’s QR is based on the D1 Spec QR system, which is used by real race cars.

The Fanatec QR system has had many issues, and has since been superceded by their QR2 system, but it’s expensive for something that should be considered standard. For the MOZA R5, having to upgrade the QR system isn’t a consideration.

The thin black paint on the QR system did eventually get scratched up over a few weeks of use, but that’s to be expected as it’s hard and heavy metal constantly rubbing on each other. Despite the cosmetic damage, I doubt detaching and reattaching wheels would lead to any significant damage. They could probably leave that part unpainted, but that would detract from the overall look of the base.

MOZA R5 Bundle: Driving Experience

Coming from a Logitech G29, the driving experience is wildly different. It’s no longer a clunky mess that feels like it’s about to rattle itself to pieces. It legitimately feels immersive and connected. I’ve separated the driving experience into three sections so I can go into detail for each major component.

MOZA R5 Wheel Base

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Before I go into any details, I went from a 1:55 to a 1:51 on Monza in Asssetto Corsa Competizione despite not having driven for over a year. This was even before resetting the wheel base to fix the grainy and self-turning issue.

The amount of detail you get over a non-direct drive wheel is massive, making you feel a deeper connection with the car. However, as the novelty faded through testing and putting myself in the reviewer mindset, here are my takes:

The direct drive motor on the R5 provides a lot of detailed feedback, but it is only 5.5 Nm at peak torque and 4.4 Nm sustained. This means that while it does provide a lot of detail, you will need to pay attention to what the wheel is trying to communicate to you. I tend to grip the wheel very lightly, so I don’t dampen out the details. The harder I grip, the less I know what the car is doing since the forces staying on the limit of grip are very subtle.

That being said, I’m confident I’d be able to reach close to my full potential with just the R5 wheel base. It’s all a matter of my own skill and wrapping my head around what the force feedback is trying to tell me. I wouldn’t have imagined getting this experience for only $499 back when I had my G29, which I bought for around $380 at the time.

I was able to try the Simagic Alpha Mini at a local tech event before receiving the R5, and I can confidently say that a higher torque wheel base is better. It was more tiring, but I felt the subtle details a lot more clearly. It was also significantly smoother, which I think MOZA could also achieve with some updates.

MOZA SR-P Lite Pedals and Brake Performance Kit

Considering the prices of the R5 base and the ES Wheel alone are $299 and $129, leaving just $71 for the pedals—the SR-P Lite does its job quite well. Using precise hall-effect sensors and a solid all-metal construction, it’s not a bad set of pedals. However, I do think the pedals are the weakest point of this bundle, and I have a few complaints about them.

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Firstly, the Brake Performance Kit is a must. Without it, the brake feel is just lacking, and it’s hard to become consistent without some form of resistance. With the brake mod, these are great value pedals and it’ll help you get quite close to your full potential. Heck, even the G29 had a small elastomer in the brake. I do appreciate that you have control over the output curves in the Pit House app though, allowing you to simulate a load cell’s behavior to a certain extent.

I wanted to maximize my experience, so I had a wooden box made to mount the pedals, but without the hard-mounting, I’d understand that a stiffer pedal is hard to use as it would slip more easily even with the sticky pads.

I’m pretty disappointed about the pedal faces as well, since it makes it hard to heel and toe if you do decide to get the clutch pedal. However, these shouldn’t be a problem for you if you don’t plan to learn heel and toe or just drive GT3 and Formula 1 cars.

On the whole, I’d say they’re good enough if you don’t use heel and toe. For beginner to intermediate-level drivers, these are enjoyable and good enough to make you fast and consistent. I’d suggest adding a little lubrication to the hinges to improve the precision, though.

ES Steering Wheel and Formula Wheel Mod

The ES Steering Wheel is a great D-shaped rim for a bundled item. I wouldn’t deliberately opt for it, but it’s a great starting point. It offers 22 face buttons, which is plenty for most people.

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It’s solid and feels nice, even without gloves. It’s on the smaller side at 11 inches, but on a 5.5Nm base, it allows you to feel the forces better than a larger wheel. I did notice a bit of rattling noise, which makes it feel like a toy, but I only ever noticed it when I drove without sound. However, you can upgrade to a 12-inch round wheel mod for drifting and enlarging the rim.

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Jhet Borja / MakeUseOf

The Formula Wheel Mod is one that I enjoy a lot. I don’t use it all the time since I like having the flexibility of driving Rally cars, but the mod looks and feels good. It uses a rubber grip instead of a leather wrap, but I honestly like this as I don’t have to worry about it breaking down in the future. Using the mod got rid of the rattling noise, and it allows you to see more of the virtual dashboard, which I really appreciate.

I also like that it has a matte black finish instead of the shiny brushed style on the original ES wheel. I’d be careful driving with it, though, as the thick metal can really hurt the hands during crashes, especially your thumbs.

Should You Buy the MOZA R5 Bundle, and Are the Add-Ons Worth It?

The MOZA R5 Bundle at only $499 is amazing value that’s hard to find even from other brands. You’d probably want to go with Fanatec for console support, but I’m not a fan of Fanatec’s expensive upgrade path, locked-down ecosystem, and high shipping fees.

If you just want to get racing on PC immediately and don’t want to think about upgrades, ordering the base bundle with the Brake Performance Kit and the Formula Wheel Mod are amazing value. However, it does lose value points if you start factoring in upgradability due to the SR-P Lite pedals. While the pedals are a major weak point in this bundle, I still think they’re good enough not to need an upgrade for a while, at least.

The only thing I don’t really find worth it is the clutch pedal. If you really want a clutch pedal, you’re most likely going to progress into heel and toe downshifting. Unless you plan to get a custom pedal face made, I think you’re better off buying the R5 alone with a table clamp and the SR-P load cell pedals, then using a real steering wheel with a D1 Spec QR, which you can find cheaply online.

MOZA R5 Bundle

8/ 10

$520$700 Save $180

$549 at Amazon See at MOZA Racing

Games Able

MOZA R5: A Budget-Friendly Triumph in Sim Driving