Next Level Racing Wheel Stand

If you really enjoy your racing sims, then, trust me, at some point you will definitely want to get something like this. Clamping your steering wheel to the desk and putting your pedals on the ground works, but it just doesn’t feel right. The placement of the clamps means that the wheel doesn’t feel quite as solid as you want, the placement of the gearstick is off, the angle of the pedals is just wrong, and, what’s worse, they tend to slide away from you as you stomp on the brakes or the accelerator. Also, the wheel will only clamp onto certain desk designs (which can be problematic if you have a desk which has a support bar extending underneath the tabletop), not to mention that it can be slow and a bit annoying to set up. Yes, a steering wheel is way better than no steering wheel at all, but all these points add up to something which just doesn’t feel right when compared to an actual car.

Enter the Next Level Racing Wheel Stand. This fixes all those problems. Rock solid, stable, and pre-drilled so you can hard-mount virtually any wheel and pedal setup you can come across, this makes a huge difference to not only how it feels to use your wheel and pedals, but how easy and quick it is to setup, and remove. An adjustable, folding frame, once you’ve bolted your steering wheels and pedals to it and done the initial setup for height, putting it away or bringing it out is literally the work of seconds. While folded it stands about 1 meter high, and 45cm long (less, if you’re not using the attachment for the gearstick), meaning you can easily store it next to your desk. And while perfect for those who want a quick to setup and remove racing rig, it can also become part of a fully-fledge (though permanent) racing/flight simulator cockpit, as the modular design allows the attachment of a chair, desk, monitor holders, and flight controls. All these can be purchased individually, meaning that, if you’re inclined, you can gradually build up a complete cockpit rather than paying for it all at once.

There are some things to be aware of, though. Firstly, its strength and stability come at the expense of weight. It is heavy (around 14kgs, before the wheel is attached), meaning that you’ll want to be storing it only a short distance from where you use it. It also means that the initial setup will take a fair amount of physical effort and time, if you’re working by yourself. It took me at least two hours to assemble, and set up my wheel, pedals and gearstick to my satisfaction (choosing where to mount the pedals, how far to slide back the pedal base – it’s all adjustable – and just how high the steering wheel should be mounted, then realizing that some of the wheel’s wires hadn’t been properly nested in their grooves, so having to remove the wheel to make sure the wires weren’t being crushed...). Fortunately you only have to do this once, but you still have to do it. Also, some of the assembly and adjustment took a fair amount of strength, such as attaching the gearstick holder or adjusting the height of the wheel and position of the pedal tray – the sliding arms are such a snug fit that even with the retaining bolts removed, they won’t move easily. All this meant that, by the time I had finished setting everything up, I was simply too tired to even think about testing it out.

The other thing to be aware of is the positioning of the cables. While there are velcro straps to help hold cables in place, care does have to be taken when folding the frame up or down. The pedal base does have a slightly sharp underside, and if you fold the frame down quickly without making sure the cables are not in the way the pedal base could snag and damage them. Also, where I mounted my pedals meant the cable extended over the back of the base and could come in contact with the sharper underside, but that was solved by taping the wire to the side of the pedals.

That said, the experience of using the frame more than makes up for the effort of setting it up in the first place. It simply feels more natural, more realistic, and easier to use (which is really what you’re looking for when you play a sim). If you really enjoy your virtual racing, then this is definitely worth getting. ■