What Was The First Successful Sim Racing Wheel?

In 2022, racing simulator equipment is highly advanced and versatile, with equipment that ranges from highly capable mass-market wheels designed for games consoles to huge cages of technology that mirror those used by professional racing teams.

These systems are fitted with force feedback, advanced resistive technology and in some cases gyroscopes to make the racing experience feel as authentic as possible.

However, in the early days of sim racing, buying a wheel at all was surprisingly difficult, and it would take until the very first widely celebrated racing sim for racing wheels to become available at all outside of specialist markets.

Here is the story that led to the first successful racing wheel.

The Earliest Days

Much like with the history of the simulator game, the history of steering wheel peripherals dates back further than you might think, with one of the earliest examples, if not the earliest being the Coleco Telstar Arcade.

Racing games existed before this, but most used paddle controllers similar to the ones used to play Pong, whilst the bizarre triangle that was the Telstar Arcade allowed for the use of a relatively rudimentary but still more tangible steering wheel.

The first notable example of a steering wheel peripheral, however, came in the form of the ColecoVision Expansion Module #2.

Bundled with and required to play a port of the Sega arcade game Turbo, the Expansion Module had a surprising number of inputs given the relative simplicity of any ColecoVision racing game.

Not only was there a wheel, the ColecoVision’s controller plugged into it to become a gear lever, and it even came with an accelerator pedal (but no brake).

This was the first notable steering wheel that people remember, but the first that people liked and that was designed for use with racing sims came a decade later.

Thrustmaster Formula T1

The dawn of the modern sim racing setup as we know it came with the release of the Thrustmaster Formula T1 in 1993 which coincided with the release of Papyrus Design Group’s highly influential sequel to Indianapolis 500: The Simulation: IndyCar Racing.

At the time, IndyCar Racing was the most advanced racing simulator available on home computers and would be for around three years until the release of Geoff Crammond’s Grand Prix 2.

It was one of the first games to feature real sponsorships, logos, breakaway parts and a comprehensive garage and setup system far in advance of the rudimentary system Formula One Grand Prix did, but to take full advantage you needed a suitable wheel.

Thrustmaster’s initial effort seemed to fit the bill, featuring 270 degrees of rotation, a basic sequential shifter, two buttons and a pair of pedals fitted to a wedge, with a third slot available to add a clutch pedal.

Almost no wheels available on the mass market offered resistance nor pedals that felt vaguely realistic and Thrustmaster made the smart decision to include an order form in copies of Papyrus’ games, making the wheel the first success and proving there was a market.

The only major issue people noted was an issue with wheel travel, where the springs on the pedals would give way under pressure. However, some enterprising players found that by fitting a wooden block to the back you could reduce the chance of the spring breaking.

The T2, which was otherwise a re-release of the T1, featured improved pedals, a thicker steering wheel and the all-important clamp to keep the wheel on the desk.