Our Verdict
Pros
- Comes in wired or wireless form
- Fantastic button layout and design
- Very sturdy build quality
- Compatible with the majority of wheel bases
Cons
- Loud shifters
- Reasonably high price tag
When you start looking away from from the likes of Thrustmaster and Fanatec towards more premium racing wheels such as those designed by Cube controls. You can expect a more serious looking wheel. And boy Cube Controls don’t disappoint when it come to the Formula Pro.
This is a formula-style wheel rim, which you’ll fall in love with the first time you see it. Cube Controls are fantastic at designing and manufacturing racing wheels which emulate real world wheels with much more precision.
This formula-style wheel rim will give you the feeling of holding a genuine formula racing wheel. The design oozes premium touches, from the high materials that are used, to the precision of the buttons and knobs.
Let’s jump right in to the overall design of this Formula Pro wheel rim.
The design of the Cube Controls Formula Pro
The Cube Controls Formula Pro sim racing wheel is a wheel which is designed for business. It’s targeted heavily towards serious sim racers, and that echoes through the design.
Unlike some lower budget sim racing wheels, everything on the Formula Pro has a purpose for being there. Every button is programmable, and every dial can be configured to tweak your in-game car settings.
You’ll find 13 buttons on the front of the wheel along with 4 rotary encoders with a really nice click between each engagement. Then there are two thumb encoders, which are both machined from aluminium, along with a joystick on the front of the wheel.
The joystick is there to allow you to flip through menus with ease. But it also acts as another encoder, just in case the 6 that are already included aren’t enough!
Every face button is backlit, which used to be a additional feature in an older iteration of this wheel. Now, with this latest version of the wheel, the lighting is included in the price. Two of these backlit buttons house flashing LEDs. These are very helpful as can be used to indicate elements such as your pit limiter being engaged.
There are also a wide selection of stickers included with this wheel, allowing you to mark certain buttons after you configure them. This is a really nice touch and allows you to create a truly personalised wheel.
The wheel itself comes in at 282mm wide, which again is slightly up from the older version which sat at around 270mm. In this new version, the grip size has increased leading to a chunkier grip, which is very welcome.
Moving on to the body of the Formula Pro, as mentioned its finished in real carbon fibre. This allows the wheel no only to perform well under stress, but look the part too. Every edge is chamfered nicely leading to a smooth finish all round.
On the rear of the wheel are four paddles, which can be used as shifters and clutch paddles. The two shifter paddles are both magnetised and feel great. Whereas the lower two paddles are spring activated, allowing you to set your own clutch bite point.
You’ll also find the USB connection point on the lower rear part of the wheel. This has moved away from the bottom which is where it was originally, and this is much appreciated. This allows the connection wire to hang further back rather than straight down and into your lap.
The build quality
Overall the build quality of this wheel is great, which is exactly what you’d expect from a high end wheel such as this. The main body itself is faced with a solid piece of carbon fibre, while the rest of the body is constructed from machined aluminium.
The combination of aluminium and carbon fibre sets the wheel off very nicely, and it simply feels premium as soon as you hold it. The aluminium doesn’t stop at the body, as the rotary knobs and the joystick on the front of the wheel are also fully machined from aluminium.
Being made entirely from aluminium and carbon fibre, the body has little to no flex as expected. This is welcome as this is a wheel which should really be used with a direct drive wheel base. And when the forces start coming through the wheel, the last thing you need is a flexing wheel rim as you wrestle with your car. Thankfully, that isn’t a problem here!
The grips themselves are a form of molded rubber, much similar to that found in real GT cars.
On the rear, we have already spoken about the paddles in our design segment, but I think I should touch on the quality here. There is no escaping the fact that both shifters are very loud when you pull them.
This is immediately noticeable, however can quickly fall to the back of your mind when racing. And this is helped by the fact that each shift is extremely positive, thanks to the magnetic engagement.
What it’s like to drive with
The size of the Cube Controls Formula Pro is 282mm, which is just about spot on for a formula style wheel. Ideally, with formula-style racing wheels you want a slightly smaller diameter wheel, much like those used in real formula cars.
In terms of sizing, this Formula Pro is spot on, coming in just under 40mm smaller in diameter than the Cube Controls GT Sport.
The positioning of every button and encoder on the Cube Controls Formula Pro is just about spot on. They’re in a very familiar layout, with 6 buttons on the left side of the wheel, and 7 on the right.
You can practically reach every buttons without taking your hand off the wheel. The only real time you’ll need to take your hand off the wheel here, is when adjusting the 4 rotary encoders on the front.
There is also a button housing or edging to every single push button. This allows you to ensure you’re hitting the correct button without ever having to look at the wheel. Each button has its own shape button housing, with buttons such as the pit limiter button especially designed to just guide your thumb into the right place.
The shifters, as mentioned above are loud. When I first started racing with this wheel, I immediately honed in on this sound, and I was rather conscious of the noise. However, when in the heat of a racing situation, I quickly tuned out the sound, making it a non-issue.
When pulling every shift, the engagement is extremely positive, meaning its hard to miss a shift. The throw of the paddles is on the shorter side. If you are coming from a wheel such as the Fanatec ClubSport Formula V2, you’ll notice this short throw. This wasn’t an issue for me, and in many ways I preferred the short / precise nature of the Formula Pro.
Cube Controls Formula Pro compatibility
The compatibility of the Cube Controls Formula Pro is pretty good. In fact it couldn’t really be much better. It works with the majority of wheel bases across a range of brands.
It works flawlessly with Fanatec, Thrustmaster, Logitech, SimuCube and Accuforce wheel bases. It simply attaches via a quick release and a wheel adaptor which is required for wheel bases such as Thrustmaster and Logitech.
When it comes to VR, this wheel is fully compatible and well designed for VR. The button layout is very intuitive to use, and you’ll get use to it very quickly. When paired with the fantastic button moulding and edging that surround every push button, you will easily be able to operate this wheel while wearing a VR headset.
Overview
My closing throughts on the Cube Controls Formula Pro are extremely positive. To put it shortly, it’s a fantastic sim racing wheel rim, and you can probably tell how much I liked it from this review.
If you’re looking for a premium formula-style sim racing wheel, then there aren’t many better options than the Formula Pro. It is only really beaten by the Cube Controls Formula CSX 2. Read our review on the CSX 2 here.
This wheel is extremely well designed, performs extremely well even with high powered direct drive wheel bases, and is so easy to learn to race with. Buying and owning a Formula Pro will put a smile on your face every time you race with it.
Technical Specifications
Review written by Felix König
