MOZA Racing KS Steering Wheel Review

What is the MOZA KS steering wheel?

If you watched my review of the MOZA FSR steering wheel last year, you would have known that I was a huge fan of that wheel. With that wheel getting such praise, you may think it’s strange that MOZA Racing has chosen to release another formula-style steering wheel so soon.

Despite this steering wheel doing away with the built-in screen that made the FSR so good, there are serious improvements here. In this review I’m going to check out the design of this wheel and how it functions during the heat of a race.

But before I go any further, I want to disclose that this steering wheel was sent to me for review by the guys at MOZA. As with all of our reviews, this does not impact the outcome of this review in any way.

Watch our video review of the MOZA KS steering wheel

Price

So let’s start with the price to see just where this wheel sits compared to the two other formula-style wheels that MOZA currently have in their lineup. The two other steering wheels that I’m going to be referencing a lot during this review are the GS GT wheel and the FSR wheel.

The GS GT wheel is the current lowest-cost option at £469/$583, while the FSR which is essentially a GS GT wheel with an added screen sits at £579/$720. This new KS steering wheel comes in priced at €299/$259 putting it firmly as the cheapest wheel of the three.

This is a great price range for this wheel to sit in as there are both improvements and compromises in this wheel’s design compared to the other two formula wheel.

• MOZA KS Steering Wheel – €299/$259
• MOZA GS Steering Wheel – £469/$583
• MOZA FSR Steering Wheel – £579/$720

The design of the MOZA KS steering wheel

Looking at the design of this KS wheel there is a lot to like. And a few small things that aren’t as great, but I’ll get onto those in a bit.

First off, if you compare this wheel directly to the GS GT and the FSR wheels, you’ll notice that this is the largest of the three in terms of diameter, well, tied for the largest with the GS GT at 300mm. I really like this choice of diameter.

Increasing the size from the normal 280mm formula wheel diameter that many companies use, makes this steering wheel feel a little more realistic.

The downside of this increased size is that you will cover more of your screen while rotating this steering wheel which can make some on-screen HUD elements a little trickier to see. But, in reality, you probably won’t spend much time mid-corner looking at your in-game dashboard or HUD, so this impact should be minimal.

While the diameter of this wheel is on the larger side, the weight isn’t. In fact, this is the lightest wheel of the three. And that is in part due to the materials that have been used.

Gone is the real carbon fibre faceplate that is used on the GS GT and FSR wheel, and instead, the entirety of this wheel is constructed from a form of plastic composite. The front and rear both feature a carbon fibre effect pattern, which looks quite nice. But upon touching it, you’ll feel it is much more plasticky and lightweight.

There are also plastic elements across the rest of the wheel. The button housing and the plate that sits directly behind the front encoders are also plastic, just without a carbon weave effect. All inputs including the buttons, thumb encoders and front encoders are plastic, with the front encoders looking exactly the same as on the GS GT and FSR wheels.

The only none plastic parts of this wheel are the magnetic shifters which are constructed from aluminium, and the hand grips which are an injection moulded TPE rubber.

This heavy use of plastic isn’t too much of an issue from afar, but when up close and in your hands, it does cheapen this wheel. On first inspection, both the GS GT and FSR wheels appear more premium.

Push buttons

Now I do want to get onto some improvements that this wheel has made compared to the existing MOZA formula wheels, and these improvements start with the push buttons.

The push buttons on this KS wheel have been completely reworked, and introduce a much shorter throw. This is nice as it makes each button press more definitive.

The shorter throw is accompanied by a much firmer resistance, which means you certainly won’t be able to press a button by mistake. Although this extra resistance does mean that each button click is louder than on previous wheels. If you’re not a fan of “clicky” buttons, you may get annoyed by just how loud these buttons are over time.

Although, the final improvement that has been made to these buttons is the fact that each one features a clear plastic design. This clear plastic doesn’t feature any pre-defined labelling, meaning sim racers can customise their own button layout with the included stickers.

This is a really nice move, as one of my big annoyances is having to look at button labels that don’t correspond with the input that I’ve actually assigned.

Once installed, the button stickers feature clear text allowing them to be illuminated by the RGB LEDs behind each button. The colour of each LED can be fully customised as well, making this the most customisable MOZA wheel to date. Good stuff.

Rotary encoders

The housing for the front encoders is also an improvement over previous MOZA wheels. In the past, there have been some quality control issues where the encoder stickers didn’t fully align with the encoder itself.

It’s worth saying this was more prominent in the early days and is something MOZA has addressed. But the rotary encoder labelling on this KS wheel has been printed directly onto the plastic, meaning absolutely zero alignment issues.

While I’m talking about encoders, there has been a change to the thumb encoders, which is another area of improvement. The two thumb encoders on the KS wheel have been mounted into the handles, rather than protruding into the gap between the hand grip and chassis.

This makes them much easier to operate, with quick adjustments being available to make within a split second. You don’t need to remove your hand from the wheel or adjust your grip to use either thumb encoder which is really nice.

Rev lights

One of my absolute favourite improvements that have been made to this wheel compared to other MOZA wheels is the rev light array. Gone is the diffused light bar, which I really did not like on previous wheels.

On this wheel, there are individually lit LED lights, which is much more realistic and appealing to look at. These can be fully customised within the Pit House software where you can adjust the colour, shift pattern and timing.

I honestly hated that diffused lightbar on older MOZA wheels due to it looking blurry and a little bit cheap. So I am so happy to see this change. I really hope this is the new standard moving forward.

Shifters

The shifters also feature a revised design, using aluminium instead of carbon fibre. But the bigger change here is the introduction of a few built-in silencing pads. Everybody who has used a MOZA wheel in the past knows just how loud the original shifters were, so I’m glad to report that the sound has been reduced a lot.

The downside of these shifters for me though, is that I think they are mounted just a little too close to the body of the wheel. When I pull a shift, I will occasionally hit my thumb. This is a big oversight and requires me to reposition the grip that I’ve used for years while sim racing.

It’s a problem that a lot of people have, but MOZA really did need another inch here. Looking at the design, I can’t even see a way of swapping out the shifter paddles, so this may be an ongoing problem with this KS wheel.

Hand grips

Talking of hand grips, MOZA has tried something a little different here. Gone are the nicely rounded Alcantara or leather grips. In their place are a set of precision moulded rubber grips. These are designed for the contour of your hand to wrap around the grip.

And in practice, it works quite well and the fitment is relatively nice. They aren’t quite as comfy as say the Asetek Forte grips which I recently reviewed, and a lot of this comes down to the thickness of each grip. These hand grips are definitely on the skinnier side, which I’m not a huge fan of.

If the grips were a little thicker, the shifter hitting the thumb issue may not be as prevalent, and there would be less overlap of my thumb and fingers at the rear of the wheel.

Quick release design & compatibility

Now I have touched on the MOZA quick release a lot in previous reviews, but I need to mention it again here. The same NRG-style quick release has returned and that’s a good thing. It’s as easy as ever to remove and interchange wheels.

On this KS wheel, there are added internal pins that are used to power the wheel, and it’s compatible with the entire range of MOZA wheel bases, which is a big tick.

Another big tick is the addition of a hard wire port, much like the one found on the FSR wheel. This allows you to connect a cable from this wheel directly to the MOZA Universal Hub or your PC, and use it with wheel bases from other brands.

There are quick release adapters that help you do just this, and it’s great to see MOZA embrace this open ecosystem allowing sim racers to mix and match products from their favourite brands.

Should you buy the MOZA KS steering wheel?

Overall, this addition to the ever-expanding MOZA product range is pretty sweet. It gives sim racers an alternative to the GS GT wheel specifically and makes improvements to some of the core issues that plagued earlier MOZA wheels.

There are a few faux pas that shouldn’t have made it past quality control, the main one being the shifters being so close to the body of the wheel. And to go with this, there are some areas of the wheel that feel a little cheaper and less premium than on the GS GT and FSR formula wheels.

If you already have a MOZA formula wheel, you probably don’t need to shell out the money and pick this one up as well. But if you’re looking to buy into the MOZA ecosystem or you like the look of this wheel to go with your existing setup, then this is a great option.