Our Verdict
Pros
- Updated force feedback feels better than ever
- Extra compatibility across the whole range of MOZA products
- Plenty of mounting options
- Runs quiet and cool
- Pit House gives a lot of control over force feedback
Cons
- Exterior design has not been updated
Today, I’m taking a look at a sim racing wheel that may look very familiar to you. This is the “new” MOZA Racing R16 wheel base. Essentially, this is version 2 of the R16, which was released a few years ago with some quality-of-life improvements and upgrades to its overall performance.
MOZA has decided to not stick a V2 or version number after this wheel base’s name. Instead, like many movie franchises that don’t want to think of a new film title for their sequel, it’s just to be known as the MOZA R16… but newer.
In this review, I will take an in-depth look at the MOZA R16 v2 (not called v2). I’ll put it through its paces on track to see if the new force feedback updates improve what MOZA already had going on.
I want to say that this R16 was sent to me by MOZA for review, but as with all reviews, this doesn’t affect my review in any way.
What is the MOZA Racing R16?
So if we go way back, all the way to the end of 2021. OK, that’s not actually that long a go but it certainly feels like it. MOZA Racing was new on the sim racing scene, and their first big products were the R16 and R21 wheel bases.
These products firmly put MOZA on the map and were pretty darn good, especially for a first attempt at a sim racing wheel base. Since that moment in 2021, MOZA has released many products. I want to say they’ve released more products than any other sim racing brand in the past 2 years, but don’t fact-check me on that!
In that period, they’ve been able to challenge the big boys with their vast ecosystem and pretty reasonable price points. Now, we’ve just seen a big wheel base release from another sim racing brand, though shall not name names **Fanatec**. And we now have an updated version of the R16 wheel base that launched back in 2021. Coincidence? I’ll let you decide.
Price
The price of this MOZA R16 *v2*remains unchanged from the original price, and I have to say, compared to other products in a similar performance range, this is pretty competitive.
- Buy the MOZA R16 (United States) – $799
- Buy the MOZA R16 (United Kingdom) – £799
- Buy the MOZA R16 (Europe) – €869
- Buy the MOZA R16 (Australia) – $1399
It is important to say that these prices are all before tax, which will vary depending on where you’re shipping to. When we compare those prices to that other unassuming product I mentioned that I’m sure no one has ever heard of before, the R16 comes out pretty favourably. Again, this is before tax compared to tax included with the ClubSport DD, so prices may be more comparable after you add tax for your region.
The Design of the R16 wheel base
Moving on to the design of the R16, you’ll see that not much has changed. However, that is a slight lie, as we do have some extra bolt holes, so we can now front-mount this wheel base if we want.
Ultimately, if you watched my MOZA R21 review a little while back, everything I’m about to say now was already echoed in that review. But for those that didn’t watch that review, here we go.
MOZA’s initial design choices for this concept are a little quirky compared to some more standard wheelbase designs we’ve seen from other brands. Depending on your taste, this will be a big hit or a miss.
I’m not a huge fan of the swooping lines, the side vents and the gloss finish. I do prefer a slightly more understated look, and this design looks a little bit too much like a mid-2000s body kit that you’d find on an old car trying to do donuts in a car park after dark. But that’s just my own preference. Others may love it.
Dimensions
The overall dimensions of the wheel base are on par with what you’d expect, coming in smaller than other similar competitors. The slanted body can actually help you mount your monitor a little closer to the base, which is nice.
Mounting
Now, the mounting is one area that has changed on this R16 *v2* as you now have the option to mount from underneath or at the front. This is a really nice inclusion, and for many, front mounting or side mounting using the mounted bracket will be a better way to go.
You’ll see that despite the ability to front-mount the R16, I’ve gone for the bottom-mount, simply because the front-mount wouldn’t align to any holes on my Sim-Lab rig. I did have this thing sitting in the front mount, and despite not putting me under the strain of actual gameplay, the front mount did feel rock solid.
Connection ports
Another area of improvement is around the back. There are now more connection ports than on the original R16 which is a big upgrade. You can now directly connect your other MOZA peripherals to this wheel base and avoid having multiple USB ports on your PC clogged with various peripherals like shifters and handbrakes.
And this addition is also incredibly important in another way. By adding all the required ports for pedals, shifters and handbrakes, this R16 *v2* suddenly can be used on console.
Quick release
At the front, you have the MOZA quick release, which remains unchanged. There are some additional contact points in the quick release itself that allow more MOZA steering wheels to be compatible with this R16 than the original.
Now, every steering wheel other than the ES steering wheel is compatible with this R16 *v2*. OK, I’m going to stop saying v2 now as MOZA are going to get mad as they specifically told me there wasn’t a version number in the name.
MOZA R16 Performance
Now, let’s jump into the rig and check out the performance of this upgraded wheel base, as MOZA has stated that this new version uses an upgraded force feedback algorithm.
So it’s definitely worth jumping on track to review the performance of this thing. I reviewed the old R21 a while back and really liked it. I remember that the overall force feedback in the R21 was good, if not a touch heavy at times when making contact with elements such as kerbs.
After reviewing the R21, I was lucky enough to review the R12 which while being a step down in overall peak strength compared to the R21, the force feedback detail was actually much better. And that is due to the R12 being newer than the R21.
Well, you’ll be glad to hear that in this R16, the internals have been partially upgraded to feel much more like R12. That means better force feedback detail, especially in the areas where the smaller details are felt.
When talking about small details, elements such as kerb rumbles and vibrations are improved over the outgoing R16 gen 1. In my R12 review, I said the vibrations were so well handled, that you could feel tyre slip and understeer in the wheel in a completely different way to how other forces were felt. This is echoed through to this R16 now.
Say you are mid-corner, you will feel the weight of the car and the weight of the wheel pulling at you, however, in the exact same moment, you can feel small vibrations in the wheel telling you that you are right on the edge of grip, or just stepping over it. These small vibrations and sensations allow you to push your car closer to the limit than with some wheels.
What this R16 accomplishes by introducing these new sensations that were not as prevalent as in the original R16, is it now feels very much like an upgrade over the R12, whereas before it didn’t as much. I do very much believe that around 10-15Nm is the optimal torque range, and this will be dependent on personal preference. But I think, above this, the wheel becomes too heavy and too much to handle for longer races to the point where things aren’t as enjoyable.
At 16Nm, this wheel base sits right at the top of this 10-15Nm range. However, the beauty of the 16Nm of peak torque is that you can always detune it somewhat. Lowering the peak forces using MOZA’s Pit House lets you set your ideal strength value where you feel comfortable for an entire session.
So you may ask why should I upgrade to the R16 if I’m going to detune it back down to 12Nm of peak torque. Well, what it does is it gives you headroom if you ever needed it. When I first raced with the Fanatec CSL DD at 8Nm, I was convinced that it was the pinnacle of force feedback. However, over time, I wanted just a little bit more strength from that wheel. The R16 gives you this compared to the R12.
Also, the R16 is stronger than the R12, so the force feedback has a wider range to work with. The stronger peak force gives those small details much more room to operate and differentiate themselves from other feedback.
Adjustability
When tuning this wheel up or down, as with all MOZA products, you get access to MOZA’s own Pit House software. This gives you an incredible amount of control over the behaviour of your wheel. In some ways, it can be overwhelming, but if that is the case, you can stick to the basic settings that allow you to tune your wheel’s strength up and down.
Compatibility
Compatibility with this updated MOZA R16 is a big category to talk about as its one of the main improvements. As I mentioned, there are ports on the rear of the wheel base for all your MOZA peripherals to connect to. Also, the quick release has been upgraded to include the new contact points to allow compatibility with all of MOZA’s steering wheel lineups, except for the ES wheel.
But the real talking point is the R16’s console compatibility. With the added ports at the rear, the R16 now has the ability to be compatible with Xbox consoles. This isn’t the first Xbox-compatible MOZA wheel, although the R3 is in a completely different league in terms of performance.
The R16 is the first powerful wheel base that MOZA has made Xbox-compatible. And this gives console sim racers a real choice if shopping for a strong direct drive wheel base. After speaking to MOZA, and testing console compatibility myself, it’s important to say that currently, the Xbox compatibility isn’t there, but has been confirmed to be a part of MOZA’s future roadmap. Basically, it’ll get added at some point in the future, but we don’t know when.
Should you buy the MOZA R16 Wheel?
And I think this added console compatibility in the future will be one of the main selling points for the R16. If you are moving up through the ranks of sim racing wheel and looking to upgrade to a more powerful direct drive wheel, the R16 will become a true option for Xbox sim racers.
Outside of console compatibility, the R16 sits as a nice option to choose from alongside the Fanatec ClubSport DD+ and the Simucube 2 Sport to name a few. If you are already invested in the MOZA ecosystem, say you have an R5 or R9 and want something with a bit more oomph, this upgraded R16 is a perfect fit.
Technical Specifications
Review written by Felix König
