Our Verdict
Pros
- Among the best performance from any sim racing pedal
- Redefines pedal technology
- Force feedback can help with speed and consistency
- Excellent build quality
- Includes all bolts and cables required to set up
- Tuner software is very user-friendly
Cons
- Extreme price tag
- Incredibly long
- Takes up more space when mounted to wheel deck
- Separate software to Simucube wheel bases
- A lot of cables to manage
While sim racing wheels have received plenty of upgrades over the past few years, with the shift to smaller and more affordable direct drive wheels becoming the norm, sim racing pedals saw much less innovation until the ActivePedal was launched.
Before the ActivePedal, you had budget potentiometer pedals, the kind you find in most entry-level sim racing bundles. There are also load cell pedals, which are typically in a mid-range price category and are a popular upgrade. And then there are top-of-the-line hydraulic pedals that look to emulate a real-world car. But these three categories have been pretty stagnant over recent years.
That was until Simucube decided they fancied expanding its ecosystem from just wheel bases to include a sim racing pedal lineup. Now, I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for the ActivePedal concept meeting. And that’s because Simucube could have so very easily followed many sim racing brands and created a good load cell pedal set, given it a reasonable price tag and called it a day.
Instead, the guys at Simucube decided to go completely balls to the wall with their approach, and the result is this absolute weapon of a sim racing pedal. All sense of price and budget went out of the window, and Simucube decided to produce a completely new style of pedal that we’d never really seen before.
But is it any good, and does it justify the eye-watering price tag? I’ve been lucky enough to spend the past few months racing with this pedal along with the Simucube throttle, thanks to Simucube sending us this review unit. In this Simucube ActivePedal review, I’m going to run through how this pedal works, what makes it different, and ultimately whether it’s worth considering.
What is the Simucube ActivePedal?
I’m going to kick things off with an overview of just what the ActivePedal is and what it does differently from the competition. Essentially, the Simucube ActivePedal is a force feedback sim racing pedal, something we’ve never really seen before.
Watch our Simucube ActivePedal video review
Below is a complete video review of the Simucube ActivePedals where I discuss everything from design to price and performance.
How the ActivePedal is different from traditional sim racing pedals
Unlike most pedals, the ActivePedal doesn’t include any form of elastomers, springs or hydraulic cylinders. Instead, Simucube has integrated an internal motor, not too dissimilar to a direct drive racing wheel.
This motor is in charge of handling all of the normal areas that a mechanical pedal would. Pedal travel and resistance are both handled by the motor. Alongside this normal pedal functionality, the motor can go above and beyond by creating vibration and rumble effects.
These effects are essentially force feedback, but in the pedal rather than the wheel base. They work in a similar way to a racing wheel, the software taps into the in-game physics and translates the data into effects that are sent through the pedal.
How does the ActivePedal work
Now, I’m not too technical so I’m not going to delve too deep into the technical side of how these pedals work. I’ll leave that to Will at Boosted Media who is much more technically minded than we are.
But in simplified terms, the internal motor uses a ball screw design which rotates a shaft forward and back to create force feedback. This can actually be seen activating through the glass panel on the top of the pedal which is a really nice touch.
There is still a load cell at play to measure the force, and unlike many pedals that hide the load cell away, it is proudly on show. This silver part of the pedal rod is actually the load cell and the wire sends the voltage from this to the pedal. The load cell is there to register the force you apply to the pedal much like traditional load cell pedals.
Price
All of this new technology does bring with it an unwanted side effect. And that is a pretty crazy price tag. Until the release of the ActivePedal, a high price tag for a set of pedals was around the €/$1000 – €/$1500 price point and that would almost certainly net you a complete pedal set.
The ActivePedal raises this benchmark quite substantially to over €/$2200 for each individual ActivePedal.
You can buy the ActivePedal as part of a bundle with either a second ActivePedal or the much cheaper Simucube Throttle. However, the cheapest bundle comes in at almost €/$3000.
| Pedals | Info | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Simucube Throttle | Load cell throttle | €337 / $369 |
 | Simucube ActivePedal | FFB brake pedal | €2398/ $2299 |
 | Simucube Pedals | Complete Pedal bundle | €2928 / $2889 |
It’s safe to say this pedal is reserved for those looking to get the absolute most out of their sim racing setup. It would be interesting to know how many of you guys either own or have considered buying an ActivePedal. However, most customer reviews are positive, so maybe Simucube has played a blinder with its extreme pricing strategy.
Design & build quality
Moving onto the design and quality, the premium feel runs throughout this pedal. From the moment you open the box to find one of the nicest protective cases I’ve seen, your choice to spend over €/$2000 on a single pedal will start to feel justified.
What’s included with the ActivePedal?
The pedal is packaged extremely well with everything you need to get started. You of course have the pedal itself, fully assembled and ready to be mounted to your sim rig or pedal plate. You also get a Simucube Link hub which is responsible for transferring the data from the pedals to your PC.
This hub acts as an intermediary. You connect the pedal to the hub using an RJ45 cable and then connect the hub to your PC using a USB cable. All cables are included so you won’t need to purchase a single additional extra to get started.
You’ll also find a variety of mounting bolts and screws included as well which is a nice touch, along with a Torx Allen key for making adjustments and the essential stickers and setup guide.
Finally, there is a pretty sizeable power supply which powers the ActivePedal. If you are buying more than one ActivePedal, you can daisy chain them together and use just a single power supply so you won’t need multiple PSUs for multiple pedals.
Pedal design
The pedal itself is extremely well-designed and looks to be constructed from high-quality materials. The weight of this thing is pretty heavy, and we all know the heavier something is, the better built it is, right?
It is also pretty large, and this is something to consider. You can see when compared to the Simucube Throttle that is mounted next to it, the ActivePedal isn’t far off double the length. This could cause it to overhang your pedal tray so you need to have enough space behind your sim rig to install this pedal.
If you do choose to mount the pedal to the baseplate that is included in any of the bundles, this adds a lot more length. Fully mounted, my setup comes in at about 650mm in depth, and as you can see it overhangs the pedal tray on my Sim-Lab P1X Pro quite considerably. I would have probably preferred if the heel rest area of the pedal base plate was a bit shallower to reduce this depth a little.
Every outward-facing component on the pedal itself is constructed from aluminium which adds to the overall quality. All parts are pretty thick as well, from the pedal arm to the face plate, and there is zero flexing in the pedal itself.
The cabling for this pedal is a bit of a pain mainly due to the Simucube Link hub and the power supply. Having the additional reels of cable in and out of the Link hub makes cable management a little tricky, and I normally don’t need to worry about another PSU for my pedals. This will present a bit of a challenge to those who like to keep things tidy and organised.
Mounting
There are plenty of options when it comes to mounting the ActivePedal. As I mentioned, it comes packaged with a variety of screws of different lengths so you shouldn’t need to buy any additional screws or bolts.
The pedal itself has six individual slot gaps to mount through, and you can choose to mount directly to your sim rig, or to the Simucube pedal plate. I would recommend considering the pedal plate as it does make mounting to a sim rig that much easier.
With the baseplate, you can mount each pedal in the perfect spot independently of the pre-drilled mounting holes on your sim rig. Then, you can mount the entire base plate to your rig using a combination of the twelve slots and holes.
Be warned, after mounting just a single ActivePedal and a throttle pedal to the wheel deck, things start to get very heavy. Despite this, when everything is bolted down, this is easily one of the sturdiest pedal configurations I’ve encountered.
Adjustments
With a pedal of this value, it is important that everyone who uses it can adjust it to meet their needs. Simucube hasn’t overlooked this, and they have included both mechanical adjustments and software adjustments to ensure everyone will be comfortable.
On the physical side, you have both height and angle adjustments available for the face plate. This plate attaches to the rig with two bolts meaning you could quite easily swap them out for alternate faceplates if you wanted to.
You can then adjust the pedal rod in numerous ways. You can elongate it to adjust the travel and flip it upside down to adjust both travel and overall force.
Outside of these adjustments, everything else is handled in the Simucube Tuner software.
Simucube Tuner software
The Tuner software controls everything to do with the pedals regardless of whether you’re running just a single ActivePedal, multiple pedals or a combination of Throttle and ActivePedal. You can also connect pedals from other brands such as Heusinkveld directly to the Tuner software to control it all in one place.
All of the data is sent via the Link Hub that you get included, and it is important to note that the software for the ActivePedal is different from the Simucube True Drive, which is used to adjust their wheel bases. I’m hoping over time Simucube choose to converge on a single piece of software as having two apps running is a bit of a pain.
Despite this, the Tuner software is incredibly intuitive to use with a nice UI and easy-to-understand adjustments. When you first connect your ActivePedal, you will be presented with a configuration screen that tells the software a little bit about how you have mechanically set up the pedal.
Adjusting force and travel
From there, you will have a force curve that can adjust the input and force across the pedal travel. There are some presets with this that I’d recommend trying to get a quick taste of how adjusting the curve affects everything. But you can then create a completely custom configuration.
This screen is also where you can adjust important settings such as the pedal travel, preload, and maximum force. Most pedals require these adjustments to be mechanically configured. But that is one of the upsides of using an electronically controlled motor.
If you save multiple profiles with completely different settings. You can change how your pedal feels with a single button press. There is no need for tools or awkwardly leaning behind your sim rig to make adjustments. Fancy a different pedal set up for an F1 car compared to a GT car? It’s easy. Create a new profile and simply select it as you change games or cars.
As you scroll down through the settings. You’ll find a range of options to adjust how the pedal feels including damping and friction effects and the bump stop stiffness. But where things get really good are when you get to the effects.
Force feedback pedal effects
By default, all effects are disabled, but turning them on will allow the pedal to come alive. You have individual settings for each force that can enable you to tweak each effect individually. You can pick and choose which effects you want to enable and just how they interact with each other.
I won’t delve too deep into the specific settings. Instead, I’ll create a separate video showing you how to set up an ActivePedal and my recommended settings.
Pedal performance
I want to examine how each of the effects impacts the performance that the ActivePedal offers. But before I do so, I want to discuss how the pedal feels as a brake pedal, with all funky effects disabled.
This is incredibly important, as we must remember that the traditional mechanical parts, such as springs and elastomers, have been replaced with a motor. I’m glad to report that the actual pedal feel during use is great. If I were to race with these pedals without knowing they use electronic trickery instead of mechanical parts. I wouldn’t have known.
Adjusting elements such as the preload, stiffness, and travel in the Tuner app lets you set these pedals up just right. I’ve often jumped onto a sim rig with a different set of pedals only to find they feel that bit too stiff or struggle to dial in the resistance just right.
The endless levels of adjustability ensure you can set up the pedal to feel perfect. The damping and friction effects let you play about adding additional layers to the performance that simulate mechanical friction.
You can opt for up to 150kg of pressure in each pedal which should be enough for 99% of sim racers. I had mine turned down to roughly 60kg with a shorter pedal travel. I found this to be the sweet spot for me.
How force feedback pedal affects your performance
Once you venture into the realm of enabling the effects, the real magic of this pedal becomes apparent. I didn’t quite know what to expect when I first jumped into Assetto Corsa Competizione with the ActivePedal.
The first time I felt the ABS rumbling under my foot, I started to release the brake pressure. This caused me to end up in the gravel around Silverstone. In fact, I’m not going to lie. That happened a good number of times on subsequent laps. All while I adjusted myself and my inputs to the feedback I was feeling.
Even though that first corner ended in the gravel. I had a huge smile that I couldn’t get rid of for the next hour. Having raced with traditional mechanical pedals for over a decade, the force feedback completely flipped everything I knew on its head.
ABS effect
Initially, the ABS effect was the most prominent, triggering vibrations of different intensities as the ABS started to enable in-game. Driving GT3 cars in Assetto Corsa Competizione where ABS is a huge part of a car setup, it was brilliant to feel this effect through the pedals for the first time.
Normally, I’ve had to rely on visual cues on the HUD or on my steering wheel to know when I was braking too hard and activating ABS. When you’re looking into the apex of a corner, the last thing you need to do under braking is glance over to the brake input HUD to see if it’s flashing at you.
Feeling the ABS so viscerally through the pedal allowed me to hone in much more on the inputs I was making. As soon as the rumbling starts, you know you have reached the limitation of the brakes and can make adjustments to your inputs.
The accuracy of the vibration feel is incredibly impressive. We’ve all probably driven a real-world road car and applied the brakes too heavily at one point or another. The harsh vibrations that you feel through the pedal in a real-world car are very similar to the ABS feeling that the ActivePedal gives off and this leads to boosting the overall immersion.
Traction control
Another key effect that the ActivePedal can generate is vibrating as traction control starts to activate. The traction control effect can be designated to just the throttle if you are using multiple ActivePedals. However, you can also use it if you have a single ActivePedal for your brake.
The TC effect works in a very similar way to the ABS in that it vibrates to tell you that the TC on your car is activating. Much like learning the limitations of the brakes on corner entry, this is incredibly useful for knowing the limitations on corner exit.
I often found myself losing lap time on corner exit due to being too cautious on the throttle, and I didn’t even know this until I switched to the ActivePedal. Now, I am finding extra lap time by accelerating harder earlier as I can feel the exact point where traction is about to break.
Other effects
Other than the ABS and TC effects, there are a host of different feedback effects you can enable. You can turn on the RPM motor effect, simulate g-forces and set up thresholds that let you know when you’ve reached a certain amount of pedal input.
The g-force effects, in particular, feel strange at first as the pedal moves away from you while accelerating from a slow speed. This becomes very immersive, making you feel like you are being forced back into your seat, much like when you accelerate hard.
In combination, this whole experience is pretty unique to the ActivePedal and it is incredibly immersive. If your main goal is to improve your lap times, I probably wouldn’t recommend spending this much money.
Despite saying that, I have managed to put in new personal lap records at almost every track I’ve raced at with these pedals. This is a combination of all of the effects that the pedals bring to the table that have allowed me to understand the car better and push it closer to its limitations.
Compatibility
Regarding compatibility, you have a few routes with the ActivePedal. I’ll start by saying it is only compatible with PCs, which is often the norm with premium sim racing hardware.
You can opt to use a single ActivePedal along with any other pedal from any brand. In this scenario, the ActivePedal would be connected to your PC using the Link Hub, and your other pedals would be individually connected to your PC.
If you want continuity and have money to burn, you can combine up to three ActivePedals to create a full pedal set. They all daisy chain off each other making setting up relatively simple. Alternatively, you can opt to pair the ActivePedal with the much cheaper Simucube Throttle which is the configuration I’m running here.
I think I mentioned it earlier, but there is an adapter you can buy to connect a Heusinkveld pedal directly to the ActivePedal. This lets you use the Tuner software as a single point to adjust each pedal in your setup.
Should you buy the Simucube ActivePedal?
To round out this review, I want to conclude that this sim racing pedal is an absolute game-changer. It has completely reimagined what it is to be a sim racing pedal, and it will be incredibly hard for me to go back to more traditional pedals after using the ActivePedal.
If you can, I would recommend all sim racers try to experience the ActivePedal at some point if possible, be that at a sim racing centre or an exhibition. I absolutely love this pedal set and the immersion that it adds to an overall sim racing setup is incredible.
That said, immersion and innovation come at a hefty price. This price tag is the only thing holding this pedal back from being something I’d recommend to everyone. To put things in context, a single ActivePedal costs more than my entire sim racing setup from not too long ago. If you want a pair of them, you’re looking at close to €5000, and this sadly reserves this pedal for only the most hardcore and dedicated sim racers.
I am just hoping that this technology and design philosophy will, over time, trickle down to become more affordable and accessible, as it really does redefine the humble sim racing pedal.
Technical Specifications
Review written by Felix König
