The Best Sim Racing Gloves Buyer’s Guide

Featured image: Syncmesh M2X

When I first wrote about gloves in the sim, I was a non gloves person on the wheel. By 2022 I’d come to like the feel of a good pair of gloves while driving the sim, and these days I always recommend gloves, especially if you’re driving with high torque levels. My daily pair is the F33L SR2. Below are the gloves I’ve worn on my own wheels, plus a few more I’d look at.

---

My pick is the F33L SR2, which costs £27 at the time of writing (October 2026). On a tighter budget, the Trak Racer Multi-Use does the job, from $15 for the Blue and Yellow versions in small, or $29 in medium (down from $49). If your wheelbase runs lower FFB (force feedback) and you’d like something very thin, have a look at the SR3 Diamond (£32), which F33L rates for “low-medium FFB”.

So, what difference does wearing gloves make? I’ll cover off the obvious stuff, like touch sensitivity, grip advantage and protecting your Alcantara or suede rims, but so many wheels have rubber compound / PU grips today. Does that make wearing gloves less important?

Quick Navigation
Jump directly to what you’re looking for:
Gloves on or off? | Budget gloves | Syncmesh M2X | Trak Racer Multi-Use | F33L SR2 | Alpinestars Radar | Freem SIM21 | Alpinestars Tech-1 K V3 | What are the best gloves? | Sizing guide

Latest Sim Racing Gloves from F33L

Gloves On or Off: Does it Make a Difference to Your Driving?

Yes actually, it does. And I’ve driven with them, and without them. Every now and then you jump in the simulator, forget to put your gloves on and drive anyway.

Gloves off

Without gloves, you get a stronger sense of the materials and quality of the wheel.

If your wheel is made from more metal than plastic or carbon fibre compounds, you’re far more likely to feel temperature differences and the texture of the materials used. My Ascher Racing McLaren Artura Pro, for example, is mostly aluminium.

Gloves on

With gloves on, you may lose some awareness of the manufacturing detail of the wheel, but tactile differences are negligible. Paddles and buttons still communicate their “feel” and there’s no additional concern around accidental presses or mis-shifts. The biggest difference is grip.

Torque is the big reason I wear them now. I actually got a blister from using the Cube Controls F-Pro without gloves – such was the torque level mixed with a deceptively grippy grip, the rubber literally wore through my hands. The stronger your wheelbase, the more work the palm of the glove does.

Wearing gloves gives you more grip by adding friction between your palms, the imprinted grip features on the gloves and the wheel, so your hands don’t tire as quickly.

With gloves, you can keep a suede / Alcantara rim in much better condition, for longer – I have wheels I’ve owned for years that still look brand new because I’ve never driven them with bare hands. The grease and sweat (gross, I know) can build up in the Alcantara, and the result looks pretty bad.

It also ruins the resale value of the wheel.

Budget Sim Racing Gloves

If you want to protect your rim without spending much, go for the Trak Racer Multi-Use or the F33L SR2. The Trak Racers are thin and breathable and start at $15 a pair in small, and the SR2s are £27 (both October 2026). Either will keep the sweat off your Alcantara. There’s more on both pairs further down.

Syncmesh M2X

Syncmesh makes the Grip M2X, which it now sells alongside the Grip M-PRO and the Grip M3.

Syncmesh says the Grip M2X has a silicone print on the palm, and the palm itself is pre-curved. The stitching sits on the outside of the glove, the fabric is breathable and moisture-wicking, and there’s a touchscreen pad on the index finger.

I’d urge you to use the glove sizing tool on the website (click the image above).

Trak Racer Multi-Use Gloves

I was pleased to finally get my hands in (another cliche there, sorry!) Trak Racer’s “Multi Use” sim racing gloves. I opted for this quirky-looking design:

The palms have a very thin, breathable “non-slip” material that is also perforated. Mine have a skull printed on the palms, which is a cool design touch.

Trak Racer sells them in Blue and Yellow at $15 in small and $29 in medium, and in Grey Camo and Blacked Out at $49 (October 2026).

The index finger and thumb are touchscreen-conductive, too.

F33L SR2 Sim Racing Gloves

If you’re looking for something ultra-lightweight, then F33L‘s SR2 washable sim racing gloves are worthy of consideration. Here are mine:

Whichever pair you buy, you always want to have a tightly fitting glove, or you’ll lose that all-important tactility – this is how we approach glove fit in Motorsport, too. The tighter, the better!

The Velcro strap is super strong; once you’ve got these on, they’re not going anywhere. Sim-Lab also sells them on its own store as the F33L Sim Gloves.

The F33L gloves have a slender, ergonomic design that fits snugly. They’re touchscreen-compatible (as most sim racing gloves are now – this used to be a unique selling point!)

If you’re buying F33L gloves, make sure you’re going for the best fit. There’s nothing worse than gloves that are too big! Check your size against F33L’s official sizing chart:

According to the label, the SR2s are washable at a maximum temperature of 30°C.

Alpinestars Radar Gloves

The Alpinestars Radar is a motocross (MX) glove, and a very thin one, which is good for feel and for staying cool. The palm and fingers are conductive, so you can use a touchscreen without taking them off.

As an Amazon Associate, SimRacingCockpit earns from qualifying purchases.

Alpinestars now makes its own sim racing glove as well. The Sim Gloves come in three designs (Graphic 1, 2 and 3) and cost £44.99 at the time of writing (September 2026) on the Alpinestars UK store. Alpinestars says they’re built for wheel grip, touchscreen control and breathability.

Freem SIM21 Racing Gloves

Freem is a well-known high-end Motorsports manufacturer that has dipped its toes into the sim racing world. They’ve come up with the higher-end, higher-priced Freem Sim-glove, the SIM21.

This is a photo of my older Freem pair:

Freem’s sim gloves have all of the features you’d hope for: grip, screen compatibility and so on.

They’re very light, using a thin and very stretchy fabric.

Freem has revised the fabrics on the palm surface with what they call “L-Grip” which is intended to provide high levels of grip on the steering wheel and wheel controls.

The SIM21s weigh just 32 grams, and they’re touchscreen-compatible on the index finger and thumb.

My only mild complaint with my old Freem pair is that the fingers are slightly too long for my hands. If you have longer fingers, you won’t have a problem with them.

Alpinestars Tech-1 K V3 Gloves

The Alpinestars Tech-1 K V3 is a karting glove. It has a long gauntlet cuff with an elasticated wrist.

Karting gloves are thicker than you need in the simulator and less breathable than a sim racing glove, and plenty of them don’t have touchscreen tips. Alpinestars’ Tech-1 K V3 gloves are certified to the FIA’s karting glove standard (8877-2022 Grade 1), and Alpinestars says they were the first gloves to meet it. They list at $144.95 on Alpinestars’ US site at the time of writing (October 2026).

If you drive a kart at the weekend and want one pair for both, the Tech-1 K V3 makes sense. For the sim alone, a thinner glove like the F33L SR2 will keep you cooler.

Opinion: What are the Best Gloves for Sim Racing?

Well that’s the question, isn’t it? I’ve tried plenty of gloves over the years (I loved the Augury pair I owned for well over a year).

Honestly, for me, it’s F33L. I’ve been driving in their gloves for a few years now, and the SR2s are the pair I reach for without thinking about it. They’re snug and light.

Need a hand? How to Measure Yourself for your Next Pair of Sim Racing Gloves

Measuring your hands to fit your sim racing gloves is very easy. Just measure the circumference of your hand with a tape measure:

As you can see from the diagram above, measure the circumference of your hand following the path of the red line in the image. Then take that measurement and compare it to the manufacturer’s size guide.

Each size guide will be slightly different, so just because you’re an “M” for a set of gloves from Alpinestars doesn’t mean the same thing with Freem, F33L, Sparco, and so on. I think the safer choice is always to go slightly smaller than you think you need, not larger. And always check the sizing guide on the product page!

Whatever you choose, gloves enhance your sense of enjoyment in the simulator. I recommend all drivers choose a pair of gloves and then get onto a good pair of boots, too.

---

Related Articles