The Best Sim Racing Pedals – Buyer’s Guide

Featured image: Fanatec’s new Podium pedals

If you’ve been following some of my recent posts, you’ll be up to speed with my view on the best sim racing wheels, wheelbases, and sim racing cockpits available on the consumer market. We’ve also gone over how to assemble a rig from scratch, which we covered with a broader look at some of the vital information you need to understand before spending a penny.

In my humble opinion, a pedal upgrade can be the most significant update you can make on your racing rig.

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Of course, a sim rig isn’t complete without a set of racing pedals, so here I’m going to give a detailed breakdown of what pedal features you need to know about, and what the best product choices out there might be when it comes to budget, performance, feel, and overall quality.

If you’re just starting out, my budget pick is the set that comes with the Logitech G923. After that, I think the next step would be Moza’s load cell pedals – not the cheap basic ones, but the Moza CRP2. My own first upgrade was to the Heusinkveld Sprints, and it’s usually your first upgrade that’s the most memorable. With a bigger budget, there’s the SimTrecs ProPedal GT, which I had fitted to my rig in 2022. Right at the top of the price range sits the Simucube ActivePedal, and at that end you should expect to pay four-figure sums.

For your first set of sim racing pedals at a PC desk, a bundle can make more sense than buying pedals on their own. A bundle includes a wheelbase, a wheel and, of course, the pedals. The Moza R5 Bundle comes with Moza’s SR-P Lite pedals (throttle and brake, no clutch), and the Fanatec CSL DD Ready2Race bundle comes with Fanatec’s CSL Pedals.

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Find your pedals | Why spend more | Load cells | Hydraulic feel | Mounting and flex | Budget pedals | Fanatec CSL Elite V2 | Moza CRP2 | Sim-Lab XP1 | Heusinkveld Sprint | Conspit CPP Lite | SimTrecs ProPedal GT | Simagic P2000 and P1000 | Heusinkveld Ultimate+ | Fanatec Podium Pedals | Cube Controls SP01 | Active pedals

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How spending a bit more on your pedals pays off

Pedals are, as you might expect, a crucial interface between you and your car’s attitude on the track. Trail braking and good throttle control are the name of the game when it comes to faster lap times.

That’s certainly the experience I’ve had over the years, and with every pedal upgrade I’ve had, I’ve found two main issues tend to surface:

• That I have better brake control and can trail into a corner more precisely
• That I can control the car with the throttle more accurately

Generally speaking, you’ll find in “high-end” sim racing pedals that the components (and the mechanical design of the units) tend to handle the kind of brake forces you’d expect in a real racing car. They also, critically, have the electronics onboard to measure the input on the throttle, brake and clutch with load cells. The electronics get quite sensitive the further up the development (and cost!) spectrum you travel, but the benefit of this is that you can notice just how fine your control is over the simulated environment.

You tend to start on standard, ordinary pedals, and it’s usually your first upgrade that’s the most memorable and the best. Mine was to the Heusinkveld Sprints. The control over the brake, particularly trail braking into a corner, was so much more exquisite – so much easier and more accurate to be consistent lap by lap, which is what a good pedal set buys you. The law of diminishing returns applies here too. Budget pedals from Moza, Fanatec and the rest only get you so far, and once you start to get a really fine sense of pedal control you’ll find them frustrating, because they just don’t feel like a real car.

What are load cells, and how are they used in pedals?

A load cell is also known as a “force transducer“. Unlike a potentiometer, you can put very high loads through a load cell, measuring the force as an electrical signal that is then amplified in the pedal electronics.

Load Cell Pedals

The benefit, aside from dealing with very high forces associated with the brake pedal, is that the mechanical aspect of the overall pedal design can be simpler. A potentiometer would need some sort of leverage reduction to remove the forces (50kg would physically crush a potentiometer!).

The drawback is that the electronics required are arguably more complicated; although in an engineering sense, the work required to build a good load cell amplifier with a USB adapter is pretty trivial stuff.

None of this says that “potentiometer-based pedals are bad” because they aren’t. You can do a very nice job of dealing with the pedal signal by using potentiometers, too; in fact, the Vishay potentiometers mentioned in the diagram above are considered to be very high quality.

Hydraulic pedals and the feel of a real brake

At the very top of the budget range, you tend to find pedals with hydraulic dampers installed. I’ve tested the Heusinkveld Ultimate and Ultimate+ pedals on several occasions, and as we speak, I have a pair of Conspit CPP Lites fitted to my cockpit.

What I’ll say about hydraulic damping is this: When it’s done well, it feels awesome. Go and sit in your road car outside and compress the brake pedal. That hydraulic compression is something that elastomer/rubber dampers can’t emulate. As you release the pedal, you might find the pedal return is smooth and consistent.

That’s a feature of a two-way damper: compression, when you press the pedal down and rebound when you release. A good two-way damper on a brake pedal is unbeatable for control, provided it’s a good quality item. For what it’s worth, Heusinkveld does this very well, although I never personally felt the need to upgrade from my Sprints to the Ultimates.

A road car’s brake pedal might be quite soft compared to a real racing pedal, but the hydraulic feeling is the same, and getting close to that in the sim is the goal. That’s why I’ve always thought very highly of the better hydraulic pedals in our reviews, and why I’ve spent more of my time on high-end pedals than budget ones. Budget pedals are budget pedals.

Pedal base mounting and avoiding flex

For a long time, I ran with an RSEAT RS1 which was great with Fanatec pedals, but the base started to flex under the sort of 25-30kg brake forces I was using with the Sprints.

Check out this video and watch for the pedal base moving:

If you think about it, a mount that flexes even a few degrees only introduces an inconsistency in your brake technique by making the pedal response different every time you brake. This is far from ideal when you’re trying to be a competitive sim racer, where ultra-consistent driving is the key to any kind of result.

Eventually, I upgraded to a nice 8020-style rig, which is completely solid. You’re looking for almost no (preferably none!) chassis flex under braking from your sim rig.

Budget pedals: the Logitech G923, the Moza SRP2 and the Fanatec CSL Elite V2

For what it’s worth, I think the best budget pedals are the ones that come with the Logitech G923, particularly under a desk, because the base is heavy enough not to slip on the floor while you’re trying to drive. For a standalone set, there’s the Logitech RS Pedals. The brake has a 75 kg load cell and the throttle uses a Hall-effect sensor. A heel plate comes in the box, the clutch is sold separately, and the set connects to a PC over USB. The list price at logitechg.com is £119.99, and the set was on sale there at £99.99 on 28 September 2026. At the same end of the market, the Moza SRP2 has a 100 kg load cell in the brake.

Fanatec CSL Elite V2

The V1 version of these pedals were my first sim racing pedals, and I loved them.

So, great news that this popular pedal set from Fanatec returned in V2 form with an overhauled load cell brake, brand new Hall sensors on both the throttle and the clutch, and as you would expect, many refinements to the original design.

These pedals are a fantastic way to learn the art of sim racing. I would be very pleased to add these V2 CSL pedals to a budget build to save on cost without compromising quality.

The V2 is priced around the 299EUR mark, making them (in cost terms) around half of the price of a pair of Heusinkveld Sprints. But (as my experience tells me) when you put these on eBay, provided you’ve looked after them, you’ll be surprised how little they depreciate.

The Fanatec CSL Elite Pedals V2 have pedal arms, faces and a heel rest in cast and machined aluminium, with a powder-coated finish. The load cell in the brake is rated to over 200 kg, and Fanatec quotes up to 90 kg at the pedal plate.

You could pair these with a Fanatec CSL DD and have a really strong beginner sim racing setup.

Moza CRP2

The CRP2 is Moza’s flagship passive pedal set, and if you’re stepping up from budget pedals, I think it’s the next one to look at. The pedals are CNC-machined from aerospace-grade aluminium, with a carbon fibre heel plate. The brake runs a load cell rated to 200 kg.

You don’t need a Moza wheelbase to run the CRP2, as it connects to a PC over USB on its own.

Once the CRP2 is mounted on your rig, calibrate it in Pit House (Moza’s own software) before you go racing.

Our Moza CRP2 review goes into the set in more detail, or you can see the CRP2 on Moza’s website.

The CRP2 throttle also comes as a set with the Moza mBooster active brake pedal.

Sim-Lab XP1 Load Cell Pedals

We’ve reviewed the Sim-Lab XP1. Its brake is rated for up to 100 kg of pedal pressure, measured by a 200 kg load cell.

Heusinkveld Sprint Sim Pedals

On the next rung of the ladder in the sim pedal market, coming in at a considerable $585 for the two-pedal set at Trak Racer on 28 September 2026, the Heusinkveld Sprint Sim Pedals are a perfect choice for the serious hobbyist and eSports professional aspirant.

There’s a black version and the standard aluminium finish. Whichever version you choose (they are technically identical), these pedals have a strong, compact, and highly adjustable design with custom electronics, and they’re compatible with SmartControl. If you’re looking for pedals that help you to be both quick and consistent in GT or F1 style racing, these are a great choice.

Back in October 2022, when I’d had mine for coming up to two years, I’d tried modifying them with hydraulic dampers and really couldn’t see that the mod improved them.

I think Heusinkveld Sprints are so good they’re just pretty impossible to improve upon, unless, of course, you go for hydraulic pedals. If you’re a beginner upgrading to a better pedal set, I think you should go for Sprints.

Coming off an entry-level set from Logitech, Thrustmaster, Moza or Fanatec, you’ll notice how much more precisely you can work the brake and throttle.

One modification I have enjoyed (and stuck with) is a rumble kit mod that uses Simhub’s wheel slip and lock filters to give me more information on the grip levels underneath me. You can read the how-to on that kit installation here.

Conspit CPP Lite

The Conspit CPP Lite is the pedal set I’m running on my rig now. It’s CNC-machined, with a fully hydraulic brake, a clutch and a throttle. It also has haptic feedback, which means the pedals can vibrate. Everything runs from Conspit’s own driver and calibration software, Conspit Link.

I really like a good hydraulic feel. At this end of the market, I think anything with a good hydraulic brake and a nice smooth throttle is fine. Our full CPP Lite review covers the unboxing, the fitting and the Conspit Link software.

At the time of writing (September 2026), I have the newer version of the Conspit pedals on the bench and ready to install for testing.

Simtrecs ProPedal GT

Back in 2022, this was the pedal set I had installed on my rig. They’re wonderful things: careful CNC machining throughout, Vishay potentiometers and 200kg load cells with custom-made electronics and dampers. Most of the manufacturing takes place in-house at Simtrecs in Budapest, Hungary.

Their RC car roots allowed them to make their own dampers and they created a Smartcontrol-Esque calibration software package called SmartDrive.

Aside from the presentation (which is detailed and beautiful throughout), the pedal feel is also really good. The throttle is smooth and it feels very easy to control oversteer and rear traction. The brakes benefit from a nice and highly adjustable elastomer set and a 1-way hydraulic damper.

Read more about these pedals in my review here. They’re sold direct by Simtrecs.

Simagic P2000 and P1000

Available in a range of long and short pedal options with different strength load cell sensors, this was the only sim pedal set I could think of that gave you the option for a 100 kg or 200 kg load cell! Apex Sim Racing now lists the P2000r only with the 200 kg load cell. My maximum braking pressure is somewhere around 55 kg, so, for me, the 100 kg option would have been fine. My pedal plate is mounted about 40mm to the mounting plate for my pedals, too – so I would be inclined to take the “short” pedal option. But get the measuring tape out and measure what you’re comfortable with already.

The pedals themselves are very nicely made from “high-end” CNC machined aluminium, clearly some of which have been anodised black. The pedal set itself is supplied with a range of different strength elastomers, with adjustable dampers on both the brake and clutch and adjustable pre-load (stiffness) on the throttle. This gives you a fully adjustable pedal set that really looks the part.

In terms of mounting, these are intended for 8020-style aluminium profile sim rigs. Clearly, Simagic has quietly been amassing an ecosystem, with shifters, handbrakes and DD wheelbases available from them too.

The Simagic P1000 is the step below the P2000, and you can switch its brake from the 100 kg load cell over to a Hall-effect sensor. There’s a haptic pedal reactor available for it, and if you’d rather have a hydraulic brake, the P1000-RS comes with one fitted. The standard set has three pedals, while the P1000-F drops the clutch and the P1000i is the inverted version. At Apex Sim Racing on 28 September 2026, the three-pedal P1000 was $469 and the P1000-F was $419.

Heusinkveld Ultimate+ Pedals

At the higher end of the market, the Heusinkveld Ultimate+ Pedals have historically been the go-to for commercial simulators, enthusiasts and Pro drivers.

These pedals from Heusinkveld Engineering are suitable for high-end professional Motorsport simulators, and their strong, stiff, compact, and durable design allows for an instant and accurate response.

They can be used in the most demanding environments, and they’re capable of simulating the pedal forces experienced in F1 and LMP cars. The two-way hydraulic damper in the brake is, in my opinion, delivering the best sim pedal feel you can get in the market at the moment.

We’ve reviewed Heusinkveld’s update to their flagship pedal set, the Ultimate+. You can read all about them here.

Fanatec Podium Pedals

I haven’t had a set of Fanatec’s Podium Pedals on the rig yet. The brake on the Fanatec Podium Pedals runs a load cell rated to over 200 kg, calibrated for 150 kg at the pedal. Travel and resistance are adjusted without tools, through a staggered spring-cup arrangement Fanatec calls Compression Control. The Formula version has two pedals with carbon plates at $699.99, and it was showing as unavailable on fanatec.com on 28 September 2026. The Sport version is also two pedals, with GT-style aluminium plates, at $599.99 on the same date. The three-pedal GT package adds the clutch at $699.99, and Fanatec says pre-orders open soon, with shipping in autumn 2026. None of them has haptics.

Cube Controls SP01 pedals

Cube Controls has replaced the SP01 with the SP01 Core, and you can read our review of the SP01 here.

The SP01 has a CNC-machined aluminium body, a carbon throttle plate and press-fit ball bearings throughout.

The SP01 Core was out of stock at Advanced Sim Racing, Apex Sim Racing and Res-Tech on 28 September 2026.

Active pedals: Simucube ActivePedal and Moza mBooster

If money is not an issue, take a look at the Simucube ActivePedal.

An active pedal is driven by a motor. That means you set the pedal feel in software, and the same motor plays ABS, traction control, RPM and road texture effects back through the pedal. The Simucube ActivePedal Pro has 110 kg of maximum force and 74 mm of travel, and it needs a Simucube Link Hub. The Pro was €1,402 at simucube.com on 28 September 2026. The Simucube ActivePedal Ultimate goes up to 170 kg and switches its profile automatically for each car.

Moza makes an active pedal too, called the mBooster.

Whatever you choose to do, always remember to enjoy the process of improving your driving and always race clean!

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Topic: Sim Racing Pedals