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.

Today, we’re looking at sim racing pedals.

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Of course, a sim rig isn’t complete without a set of racing pedals. In my buyer’s guide, I’m going to give a detailed breakdown of what sim 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.

It’s difficult to arrange sim equipment on the basis of which is “best” simply because all budgets are different. So, I’ve chosen pedals I know will be a joy to use, whatever your spending limit.

Broadly, the pedals get more pricey the further down the list you go. At the high end, expect to pay 4 figure sums. For me, I’d always choose the Heusinkveld Sprints at the mid-budget level, the SimTrecs ProPedal GT at a higher budget level and the Simucube ActivePedal at the very highest possible budget. If you’re a beginner – the Fanatec CSL V2s are the best of the bunch.

If you’re a beginner and you’re looking for your first set of sim racing pedals to run at your PC desk, you might be looking for a bundle. Bundles include a wheelbase, wheel and of course, the sim pedals. If that’s you, I recommend you take a look at the Moza R5 Bundle or the Fanatec CSL DD bundles:

I’ve been testing sim racing gear for over 6 years now, and I’ve had the chance to try out almost every pedal set since the Fanatec CSL V2’s arrived.

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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

Find your pedals

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 what win you lap time, and neither works well through a mushy set of pedals.

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, I’ve returned to my Conspit CPP Lite pedals.

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’ve never personally felt the need to upgrade from my Sprints.

That road car brake pedal is the point. It might be quite soft compared to a real racing pedal, but the feeling is the same, and getting close to that – replicating it in the sim – is the goal. It’s why I’ve always thought so highly of the better hydraulic sets I’ve reviewed, the Conspits I’m running now included, 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 higher 25-40kg brake forces I was applying to the Sprints brake pedals.

Here’s a trail braking video (so check out the technique) – sadly, the pedal base is flexing:

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 G923’s, 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: the base is heavy enough not to slip on the floor while you’re trying to drive. Logitech now sells the RS Pedals separately – 75 kg load cell brake, Hall-effect throttle, heel plate, clutch as a separate module – at £119.99 from logitechg.com, into the RS50 base or a PC over USB. The Moza SRP2 is the budget load cell set to beat in my review: a 100 kg load cell, $149 at mozaracing.com, USB to the PC or into a Moza base, clutch as an add-on.

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 returns 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. We’ve covered budget, and higher-end sim builds before. I would be very pleased to add these V2 CSL pedals to a budget build to save on cost without compromising quality – retailing at $329.99 at fanatec.com on 12 September 2026.

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 key thing for me with these pedals is that they’re rock solid – despite a comparatively low price, their forged metal construction makes these a resilient and tough pedal kit.

You could pair these with a Fanatec CSL DD setup and have a really strong beginner sim racing setup. So much better than the Fanatec Clubsport V3 pedals – try to avoid those!

Moza CRP2

Moza’s latest revision, the CRP2 pedals feel really good underfoot. The load cell-based brake is a very tidy design, with a cast aluminium body, smooth hydraulic damper and sensitive load cell rated to 200KG! These are the sort of pedals that don’t feel compromised; they’re sensitive and smooth enough to develop your trail braking and throttle control:

A lot of our newer readers have switched over to the Moza ecosystem, which of course, this pedal set is intended for. However, if you don’t own a Moza wheelbase, the set is USB-compatible too.

The pedal base supplied has a USB module installed on its underside. Assembly is really simple, just place the throttle and brake where you’d prefer it to sit, mount the pedal base and calibrate it all in Pit House before going racing.

I elected to mount the pedals individually, directly to my Sim-Lab P1X Pro pedal deck, which is simply a matter of removing the USB controller from the base. I’m sure most sim racers opt not to do this but it is possible, just if you were wondering!

I reviewed the CRP2 pedals here, and to be completely fair to Moza, they’ve really nailed that brake and throttle feel. Take a look at what I thought, or see them on the Moza website here.

As a quick aside, I ran the CRP2 throttle with the Moza mBooster – they pair very well together because teh mBooster is compatible with the CRP2 throttle.

Sim-Lab XP-1 Load Cell Pedals

I tested Sim-Lab’s latest XP-1 Load Cell-based pedals a while back. They look and feel incredible:

These pedals are a good 10 to 15mm wider than the Heusinkveld Sprints below but are easily mounted on either an Aluminium profile or a Universal pedal plate. They’re supplied with all the fixings you need and are highly adjustable, smooth-feeling pedals to work with.

I think these pedals are ideal for beginner to advanced intermediate drivers, and put simply, by being late to market Sim-Lab have learned from a lot of pedal manufacturers, and customers, to build a very up-to-date pedal kit. Read my review of the XP1 pedal set here.

Heusinkveld Sprint Sim Pedals

Sprints are an absolute staple of the sim pedal market, coming in at $585 for the two-pedal set at Trak Racer (12 September 2026), the Heusinkveld Sprint Sim Pedals are a perfect choice for the serious hobbyist or eSports professional aspirant. I remember my Sprints extremely fondly as they really opened up a level of control in the sim I’d never experienced before.

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.

I owned mine for about two years. At that time, I tried modifying them with hydraulic dampers and really couldn’t see that this mod improved them. I sold them, reluctantly, on eBay, and I’ve regretted it ever since!

I think Heusinkveld Sprints are so good they’re very difficult to improve upon, unless, of course, you go for Hydraulic pedals. On that note, if you’re a beginner upgrading to a better pedal set, I think you should go for Sprints.

They offer a noticeable improvement in pedal input precision if you’ve been working with entry-level items from Logitech, Thrustmaster, Moza or Fanatec, you’ll find time and consistency quickly. A serious pedal set for reasonable cash.

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

Today I’m pleased to report on my experience with the Conspit CPP Lite, a CNC machined pedal set with a fully hydraulic brake system, a nice clutch and throttle and haptic feedback, all running from its own driver and calibration software. The first thing you need to overcome is that Conspit isn’t a very familiar brand over here in the UK and US – they are very well known in China and Japan, and automotive technology and racing technology development are their background.

You get used to the brake pedal very quickly. That’s because it just feels right, a proper hydraulic system which, out of the box, seems to be adjusted perfectly – I honestly don’t feel inclined to make any changes. They have lovely compression and rebound, which is smooth but critically, the hydraulic system emulates a real car brake pedal feel brilliantly. My full CPP Lite review covers the unboxing, the fitting and the Conspit Link software.

I’m still running the CPP Lites, and the newer Conspit pedal set is sitting on the bench, ready to install for testing.

Simtrecs ProPedal GT

This is the pedal set I had installed on my rig before the Conspits arrived. 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. I’ve been running these pedals for almost two years and they’re just as new as the day I opened the box.

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 is the only sim pedal set I can think of that gives you the option for a 100KG or 200KG loadcell! My maximum braking pressure is somewhere around 55 kg, so, for me, the 100 kg option would be 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. Simagic has quietly been working away on a brand-new and very high-quality ecosystem. I think they’re a brand to watch in 2025.

The P1000 is Simagic’s step below the P2000: a three-pedal set with a 100 kg load cell on the brake (switchable to a Hall sensor), 7.6 kg, and a few forms to choose from. The P1000-F drops the clutch, the P1000-RS ships with the P-HYS hydraulic cylinder fitted to the same 100 kg load cell, and the P1000i is the inverted version. The P-HYS kit bolts onto an existing set later, the P-HPR haptic reactor is optional throughout, and Apex Sim Racing has the standard set at $419.

Heusinkveld Ultimate+ Pedals

At perhaps 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 recently reviewed Heusinkveld’s latest update to their flagship pedal set: the Ultimate+. You can read all about them here. Both offerings from Heusinkveld have been around a long time – a testament in my opinion, to the timelessness of the design and an indicator that they simply don’t need to be improved.

However, there are now many pedal manufacturers, so take this into account when you’re choosing.

Fanatec Podium Pedals

I haven’t had a set of Fanatec’s Podium Pedals on the rig yet. The brake runs a load cell rated above 200 kg, calibrated for 150 kg at the pedal, with travel and resistance adjusted tool-free through a staggered spring-cup arrangement Fanatec calls Compression Control. Three versions: the Formula (two pedals, carbon plates, $699.99, sold out at fanatec.com as I write), the Sport (two pedals, GT-style aluminium plates, $599.99) and a three-pedal GT package at $699.99 on pre-order. No clutch module yet, and no haptics.

Cube Controls SP01 pedals

The Cube Controls SP01 sim racing pedals are finally upon us, and last year I had the opportunity to run them on my simulator to learn more about them. Check out the review, here.

Featuring a CNC-machined aluminium main body and a 100% carbon fibre throttle plate, the SP01 Pedals deliver superior precision and durability.

The SP01 pedals feature a range of impressive technical specifications that make them stand out from other simulator pedals on the market. For starters, the pedals include precision press-fit ball bearings on all pivot points, ensuring smooth and accurate movement that is essential for optimal performance.

The current version is the SP01 Core, and as I write it’s out of stock at Advanced Sim Racing, Apex and Res-Tech alike – everything in my review still stands.

Active pedals: Simucube ActivePedal and Moza mBooster

If you’re running on an extremely high budget, check out the the Simucube ActivePedal. When it first arrived it was quite a shock – noone had heard of a direct drive pedal before. Simucube came along and essentially reinvented what sim racing pedal technoclogy looks like. You get: unlimited adjustability, repeatability, and unique telemetry-based force feedback effects.

The ActivePedal introduces an active feedback loop that replicates the sensation of driving a real car, from the feeling of brake pads interfacing with the rotor to the vibrations synchronising with the engine RPM. As put by F1 Engineer, Ossi Oikarinen, this product “changes the whole braking game in sim racing.”

What “active” means is that the pedal is a motor, so everything you’d adjust with an Allen key – force, travel, the force curve, preload, end-stop feel, damping and friction – is set in software, and the same motor plays ABS, G-force, RPM and traction control back through the pedal. There are two: the ActivePedal Pro (110 kg maximum force, 74 mm travel, needs a Simucube Link Hub, €1,402 at simucube.com) and the ActivePedal Ultimate (170 kg, €1,999 for the primary set), which switches its profile automatically per car. Throttle and clutch come from the passive Co-Pedal or a second ActivePedal.

Something that has really interested me over the past few weeks is the onset of ActivePedal clones, and competitors. There’s a DIY Activepedal kit now – take a look at the coverage here. Further, Moza have released an equivalent style of active pedals 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