4-Year Review: Simucube 2 Pro – The Pinnacle of Sim Racing

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I’ve owned my Simucube 2 Pro for almost 4 years now, and I’ve never felt the need to update my setup with anything else. You’ll have seen lots of photos of my racing simulator dotted around the site, and while other items of kit change constantly, the SC2 Pro is pretty much anchored down. It isn’t going anywhere – and today I’d like to explain why.

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While I am a Simucube fan, I also own a CSL DD which I must say, holds its own in terms of FFB quality, despite supplying far lower torque levels. I’m not sure that people want to read *yet another* Simucube 2 Pro review, so, I want to start with something a lot of newer sim racers might not realise:

Simucube is an accessible Direct Drive product, even for beginners.

Upon unboxing the Simucube 2 Pro, its robust and compact design commands immediate respect. It’s heavy! Weighing a hefty 11.1 kg, the industrial design makes a clear statement of its professional-grade capabilities.

This device is not just hardware; it’s a dedication to the art of sim racing.

Simucube vs. Other Direct Drive Wheels

In the saturated market for direct drive wheels, the Simucube 2 Pro stands out with its smooth force feedback and very detailed road feel. I like to be reasonably pragmatic about wheelbase choice, at the higher end of the market the differences in hardware are quite negligible, as is the force feedback once properly set up.

It is the setup that most people find a real challenge. Especially if you’re new to direct drive, there’s a high likelihood that you’ll be disappointed with the wheelbase on your first time out. That’s because there are 30 or so individual FFB settings for some wheelbase, and the best profile settings are available, but they’re spread all over the Internet. This makes tuning your wheelbase quite difficult.

Simucube’s calibration software is called “TrueDrive”, and, TrueDrive has a section called Paddock. Paddock is an online community where you can try out profiles from top sim racers (and strong hobbyists alike). You can search by software, category and more – I most often use Dan Suzuki’s FFB profile.

Paddock is evidence of a strong emphasis on community. As we know, Community is a real advantage for the Simucube 2 Pro – individual members are helpful and especially supportive of new users. The Granite Devices forum and support channels provide invaluable resources for optimising FFB

If, as a beginner, you think that Simucube is too much of a step from a lower-priced belt or gear drive wheel or, that Simucube is not for beginners, you might be surprised!

How to Install: Simucube 2 Pro

The SC2 Pro, Sport, Ultimate and Mige 130 Motors all have a universal, front fitment. That means you need a front mounting bracket, designed to fit directly to your aluminium profile chassis.

It’s easy to know what to buy: look for the “front mount” option when you’re buying your cockpit.

Quality is so important.

That’s why a front mounting bracket like this one from Sim-Lab is the best choice. It’s a solid lump of metal, and definitely won’t flex! If you’re a Sim Lab GT1 owner, or otherwise have a flat mounting plate, “wheeldeck” for a wheelbase on your rig, then you need a particular design of bracket.

Some brackets are really not worth the money – they’re flimsy, aluminium items that have been cheaply made. So, be warned. Personally, I would choose a Simcore bracket, like this.

Installation is simple with the right components. Simucube uses M8 bolts (x4) to mount the wheelbase:

Here’s how I front mount my Simucube. This collection of M8 bolts and 10mm thick aluminium means my Simucube is rock solid:

Once you’ve got it mounted, it pays to check that you’ll be happy with the positioning so that the angle of the steering wheel makes sense. Sit in your cockpit with a wheel attached (we’ll come onto mounting the wheel with the SQR hub in a moment).

You should be able to change the angle so that you’re comfortable with the wheel in your hands.

Cable tidiness

I’m not sure how the cable tidy professionals do it. No matter how hard I try, I’m never happy with the outcome. A few tricks and parts have helped my installations become a bit more bearable over time though.

I’m sure you’ve seen worse! What hinders the cable tidiness of my installation is that I own the earlier, 2xPSU Simucube 2 Pro. The newer “release 2” models ship with a single power supply. Alas, this Simucube PSU mounting bracket works very neatly and an IEC Y-Splitter mains cable will reduce your mains cabling burden a fair bit if you’re running an earlier 2 PSU Simucube.

You’ll notice I’ve mounted the E-Stop to the aluminium profile. That’s because the case has two small holes on the back. If you take the lid off, you’ll find them. Using a screwdriver, you can carefully open them up enough to get a bolt through. If you turn the box on the side those two holes (luckily) mate with the profile slots. Easy!

SQR Hub installation

The Simucube SQR hub comes fitted to the Simucube range. And for good reason – it’s a simple, solid little unit. There is no play or flex whatsoever. If I had to choose one QR hub for the rest of my sim racing career I’d be more than happy to stick with the SQR.

There are 3 parts to an SQR hub, and I can tell you from experience it pays to loosely attach it together first, to make sure you know how everything is going to align when it’s tightened up.

You mount the centrepiece to the wheel adapter plate first and tighten the bolts with spring washers (they can come loose if you don’t do a good job of this!).

Then, attach the hub adapter at the end. It pays to check how this will all line up on the steering wheel so that the QR pin can’t foul a paddle shifter.

The diameter of the SQR hub body means that it’s too easy to scratch the anodized aluminium with a hex key. If you’ve got a ball joint style hex key, this is a great use case:

Here’s the wheel mounted to the Simucube 2 Pro with everything ready for setup:

Simucube Settings

Simucube runs on TrueDrive software. TrueDrive is easy to install – download the latest version from Granite Devices, extract the zip file to a folder and run the exe file. I have a shortcut set up on my Streamdeck too.

When you first run TrueDrive (make your Simucube is powered), it’ll run through the firmware update process. Again, it’s completely pain-free:

Once your firmware is updated, you can more or less start driving. For a primer on Simucube’s settings, I recommend you read my article on G-Performance:

Here are my settings, which I think work really well with the GT3 class cars:

What is the Simucube like to drive?

Every time I go back to the Simucube, I’m delighted. There’s something about the detail – not just the smoothness, but the realism of the complete package.

It’s the little details, like when you have a front lock with a steering angle, the wheel will pull slightly in the direction that your wheel is turned as if the tyre walls are folding.

Some real thought has been put into the FFB interpretation, and to me, it just works. The information you get as you drive around the circuit just seems so convincing, detailed and relevant.

As I’ve already mentioned I much prefer the SQR hub – it genuinely does not flex. It’s beautifully machined and looks the part. Finally, there’s a nice feature when peak torque is causing a clipping event; an audible beep – which is super useful when you’re setting up the correct torque settings in your sim software FFB.

In summary

Pros:

• High-Quality Force Feedback: I think the FFB is exceptional overall, and it hasn’t stopped improving, with a 360hz clock setting available for iRacing
• Build Quality and Durability: The design is an industrial, professional-grade build that is clearly meant to last.
• Community and Support: The strong community and support network around Simucube is a significant advantage, saving me so much time finding a good FFB profile- all thanks to TrueDrive Paddock.
• Ease of Installation: As I hope I’ve demonstrated above, installation is straightforward
• Software: TrueDrive is the game-changing calibration software that no other wheelbase manufacturer has got close to replicating, thanks to the Paddock community
• Wireless Wheel Technology: I use the wireless wheel technology on occasion – there’s no lag or latency and it’s incredibly convenient not to have a cable dangling around!

Cons:

• Price: The Simucube 2 Pro is priced at the higher end – to counter this, I’ve had no problems with mine over the last 4 years and I don’t intend to change my wheelbase for a long time either.
• Physical Size and Weight: This is a heavy, high-torque motor unit and it needs a proper cockpit and mounting solution. This is no desktop wheel!
• Cable tidiness with the R1 version: My version uses two PSUs so I have a lot more cable issues. Simucube replaced the R1 version with the single PSU, R2 version – so this is no longer a problem for new Simucube owners.

Despite being some 4 years old now (the software / firmware are more like weeks old – it’s updated often!), the Simucube 2 Pro is everything you’ll ever need in a sim racing wheelbase. It’s easily the best direct drive wheel the sim racing industry has to offer, and despite the inflow of Chinese copies of this design, the original is still the best.

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Topic: Direct Drive Wheels