The Simagic GT Neo is Simagic’s attempt to create the best value entry-level wheel in sim racing, but does it live up to the hype?
WATCH: The BEST VALUE Wheel In Sim Racing? | Simagic GT Neo First Impressions
Simagic has been making huge waves in recent years, with their wheelbases, pedals, wheels and accessories being received well by the community at large.
The Simagic GT Neo wheel is their attempt to create the best value entry-level wheel in sim racing, but does it live up to the hype?
I’ve been using the GT Neo every day for the past month. Here’s my first impressions, and what you should know if you’re thinking of picking the wheel up for yourself.
Before we start, a big thank you to Simagic for sending this wheel across – but, as always, they have no idea what I’m going to say, and they’re reading this article at the same time you are. Let’s dive in!
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Simagic sent me both their GT Neo wheel and their MagLink system, which makes it compatible with non-Simagic wheelbases, coming together to £240.60 – plus shipping & taxes – here in the UK. This puts the GT Neo firmly below the likes of the Moza KS (£305.00) and the Cube Controls F-CORE (£475.10), but above wheels such as the FANATEC CSL Elite McLaren GT3 (£203.02) and the Cammus GTS (£155.45).
The wheel comes inside a dust bag surrounded by cardboard and a foam topper, and includes a quick start guide, a USB-C connecting cable, a whole bunch of stickers for the wheel and your rig, and a 2mm allen key. The wheel is 300mm in diameter and comes with Simagic’s redesigned Quick Release, which now has a small lip, making it much easier to take off your wheelbase.
The MagLink system came in a separate foam-filled box, and included its mounting hardware and a 3mm allen key. Bar a minor quality control issue – some of the cable tape was stuck to the inside of the rim – the MagLink install was a quick & easy process. Simagic have a full video walkthrough on their YouTube channel to guide you, and there’s ample support available through their Discord too.
If you do this MagLink install yourself, there’s three things to note; yes, everything you need is in the box, yes, those connectors do take more effort to remove than you think, and yes, you do need to use all 6 replacement screws provided – and be sure to screw them in tightly to prevent any rattling.
With the MagLink installed, the wheel connects to your PC via two cables – one from the magnetic connector on the wheel to a male USB, the other from a female USB into your PC. The cable that plugs into the wheel uses a nice thick, rubberised cord, and once that magnetic connection is made, it’s properly secure – and takes a lot of effort to remove! You won’t ever unintentionally break this connection, that’s for sure.
The GT Neo features four flappy paddles, four rotaries, two thumb encoders, two analog–style sticks and 10 buttons.
The two magnetic shifters are relatively quiet, with a short throw and a nice clicky feel. You can also adjust the shifter paddle length with the 2mm allen key to find what’s comfortable for you – great if you have small hands like me.
The two clutch paddles are fairly weighty, with medium-strength springs and a long throw. If you’re used to operating these paddles with your pinkies, they’ll be getting a good workout!
The rotaries and encoders feel lubricated but they’re still clicky – they’re easy enough to turn, but you won’t be making any accidental inputs.
The analog sticks provide solid feedback when used, and the layout is sensible, with everything in an easy-to-reach location, so you can be confident in making adjustments without having to look at the wheel.
Booting up my PC, Simagic’s SimPro Manager 2 software is easy-to-use, and the customization is excellent. On top of the basics such as colour customisation and throttle light configuration, you can also sync particular lights to flash for yellow flags, ABS activation and more – and from my testing so far, that’s worked flawlessly.
Setting up keybinds was a breeze, and the software allows you to adjust the button input codes and create multiple aliases. This is great if you switch gear regularly, want different keybinds in different games, or have more than one person using the same sim rig.
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I tried the GT Neo in a wide range of cars – open-wheelers, GT3s, oval racers and more, across iRacing, Rennsport and Assetto Corsa – and I have to say, I was pretty impressed.
The carbon-fibre composite construction – basically a carbon-fibre infused injection-molded plastic – not only gives it a grown-up, fit-for-purpose finish, but also makes it rock solid, with virtually no noticeable flex. It has both the look and the feel of a much more premium product, so that’s a big plus in the GT Neo’s camp.
I’m using the GT Neo with my Moza R12, and the compatibility is great – I pushed the wheel onto my base, plugged in the MagLink cable and everything worked perfectly.
With that said, the USB-to-USB connection between the two cables connecting the wheel to my PC wasn’t the strongest. In my first few laps, it actually came loose and disconnected the wheel – but after a bit of fiddling and using a few cable ties attached to the underside of my wheelbase plate, I’ve had no further problems.
The GT Neo feels “balanced” – evenly-weighted on the wheelbase with no discernable differences through the turning range. Using my go-to wheelbase settings, the road feel through the wheel was fantastic. Surface changes, curbs, lock-ups – they all came through in a way I was familiar with without feeling muted.
Speaking of feel, the grips on the GT Neo are noticeably thicker than what I’m used to. My hands wrap around the grips without any fingers overlapping, providing a solid base for controlling the wheel. I wouldn’t say the grips are uncomfortable, they just take a bit of getting used to – whether you’re wearing gloves or not.
The shifters were the star of the show. The short throw and decisive “clicks” are surprisingly quiet but equally inspire confidence, and running the Ferrari F2004 in Assetto Corsa, the wheel could more than keep up with the speed of my downshifts – that’s not always a given with wheels at this price point.
I have a friend who often comes over to have a go on the rig, and they had a roughly similar impression with the GT Neo: it felt sturdy, like a “proper” wheel, and it inspired confidence in their driving.
It wasn’t all plain sailing though.
I use the two analog sticks to control my black boxes in iRacing – cycling through options, changing fuel levels, making tyre changes – that sort of thing. It’s therefore crucial that I’m confident in using them – but with the ones on the GT Neo, I kept finding myself either making incorrect adjustments – for example, pressing “up” when trying to press “left” – or unintentionally making a direction input when trying to press the stick in. It’s a minor distraction, but it’s also one more thing I need to actively think about when I’m racing.
The SimPro software was also a little hit-or-miss. One time, I loaded into a session to find the throttle lights stuck on full. Another time, they wouldn’t light up at all – and yet another time, it wouldn’t register any button inputs. The software also seemed to trip up when I switched between games in the same play session.
Furthermore, at the end of the day, I usually put my PC to sleep (rather than turning it off) – but when I wake it again, the SimPro software doesn’t record any button inputs from the wheel. Closing and reopening the software doesn’t fix this problem, so every time I want to race, I need to restart my PC. I’m sure this is something they can fix, but it is a little frustrating to have to restart my computer every time I sit at my rig.
I headed to Watkins Glen in the Porsche GT3 for some hotlaps, and with no warmup I was quickly lapping within a second of my all-time record – I’m pretty happy with that.
With the GT Neo, I feel in control. Confident. Like I’m sat at the wheel of an actual car, rather than using a plastic toy to move pixels on a screen. If the GT Neo feels this good when I’m hotlapping, I can’t wait to dive into a race.
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Off to Okayama for the Formula Vee series in iRacing, and I’m pleased to report that I scored a number of good results. I might have only been driving an oversized go-kart with a sub-100hp engine that sounds like a lawnmower, but I quickly felt comfortable with the GT Neo and it did make me feel more confident – and therefore, I felt I was more consistent.
Over to Daytona in the Trucks and it was much of the same. I even got my first Superspeedway victory! The thickness of the grips means that even with high force feedback, you never feel like you’re not in full control – and whilst it was a little uncomfortable for my hands, after a few multi-hour sessions, that discomfort was firmly in the rear-view mirror.
Switching over to some Rallycross, and it was here that the shape of the grips and placement of the shifters really started to make sense.
I typically run 540 degrees of steering angle, and so for tight turns, my arms are fully crossed over. WIth other wheels, it can be difficult to reach the shifters in this position, but with the GT Neo, the grip shape makes it easy to shift your hand position, and even with my hands I could comfortably reach both shifters. Whether in formula cars, prototypes, GT3s or indeed in a rallycross machine, I never had any issues with reaching my shifters – it’s great to see that the wheel works well across a wide variety of cars.
The buttons, rotaries and encoders were all enjoyable to use. The position of the encoders in particular makes it really easy to make quick adjustments, and the buttons give a reassuring click once pressed. I did find that the button covers seemed to wiggle around a bit, but that didn’t affect how they worked – they’ve been perfectly reliable so far.
I’m using the lower two rotaries for my traction control and ABS, and it is a little difficult to know what my settings are at a glance. It would be nice to have some printed numbers on the wheel itself, or a better-designed rotary knob that makes it clearer which position it’s in. I have found some third-party aftermarket rotary knobs which look much better – but it’d be great to see something like this as standard.
As my familiarity with the wheel grew with each chequered flag I saw, my hands felt more at home with the wheel, and it became much easier to make adjustments without looking. Today, I feel totally at home with the GT Neo, and it’s quickly become one of my favourite wheels to use right now. The solid build quality, how it feels in my hands, the confidence it inspires in my driving; it’s a piece of kit I know I can rely on – and I can’t ask for more than that.
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On paper, the Simagic GT Neo makes a very good case for being the best value entry-level wheel in sim racing – and after a month with the wheel so far, it may very well live up to that mantra.
Its rigidity, thoughtful layout and universal compatibility with the MagLink system makes the GT Neo a really compelling option.
The short, clicky and adjustable shifters are some of the best I’ve used at this price point, the carbon-fibre composite construction is unlike anything else in its range, and the various buttons, rotaries and encoders all work a charm – it’s scarcely believable that this all comes at a price that’s this affordable.
The lack of indents on the analog sticks makes them a little fiddly to use, and with no printed numbers on the rotaries it’s difficult to read them at a glance.
The quality control is so-so, with small gaps and misalignments where some parts meet, a few bumps from the injection mold, and the internal cable tape issue I mentioned earlier.
The SimPro software definitely needs some reliability fixes, and for me, the grips are slightly too large and the clutch paddle throw is a little too long – but those really are nitpicks.
The entry-level sim racing hardware market has been ablaze with action over the past year, and with the GT Neo, Simagic have firmly set the benchmark for what an entry-level wheel should be.
Bringing together the price, the performance and alternatives in the same price range, I’m giving the Simagic GT Neo a First Impressions score of 9/10.
I hope you’ve found my First Impressions of the Simagic GT Neo helpful. This wheel is my daily driver right now, so if you have any questions, ask away in the comments below and I’ll help you out as best I can.
My full review of the GT Neo, plus direct comparisons with other wheels on the market, will be coming in the near future.
If you’d like to purchase the Simagic GT Neo, you can help support TOP SPLIT at no extra cost with this link: https://shop.simagic.com/products/gt-neo-bundle?ref=8Zfl8LA4CnJSop
Use code TOPSPLIT at checkout for 3% off any Simagic purchase!
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