Simulator peripheral manufacturer Moza has revealed its first ever officially licensed Xbox wheel, the R3, set for launch in the final quarter of 2023.
Unveiled as a bundle, the R3 consists of a full setup of wheel, wheelbase, and pedals (affiliate link), coming in at $399 (€439/£399) and, notably, offers direct drive technology.
The R3 base itself is the centerpiece of the bundle, consisting of a 3.9Nm direct drive unit. In wheels of this type, the motor output shaft is the wheel shaft, rather than driving it through gears or belts. That means all of your inputs and all of the force feedback effects coming the other way are driven by the motor itself.
There’s a quick-release system which allows you to swap other, compatible wheels onto the base, which is made from “aviation-grade aluminum alloy” and sports a very subtle “X” shaped design.
For the purposes of the bundle you’ll receive a Moza ES wheel rim for Xbox. This is the same wheel as the regular ES rim — a 280mm diameter, 4mm thick wheel also made from aviation-grade aluminum alloy — only with an Xbox button in place of the start button.
It features 22 fully customizable buttons and a customizable “flow light” LED shift indicator, and is wrapped in polyurethane with aluminum alloy shift paddles.
Finally the bundle includes a set of the SR-P Lite pedals, also found in the regular R5 bundle. This set of two pedals features a steel base and steel pedal arms, with Hall effect sensors. A third pedal is also available, as is an accessory kit with some different springs.
If you have other wheel rims and pedals from across the Moza range, you’ll be able to use most of them with the R3. Only a handful of older rims are listed as not being supported.
Although not featuring on yesterday’s list of wheels that will be compatible with Forza Motorsport on Xbox, we suspect that’s just a matter of the timings of the announcements. We’d fully expect FM players will have access to this officially licensed wheel, and there’s a good chance it’ll become available around the title’s October 10 launch date.
