Logitech G920 review: A great entry point

The Logitech G920 racing wheel is one of the most popular entry-level ways to play your favorite racing game, whether it’s a classic Need for Speed or the newest Forza Motorsport.

There’s no doubt that sim racing is one of the most popular types of video games in recent years, with force feedback steering wheels becoming more accessible to those on a budget.

With Forza Motorsport set to release in October, there’s a whole new group of people looking for the latest racing wheel to enjoy the game with. However, there are a lot of racing enthusiasts on a tight budget, so how does the Logitech G920 stack up?

Well, we can tell you it’s definitely the one to buy if you’re on a budget.

Key Specs:

• Connectivity: USB-A
• Compatibility: PC, Xbox
• Force Feedback: Gear driven
• Price: $289.99 with Driving Force Shifter, $229 without
• Features: Force feedback, leather wrapped wheel, carpet grip on pedals

Design

The Logitech G920 racing wheel has quite possibly one of the best designs for a wheel in its sub-$300 price range.

From the plastic wheelbase, included desk clamp and adjustment knobs located at the top of the wheel, this feels like a budget device. However, we’re okay with it as it still holds onto our desk pretty well.

Dexerto

The wheel itself, however, is where Logitech really stepped up its game. The 10.24″ diameter wheel is made of a lightweight metal that doesn’t feel like it’s going to break mid-turn.

Most of the face buttons on the racing controller are mounted to a plastic addition to the top center of the G920, but using them during a race feels just as good as the rest of the wheel. Moreover, the outside rim is wrapped in leather that feels great in your hand and looks fantastic as well.

There are two metal paddles mounted behind the steering wheel itself as well, giving users the ability to effortlessly shift up and down.

Logitech includes a pedal set with the G920 purchase, and they’re well-built despite largely being made of plastic. The face of each pedal is made from a similar metal as the wheel itself, giving it an appreciated premium feel.

The body of the pedal set is all thick plastic, and once you flip it over, you’ll see one of the reasons why they are popular — an excellent carpet grip. After flipping it down, the spiked surface grips your carpet and prevents almost all movement while using the pedals.

Dexerto

We tested the Logitech G Driving Force shifter alongside the wheel and pedals, and it’s designed similarly to the rest of the setup. The body of the shifter is plastic, with a leather shift boot and plastic shift knob. It’s set in a six-speed H pattern, which will be plenty for most as it simulates shifting in the large majority of cars.

The shifter is perfectly fine for beginners, but we’d recommend upgrading to higher-quality options from Thrustmaster or Fanatec once you’re comfortable with the wheel itself.

Features

There is a plethora of features that Logitech added to the G920 racing wheel that make it such a high-quality option for the price. The buttons feel great, and they’re all within perfect reach while you’re gripping the outside of the wheel.

The underside of the wheel also offers plenty of cable management options, including a spot to wrap excess cable around and routing options so they don’t get in the way when mounting the wheel to your desk.

The most important addition to a higher-end racing wheel is force feedback, and Logitech set the G920 up for success with a dual motor force feedback system. Where they saved money on the device, however, is making it gear-driven. For the beginner sim racer that Logitech is marketing the wheel towards, gear-driven will make little to no difference.

It’s only once you get hands-on with a higher-end direct drive wheel that you’ll begin to notice the difference in sound and feel. In our opinion after comparing it to direct drive options, the gear-driven G920 feels more like a 90’s arcade racing game than it does driving a real car.

There are 900 degrees of rotation on the G920, which is the same as most cars, and it can be adjusted to your preference inside the Logitech G Hub app. Logitech has made G Hub quite great over the last few years, and it’s well worth spending the time in the app to customize your settings.

The software is very beginner-friendly, offering explanations for almost every adjustable setting to make your experience perfect. The app doesn’t interfere with games, either, and you can even opt to go without the software if you’d prefer.

Gaming Performance

Logitech has knocked the G920 out of the park with phenomenal gaming performance while maintaining an extremely budget-friendly price point.

The gear drive setup is perfectly suitable for the large majority of people looking to play racing games with a proper wheel, although it does take away a fair bit of immersion due to the noise of gears spinning against each other. As we’ve said above, whether it’s good or bad depends on your specific interests and how realistic you’d like your gameplay to be.

Logitech racing wheels like the G920 offer the company’s Trueforce force feedback system, which uses an algorithm to provide higher quality and more accurate feedback feeling. In our testing, it really elevated the feedback quality compared to other similarly priced options like the Thrustmaster T248.

We used it on Assetto Corsa Competizione and Dirt 4 and the wheel felt great the whole time, however, the pedals are where the G920 begins to falter during gameplay.

Particularly, the issue with the included pedals is the brake. It’s much too firm for most people to fully depress easily, and it’s even harder to do so without them mounted to a foldable wheel stand or full cockpit. The feel does get a bit better over time, but that initial stiffness could be a breaking point for some.

There are mods you can do to improve this, like switching out parts for after-market ones, but we can’t exactly recommend taking apart the wheel for beginners.

If you would model the pedals, you’re likely to find other mods you want to do to the G920 which would just send you down a rabbit hole of expensive products. In our opinion, you’d be better off saving up for a higher-end racing wheel.

Logitech has greatly improved this with the Pro Pedals, but it’s understandable if you can’t look past the $349.99 price tag for them. Hopefully, they’ll design a better brake pedal when they’re ready to create the successor to the G920 racing wheel.

Should You Buy it?

If you’re in the market for a racing wheel, the Logitech G920 wheel is absolutely worth buying if you’re a beginner. The Trueforce feedback and use of high-quality build materials really make the wheel feel a bit more premium compared to others around its price range like the Thrustmaster T248.

The Verdict: 4/5

The Logitech G920 racing wheel is the one to go for in its price range, but for more experienced racing enthusiasts, the brake pedal might be too much of a bugbear. We hope that Logitech will improve it with the next version of the G920.

As it stands, the Logitech G920 is the perfect entry point to get into racing wheels and a great budget option in its own right.

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