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P1Sim Arnage : Test & Review

Sim Racer

E-sport driver & Sim Racing enthusiast, I decided to share my passion on this website.

P1Sim Arnage

Benefits

  • A premium GT/F1 steering wheel
  • Vertical display in center for telemetry
  • Compatible with many bases, provided you have the appropriate hub

Disadvantages

  • A very high asking price
  • No hub for Direct Drive bases available from P1Sim
  • Rubber coating looks a bit cheap

Our rating : 8.9/10

Gamers who want to get into sim-racing, whether out of passion or to enhance immersion in their video games, are faced with numerous options in terms of products and peripherals. And I’m not even talking about the brands, which are both numerous and cover different segments of the sim-racing market.

Sunday drivers naturally turn to budget-friendly solutions, often offered by Logitech and Thrustmaster. The aim here is to spend time on arcade titles such as Need For Speed or Forza Horizon. Those with a good level of driving skills will go for brands such as Fanatec, Moza or Simagicbecause their products are high-performance, innovative and, in many cases, affordable.

And of course, the premium and very high-end segment is represented by brands such as Asetek SimSports and Simucube. However, a new player has just put its foot down, if I may say so, and that’s P1Sim. Well, this French brand hasn’t exactly turned the segment upside down, but it’s intent on carving out a share of the market with a catalog that’s slowly but surely taking shape. Among the products on offer is a GT/F1-style steering wheel: theArnage. In what follows, we take a closer look.

Main and technical features of the steering wheel

  • GT/F1-style upright steering wheel
  • 4-inch vertical screen for displaying car telemetry
  • Backlit controls (RGB) on faceplate
  • RevLED on top of screen
  • 4 rear paddles, 2 of which are magnetic
  • Metal structure, with 5 mm-thick carbon-fibre front panel
  • Compatible with bases from Moza, Simagic, Simucube, Asetek SimSports, Thrustmaster, Fanatec, etc., via brand-specific hubs
  • Compatible with Simhub on PC
  • Rubber coating all around the steering wheel
  • 29 cm wheel diameter
GT DD PRO

Design

As with all our sim-racing peripheral tests, we start with the design of this Arnage steering wheel. The shape is slightly rectangular, with a full opening at the top of the wheel. Basically, you’ve got half a wheel in your hands.

In terms of appearance, it’s very sober, with black dominating the entire Arnage. The faceplate shows off its 5mm-thick carbon fiber, with the central 4″ vertical screen and all the RGB backlit controls around it. As I said, it’s sober in the absolute, with only 2 thumbwheels in red and blue, but they’re a long way from thumbs, but we’ll come back to that in the grip below.

Customized assembly

Now, mounting the Arnage on a Direct Drive base isn’t exactly complicated, but it’s no picnic. Depending on the DD base you have, you’ll need a hub Wheel Side specific, with the QR that goes with it of course.

For Fanatec, you’ll need the Podium Hub. For Moza and Simagic, you’ll need the QR Wheel Side, i.e. the D1Spec. Connection to Asetek and Simucube bases is via a hub. For these 5 brands, you’ll find the solution directly in their respective stores.

You can also use the Arnage with a Thrustmaster base, but the manufacturer doesn’t offer anything on its store. So you’ll have to turn to third-party solutions, often from the modding community, to get the hub.

As far as P1Sim is concerned, the French company unfortunately doesn’t offer a QR or hub for its steering wheel, and I think that’s a bit of a shame. Admittedly, solutions are available for most DD base manufacturers, but I would have liked P1Sim to offer a specific product.

Manufacturing and finishing

The Arnage steering wheel uses a metal structure, with its back-plate, and a 5mm-thick carbon fiber faceplate. The build quality is top-notch in almost every respect. I didn’t notice a single manufacturing defect or poorly assembled part on this steering wheel, which is a guarantee of quality. The same applies to the Arnage’s finish, which is almost perfect.

The only “fault” with this wheel is the rubber coating around the steering wheel. The Arnage is an expensive wheel, and it would have been much better to have leather or alcantara around the rim, to tick all the premium boxes. The company claims a superior grip, but from my testing, you’ll need gloves to take full advantage. Also, the buttons are silicone if I’m not mistaken, or their feel is anyway, which frankly doesn’t help the price tag. On the other hand, this choice of material may have been dictated by the fact that the buttons are fully backlit. This remains to be confirmed with P1Sim.

GT DD PRO

Handling the steering wheel

The Arnage is 29 cm in diameter, which puts it on the slightly smaller end of the steering wheel spectrum. It’s still usable for sim-racing, yet immersive for racing. The complete opening of the top of the wheel is there to have a typical GT/F1 steering wheel, and to save weight, as the Arnage weighs in at just over 1 kg.

As for the controls, those on the faceplate are accessible On The Fly, which greatly improves the ergonomics of this steering wheel. The buttons click well, but expect some to remain in the depressed position because of the silicone, but they do the job. The same goes for the joysticks and the magnetic and analog paddles at the rear. Great work from P1Sim.

Also on the Arnage, you have 2 knobs that are supposed to be used by the thumbs. Except their placement didn’t get the memo. These two controls are far too low to be accessible by the thumbs, and using them with another finger is strange at first. Over time, it gets easier, but that’s about it as far as I’m concerned.

Sensations during play

As I said above about the Arnage’s mounting, you have several choices, and none of them are from P1Sim, which is a shame. Nevertheless, this steering wheel proved to be very enjoyable in sim-racing, and for several reasons.

The Arnage’s ergonomics are very good, largely due to the fact that the screen occupies a central, yet vertical position, leaving plenty of room to place buttons and controls very close to your hands. What’s more, the grips are really big, giving you an excellent grip, just like on a real, everyday steering wheel.

The screen offers numerous options for vehicle telemetry, with gear engaged, lap time, speed, laps, etc., all configurable via SimHub. All this can be set via SimHub, although P1Sim offers its own software for steering wheel settings, although the two do not work simultaneously.

And last but not least, the rubber around the edges. It’s smooth, untextured, and holds a lot of heat in your hands. Without gloves, the Arnage proved very uncomfortable after just a few laps.

GT DD PRO

Compatibility

P1Sim’s wheel is compatible only with the PC platform, under Windows. As far as Direct Drive bases are concerned, provided you have the right QR Wheel Side, you’ll have no problem with it, as the link with the PC is via USB. What’s more, there’s a rather long cable that plugs into the wheel’s back plate.

Value for money

Listed at €999, this steering wheel is currently trading at €699. On special offer, the Arnage offers good value for money, putting it up against a number of options from the competition, such as the Moza FSR or the Simagic FX Pro. However, you’ll need to add between €20 and €200 to get the QR that makes it usable with your Direct Drive base.

My verdict

The P1Sim Arnage is a beautiful wheel, ergonomic and superb to hold in your hands. Honestly, I didn’t expect such a beautiful wheel from a company that’s only 2 years old, and that says a lot about the skills of the P1Sim teams.

If you can get past the buttons with their silicone finish and the rim that will keep you warm in winter without gloves, the Arnage has to be on the list of premium wheels to consider. It’s simply an excellent wheel, in almost every respect.

gt dd pro

P1Sim Arnage

Premium steering wheel combining ergonomics and performance

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