Logitech has fully revealed its new line up of Logitech G gaming gear, and it’s good news for racing sim fans, as not only were the first new products from the McLaren collaboration revealed, but there was also the new RS50 modular wheel and pedals set up that, in a first for Logitech, brings a mid-range unit with a direct drive base to its line up.
While Logitech has one of the largest footprints in the casual sim racing arena, it has previously only played in the extreme ends of the segment by offering the excellent gear-driven G29/G290/G293 $300 to $500 entry level wheels before jumping up to the $2000 direct drive G Pro racing wheel. The RS50 splits this and brings direct drive technology down to a more affordable level with its $1399 price tag.
What’s so great about direct drive, I hear you ask?
Gear driven wheels use, as the name suggests a series of gears to direct the force feedback to the wheel, which is a cheaper set up, but lacks in fine detail, whereas direct drive connects the wheel directly to the motor, pumping more torque directly to the driver which produce faster, more precise responses.
Direct drive wheels are more expensive to produce however, so have tended to sit at the professional/seriously dedicated amateur level, so Logitech’s move to bring the more precise set up down to a consumer-level price point is significant, mainly because the last few years has seen the rapid rise of smaller competitors introducing direct drive units at lower prices.
The RS50 packs 8Nm of torque (compared to the 11Nm of the G Pro wheel and just over 2Nm of the G293) and 2700 degrees of rotation and comes in two forms – one compatible with PC and PlayStation 4/5, and one compatible with PC and Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.
Another feature that sets the RS50 apart from the G29/G293 is a quick release steering boss that also allows the use of a new expanded wheel range, as well as custom set ups and, intriguingly, Momo steering wheels just so you can take that realism to the next tactile level.
Like the G293, the RS50 incorporates Logitech’s “TrueForce” proprietary haptic system that uses both the feedback from a games physics system and audio for a more detailed, precise feedback.
Logitech G has also released a new set of RS pedals to go with the RS50 wheel. These include a 75kg-capable load cell brake pedal (which provides improved brake feel and the ability to customise the amount of brake pressure) and a hall-effect throttle pedal. An optional clutch pedal will be available separately.
Logitech made a big deal out of the amount of attention it paid to stability when developing the new RS pedals, and as such the unit features a steel frame with extenders that reach out the back to prevent tipping under braking, along with improved carpet grips and small feet on the end of the extenders that can flip up to act as a wall brace.
Both the RS50 and pedals can be customised in Logitech’s G Hub software for PC and Mac, and feature an on-board memory that allow any tweaks to be carried over onto consoles. Logitech’s existing G Racing adaptor also allows for increased modularity, with the pedals that come with a G29 or G293 being compatible through the adaptor so that existing G29/G293 owners can upgrade gradually without having to sheel out for a wheel and pedals in one go.
On the McLaren side of the equation we get the new RS Formula Wheel, the McLaren Edition Astro A50 X Lightspeed headset and base station, and the spectacular PlaySeat Formula Instinct cockpit.
The new wheel is modelled after the unit used in McLaren’s MC38 F1 car (albeit modified to suit sim racing, as apparently the real wheel didn’t gel well with testers) and is built from aluminium and glass-filled polycarbonate.
It is compatible with both the G Pro and new RS50 wheel bases and, in a nice touch has Bruce McLaren’s iconic “Life is measured in achievement, not in years alone” quote inscribed on the back.
The headset is a reskin of Logitech’s excellent Astro A50 X, but in a striking shade of McLaren’s signature Papaya orange and features graphene drivers and a 48KHz microphone, as well as dual device mixing that also allows a phone to be connected alongside the console/PC.
PlaySeat Formula Instinct Logitech G McLaren Racing Edition cockpit (to give its full, rather wordy name) is a collaboration between Logitech and PlaySeat that packs a steel and aluminium frame, and a slimline racing seat all, of course, liveried in McLaren Papaya orange.
The RS50 wheel, RS pedals and the McLaren A50 X headset and PlaySeat will launch in October, with the McLaren RS Formula wheel scheduled for Q1 2026.