The ULTIMATE Sim Racing Shifter Buyer's Guide - 2023 Edition

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
⚠️ SIM RACING DISCOUNTS & GEAR ON SALE ⚠️
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

➤ My Sim Racing Gear:

➤ Sim Racing Discounts/Affiliate Links

🟡 FANATEC

🟡 Trak Racer:

5% off code: OCSIMRACING

Items linking to Amazon are a part of the Amazon Affiliate program in which I and my YouTube channel participate. This way you're directly contributing to the channel and helping me to improve my content (with no additional cost for you), Other affiliate links are also used. These contribute to my channel at no cost to you.

[thermgraphics]

The end of the video had me rolling 😂😂 I’m gonna go touch grass now I guess… 🤣

[Titanic]

1:27 - Logitech recently released the adapter, which allows you to use the Driving Force shifter with practically any steering wheel, regardless of the manufacturer.
2:56 - TH8A Shifter has the adjustment screw located near the first gear location, on the left side. With the flat head screwdriver you can adjust the force required to change from neutral to any of the available gears. You can actually see the adjustment screw at 3:44 mark of the video.

[Goonak_]

Went outside to touch grass but it's covered in snow, now my hand is cold, thank you OC Racing.

[themrwinston]

i love my shh shifter. no durability issues yet and i've been ragging on it for about a year now. i can understand worrying about durability because of it's lightweight 3d printed construction, but i havent even heard stories of them breaking and mine has never so much as creaked. i cant honestly say the fanatec shifter didnt have me drooling a bit, but for 2.5x the money, ill just keep my plastic fantastic.

[SheNeverCared]

imma go outside and touch grass or something

[neblolthecarnerd]

As a g29 owner if you're looking to upgrade your shifter but don't want to buy an entirely new one I'd recommend the 3drap stiffness and sequential mod. It does feel quite cheap and flimsy but works pretty good in action. Also it's still viable for console users like me.

[bennobenji]

I race in an Assetto Corsa club. Lots of guys have the SHH and Fanatec shifters.

I have an SHH and it's amazing for the price. Hasn't gone wrong in 2 years of hammering it. The SHH internals are really strong plastic and all metal bearings. Only the outer casing is 3D printed.

Everyone that has a Fanatec shifter has had problems with build quality and they fail suddenly and either need to be taken apart or sent back to Fanatec.

[dragonknight]

I use both the Logitech shifter and the usb shiter and the usb shifter blows it away. Good feel and it's tough as nails as well. The Thrustamster really should't cost what it does, especially after being around as long as it's has, that price is ridiculous. Nice roundup, Oscar!

(Oh, and I'm steppin' outside and touchin' concrete, city life baby!! 🤣)

[tednicholl]

You can make the Amazon shifter can be made a lot more quiet by putting some heat shrink tubing over the shift rod and applying heat to adhere it to the shaft. I've done this to my Amazon TOCITAA shifter and it's almost silent now.

[linod]

I've had the shh for almost two years on max resistence, mounted to a rig, and I never had a single problem with it

[macsgohell]

Damn Moza is about to release their hpattern soon, any chance we’ll get to see that in a separate review?

[potatoglizzy]

Missing the moza and the VNM shifter, probably the two products people are most interested in this year seems to be a bit of an oversight of yours…

[cpt_anthony]

I love how as I’m scrolling around for a shifter you upload this. xD

[kmsthanks]

I have tried the first 3 shifters on this list, and the aliexpress/usb shifter is definitely my favorite by a long shot.

The logitech shifter feels terrible and like a 5 dollar toy, so avoid it because paying 50 or more is not worth it. Don't even buy upgrades for it, because it's just not worth the money (coming from experience) . If you have a logitech shifter and want to upgrade it, I would just save the money or sell it, and get the USB shifter. (unless you don't use pc or don't have a rig to mount it on)

The th8a I've tried on my friends wheel, it's okay but it's pretty weak but feels very lubed up and has long throws, but doesn't justify the price. The shifter just feels too tame and doesn't feel mechanical

The generic usb shifter can come with many additions like a sequential mode plastic insert or a semi truck gear switcher, which is nice. I use the plastic insert quite a bit, it feels okay but it's super quick to put in. The shifting feel is not all that realistic (you could replace the springs inside to make it lighter or tighter) but the tactile feeling is kind of unbeatable, and banging through gears is super satisfying. I imagine that's what a gated race car shifter would feel like. If you don't care about noise and enjoy very harsh shifting, it is definitely the recommendation for me. I've been using it for over a year been abusing it, but it still works perfectly. There is sort of a break in period at the start then the shifting becomes slightly less resistant and easier but still tactile. Do note that because the centering spring is pretty stiff, it can be easy to miss shift when racing hard, and I would consider buying the 6 speed version as well since it's a little difficult to shift into 6 sometimes and 7th never really gets used

As a final note, simracing-pc website does a great comparison of the shh newt shifter and the usb shifter. Long story short, if you like more refined, elegant, better sequential mode, then get the newt. If you prefer to really slam into gears, get the USB one.

[OpieDope]

I have been using the TH8A shifter for a few years now and can say it holds up well. And if you have a weighted knob laying around to replace the cheap on it comes with it feels much better.

[matusjurcik]

Thrustmaster th8s I actually compared to moze H shifter. Moza is unrealistic that, ,clicky,, feel is bad, it feels realy bad. Thrustmaster much better much realistic. Th8s not bad at all. I know moza wasnt listed

[Rollingzoku]

The Amazon shifter is actually a lot more realistic feeling and how it functions. I have chassis mounted short shifter in my e36 and the "feel" of the usb shifter is almost exactly like my real car. I have had a couple of friends try it too and they agree. Best deal you can get for 70-90 dollars. Mine came with a mini button box too. The sequential mode is good too.

[draon]

Get a sim racing shifter and DIY it for cheap.
It should come with a USB Encoder board and a simple arcade stick, doesn't take a ton of time to do, you just need a box or enclosure to build it in and plug it in, it works instantly.

Some arcade sticks has mechanism insider that lets you determine if the stick can move in a certain way (like a 2 way shifter for up and down).
Others uses a plastic 'clip' that goes on the bottom to lock the whole module together, you can 'mod' this to only move the stick 2 way by gluing solid plastic parts in the gap so it can only move in one direction, it's not very hard to do if you have those cabinet rubber stoppers with adhesive, and a sharp knife to carve it with.

It's usable and depending on your skill can be done for under $30.

Remember that racing wheels uses the X axis for turning and never uses any Y axis, the pedals are all using rX and rY which is basically a different stick if you compare it to gamepads.
So you'd want to make sure your module is shifting Y axis up and down and not the X axis because the binding in games sees them all tied together as one.

[nicololorenzon]

Considering I just broke my TH8A this video comes in just in time

[TexturaI]

I bought the H-pattern 6+R versions of the USB shifter. Mine arrived with the 3rd and 4th gear broken but I fixed the 3rd gear and now the 4th gear needs to be pushed forward in the slot. The ball broke off very easily. Just in case someone was looking at it. If you risk it and get it, they gave money back for me, so they should for you.