Do you love sim racing enough to spend $2,499 on a steering wheel?

Sim-Lab has conscionable released a caller $2,499 steering wheel it claims is an “authentic arsenic possible” replica of nan wheels Lewis Hamilton uses while driving nan Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team’s title cars. It’s a beautiful portion of hardware to conscionable look at, but a reminder that getting really into simulators tin beryllium vulnerable for your budget.

If that value tag has your jaw connected nan floor, don’t fuss picking it up. You can’t conscionable plug nan steering instrumentality into your PC and deed nan simulated streets of Montreal. It needs to beryllium attached to a wheelbase, which translates nan steering wheel’s turning motions and fastener inputs to a racing crippled while besides providing unit feedback. Those tin besides group you backmost respective 1000 dollars, and 1 isn’t included pinch this wheel.

What makes Sim-Lab’s caller instrumentality truthful pricey? For starters, it’s officially licensed from nan Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team, who shared nan machine aided creation (CAD) information it uses to build nan steering wheels for its multi-million dollar cars. Sim-Lab’s instrumentality is arsenic adjacent arsenic you tin get to racing pinch 1 without replacing Lewis Hamilton arsenic nan team’s driver erstwhile he moves to squad Ferrari adjacent year.

The steering wheel’s assemblage is besides a handmade c fibre shell. That not only helps it measurement 1,240 grams, but it besides ensures it’s highly rigid, truthful vibrations and guidance provided by a wheelbase are precisely translated to a gamer’s hands. It’s not going to creak and flex arsenic you steer into a simulated area astatine complete 150MPH.

Scattered crossed nan instrumentality are 9 rotary dials, 12 buttons, 2 switches, c fibre shifting paddles, anti-static silicone rubber grips, and 25 controllable RGB LEDs providing telemetry information astatine a glance. If that’s not capable data, nan halfway of nan instrumentality besides features a 4.3-inch LCD show pinch information layouts that lucifer what Mercedes F1 drivers see.

To astir of us, it mightiness look for illustration an obscene splurge, but for racing sim fans striving to recreate an authentic F1 experience, nan only point seemingly missing is title technologist Bono telling them “Ok Lewis, it’s hammer time.”