Hello my friends and welcome to a new video. Today
after the entire world has already done a review of this, I managed to get my hands on a second
hand MOZA R9. MOZA is a Chinese manufacturer that took the sim-racing world by storm. They
became very successful due to a combination of both the unavailability of FANATEC's hardware
and a very aggressive marketing campaign. It worked since in no time, various forums were
full of people that shouted out their undying love for the products this manufacturer
churned out at a high tempo. Many people were overly impressed when they traded in their
Logitech G29 for a MOZA R5 but to be fair, every base out there is a significant upgrade over the
Logitech gear driven bases. The question remains. How good is this piece of hardware really?
Let's start off with the design. It is just a cube made of aluminum alloy with some cooling
fins and a plastic panel on the back. There are some logo's to the side and on the front and that
is about it. What does strike me is its size. With 12 by 12 by 15 cm, it is really small and I don't
know why but I expected it just to be bigger. It does weigh quite a lot with its 6.8 kg. At
the back of the wheelbase is the only button on the entire base which will turn if off and on. For
connections there is a connector for a dashboard, an e-stop button, a USB connector to connect
it with PC and a 6 PIN PSU plug. As with almost all the designs of the wheelbases I reviewed so
far, I can give the general remark that it misses some color but as it is, the neutral design
fits any sim-rig or desk you attach it to. The power comes from an external PSU which
delivers the necessary 180W to the wheelbase. What I really liked about the block is the
little light they put on it. PSU's are most of the time kept really basic with just a
status LED on it so adding the logo of the company in color is always a positive in my
book. The wheelbase can be attached with 4 pre-drilled holes at the bottom of the wheelbase
and it will fit most generic wheelbase-holders. So let's talk performance. The R9 is the second
in the line of 4 bases so far released by MOZA. With a peak torque performance of 9Nm it is
situated in the 8 to 10Nm sweet spot for my usage of a wheelbase. While I would say the 5Nm
direct drive bases still misses some detail in the force-feedback, I feel the output of this base has
the best bang/buck when it comes to immersion. I tested the wheelbase in ACC where the finesse of
the force-feedback was more than enough to feel both the track and the behavior of the car. The
testing in BeamNG was good to experience the more raw side of the R9 and again, I was very impressed
with both the strength and quality of power it generated. In both games, I experienced a fast
reaction of the force-feedback to the changing road conditions and the behavior of the car. MOZA
has a quad core CPU in this base to make sure the base can keep up with the game. Another, in
my opinion also important point to mention, is that even under some load, the wheelbase
remains very quiet, this also partly because of the absence of any active cooling. It is
hard to imagine that a relative young company like MOZA is able to create such a fine device
when it comes to the motor of this wheelbase. For technical issues, there doesn't seem to be
any more than with other wheelbases out there. But it doesn't end there. Something
I found very... very interesting, is the quick release system. It is a very
sturdy solution and looks very premium. When you push the steering wheel on the steering
shaft it locks into place and when I say locked, I mean locked. The downside of it is removing
it again. While perhaps it is lack of training, I pulled the rim off and the force I
had to put on it drove it into my chin. No video-footage is available of it, unfortunately
for the entertainment-value of my video. It also doesn't make cracking noises like
other QR's do which is a certain plus. Another highlight for this package is the
software they were able to produce. So far for many sim-racing hardware manufacturers,
I could say that the software and drivers they provided are mèh, but not for MOZA, which
came in all honesty as a surprise. The image I had of Chinese software was thoroughly
reshaped by Pit House. There is a good overview of the hardware. There are presets
for types of force-feedback and adaptation of the settings themselves goes very smooth.
I had no issues with the installation and while at a certain moment, the UI was in
Chinese, this seems to be resolved now. If we look at the eco-system, MOZA realized
that there is a large need for customization. There are pedals, a shifter, a handbrake
and different sets of steering wheels. The steering wheel I used is the MOZA ES and is
the cheapest steering wheel that is out there in their eco-system. It does remind me a lot of a
Logitech steering wheel. The leather feels very nice to the touch and the stitching of it is also
of high quality. The frame itself seems to be of aluminum and the entirety feels more heavy then
it looks. The general design is very pleasing. It is kept sober and simple, with the MOZA logo
in the center and the white lines curving over the center with some white circles around some
of the buttons. The buttons themselves are not mechanical which is a shame, but they don't feel
overly cheap either when pressed. Especially the start button is one of my favorites since it looks
like a button from a modern car and in BeamNG, I simply need it a lot. Despite the many buttons
available, I am a real fan of this steering wheel. MOZA also offers a 31cm rim to replace the, in
my opinion too small 28cm basic one, for a still reasonable price. They really have their
eco-system worked out is the least you can say. So far I didn't encounter anything which I didn't
like about the R9 but there is still 1 item I have not discussed yet. The price of this all.
469€ for a wheelbase that is compatible on PC only via the MOZA Racing website. However, this
price is without the import tax and shipment and those can get really expensive. There was
an extra 45€ of import tax that needed to be paid on it and over 100€ for shipment which
brought the total price north of 600€ and that is simply too much looking at the competition
and what they offer in Europe. Nonetheless, it is not that long ago that direct drive
under 1000€ was a myth so perhaps we have been spoiled lately and with keeping that in
mind, the price is surely not that bad either, especially if you see what
quality you get in return. As a conclusion I have to say that yes MOZA
wheelbases have been and are being overhyped, but the company did quite a lot to live up
to the hype when it comes to their product. I would recommend this wheelbase any day of
the week and it can compete easily with all the best that Europe and the US has to offer.
It is largely due to them that the pressure has been put on the mainstream manufacturers to make
better and cheaper material and that is something I am very grateful for. I will do a more in depth
comparison with the CSL DD 8Nm of Fanatec shortly so subscribe if you don't want to miss it and if
you have a request of things to discuss in that video, don't hesitate to leave a comment. Thank
you all for watching and see you next video.
