Fanatec Podium Bentley GT3

€2,000 (including VAT) and shipping for a sim-racing wheel is absurd money. Almost €2,200 for a wheel, which does not come with either a steering wheel base, pedals, or other parts required to drive a racing car in games such as Assetto Corsa or Automobilista 2. There is no doubt that Fanatec's hotly anticipated Bentley steering wheel is a pure luxury product for a very niche target group, and I am one of those fanatical sim-racing fools who have been longing to try this for almost two years. Because just like the Fanatec Podium BMW Motorsports M4 GT3 steering wheel, this wheel is no plastic gimmick, no replica that "looks" like a real steering wheel from the race car. This is the real steering wheel, from the real Bentley Continental GT3 car that was used in the GTWC (Bentley has since pulled out). This is the steering wheel that Steven Kane and Andy Meyrick used in the car that was raced around tracks like Spa and Imola, and that's immediately noticeable when you remove it from the giant box it comes in.

The Fanatec Podium Bentley GT3 is constructed from magnesium, carbon fibre, and aluminium, and measures 31 centimetres in width while weighing 1.9 kilograms. At its centre sits a round 800x800-pixel LCD touchscreen mounted on a gyro (controlled by an ARM Cortex A53 microchip) that allows it to centre itself in real time no matter how you turn the steering wheel, just like in the case of Moza's Vision GS Steering Wheel. Around the screen is a carbon composite frame and above it are nine programmable push buttons, two funky switches, and two larger aluminium knobs, to easily dial in the desired brake balance and traction control without losing your grip on the wheel. At the back are Fanatec's reinforced versions of their popular Podium paddles (magnetic, of course) including two smaller, fully analogue paddles (with built-in Hall sensors) to control the clutch, among other things.

There's no doubt that this is a very, very lavish product. "Spare no expense" as Jurassic Park creator John Hammond once said. Fanatec has pulled out all the stops and it shows. Right out of the box, this steering wheel feels very durable, expensive, and crammed with hardy buttons and functions, and the form factor is good too. For me, someone with large hands, it feels a little small compared to the Fanatec Podium BMW Motorsports M4 GT3, but Gamereactor's hardware writer Fredrik Lindman, who has more "normal" sized hands, considers it to be just perfect in terms of grip and width/size. If I had a choice, I would have put the new backlit push buttons that are at the top somewhere else. I would have liked the grips to be higher up and my hands to come down a little lower in relation to the rest of the rig. This is also a minor complaint on my part regarding, among other things, the Asetek Invicta Formula Steering Wheel where the grips are far too low down in the steering wheel for my taste.

Other than that, the grips, which are covered with Alcantara, are super comfortable and just the right thickness. The gear paddles are brilliant although I think the slightly thinner paddles on the BMW steering wheel in the same price range are better. I like the LCD screen in the centre, too. It's cool to have, like in a Koenigsegg Jesko, a permanently centred display in the middle of the steering wheel showing gear selection, engine speed, and lap times, but I would have liked to be able to customise my own graphics in this, as Bentley's Verdana-influenced design elements don't really match my font-obsessed graphic designer personality. Yet, on the whole, the screen is fine. It's not super usable as you rarely have time to look down at the steering wheel and read the little numbers when driving, but it works very well and reacts incredibly quickly to the rotation of the steering wheel and always centres the screen with good results.

On the back we find Fanatec's absolutely brilliant QR2 quick release, which (as always) is based on Krontec QR, and in my opinion, is the best in the sim-racing world. In Fanalab, it is also super easy to see what can be set, and the box includes a small adapter that allows you to update the steering wheel software via USB-C. You also get a wall mount for those who want to decorate their sim-racing room with this luxury steering wheel, and a well-thought-out table stand that makes this wheel a stylish interior centrepiece. In addition, if you plug in the USB-C cable that is included, you can use the steering wheel as a very expensive desk clock with a striking (and official) Bentley clock face.

Of course, as a GT3 lover and sim-racing fanatic, it's impossible not to feel a real fondness for this very expensive premium steering wheel. Real racing equipment that can be used for sim-racing is always appealing to me, even though I will never even get the chance to touch a Bentley Continental GT3 car. It's likely mostly down to just the idea of "pretending" to drive a racing car, but a real racing steering wheel continues to attracts me. Fanatec Podium Bentley GT3 is very good, well thought out, lavish, and performs extremely well during the tests we have done here at Gamereactor. I clearly prefer the Fanatec Podium BMW Motorsports M4 GT3, and consider the gyro-based circular screen in the centre to be unnecessary, but at the same time, it's hard to find a more unique sim-racing steering wheel right now.