SRP-GTR Pedals

What's happened in the world of sim-racing in the last three years is amazing. Fantastic developments and a full-fledged explosion in popularity, as I think we all know. One of the product categories that has grown tremendously is, of course, pedals and there a bunch of good products at very reasonable prices. The Heusinkveld Sprint and Fanatec CSL Elite V2 are great entry level products for those who want to get into sim-racing but don't really want to sacrifice a whole pay check to get faster on the track, while premium pedals like the Heusinkveld Ultimate Plus and Simtrec Propedals GT are my favourites, and with the higher-priced Asetec Invicta and Simagic P2000 are pedals in this segment that I consider to be overrated and too expensive for what you actually get.

Spanish manufacturer Sim Racing Pro is, as far as I know, the only one on the market right now that offers pneumatic pedals that do not use springs, hydraulic pistons or rubber gaskets as damping behind the pedals themselves, and instead use piston systems that measure air pressure. There has been a lot of talk about the SRP-GTR Pedals over the past year and after much discussion, we here at Gamereactor have finally borrowed a set and used it in our rig over the past month. The idea of pneumatic pedals is to offer a smoother, more consistent and noticeably more detailed experience and although the SRP-GTR are expensive, they are hand-built and innovative in a way that makes its €960 price tag not quite as jaw-dropping as it might seem.

The design here is superb. In terms of looks, I think these are the most gorgeous pedals on the market, with brilliant aesthetics that really exude "expensive racing technology". I love how neat and tidy everything is in terms of mechanical design and engineer and creator David Roca has really thought of everything here. The included pedal plate has an engraved logo and the design of the pedal plates and different colour options (you can choose from five different shades of anodising) is gorgeous. The software is also very nicely done and super easy to use, and a big part of me finds it pretty incredible that this comes from a guy in Spain and not a giant, established, big-name sim-racing company.

The gas pedal is super sensitive here and, as I said, smooth at a level like nothing else I've ever tested in sim-racing without being too soft or too non-responsive. Hardness, resistance, curve and slope of the pedal itself is easy to adjust to the way you want it, and I made the gas slightly harder than what applies directly out of the box. The brake, on the other hand, I had to soften quite a bit. The newfound crazy focus of the racing world on as hard a brake pedal as possible I still consider to be not only strangely wrong but also counterproductively crazy as it in many ways destroys the feeling of how a calliper with brake pads squeezes around a steel disc. This also kills some of the dynamics of braking a lot but not too hard to avoid unlocking the brakes. The SRP-GTR brake was brutally hard out of the box and I set the power down to about 25% (from 70%) before I found the right feel, for me.

The brake, like the throttle, is smooth and has a very linear resistance that never gets gnarly or squeaky like many pedals that are based on springs and rubber gaskets, which I of course appreciate. Where the whole air pressure thing starts losing itself, however, is in the feeling that you really press down air and not liquids through tubes (which makes the calliper squeeze around the brake disc). Here I think that SRP-GTR may be slightly too smooth and not sufficiently "mechanical" which, especially in rally games such as Dirt Rally 2.0, means that some of the rally feeling disappears. In my opinion, these pedals work much better for Assetto Corsa Competizione and the GT3 cars that we drive in it, as well as Formula racing in iRacing or Automobilista 2, where this even, smooth feeling of air pressure is more appropriate.

SRP-GTR Pedals are a really nice product that do things technically that none of the major manufacturers do, and creator David should be applauded for that. The air pressure technology is incredibly "smooth", can be set as you see fit, and the design and build quality here is nothing short of brilliant. I, being more of a rally driver than a track racer, find them a little too smooth and ultimately prefer the Heusinkveld Ultimate Plus (above all else, still) but that doesn't mean David's innovative premium pedals don't deserve a high rating, because they do.