When we were sent our first wheel stand to review, we initially didn’t know what to expect. Half a rig with which you have to supply your own chair? We weren’t convinced, and boy were we wrong.
So when Trak Racer got in touch asking if we’d like to take a look at their wheel stand, the FS3, it was an offer we couldn’t refuse.
The FS3 is one of the most to-the-point sim racing products we’ve used here at Traxion.GG. Its design is about as basic and straightforward as it gets; simply two A-frames with two mounting plates, and an optional shifter mount if you so desire.
Trak Racer ships this product unassembled in a minimally printed brown cardboard box, a departure from what we’re used to. Usually, you find these products in fully-printed boxes with a glossy finish, whereas Trak Racer went with a more environmental approach. They go one step further by only including a QR code to access the assembly manuals, over a fully printed booklet.
It’s a choice with good intentions, but having to unlock your phone after turning away to screw something in does get a little tedious. Print out the .pdf instructions at your own discretion.
Once you’ve dug out the correct manual, putting the FS3 together was a proverbial cakewalk. Thanks to the simplistic design, there are only a handful of steel and plastic parts to put together, and to make life even easier, the bolts to secure everything together are pre-installed on the steel parts, meaning no guesswork for you.
Allen keys for the FS3’s bolts are included in the box, and assembly only took around 15-20 minutes. However, come mounting your peripherals (I went with the Logitech G923 for the sake of this review), the M6 bolts were adequate, but the lack of compatible Allen key in this instance wasn’t.
Thanks to pre-drilled holes for most (if not all) major brands of peripheral, mounting the wheel and pedals was a breeze, as is the process of adjusting their positions. Both plates have angle and push/pull adjustment, and the four legs are also extendable and retractable, all achieved through loosening or removing bolts.
Not the quickest means of adjustability, but the fact you have this amount of play over positioning in a package so minimal is pretty fantastic. It’s rather fiddly getting things into a good enough position (I didn’t have it perfect to my liking, but it was fine), but once you are there, it’s time to start racing!
In use, the FS3 is a remarkably solid experience when you take into account how minimal and light it is. It’s not built like a tank (like the Next Level Racing Wheel Stand 2.0, which in itself weighs about as much as one), but it’s not going to ruin your time on the track.
Four chunky rubber feet keep things stable when under hard braking (on carpet especially, the FS3 finds hard floors tougher to tame), and while there is side-to-side flex when you’re mid-race, it’s not at all noticeable.
Priced at £149.99 RRP, while it’s cheaper than buying a full sim rig, it’s not an overtly cheap wheel stand. However, with the build quality, ease of construction, stable use, and fold-flat storage capability, I’d say it’s worth the price.
There are horror stories aplenty about sub-£100 wheel stands, so forking out a little more for a robust option is definitely not a bad idea.
Trak Racer has balanced the weight-to-rigidity tradeoff perfectly with the FS3, and we here at Traxion HQ have had a blast setting lap after lap with it.
Reviewed using the Logitech G923.
Full disclosure: The Trak Racer FS3 was provided by the manufacturer for review purposes. Here is our review policy.
