I don’t want to sound like Forrest Gump thinking about shoes, but I have many Wheels and pedals. I bet when I think about it real I can barely remember my first pair. (Mad Catz said I could get anywhere on the PS One with them, even though they’re only held together with rubber bands and hope.) Although I’ve bought dozens of these peripherals over the decades, it’s only today that I’m fulfilling a long-held desire — I’m wrapping my hands around a “Big Mutha Trucker” setup.
You may have seen me recently heaping well-deserved praise on the Moza R12 Direct Drive Wheelbase in its ideal F1/GT3 layout, attached to a custom cockpit. This time I’m going to radically modify that setup to suit a big rig configuration, mounted on a desk with a beefy Moza HGP shifter.
During the reconstruction I will be Johnny Cash’s convoy is also played in a continuous loop.
Before I dive into the hardware reviews – and also give you the 10-4 on all the clamps and mounts you’ll need – we really should talk about setup costs. Simulating the semi-truck/bus/large piece of farm equipment of your dreams isn’t a cheap endeavor. Below are Moza’s hardware pricing at the time of writing. You can save yourself that mind-blowing window shopping by clicking here to get to my further thoughts.
Moza Racing Truck Wheel
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- Moza Truck Wheel Clamp – $75
- Moza Handbrake/Gearshift Clamp – $89
We should probably start with the linchpin of this whole build, the wheelbase, which I have covered in detail here. In short, the Moza R12 is The business— worth every penny of its considerable price tag. It’s a solidly built nerve center that serves as your hub for Moza’s highly interchangeable steering wheel/pedal/gearshift ecosystem.
This bad thing has an aerospace-grade aluminum alloy chassis with sexy laser-etched accents and delivers 12nm of force feedback, which, frankly, is overkill if you only want to play the smoother long-haul truck simulations (I’d go with Moza’s R9 if that’s your thing). However, the R12 is a blast if your use case is to replicate the absurd horsepower and wicked torque of a race-ready truck.
Another great feature of the R12 is that it comes with pre-drilled mounting holes on the top of its chassis, allowing for convenient coupling with a dedicated truck wheel clamp (sold separately). I’ll talk more about that in a moment, but I’d like to take the opportunity to mention that all of Moza’s many previous wheelbases fit the said device. You’ve got to love a friendly ecosystem.
I’ll also give you a quick summary of my thoughts so far on Moza’s solidly built, surprisingly beautiful CRP pedals. First off, I love that they use rear-mounted load cell sensors and magnetic Hall Effect sensors to increase durability for many happy hours of pounding. But beware: it’ll take you fifteen minutes to cobble everything together, from the metal base plate and heel stop strip to slotting the three pedals into a surprisingly wide range of available spacer slots.
However, the customizability of this pedal design is ideal for making everything as truck-like as you want with the included Mechano box of adjustment tools, spring changes and rubber dampers. With minimal screwdriver use, you can quickly go from the quickness of the short-travel F1 pedals to the deeper kicks you want with the Anchor Dropper or your drivetrain’s “Loud Pedal”.
It is difficult not to whistle in appreciation when this absolute tiller of a wheel is released from its box. I’ve said it before and I’m happy to say it again: the bigger the wheel, the more it will give me the experience. With its classic four-spoke design and standard 400mm diameter, Moza’s first attempt at a truck wheel looks and feels absolutely like the real thing. It’s arguably better built than my real car’s steering wheel.
Covered in hand-stitched microfiber leather stretched over a 2kg aerospace-grade aluminum alloy frame, this steering wheel is sturdy and comfortable to hold even after marathon deliveries. You also get two clicky scroll wheels and 14 sensibly placed short-travel buttons with LED backlighting (ideal for night driving). There are also two thumbsticks, which are great for swiveling your head at T-junctions and are very reminiscent of the analog “button” on a PSP, although they’re just digital hat switches.
As with 90% of the SIM peripherals I have ever used at an expert/obsessive level, in my opinion there is no quite enough buttons on it. This is most noticeable in the indicator/headlight/windshield wiper department, although I’ve heard that Moza has a multi-function stick cluster that authentically handles all of that. 26 additional functions – that would be the ultimate.
Speaking of less than optimal, it’s annoying that the mounting bracket (sold separately) doesn’t come with any printed instructions, just some small diagrams on the box. The initial configuration involves just half a dozen screws, although this can be confusing as this system can be set up two different ways. These remarkably sturdy double C-clamps can be mounted to extend above the desk or lowered down to allow for about 60mm of height adjustment. I prefer the lower position as it looks cleaner.
Once that’s done, you’ll have about 70 degrees of rotation to play with. I recommend setting it to about 30 degrees, and then setting the maximum wheel rotation to 1440 degrees in Moza’s comprehensive Pit House app to get the authentic hand-over-hand rotation feel of the real McCoy.
As someone who spent his first decade in manual shifting only to upgrade to modern automatic transmissions, I can’t stress enough how much I love this HGP shifter. It’s chunky, tough as hell, and delivers a satisfying “ker-chunk” sound with every gear you engage. That goes double for the “push down, shift over” action required to engage reverse and 7th gear. This thing is serious business – perfect for big trucks.
For those of you who are new to trucks and may be wondering, yes, you can make a 12-14 transmission work with a 7-speed shifter. Real trucks don’t have 12+ positions either, as the problem is solved via a switch, flap, or boot somewhere on the shifter. This feature is usually pushed down for low gear range (reverse, 1-6) and up for high gear (7-12 and beyond).
Unfortunately, the shifter doesn’t have buttons to accomplish this in an authentic, real-world way, so you have to assign custom buttons to your steering wheel. It’s not ideal, but I’ve found that I can get along just fine with it. As veterans know, managing a truck’s transmission is a lot more complicated than your average car. There are (literally) countless clever gear jumps/shortcuts to achieve optimal revs whether you’re driving an empty or full truck. I’ve found that the Moza HGP Shifter handles all of these difficulties with aplomb.
When all the hardware comes together and it’s time to move on, I have to admit that I’m what my truck driver dad called a Billy Big Rigger. (Greenhorn translation: a “supertucker” who likes to brag about how big and shiny his gear is.) The Moza setup looks serious and is spatially enormous— a true desk dominator. When your goal is to imitate a seven-ton titan on the asphalt, it feels like half the battle is won.
Given the nature of this wheel, I leaned heavily on the most suitable test titles. Essentially, this was a mix of high-speed truck circuit racing, meticulous cargo transport simulations, and those wonderfully silly “runner” puzzle games where you smash your way through the undergrowth across terrible terrain. If you want to try this out for yourself, I recommend:
- Euro Truck Simulator 2
- American Truck Simulator
- SnowRunner
- BeamNG
- Expeditions: A MudRunner Game
- FIA Euro Truck Racing Champion.
One thing I should mention right off the bat is a generally muted sense of force feedback. The rotating mass of a larger and heavier steering wheel will help to reduce your direct-drive feel. Be prepared for some culture shock if you’re coming from Moza’s tiny F1 steering wheel. For the record, on the R12 I was still pretty impressed with what my tires were communicating in terms of bumps, tarmac changes and rumble strips.
Although I’ve tried a little bit of everything, I’ve mostly been drawn to these cargo delivery sims. In Euro Truck Simulator 2, the authentic feel of these peripherals turned the tedious task of hauling ore across Germany (to arrive on time, with high fuel consumption and no damage) into a zen-like pleasure. The sheer immersion of the world with a badass H-gear and a huge, heavy steering wheel enhances this experience so much that I just can’t use anything else now.
Even in the brief moments of gameplay, it felt great to be zooming around in a 480bhp Renault T High Sleeper – something with a powerful sound that lifts me up high, like a king of the road. For those of you unfamiliar with the genre, truck simming isn’t just about zooming down the straight fairways of a motorway, it’s also about backing your load into a terminal hole. If you want the great bonus XP for precise parking, the highly responsive Moza setup can be just the ticket in those critical moments where fine motor skills are needed.
Ultimately, I’m sold on the whole concept; the build quality and the feeling of vehicle connection this setup provides really draws you in. Yes, you’ll pay a lot to feel this privilege, but you get what you pay for. This is an admirable first attempt at a truck steering wheel, and I’m excited to see how the Moza continues to evolve in this niche area of peripherals (especially with the proposed turn signal add-on).
Until then, I’ll keep going, believe me. Most likely with a mod for American Truck Sim that basically turns me into Jack Burton, driving my “Pork Chop Express” Freightliner Classic XL into a questionably rendered San Francisco. That should keep me entertained during the ongoing and agonizing wait for the developers of Truck World: Australia to finally pull their fingers out.
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Adam Mathew is our Australian deal wrangler. He plays practically everything, often on YouTube.
