Nacon Revosim: one-minute review

It’s official: direct drive PC racing wheels have entered the affordable mainstream. While the prices of your groceries continue to skyrocket, simultaneously, sim racing hardware manufacturers have found a way to package high-quality, high-torque bundles together for south of $1,000, and newcomer Nacon introduces a new level of build quality and construction materials in that sub-$1,000 price point with its debut Revosim bundle.

The wheelbase can exert up to 9Nm of torque (translation: loads), which is notably more than the Thrustmaster T598, the no-brainer entry-level direct drive wheel. It’s cheaper than Moza’s R9 bundle while offering very similar build quality. It’s also more affordable than most variations of Fanatec’s CSL DD 8Nm bundles, and while Fanatec generally has the edge with the wheels it produces, Nacon’s pedals are superior to the ones Fanatec bundles in its sub-$1,000 CSL packages and it includes a strong and sturdy quick-release mechanism.

All that talk of prices and rival offerings is abstracting the headline news, though: driving feels good with this bundle. Although it’s still missing some default force feedback profiles and control assignment schemes in some titles (like F1 24, for example), there’s power and articulation right out of the box, with no need to tweak alpha values in the accompanying software.

And in the likes of Rennsport, Assetto Corsa Evo, The Crew Motorfest, and Le Mans Ultimate, which support it natively already, it feels right as soon as you hit the track. Extras like the phone mount attachment and swappable button fronts with custom stickers are also a very impressive value-add.

There’s a caveat: while it’s a fantastic option to add to a sim racing cockpit, it’s wholly impractical for desktop use. The pedals move around on the floor and will tip over when you hit the brake, and the desktop clamps protrude so far below the desk that they’re bound to hit your knees.

It’s for Playseat setups only, but in that context, Nacon’s bundled together a winning combo of powerful wheelbase, nicely finished wheel with customizable buttons, and smart and solid pedals with adjustable load cells so you can adjust the required stamping force to taste.

Nacon Revosim: Price and availability

• List price: $799.99 / £699.99 (around AU$1,435)
• Priced higher than Thrustmaster’s T598 but lower than Moza and Fanatec 8Nm and 9Nm bundles
• Considering features and quality, it hits the price sweet spot

Price is a huge factor in this bundle. Nacon’s hit a really competitive point while adding extra features like a phone mount and customizable buttons, and with no signs of having cut corners on construction materials. Plastic is not prevalent in this bundle, and all the weighty, brushed aluminum used throughout is impressive for the price.

Thrustmaster’s T598 is the chief rival, since it’s currently the best affordable DD wheel bundle on the market, but Moza’s R5 and R9 bundles, along with Fanatec’s various CSL DD bundle configurations, are also in similar price territory.

Nacon Revosim: Specs

Nacon Revosim: Design & features

• Great finish quality on wheel and pedals
• Wheelbase looks like Fanatec or Moza’s designs
• Customizable details

The simplest terms you can use to appraise the design of a piece of sim racing hardware are these: does it look like it came out of a racing car, and does it feel like you’re driving a racing car when you use it? You don’t see RGB light zones on sim wheels for that reason. It’s supposed to immerse you in a virtual cockpit.

I’m really impressed by how well Nacon has managed to nail this aesthetic with its debut sim racing product. The wheelbase is compact and no-frills like Moza and Fanatec’s direct drive servos, but the wheel, quick release, and pedals all look and feel admirably automotive.

The wheel is the star of the show here. The wheel itself is finished in stitched pleather with a mixture of grippy perforated texture around the contact points and a smooth finish at six and twelve o’clock, with a white centering stripe at the very top. The quality of the stitching is extremely neat and tidy with zero loose threads on my review sample, and there’s a satisfying amount of cushioning to the wheel that I appreciated when the base was giving me jolts of feedback at full force to indicate collisions.

The input layout includes 12 face buttons, 11 of which have swappable keycaps with different color options and supplied stickers, one scroll wheel, a POV hat switch, and two magnetic switches on the back. Additionally, the scroller and hat switch can be pushed in to register a separate input binding.

That’s plenty for any racing sim. Personally, the most demanding title I play in terms of inputs is Assetto Corsa Competizione, and generally, I prefer to have two on-wheel dials to adjust TC and engine maps. That’s achieved easily enough on the Revosim, though, since the hat switch also has a rotational dial input. That leaves plenty of button inputs free for lights and wiper controls, menu commands, pit controls, and a view change.

The wheel shape and size is round, with less of a flat bar bottom than Moza’s R5 or R9 wheels, but neither is it perfectly round like the Thrustmaster T598. That means it’s just about applicable for any racing discipline from open wheeler stuff to rally and drift, though being a round wheel, it’s better suited to the latter two.

Nacon doesn’t currently make any other wheels to swap in its place, so if you’re a hardcore F1 racer, you might be better served by the likes of Fanatec’s CSL F1 bundle with its smaller F1-shaped wheel, though let’s be honest – in terms of lap times, there’s going to be very little difference.

I love the feel of the face buttons. They feel almost like mechanical switches (they’re not), and although there’s a tiny bit of lateral play, they feel of far superior quality to the input buttons on most sub-$1,000 wheels. The fact that their faces can be swapped out in different colors and stickers can be added to them from a supplied sheet is, I’m surprised to note, quite a big deal to me. It’s intrinsically enjoyable to set the wheel up with buttons particular to a specific game. The rotary dial and hat switch are less spectacular in how they feel, but they do the job reliably.

And if you’re going to install this into a cockpit, that’s all you need to know. There’s no ‘but’. For desktop users, though, the ‘but’ is considerable. This isn’t really a desktop-use wheel.

Some might argue that it’s priced high enough that the vast majority of its end users will have race seats anyway, but the fact that it’s bundled with desk clamps and marketed as being compatible for use on a desk means I have to judge it on those terms too, and the fact is it’s very awkward to use this base when clamped to your desk. The clamps will secure it tightly enough to withstand that 9Nm of force, but the clamps’ positioning and length mean you’re very likely to bang your knees against them, or else have to sit in a strange position to avoid them.

Down at ground level, the design of the pedal modules themselves is problem-free. Nice big contact patches with your feet, a variety of elastomers for the brake pedal’s load cell, so you can adjust stiffness. But the base design is once again not really fit for use outside of a cockpit.

The grip surfaces on the base don’t grip hard enough, and there’s nowhere near enough weight at the bottom of the pedal base to prevent it from tipping when you hit the brake, even when using the weakest elastomer. When you screw this directly to a cockpit pedal mount, it’s rock-solid and feels fantastic to use… but only then.

Let’s finish with a positive, though, to underline that poor desktop use is the only negative about this bundle. The quick-release mechanism is really exemplary stuff. Fanatec owners will probably break into a sweat at the mere mention of quick releases, since the company’s move from the QR1 to QR2 standards was nothing short of a debacle due to stock issues and the consumer experience is still confusing since several different tiers of QR2 mechanism are available for purchase, separate from the wheels themselves, and both wheel-side and base-side components need to be bought. Nacon’s mechanism creates a wonderfully tight, secure feel with no rattle or play between the wheel and base, and taking the wheel on and off is a smooth operation.

Nacon Revosim: Performance

• Smooth, powerful torque delivery
• Low latency articulation in games
• Not all games have default mappings yet

Yes, it feels great to drive a lap with the Revosim. But to quantify exactly how good, we need to break it down in context.

First, direct drive versus belt-driven wheels. Belt-driven was the prevalent technology during force feedback wheels’ emergence in gaming, and it can give you plenty of feeling and a meaty jolt when it needs to. But inherent to the technology is a grainy feeling when rotating the wheel, a noisy motor, and ‘cogging’ – a sensation of the wheel snapping between tons of resistance and none, because the motor can’t keep up with the information being fed into it to articulate the feedback quickly and precisely enough.

Direct drive is a pricier alternative that articulates the force feedback without any belts, gears, or pulleys, and that means it’s faster, smoother, and feels closer to the real thing. Until very recently – the last 2-3 years – it’s been a prohibitively expensive tech which only enthusiasts have invested in, but following the lockdown sim racing boom, manufacturers including Thrustmaster, Logitech G, Fanatec, and the major industry disruptor Moza have all brought affordable, sub-$1,000 direct drive wheels to market.

So, firstly, in the most fundamental terms, Nacon’s Revosim wheel feels like a big step up compared to any belt-driven wheel, like the Logitech G923, or even Thrustmaster’s T-GT II, the Rolls-Royce of conventional belt-driven models.

So the real question is how it compares to those other direct drive bundles in the same price bracket. Most enthusiasts who follow the market will look straight to the 9Nm of torque, since on paper it’s a big selling point.

Thrustmaster’s T598 offers just 5Nm on the spec sheet, though the wheelbase uses a new axial drive tech which seems to be able to effectively ‘overclock’ torque and generate a much more muscular sensation than the number suggests. Moza’s R9 bundle offers 9Nm but sells for around $1,000, while Fanatec’s CSL DD QR2 base will get you to 8Nm for under $400, but that’s just for the base, not a bundle with a wheel or pedals.

However, after spending many hours with both the T598 and this wheel, I’m less of a stickler for the power numbers. The Thrustmaster is capable of outputting enough resistance to make my hands feel like they’re in a Tough Mudder after five laps, and let’s not forget that turning the steering wheel of a real car is not a feat of strength, even at speed and during traction loss. Articulation is what matters, and while max torque output is a part of that equation, it’s not as simple as looking for the higher number and deciding that’s better.

Back to the opening statement, then: it feels good to drive a lap with the Revosim because it’s capable of conveying weight transfer, traction loss, the unsettling floatiness of a car under heavy braking, and the quick spasms your wheel can make in complaint when you try to put a lot of power down in a low gear. For their part, the pedals both feel comfortable and offer the right amount of resistance, particularly so for the adjustable load cell brake pedal.

A final word should go to the inclusion of a phone mount, so that you can use a smartphone app like Simhub to turn your phone into a digital cockpit display. In real terms, this is just an extra piece of plastic in the box, but it’s a small inclusion that elevates the driving experience so much. That tells the story of the overall package: little details and additions that turn a good bundle into a great one.

Should I buy the Nacon Revosim?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Nacon Revosim: also consider...

If the Nacon Revosim doesn’t turn your head, try these similarly priced rivals.

How I tested the Nacon Revosim

• Tested in F1 24, F1 25, Rennsport, ACC, and AC Evo
• Two weeks of testing in a cockpit and on a desktop
• Variety of elastomers used, custom FFB profiles tested

Although it’s cheap for a direct drive wheel, this is still a big financial outlay, so the intended audience is the sim racer who goes where the serious competition lies. With that in mind, I headed to various racing sims where the hotlap leaderboards are fiercely contested and where PvP racing is (usually) conducted with a degree of sporting consideration. I also played F1 24 and F1 25.

Those titles run the gamut of supported and non-supported games, but even in the non-supported ones, I didn’t run into any major difficulties besides having to set my input binds button by button. Force feedback response was convincing and useful in every game.

I swapped out the elastomers to try a variety of braking stiffness levels, and while everyone has a preference, the important thing is that there’s sufficient variance out of the box that most racers will be able to find their preferred feel.

The same goes for force feedback strength – I tweaked a few values in all the games I played, to get a sense of where the min and max are for its feedback types, and found that both the floaty (cheaty) super-low FFB feel and the muscular, jolty response types are possible here with minimal tweaks.

First reviewed August 2025

Read more about how we test

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 Enhanced is the version of the game I’ve been wanting to play ever since I completed the original release of the third-person narrative game last year on Xbox Series X.

Developer Ninja Theory’s sequel to the powerful Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice from 2017 has been enhanced and added to for this release, and the game shines on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Pro, feeling right at home on Sony’s console.

The adventure is, of course, identical to the original release, and my main gripes with the game remain on the whole, but the upgrade in graphics in particular means this is a game worthy of revisiting, and one that excels technically.

It’s a miserable and bleak exploration of the human psyche once again, but it’s a powerful one that features exquisite performances, an intriguing story, and a level of immersion that wasn’t quite there on the first release.

A familiar journey

For those unfamiliar with the Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 game, you play as Senua, an Orkney warrior who allows herself to be captured by Icelandic slavers in order to confront them and put an end to the abduction of her people. However, things soon take a turn, and a grim and bleak story unfolds.

I once again found the narrative of giants, misery, and mystery a deeply compelling one, with an overarching storyline that constantly intrigues, while each particular beat provides memorable moments and background context.

The voice acting, motion performances, and realism of the people in the game further invest you in the story once again, and the character models have never looked better, with each expression captured in beautiful detail, and every line delivered with power.

One of my absolute favorite parts of the initial release remains, as good as ever, and perhaps even more so given the graphics boost. The world of Viking Iceland is one of the best of recent times in games - it’s a true spectacle, and I’ve not been able to stop taking screenshots and exploring the beefy photo mode to capture my favorite vistas.

Each topography and landscape is captured beautifully, and, from the miserable rain-soaked coast at the beginning, right through to the open, lush-green vistas, carved through by rivers and waterfalls, everything is brilliantly represented.

Also, while some places in the game are overly empty and quiet, the landscapes and vistas never fail to wow and absorb; exploring every nook and cranny to find new views, and indeed the game’s lore in the form of faces in rocks, and the totems and trees which tell their own stories bit by bit, is a joy.

The above factors combine successfully, once again, to make a setting that is rich in atmosphere and sense of place, and one that brings its own power and character to the game.

Familiar grievances remain, however; after all, in terms of gameplay and content, it is the same game. Combat is still the same simplistic set of repeated moves (though I feel I was less bored with enemies and their variety this time around), and some of those aforementioned places in the landscape, and thus, the story, really are a bit too empty, too.

A new minor issue, however, is the vibration in the DualSense when Senua focuses on one of the trees or totems. It’s far too intense and harms the immersion, sadly. This is especially the case when revisiting the first game, as there, the vibration is more measured, and ties into Senua’s feeling of concentration more.

A new take

Familiarity aside, this is still a re-release, so what of the new stuff?

In brief, I'd say that this is the kind of re-release that hits all the right notes. The boost to the game’s graphics is certainly worthwhile, the extra play modes add depth and new experiences, the developer commentary enriches your knowledge of the game and its creation, and the wonderful photo mode and update to the first game (if you get the deluxe version) are all sterling.

I particularly enjoyed the excellent graphical updates to the game and playing it at 60 frames per second in the new performance mode. Said mode is also - and I tested this repeatedly, over and over in different places - near identical to the quality or resolution mode. Upon each inspection and comparison, the sacrifice on particles, light, and reflections in the performance mode compared to the quality mode, on both PS5 Pro and PS5 Slim, was negligible.

The update to the first game’s graphics (included in the Deluxe Edition or free for existing owners) is also incredibly well executed. Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice now has three graphics modes - performance, resolution, and enriched - all of which are extremely close in terms of quality - and ran identically at 60 frames per second on my Samsung Q6F QLED TV. The enriched mode looks extra fantastic, mind, and has definitely earned a replay of the first game, a place in my 2025 to-play plans.

Elsewhere, the developer commentary is deeply interesting, and the aforementioned photo mode offers an awful lot of features too that are worth getting stuck into if you’re keen on digital photography.

The Dark Rot Challenge Mode is a very on-brand and perfectly fitting inclusion, however. Introduced in Senua’s first adventure, this mode has its own level of high difficulty and offers a permadeath challenge for players looking for the most punishing test. Simply put, with each death, a dark rot will make its way up Senua’s arm, and if you die too many times, all your progress will be lost. It’s such a Hellblade game mode that it makes sense that it’s there, but I am sad that the PS5 platinum trophy is locked behind it.

All in all, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 Enhanced, as a game, is still just as powerful, gripping, and harrowing as I remember. It is, perhaps even more so than ever, a video game demonstration of excellence in misery, bleakness, and sorrow.

Much like parts of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and its somber storytelling or The Last of Us Part 2 and that game’s exploration of hatred and the cycle of violence, for me, the heavy themes and bleakness of Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 Enhanced are done so well that it’s constantly engrossing and creates something truly memorable, and one of the best PS5 Pro games you can play now.

Should you play Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 Enhanced?

Play it if...

Don't play it if...

Accessibility

The same bank of accessibility features in the original release remain present in Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 Enhanced. These include three color blind modes - Deuteranope, Protanope, and Tritanope - as well as other graphical features such as motion blur and camera bob. In audio, you can alter menu narration settings, make adjustments to the audio presentation and device you’re using, while you can once again change text size, some animations, and UI color schemes.

The excellent gameplay accessibility options remain, too, with settings enabling you to change overall combat difficulty, as well as initiate auto-input for Senua’s offensive and/or defensive combat actions.

How I reviewed Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 Enhanced

I played Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 Enhanced for roughly 10 hours, replaying the entire main story, finding each and every collectible, and watching each and every absorbing cutscene. I played the game on my PS5 Pro on a Samsung Q6F 4K QLED TV using a Samsung sound bar and a Drop + EPOS PC38X and Sound BlasterX G6 sound card for audio. I was also able to briefly test the game on my PS5 Slim and Acer Predator X32QFS 4K gaming monitor, using a DualSense controller, and my Sennheiser HD 550 headphones, and Creative Sound Blast X4 sound card.

I spent several minutes in almost every chapter checking the differences between the game’s quality and performance modes, and I also tested all the game’s various extras and modes, ensuring I explored all of what this release of the game has to offer. I tried to engage in the enhanced version of the first one that is included in the deluxe edition of the game, but, unfortunately, I could not get this to work or even find it at the time of writing.

First reviewed August 2025

Annual sports game releases tend to get their fair share of stick across all platforms, and wrestling game series WWE 2K is no exception. Just a few years ago, the response to the buggy mess that was WWE 2K20 was so bad, the team behind the franchise went back to the drawing board and skipped 2021’s release altogether.

Since then, the WWE 2K franchise has gone from strength to strength with just enough polishing every year to warrant an annual release. This year is no different, with my colleague Scott McCrae calling WWE 2K25 “the best wrestling game of the modern era.”

Now, if you’re reading this review, it’s likely that you’ve not only been burnt by the annual sports title release in the past (2K isn’t the only culprit, EA’s sports franchises like FC suffer a similar fate), but you’ve also been burnt by continuously poor ports of sports games to Nintendo platforms.

It brings me great joy to write that WWE 2K25 is the wrestling experience Nintendo fans have wanted for a very long time, offering an almost identical experience to WWE 2K25 on PS5 and Xbox Series X, albeit with some small caveats.

In this review, I’m going to focus on the core experience of playing WWE 2K25 on Nintendo Switch 2. While I’ll be discussing aspects of the game, I’d also advise you to read TechRadar Gaming’s full WWE 2K25 review from earlier this year, as I’m going to touch less on gameplay mechanics and modes than the original write-up.

Time to play the game

In our original review, we praised the improvements to the core gameplay mechanics, such as chain wrestling, as well as the long-anticipated addition of intergender wrestling matches. Some of the Game modes have received lots of love this year, such as the best 2K Showcase to date, based on the Samoan wrestling dynasty, The Bloodline. For fans of Roman Reigns and co, the documentary-style game mode is a genuine blast to play, giving you a history lesson in wrestling while offering fans the chance to relive the moments themselves.

Universe mode, which lets you direct a wrestling show from start to finish, now has in-ring promos, and while still fairly limited, it adds much-needed depth to what I think is the best game mode for a handheld device. Being able to take your fantasy-booked show on the go adds a whole new dimension to the way fans can experience WWE 2K25, and because of it, this Nintendo Switch 2 version of the game might just be my favorite way to play.

You see, while the negatives mentioned in our original review still stand, such as a heavy focus on trying to get players to spend more of their hard-earned cash on unlockable items in the brand new online mode, The Island. Or buying downloadable content (DLC) to access wrestlers that probably should’ve been in the roster to begin with, the Nintendo Switch 2 version of WWE 2K25 unlocks the ability to take a fully-fledged wrestling game on your next vacation, on your next long-haul flight, or even just to the couch while your significant other watches TV.

In terms of the game itself, the best praise I can give it is that it’s essentially identical in content and gameplay to the PS5 and Xbox Series X releases of the game, and that’s not been something sports fans have been able to say about Nintendo ports for a very long time.

Where the Nintendo Switch 2 version does fall short, however, is in graphical fidelity. WWE 2K25 looks like a PS4 game, and while that’s impressive on the go, it feels like you’ve gone back in time when you try to play in docked mode. Considering just how gorgeous WWE 2K25 is on home consoles, the Nintendo Switch 2 version feels a bit lifeless, lacking textures, and in general just not up to par graphically with the game wrestling fans have been enjoying since March.

Pocket combat

If docked mode on Nintendo Switch 2 is your preferred way of playing, and you have access to another current-gen console, I’d advise you to buy this game elsewhere. If, however, you only have access to the Nintendo Switch 2 or you want to take Wrestlemania on the go, WWE 2K25 hits all the right notes.

I’ve been waiting since the Stone Cold Steve Austin glory days for a wrestling game that’s as good in handheld as it is on a big screen, and with WWE 2K25, developers Visual Concepts have nailed it.

There’s something quite magical about being able to take a sports video game on the go, and I hope WWE 2K25 is a sign of the future for Nintendo Switch 2. While it might not be on par graphically with the competition, it is gameplay-wise, and ultimately, that’s the most important thing for fans of any gaming series.

With EA FC 26 set to release in the coming months, Madden 2026 already available on the Nintendo eShop, and more annual release sports games coming to the Switch 2, I really hope these other developers have taken a page out of WWE 2K25’s book. Give me the same game with less graphical fidelity for small bursts of action while travelling, and the Nintendo Switch 2 might just become my favorite console of all time. Please, developers, don’t let WWE 2K25 be the outlier.

Should you play WWE 2K25?

Play it if...

Don't play it if...

How I reviewed WWE 2K25

I played 25 hours of WWE 2K25 between handheld and docked modes on Nintendo Switch 2. Around 15 hours were spent playing the game on the go during a week of travelling across Europe, connected to my SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds.

During this time, I played all of the game modes on offer, comparing them to my experience of playing WWE 2K25 on PS5 Pro. On the PS5 Pro, I have over 100 hours on the game this year with my Samsung S90D, one of the best OLED TVs on the market. With over 125 hours played of WWE 2K25 combined between Nintendo Switch 2 and PS5 Pro, I have a deep understanding of how the Nintendo Switch 2 version compares to the other consoles on the market.

First reviewed August 2025