New Moza Sim Racing Gear Shifter Uses Force Feedback

If you’ve owned any sort of sim racing wheel in the last 15 years, it’s almost certainly been one with force feedback. That technology has advanced rapidly in the last few years though, with most wheels on the market now offering direct drive – and even finding its way into the humble shifter.

That’s the case with the latest release from Chinese hardware manufacturer Moza Racing. Meet the Active Shifter.

This isn’t entirely a new product. In truth, what this is is Moza’s AB9 flight sim base – intended for stuff like Microsoft Flight Sim and Ace Combat – with a bit of tweaking to allow it to be used as a gear shifter.

Moza Racing Active Shifter

Using two motors offering up to 12Nm of torque, the Active Shifter can simulate a six-speed H-pattern shifter, a sequential or even be used as a handbrake if you so wish. Handy if you’re playing something like EA Sports WRC.

That’ll be switchable through Moza’s pit house software, as well as ‘full customisation’ options. We’ll have to wait to get hands-on with the active shifter for a deep dive as to what that entails.

Moza is already taking orders for the Active Shifter, priced at £588. Expensive? Yes. Cool? Also yes.

If by chance you already have Moza’s AB9 base, the good news is you won’t have to buy another to use as a shifter. The knobs will be sold for £39 separately. That’ll work the other way – meaning those of us yet to dip our toes into the world of planes could do so with a knob swap. No, don’t laugh at that.

Moza mBooster pedal

In other Moza news, the mBooster Active Pedal is now on sale, bringing force feedback to your feet for £799 a pedal. Those use the tech to replicate the feeling of ABS and TCS.

There’s also a raft of updates to its direct drive wheelbases with a new encoder that should improve feedback, as well as unlock 360Hz for iRacing for even more realism. Have fun explaining that one to your friends when they come for a spin on your rig.