FINALLY, a way to use your racing wheel on your sofa!

As promised, here is BSRs review of the nifty Xlerator Wheel Stand!

I'm a rather large fellow as some of you may know. This has always presented a problem in most of the racing hardware out there. Whether real world or for gaming. So I was pleased to hear from Marlon fresh off his E3 trip about this new mount that had a version for us big folk.

The company promised to send us a Big Boy model, which they offer at their site along with a standard model, for review. It arrived yesterday and we took it on some laps.

First up, as you can see the packaging is enough and the product came out unscathed from shipping. At first it looks a little daunting but we managed to have it together in about twenty minutes. Instructions are provided for the assembly as well as special instructions that are wheel specific.

The mount should accommodate nearly every wheel out there. It even goes out of its way to have options to fit the gift-of-the-gods Logitech G25 wheel as well as the XB360 wheel. In our testing we fitted the XB360 wheel. From images on their website and from test fits we did with our own G25, the stand looks like it would handle the G25 perfectly, including the shifter.

After everything was secured we sat down in our Lazy Boy chair, fired up Race Pro on the XB360 and set off on some hot laps of Monza in a BMW. One neat trick of the stand; we liked instantly; is that it flips away from you and rests on it's feet. This allows you to shove it in the corner without having to detach the wheel and pedals. Makes for nice quick storage and retrieval. It also makes you look like a racing bad ass when people see it hiding away...hard core for sure.

My first laps quickly showed the stand does exactly as advertised. It keeps the wheel firmly planted and the pedals locked in place. I was tearing at the wheel and attacking corners with no slip or play. All while sitting in my Lazy Boy! One thing I learned though, and at no fault of the stand, don't play on a rocker. My Lazy Boy is a rocker model and whenever I'd get aggressive on the throttle it would push me back. Consider though how well the stand managed even that; I was still able to race comfortably.


My only complaint is even with the Big Boy model I found the desire for more lateral space between the "legs". (image at left)The ingenious design of the stand allows you to firmly mount your wheel and pedals without sticking a pole between your legs. This means you can chose between left foot braking or heal toe or what ever you want. But with my chubby legs and the narrow gap at my thighs I was pretty much forced to left foot brake.

You must remember though I am large man and at the extreme design limits of this stand, even the Big Boy model. I am a worst-case-scenario. Marlon (image at right) had plenty of space and was freely able to move his legs and feet. All I am suggesting is with a Big Boy model offered, why not maybe add adjustable sliders to the lateral poles as well? Just a couple more inches and I would have been able to move.

So over all we were very impressed. The only thing to decide really in your purchase is how many gaming accessories do you really think you can fit in your living room? I know I'm reaching the limit.