Innato GT3 Steering Wheel

In 2021 we were able to review the Simplace GT3 Limited Edition steering wheel. This was a steering wheel from the manufacturer Innato, located in Spain, which comes with Simplace decals. This time Innato themselves reached out and asked us to test and review the updated Innato GT3 steering wheel. As always we are very happy and eager to do so.

At the time of writing, the renewed Innato GT3 steering wheel that we are going to test has a retail price of €299 in the Innato webshop, whereby we have opted for the one with Audi Sport stickers.

Packaging & Contents

We received a standard brown shipping box from Innato, which was delivered to us by FedEx within 3 days. When opening this shipping box, we immediately see the Innato GT3 steering wheel, held in place by foam, waiting to be unpacked by us. The steering wheel is available with different stickers on the front plate and, as mentioned earlier, we have opted for the Audi Sport stickers. In the box we also find the bolts for mounting a quick release or adapter. Since we are personally always a big fan of beautiful packaging and branding, which increases the desire to unbox the contents inside, we are a bit disappointed that in this case we only received the steering wheel in a standard brown shipping box. We would have liked to see a nice product box with Innato branding, perhaps a short manual and a sticker sheet for customizing the stickers on the steering wheel. In the case of the Innato GT3 steering wheel, the buttons are already stickered upon receipt. However, at the end of the day it is of course about the steering wheel itself and we find things like product boxes and branding just a nice bonus.

Engineering & Quality

The Innato GT3 steering wheel is constructed with three major elements. The front of the steering wheel consists of black anodized aluminum. The middle part of the steering wheel consists of molded ABS plastic. This is a cheap to produce but very strong material that is used in many products that we use every single day. The back side of the steering wheel again consists of anodised black aluminium. These parts together provide a very strong base which at first glance contains no flex.

The grip of the steering wheel is made of polyurethane rubber with a 65a shore hardness, which is a scale for defining hardnesses of different materials. The grip of the steering wheel is quite hard, but still has some flexibility to the touch. A seam can be seen and felt in the rubber on both the outside edge and the inside of the grip, which we hope will not bother us while racing. At the back side of the steering wheel we find the gearshift paddles. These are magnetic, which is more or less becoming a standard with simracing steering wheels. The paddles themselves are CNC machined and anodized black aluminum with a thickness of 4mm and rounded edges for extra comfort. The paddle shifters are not adjustable in width. However, the paddles should theoretically be able to be mounted on the other side of the shifter unit so they come 4-5mm closer. So you cant technically choose from two settings in depth. At the rear we also find three holes for mounting a 70mm quick release or adapter. Finally, there is the USB cable, which is fixed to the back of the steering wheel and can therefore not be completely disconnected or replaced.

The Innato GT3 steering wheel has a total of 33 input options. On the front side you will find eight so-called ‘high precision’ pushbuttons, three CTS 288 rotary encoders that can be pressed and two funky switches. You can press the funky switches, push them in four directions, and you can turn the top part left and right just like a rotary encoder. It is striking that there is a mention of ‘high precision’ push buttons, where the Simplace Limited Edition GT3 steering wheel that we reviewed earlier had APEM push buttons that we are usually fans of.

The large sticker on the front of the steering wheel looks good at first glance, but it is not neatly fitted in the corners and here and there you can see a relief of underlying bolts through the sticker. The stickers on the buttons are not evenly centered everywhere, which makes it a shame that you don’t have the option to stick them yourself with a sticker sheet. On the other hand, it is of course a replica steering wheel where the stickers of the original buttons have also been adopted.

Mounting

We are going to use the Innato GT3 steering wheel on our Treq One simrig in combination with the Cammus DD WB wheelbase. This wheelbase uses a standard quick release system from NRG, which is also used by Simagic, for example. So, we install one of our Simagic Quick Releases on the Innato GT3 steering wheel. This is done in no time with the three bolts and the standard 70mm adapter pattern. After placing the quick release it is a matter of placing the steering wheel on the wheelbase and plugging the USB cable into our powered USB hub. The steering wheel is immediately recognized by Windows as an Innato GT3 steering wheel and is ready for use straight away.

Using the steering wheel

We are going to test the Innato GT3 steering wheel with Audi stickers in Assetto Corsa Competizione, and of course step into a virtual Audi; the R8 LMS GT3 EVO II. With a few clicks we have assigned all the necessary buttons and we can get started with the first laps. Our first impression is very positive; despite the fact that the handles do not feel very ergonomic, the steering wheel is nice to hold. Also thanks to its diameter of 300mm, the Innato GT3 feels like a convincing, sturdy steering wheel. We cannot detect flex in the steering wheel, which confirms that the construction of anodised aluminum and ABS plastic forms a strong basis.

Front controls
The eight high-precision pushbuttons on the front of the steering wheel feel pleasant to use. The buttons have a short travel and a soft click at the actuation point. The resistance on the buttons is quite light, but is enough to ensure that you don’t accidentally press a button while driving. The fact that the buttons are somewhat far from your thumb also helps, although that is also a small disadvantage. For example, except for the upper push buttons and the funky switches, you will have to partially release your hand from the steering wheel to reach the rest of the buttons. This is of course somewhat inherent to the design of the steering wheel and the fact that this is a replica of a real steering wheel where the button layout is the same.

We are very satisfied with the two funky switches; these are easily accessible and very pleasant to use. The resistance for both upward and sideways operation, pressing and turning is very nice and basically exactly what we expect from a good funky switch. We prefer to use them for navigating in-game menus and they are perfect for that. Because the Innato GT3 steering wheel is equipped with two of these switches, you naturally also have the freedom to assign your own desired functions to the other funky switch in addition to navigating the menus.

Finally, on the front are three rotary encoders labeled for adjusting traction control, brake bias and ABS. The resistance of these are also pleasant when rotating and a good click can be felt with every step. Pressing the rotary encoders is the only thing we really dislike about the steering wheel. The resistance when pressing the rotary encoders is not necessarily very heavy, but there is a lack of feedback whether you are pressing the button correctly or not. In addition, there is no clear, pleasant click that makes pressing these encoders feel quite soggy and unpredictable.

Shifter paddles
On the rear side of the Innato GT3 steering wheel are, of course, the shifter paddles. The paddles are a pleasant size and the resistance generated by the magnets in the shift units is enough to allow smooth upshifts and downshifts with sufficient resistance. To our personal taste, this resistance could have been a bit heavier, but it is certainly not underwhelming. A light, pleasant click can be felt from the microswitch in the shifter unit. However, the shift paddles are quite noisy in use due to the amount of travel present and the fact that there is no further damping between the magnet and the aluminum shift unit. When the gearshift paddle is released, it flips back to its resting position with quite a bit of noise. Personally, we do not find this very disturbing since we often drive with headphones which makes it not overly noticeable, but this can be a disadvantage if you want to take roommates into account. You can of course dampen the sound a bit by guiding the paddle itself a little more slowly to its resting position, but the sound remains very audible.

With a distance of about 40mm, the gearshift paddles are relatively far from the steering wheel. Personally, we do not find this unpleasant and even feel like it contributes to the experience of the steering wheel, but that may not be the case for everyone. The paddles are not adjustable in width or depth. In theory, you can mount the paddle shifter on the other side of the holder and bring it a few millimeters closer. However, the paddles are then very close to the fingers where, due to the lack of adjustability in width, it is difficult to fold your fingers around them when you want to prepare for a shift.

Despite the fact that the aforementioned points sound quite critical, we certainly like the shifter paddles during long-term use. Upshifting and downshifting is nice and smooth and the shift feel fits well with the character and size of the steering wheel.

Grips
As mentioned earlier, we have noticed visible seams on the rubber grip of the Innato GT3 steering wheel which made us concerned whether or not this would cause problems during racing. Having completed the necessary races in Assetto Corsa Competizione we can happily say that we have not actively noticed this as something that bothers us while driving. When we pay attention to it the seams can be felt, but other than that this is not a problem for us.

When driving intense races, we do notice over time that the grip starts to feel rough to the palms of our hands, especially towards the fingers. The grip rubs lightly against our skin, which becomes visibly red and feels slightly irritated. When you drive more relaxed or for less long period of time, you certainly don’t have to endure this. We have of course also completed some races with our gloves on where we have not had any problems. Our Abruzzi gloves gave a lot of grip on the handles of the Innato GT3 steering wheel, which we experienced as pleasant when driving longer and more intense races. Although it is not an immediate must, driving with gloves seems to be a good choice.

Conclusion

The renewed Innato GT3 steering wheel is a relatively affordable steering wheel. The main selling point of the steering wheel in our opinion is the shape, size and the fact that it is a replica of a real GT3 steering wheel.

Positive areas are the strong base of aluminum and ABS plastic, where no flex is visible or tangible. The ‘high precision’ push buttons on the front are pleasant to use, although most are difficult to reach due to the nature of the steering wheel. The steering wheel is plug-and-play, so you can use the steering wheel immediately after placing an adapter or quick-release and plugging in the USB cable. The two funky switches feel very pleasant to use and the presence of these switches is an absolute improvement in our experience.

The steering wheel is not completely free of negatives. The gearshift paddles feel nice and sturdy, but to our taste they have a fairly long travel and they make a lot of noise when operated. The paddles are also not adjustable in width or depth at all, which may be bothersome to some as the paddles are relatively far from the steering wheel. The steering wheel finish isn’t great; the decals show imperfections and there are visible and tangible seams on the grip, which we also find to be quite rough, so we prefer to drive with gloves. Finally, the push function of the rotary encoders on the steering wheel are not pleasant to operate.

Despite the fact that we have listed a few possible areas of improvement, we ask ourselves what the driving experience of the steering wheel really is, and it is simply perfectly fine. The steering wheel is a good size, feels very solid, the shift feel is nice despite the noise it produces, most of the buttons are very nice to use and we like the funky switches. We can’t forget the price of the steering wheel; this is very favorable and for most alternatives you simply pay a whole lot more. If you just want a relatively affordable GT3 experience, then the Innato GT3 steering wheel is definitely a recommendation. For the time being, we will continue to use the steering wheel with great pleasure for our GT3 races in Assetto Corsa Competizione.

At the time of writing, the Innato GT3 steering wheel is available in the Innato webshop for €299,- excluding shipping.

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