With the first batch of tracks in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’s massive Booster Course Pass out now, it’s time to jump back into the best Mario Kart game of all time. It’s also the perfect time to pick up a racing wheel for your Switch. While Mario Kart 8 leads the pack in terms of racers on Switch, there are a bunch of great racing games that can benefit from the added immersion of a steering wheel controller. Racing on the Switch is great already with the Joy-Cons and Switch Pro Controller–sometimes even with motion controls–but the experience is undoubtedly better with a steering wheel. Whether you want a wheel specifically designed for Mario Kart or a universal wheel you can use across multiple consoles, we’ve got you covered. Here’s a look at the best Nintendo Switch steering wheels that you can buy right now.
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Mario Kart Racing Wheel By Hori
Right out of the box, the Mario Kart Racing Wheel looks like it was ripped straight out of a turbo-charged go-kart belonging to Nintendo’s most bankable plumber. Besides the good looks, this desk-mounted racing wheel comes with everything that you’d expect from hardware for racing games where you aren’t lobbing blue tortoise shells of death at rival players. It has flappy pedal shifters on the side of the wheel, traditional pedals for your feet, and a ton of buttons to use, making it more than just the perfect peripheral for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
You can easily plug this moderately-sized beast into the Switch via the USB port on the dock, and the only real drawback is that it has no force feedback to jolt your hands awake when you’ve taken a turn with too much speed behind you. That small flaw aside, this is easily the best-looking steering wheel on the list thanks to the audacious color scheme that hammers home the Mario Kart affiliation and its ability to be used in other games within the go-fast genre.
Mario Kart Racing Wheel Mini By Hori
For the smaller-handed members of the family, the Mario Kart racing wheel in its mini incarnation is a scaled down version of the peripheral above. You’re still getting a solid steering wheel, pedals, flappy paddle gear shifters, and tons of buttons–all compressed to a more compact size. Like its big brother above, this mini version of the Hori-produced racing wheel is also an instant attention-getter with its Mario-themed colors; plus the smaller size also means that you’ll save a few bucks.
PXN V3II
If you’d prefer a more subdued color scheme on your racing wheel, you can’t go wrong with the all-around appeal of the PXN V3II. Not just compatible with the Switch, you can also plug this peripheral into your Xbox or PlayStation consoles, and it even has a built-in old-fashioned manual gear shifter. Pedals are also included, the wheel has some grippy texturing on it, and its attractive price tag makes it a solid option for a single steering wheel that can be used on multiple devices.
Joy-Con Racing Wheel Pack
Strapped for cash and looking for a steering wheel option that comes with no wires attached? Orzly’s budget console steering wheels provide an affordable option for replicating the sensation of twisting the wheel when you take a corner, and for a multiplayer game like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, one purchase will get you four brightly colored wheels to slot your Joy-Con controllers into. Thanks to the gyroscopes built into Nintendo’s detachable input devices, these wheels will do a capable job of replicating steering, and for the younger members of the family, Orzly’s offerings are worth looking at before you drop serious cash on more serious hardware.
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