I recently put together a Fanatec Podium bundle in this video, comprising of the Fanatec Podium hub, paddles and button module. The final piece that remained was finding a good wheel rim to top it off, for which I wanted a GT slash formula style shape, much like my old McLaren wheel, just a lot posher. This turned out to be trickier than expected, there’s almost nothing of this style that plays nicely with the button module without big compromises. As I found, though, there is a very good one that does.
What you see here is the Turn Racing R320 rim (attached to the Fanatec Podium Button Module, of course), it’s a very modest 150 dollars or thereabouts, Turn Racing is a sim racing component manufacturer based in the US, and this rim of theirs is pretty much made with the Fanatec button module in mind, it fits perfectly out of the box with no compromises or DIY workarounds, just bolt it on and off you go. If you wanted to build a GT style rim like this with a Fanatec podium core, the R320 is far and away the most suitable choice of rim for this that I’ve seen so far.
Let me say at this stage because when I like something I like something - Turn Racing hasn’t approached or asked me to make this video and there is no incentive offered by them for this, I bought this rim with my own cash and I’m just a fan of what I’ve received.
This completed Fanatec Podium wheelset is a really nice, handsome setup with the Turn R320 attached and I’m besotted with it since adding that final piece - all the components are listed in the description if you missed that prior video. There are breathlessly few GT rims that fit well with the button module because of the surrounding enclosure of dials and switches forcing a very specific type of centre silhouette, but the R320 is one of them. There is a smaller 305mm version of this R320 rim, but in my eyes 305mm crosses the line of being too small for this exact application and like the Cube GT Zero rim I was also considering it requires a spacer to clear the buttons on the Podium button module, which can put stuff slightly beyond comfortable thumb range which isn’t ideal. It’ll work, but it won’t feel like it was made for it, if you know what I mean.
The rim uses a fairly firm rubberised stippled material on the grip, this is hard wearing and will last a long time but if you have particularly sweaty hands then you might find it a small bit of bother if you like to race bare handed as the non-absorbent grips will collect the clam, as it were. I’m not a particularly perspirant palmed guy and I found it to be a little bit on the moist side when the session has drawn on for a while, but as I use gloves nowadays it’s not an issue for me, just something to bear in mind if you really don’t wanna use gloves ever, which is how I used to be before I got these Sparco’s.
You can use this rim as it comes, with the beautiful bright yellow Turn emblem in the centre, but you can also add any one of the various custom cover stickers that you can buy along with it which are not as expensive as they could be. It costs barely a tenner for one of these sticker sets and I am happy with the quality, they are made of a tough vinyl material and not just thin paper like a Panini football sticker. I chose the twill carbon gold set which has a nice carbon fibre effect print with gold detail, but there is gonna be something in there for everyone’s style. I really love the additional touch of having these stickers available at point of sale, it’s a no-brainer good idea.
Speaking of quality, the rim itself is extremely well finished and gives you the impression that it’s created by tried and true process, and flicking through Turn’s Youtube videos with interesting videos about the production of their kit, I can see why. Delivery time from the US was around 5 working days to the UK.
You may have seen Turn Racing’s name before as they did sponsor the touring car series on iRacing for some time so if the name feels familiar that’s probably it - it’s sim racing kit built by and for sim racers and Turn Racing’s discord community is also a dream for folks that want to build their own DIY wheels from scratch, which is a matter that Turn Racing themselves are experts in.
So clearly I am now a happy customer of theirs because they provided a solution to my problem which seemingly nobody else has bothered to meet so far. At the beginning of this little project I was confident it’d be easy enough to find a perfect GT rim to fit the button module assembly but it became clearer and clearer that it wasn’t going to be so simple. When I needed it, the R320 saved my bacon. I’m sure most of you will agree that this is a pretty good looking end result.
The Fanatec Podium Button Module is a fussy thing to buy for - there are so few rims that fit it of the GT/Formula style. The Turn Racing R320, though, is a perfect fit and makes the whole assembly complete. Thanks to this humble rim solving this problem, they have another happy customer.