What Do I Need in a Wheel Stand?

What to Look for in a Wheel Stand? (A totally biased article from your friends at Wheel Stand Pro!).

Ok, so we’re biased, we want you to buy our wheel stand solution. For those still reading along here are our top reasons to get a stand. The top two are game killers if you don’t achieve them: you have to have a stable platform and a system you can quickly be ready to play.

1) Stable Platform: The reason you purchased the game and wheel was to enjoy a close-to-real-life driving experience. You need the your relationship to wheel and pedals to remain a constant during your driving experience. When I say “relationship staying constant” I mean that when you’re driving the car you can expect to feel some movement as the entire car moves, but you might feel less than confident if your pedals starting slipping farther and farther away! For those that are in a heated race and your wheel starts slipping sideways…you will no doubt feel quite saddened by the negative turn of events in the race. Quite saddened.

2) Quick Start-up: Are you old enough to remember the Indian on the side of the road crying at the site of litter on the side of the road? Well, that’s me (not the Indian part, just the crying part), when I think of all the very nice wheels gathering dust in the closet because it’s just too big of a hassle to pull out the wheel, plug everything in, then mount everything….dang anybody would be tired by then! All set up time, no race time. You want quick-quick-quick. What you want is a system that by the time the software loads you’re sitting in the driving seat ready to go! So if you can find a stand where you hard mount both your wheel and pedals and just pull it out and plug it into the power outlet and the USB (if it's not wireless)....then you are in the money! Gee, I wonder if Wheel Stand Pro has any of these.....

So let’s take a moment to reflect over the first two requirements. If you ain’t got those then there ain’t no go! Yup could have been a poet. Ok, done with reflecting...boring...!

3) Adjustable: Not a game killer, sure you can play with the wheel not quite in the right spot (or even a wrong spot!), maybe you can rig a seat so that it can be adjusted to make up for the shortcomings of your wheel and pedal mounting. But I want the quitting to be because I can’t manage to get to the next level on GT5, not because my leg is cramping up! Get yourself a solution that is fully adjustable, height, pedal location, wheel mount angle, can move back and forth….live a little! So keep a keen out for a stand solution that is fully articulating (fancy word for adjustable)....if you need help then you could do worse than http://www.wheelstandpro.us/.

4) Protect your equipment: Not usually given a lot of ink, but we think it’s important. The weakest link in your wheel and pedal gear is the wire connections running between the pedals and wheels. The more you are messing with setting up and taking down your wheel and pedals the more chance you have to damage it. So getting your wheel mounted on a platform where you don’t ever have to remove the wheel and pedals is a big plus in keeping your equipment safe and race ready! Set it up, tie wrap the wires snuggly up…and let your worries fall away like cars trailing you in your rearview mirror (see, more poetry… ). Look, I didn't even tell you where you might be able to find a stand.

5) Quick Adjustments – nice to have: Not a must, but something that will wear on you if it takes a long time to make adjustments to your rig. Do you have a quick release solution like… oh I don’t know, Wheel Stand Pro? Or does it take an act of congress to make adjustments for your friend who wants to race that Bugatti Veyron around the track?

6) Light and compact – Boy this really is biased toward Wheel Stand Pro. Again if you have a game room and your racing gear only moves once every five years, not a problem. But what if you need to move the gear out of the living room to make room for the occasional non-racing use of the television….then let’s just say it would be nice not to have to call three of your friends to move your driving sled out of sight! And let’s say you have to move it every day…for the rest of your life, like Sisyphus and the boulder…then I'd bet you would be wishing for a smaller boulder!

7) Low Cost – Well doesn’t it always ruin the fun when you have to actually pay for a solution? Well if you’re one of those wheels-in-the-lap drivers then you are laughing all the way to the bank! Or if you happen to be Thurston Howell the Third you can put on your flame retardant jump suit, tied yourself down with your sixty four point harness and slide into your full scale Nascar approved driving simulation cockpit….and wonder how the little people put up with what they have to put up with. Or….you can get the perfectly priced Wheel Stand Pro stand solution.

Enough pontificating let’s just see what where the chickens finally roost in our clearly biased rating of Driving Solutions:


Wheel in your lap, pedals on the carpet. Just free wheeling baby, hanging loose and feeling the wind on your face! Are you kidding, this is horrible. First, don’t let your friends drive drunk and second.... just behind drunk driving in moral equivalency…don’t let your friends lap-drive (ok that just sounds wrong). This one doesn’t pass the lowest hurdle, “ is this game usable this way”?
“F+” or One Stick Shifter out of Four

Wheel mounted on a table, pedals on the carpet. Much better, and maybe even drivable. Unless you’re using a card table or an ironing board, you’ve managed to clamp your wheel with the plastic clamps to a solid table…but now your pedals are slipping away….oh no Mr. Bill! Find something to stop that, brace the pedals against an immovable object….for instance lay a 2 by 4 board down behind your pedals that’s braced against the wall. Not adjustable, no protection for your equipment… hey but the price is right!
“D” or Two Stick Shifters out of Four

Wheel Mounted on a Wheel Stand Pro wheel stand (imagine angels singing and a warm glow surrounding the “Wheel Stand Pro” name: (hmmm wonder how this one is going to turn out?....he says to himself in quiet contemplation).

Stable – checkQuick Start Up – check (did you see our video?)

Adjustable – checkProtect your equipment – checkQuick Adjustments – check (fastest in the west!)
Light and Compact – check, checkLow cost – check (yes, really…where else can you get all this for this low low price?)

“A” or Four Stick Shifters out of Four


Well you made it through this lengthy clearly biased blogtification (or maybe you just jumped to the end). Please go check our product out at http://www.wheelstandpro.us/. Do yourself a favor and start racing in style!

See you on the track!

SR