The Asetek brand is well known among custom PC enthusiasts. It has to be said that the company owns more or less all the patents widely used by manufacturers of watercooling components. We’re talking, of course, about pumps, CPU and GPU block design, tubes, radiators and everything in between. But that’s not the point.

Asetek more or less dominates its market, and the company is financially comfortable. Wanting to add a new string to its bow, the Dutch giant embarked on the sim-racing adventure for two main reasons, in my opinion:

• The company boss is a racing fan, and took part in competitions when he was young. And he loves sim-racing too.
• His son races in GT3, if I’m not mistaken, and this was an opportunity to help him with his training.

As a result, Asetek began working on a range of sim-racing peripherals split into 3: La Prima, Forte and Invicta. Today, we’re going to take a look at the Forte products, and I’ll tell you what I think of them.

Main and technical features of the bundle

• Direct Drive base for 18 nm of torque
• 22-bit encoder based on
• Composite steering wheel (carbon fibre-reinforced plastic) F1/GT with a diameter of 29 cm
• Crankset with 2 Load Cell pedals, including a brake pedal capable of withstanding up to 180 kg of pressure
• Constructed from premium materials, including carbon fibre and aluminium
• 12 buttons, 6 rotary switches, 2 switches and 3 encoders on the steering wheel faceplate
• QR on rear identical to that of Simucube

Asetek Forte design

Let’s start with the design of the steering wheel. The Forte wheel sports a rather sober look, even if the faceplate is covered in carbon fiber. There are a few orange accents, including 4 buttons and the QR release on the rear. On the other hand, the brand logos are in different colors (white and red), and I find that a little unsightly.

As for the Forte pedalboard, it’s just sublime, with its black/gun metal finish, sprinkled with orange parts for the Load Cell, as well as the pedal mounting system. Here, the logos are much more sober, light gray and engraved on the metal. This pedalboard was most certainly inspired by those used on Hypercars such as Pagani or Koenigsegg.

And the base is a simple enough design. The casing is long, and covered with fins to cool the motor and electronics. At the front, as at the rear, there’s a plastic cover and the QR Base Side, which looks very similar to Simucube‘s. In fact, it’s practically the same. In fact, it’s practically the same.

Customized assembly

The Forte base can only be mounted on a chassis, and a strong one at that, as it produces 18 nm of peak torque. For mounting, you have the front option just behind the QR cover, and you also have the rather standard bottom option. With the front-mount option, you’ll notice a gap forming in the plastic as it works with the force feedback. This is purely aesthetic, and in no way affects the structure.

The Forte steering wheel uses a QR that closely resembles Simucube’s, for the simple reason that Asetek collaborates with the company that owns Simucube on technology exchanges. As a result, the steering wheel fits directly into a slot on the base, and will stay there come what may.

As for the crankset, there’s a standard mounting pattern that will fit virtually any chassis on the market. Once again, this bundle is for use on a cockpit, not on furniture. Incidentally, I don’t believe the brand offers clamps or other table clamps for its peripherals.

Manufacturing and finishing

The Forte steering wheel uses composite for its structure. In other words, it’s carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic. It’s not very premium, especially considering the price of the bundle, but at least it’s superbly well finished.

As for the base, it uses aluminum for the casing, and plastic for 2 covers (front and rear). It, too, is very well finished, except for the covers, which don’t line up perfectly with the base fins. There’s a slight offset, and it’s especially noticeable if you opt for the base’s front mounting.

The Forte crankset is very premium, much more so than the other two peripherals. The structure is entirely aluminum, with extreme attention to detail.

Getting started with the bundle

The Forte steering wheel is specifically designed for F1 and GT racing. As a result, its shape is rectangular, with a diameter of 29 cm. Compared to the competition, its size is average, slightly larger than that of other brands, but this is by no means a disadvantage.

Ergonomics are very good indeed, with buttons positioned all around the faceplate, and you’ll easily reach them in the middle of a run. On the other hand, I noticed that some controls, notably the encoders, were a little too hard to use. I’m not sure whether this is a problem with my steering wheel alone, or whether it’s widespread throughout Asetek.

As for the rear paddles, they’re the right size, but there are only 2 of them, which will penalize fans of launch control and all the rest. For the price at which the Forte steering wheel is sold, it would have been nice to have at least 4 paddles.

Let’s finish with the pedals. The footrest is large, but the pedals are almost vertical, which is not at all ergonomic for your feet, especially on sim-racing sessions lasting more than 30 mins. The only comfortable position with this crankset is when installed on an F1-style chassis.

Sensations during play

The base

I’ll start the in-game sensations with the Forte base. With 18nm of peak torque, you can say goodbye to clipping on virtually any sim-racing title in your library.

The engine in this base model is powerful, responsive and ultra-communicative. You’ll feel every effect developed and experienced by the car, from the ultra-fine to the super mega-boost. Absolutely everything passes through the driveshaft, even the effects cocktail.

What’s more, the software allows you to fine-tune the base’s settings, enabling it to be granular when transcribing physics effects, or to throw everything at you at once. It’s on this base that we see that the partnership with Simucube has paid off, and frankly, Asetek has given us a superb mid-range base.

The steering wheel

Even though this wheel uses a composite structure with an aluminum backplate, its only major drawback is its weight. The Forte wheel weighs over 1.3 kg, and you’ll sometimes feel it when you’re racing. It’s true that the chainstay does an excellent job of countering clipping, but 1.3 kg is still heavy, in my opinion. Nonetheless, the feel from the steering wheel is excellent, largely due to the base too. The structure is solid, the QR is almost welded to the base, and the overall feel is very good. I don’t have much to say about this steering wheel, apart from a few encoders and controls that are a little too hard for my taste.

The pedals

As far as I’m concerned, the biggest shortcoming of this bundle is its pedals. You get 2 pedals, and they’re adjustable in every way: stroke length, pedal position and end stop, resistance, dead zone, etc. It’s complete, and we’d expect nothing less from a premium pedalboard at the same time. It’s complete, and we’d expect nothing less from a premium pedalboard at the same time.

As for the throttle, the pedal is very linear and smooth to use, pleasant too when you have your settings in place. But it’s still uncomfortable on long sessions because of its vertical position. I think Asetek developed this crankset with only F1 chassis in mind.

As far as the brake pedal is concerned, unfortunately, the story is less glowing. Just as adjustable as its right-hand sibling, the brake pedal has a conventional two-stage Load Cell. The first stage is hardware and software adjustable, as is the second, but I found it very difficult to find the sweet spot. To be honest, I couldn’t find it, even after hours on it. The preload zone is short, and you’ll quickly fall into the hard zone.

Speaking of this one (^2nd zone), I had to change the hardware and spend a lot of time on the software, but the stop (part of the elastomer) is too short in terms of the distance covered by your foot. This means that as soon as you exceed the preload zone, you almost immediately run into the elastomer, which hardly compresses at all. As a result, you’ll find yourself trying to push a rock with your right foot, and good luck getting it to move. This sensation can be mitigated via software (braking interpolation), but it’s not a viable long-term solution.

Compatibility of the Asetek Forte Bundle

Asetek is a big name in the PC industry, so it was only to be expected that its first sim-racing products would be compatible only with this platform. Of course, you can use any peripheral from the Asetek range with the others, and you won’t have any compatibility problems.

Value for money

The complete Forte bundle from Asetek costs more than €2,000 on the manufacturer’s website, which is quite a sum to pay. Admittedly, it’s more or less in line with what the competition is offering, but there’s still quite a gap in terms of build quality.

The value for money of this bundle is not the best on the market, and this is largely due, in my opinion, to the composite steering wheel. The wheel alone costs over €650, and having plastic on it isn’t very representative of the premium segment Asetek is aiming to conquer.

My verdict on the Forte Bundle from Asetek

The Asetek Forte bundle currently occupies the middle of the brand’s sim-racing range. As far as I’m concerned, its base is a real gem of a racing sim, and in all the essentials, with good build quality to boot. The Forte steering wheel is a no-brainer; good at what it does if you’re an F1/GT fan, but can do better, especially in terms of paddles and materials (€660 for a composite, doesn’t do it justice). And the crankset literally stands out from the rest.

I was expecting this bundle to be perfect, but all that emerges is a surreal base. It’s a shame, and I hope the other bundles do better than this one. At worst, get the base and steering wheel, and the pedal board from Simagic or Fanatec.

The Best Alternative to the Asetek Forte Bundle

For my money, the best alternative to the Asetek Forte bundle is Fanatec’s Gran Turismo DD Extreme coupled with Clubsport Pedals V3. Although the Clubsport DD+ base develops 15 Nm of torque, a little less than the Forte base, the excellence of the bundle more than makes up for this. The exceptional precision and responsiveness of the GT DD Extreme, combined with the robustness and precision of the Clubsport Pedals V3, offer an immersive and realistic driving experience. What’s more, at around €1,700 for the set, this combination is more affordable than the €2,260 Asetek Forte bundle, while offering outstanding performance and build quality.