The market for active sim-racing pedals was limited to a single brand offering a single product: Simucube with its ActivePedals. This pedal is revolutionary, and rightly so. Harnessing the power of an electric motor, and also its vast range of uses, Simucube has offered us the best pedal in sim-racing, taking on the role of brake, but also clutch and gas pedal. However, this comes at a price, and it’s a very high one. A single ActivePedal costs at least €2,500, and there was no competition. The result: Simucube’s ActivePedal remains a must-have, yes, but also excessively expensive, and the manufacturer had no reason to lower its price.

If you noticed, I referred to the ActivePedal as being alone in the world in the past tense. This was not a mistake on my part, because Moza Racing has just launched its ActivePedal, too, and it wants to compete with the prestigious brand, which is clearly in a much more high-end segment. Does Moza’s mBooster represent a budget-friendly alternative to Simucube’s ActivePedals, or is it an ersatz of the best active pedal on the market? Well, that’s what we’re going to find out, as the mBooster is on our setup for a test.

Main and technical features of the pedal

• 21-bit magnetic encoder
• 2 Load Cell load cells, each weighing 200 kg, for inverted applications
• 15-bit angle sensor
• Aluminum alloy structure
• Available in 3-pedal configuration
• PC and Pit House compatible, plus a dozen sim-racing titles
• Haptic feedback available with native ABS support on some sim-racing titles
• Compatible with Moza CRP2 crankset

Moza mBooster design

Let’s start with the mBooster’s design. Moza’s active pedal looks much more like a pedal than the Simucube one. The design is quite busy, even if it is sober, I must admit. The color is all black, with bronze accents on a few elements, notably the logos.

The heart of the system is a large cylinder housing the electric motor and an infinite screw. At the front, there’s a bracket with the pedal plate in black, and the mBooster takes its stylistic cue from the CRP2 crankset. As I said, Moza’s solution bears a much closer resemblance to a pedalboard than Simucube’s.

Customized assembly

As a large pedal, the mBooster can only be mounted on a cockpit that supports it, or with the CRP2 pedalboard. Moza also offers a specific base if you want to use 3 active pedals in your setup. I should point out that the mBooster is large and heavy, and a 3-pedal configuration will inevitably result in a rather crowded pedalboard, with little space between brake, clutch and throttle. What’s more, all the wiring comes out the side of the mBooster, which doesn’t help matters on an already crowded pedestal.

But otherwise, mounting is easy, and you get all the hardware you need with the mBooster. Whether you choose the direct chassis mounting option or the CRP2, it won’t take you long to fix everything in place.

Manufacturing and finishing

The mBooster is based on an aluminum alloy structure to give it strength in use. The pedal is capable of simulating up to 200 kg of braking, and that’s quite a lot in sim-racing when you consider that F1 drivers can apply up to 180 kg of pressure on their brake pedal.

In terms of manufacturing, the mBooster is well made. Admittedly, it’s less expensive than Simucube’s solution, but Moza has been in the game long enough for us to say that its products are of high quality. All parts are superbly well cut using CNC machines. Assembly is perfect, as is the paintwork.

And the same applies to the finish, which is quite simply premium. The mBooster is Moza’s top-of-the-range offering, and so it had to follow the brand’s manufacturing codes.

Bottom bracket adjustment

Adjustments to the mBooster are mainly made via the brand’s Pit House software, which has been redesigned to support the active pedal. If you want to make manual adjustments, you only have the one for pedal angle and stroke. It’s not much, yes, but most of it is done via your computer, as the electric motor offers virtually unlimited configurations.

On Pit House, you have feedback, hardness, curve, ABS, rebound, friction and a whole host of other mBooster settings. It’s very complete, even if this pedal isn’t compatible with SimHub. But in all honesty, once you’ve used Moza’s software, I don’t think you’ll really need it because it’s so complete, and you’ll be able to find what you’re looking for in terms of pedal feel and position just by spending a little time on Pit House.

Sensations during play

Concerning the sensations when playing the mBooster, I’ll deal with 2 points. The first is using the active pedal without motor assistance (haptic feedback), and the second is with it.

For sensations without the assistance of the electric motor, i.e. without the haptic feedback and the whole shebang, the mBooster performs superbly as a Load Cell pedal. The LC can take up to 200 kg of pressure on the pedal, and that’s just a huge figure in sim-racing. Feedback is excellent, and you can feel the resistance of the motor when you press super hard on the pedal. What’s more, there are numerous software settings to help you find the right balance.

And now, the mBooster with engine assistance. You’ll feel everything the vehicle’s brakes do, such as ABS interventions. When correctly set to Pit House, ABS has proved to be a great help in racing. This also applies to cars without ABS, where with the mBooster you can feel the precise moment when the wheels lock. It’s very immersive I must say, and on virtually all sim-racing titles that support this data.

However, I did notice one thing that wasn’t present on Simucube’s ActivePedals, and that’s the degressive haptic feedback. On the mBooster, the vibrations are strong at first, then gradually decrease to reach the right frequency under your foot. It’s a strange sensation, in the sense that it would be better to have the opposite, wouldn’t it? On the Simucube, you’ll immediately get the right frequency, without the hesitation of the motor. I’m guessing this is a software problem that will be corrected soon. I hope so, anyway.

mBooster compatibility

Compared with the competition, the mBooster’s compatibility is pretty good. For a start, you won’t necessarily need a Moza DD base to use this active pedal, as the connection is made directly to the PC via USB. And not too surprisingly, this pedal is only functional under Windows 10 and 11.

And for sim-racing titles, you have the industry tenors that support ABS, plus all the other racing games on the market that don’t have this privilege. Haptic feedback is a plus if you like, and even if the game doesn’t integrate it into the data transmitted to the pedal or base, the mBooster will still be functional on it.

Value for money

Let’s talk about money now. The mBooster retails for €999 from Moza’s official partner in France, giving it excellent value for money, especially in the face of competition from Simucube, where its ActivePedals happily tops €2,000.

My verdict on Moza Racing’s mBooster Active Pedals

Moza Racing’s mBooster is a good alternative to Simucube’s ActivePedals if you already have a complete setup from the same brand, i.e. Moza. You’ll get an excellent feel for both active pedals and Load Cell, even if there’s the hesitation of haptic feedback in ABS. The mBooster is beautiful, very well made and performs well in racing.

Simucube remains the ultimate reference in active pedals, but it’s clearly not in the same league. Moza’s mBooster, available at around half the price, offers excellent value for money, and finally democratizes this technology previously reserved for the elite. For its first foray into the world of active pedals, Moza has achieved a great success – accessible, high-performance and promising for the future.