People who care about driving, even simulated driving, are often willing to burn a lot of money to fuel their hobby. The cost of a console or PC to run a game like iRacing or Project Cars is just the start, as any serious sim racer is going to want to ditch the controller in favor of a wheel-and-pedal setup. For those who want a loose approximation of a less expensive racing wheel setup, video game company Nintendo has got your back with its new Labo brand.
A quality racing wheel will set you back hundreds of dollars, (and that’s not even getting into the expensive stuff), but for $70 Nintendo has a Switch game that comes with a wheel, pedal, airplane joystick, and some periscope-looking thing used to control a submarine. For such a low price, however, Nintendo did have to make some compromises. Instead of building its wheel out of metal and plastic, it uses cardboard and rubber bands. Plus, the customer has to assemble the kit themselves.
Nintendo’s new Labo brand has its users follow instructions to build custom controllers that are used in the game that comes in the kit. Labo games also have a mode that lets creative players custom program their own games and controllers. Each Labo kit uses technology present in the Switch’s “Joy-Con” controllers, such as motion and infrared sensitivity, to adapt the tiny game-pads into something like a piano, or a steering wheel.
The Labo Vehicle Kit will be available Sept. 14, and will come with three peripherals for a vehicle capable of transforming from a Jeep-like truck to a plane and a submarine. Each peripheral is activated placing a Joy-Con “key fob” inside it, and can control it’s respective vehicle mode.
Honestly, the Labo kit probably isn’t a worthy replacement for an expensive racing sim setup, but it could be fun for those who already own a Nintendo Switch.