RacGTing 301 Challenger Racing Seat Review

Manufacturer: RacGTing
Where to Buy: RacGTing
RRP: £176 (or region equivalent)

I’ve been fortunate enough to review a couple of steering wheels for the Xbox in recent years, but had to make do with a somewhat rocky table to clamp them too. It worked, but made the more intense games harder to enjoy fully as I’d often lift the table off the ground mid-race! So when RacGTing reached out for us to review the 301 Challenger I figured it was as good a chance as any to give the wheels another spin.

The 301 Challenger is a lightweight bit of kit, coming in a deceptively large box. Moving it to the front room to start unpacking I was surprised just how light this was. Opening it up I found everything tied together with cable ties and padded foam nice and tight. Unfurling the 301 is as simple as cutting the ties, removing the pedal plate, and pulling the seat and legs apart (although they remain one singular unit). All the tools and fixing we need are included, and fitting the leg height adjustment bar is all we need to do to have it ready to sit in. All in all it took me about 30 minutes, though without the need to stop for pictures and to play with the cat this could probably be halved quite easily.

The pedal mount clips on via two sturdy plastic clips, and the wheel base pinches on with an adjustable knob on the underside – and that’s it. There’s very little construction for the 301, though it can be modified to fit our needs very easily, such as moving the seat up and down, adding a gear stick, or simply folding to put it away.

So initial set up is a breeze, but how does it fare when it comes to mounting the actual pedals and wheel?

For my setup, I used the MOZA R3 Racing bundle previously reviewed on this very site. Attaching the wheel was as easy as lining up the four screw holes on the base of the R3 and using its own screws to fit in place. The plate on the 301 has multiple configurations of holes to choose from and can also be moved on the bracket by unscrewing it and shifting it back or forwards. I managed to move it one notch for the R3, but I had hoped to move it one more – the R3’s hole placement made it impossible to reattach the plate afterwards unfortunately. Different wheels will vary of course, so it’ll just be a case of looking at what works best for your setup.

The pedals were a bit more fiddly, although again it could be that the MOZA R3 was just a bit trickier to fit than other pedals. That they are also solid steel (as well as the 301’s base plate) made it quite heavy to hold up and line up at the same time, and flipping it upside down on the ground was still a bit trickier than I’d hoped, though again other pedals may prove easier to align.

Once we’re all in, the 301 – despite its lightweight framework – sits solidly. The soft fabric seat is already attached, and the legs are as sturdy as you’d like. The wheel plate is mounted on an arm the goes over our lap and can be swiveled up and out of the way so we can get in and out easily (well, as easily as my old body allows – we really sink into the seat). This is also locked in place by a stiff handle that prevents it from lifting during gameplay.

The pedal plate can be loosened by undoing the locking bolts and pushed further back for longer legs, and the top of the seat has a large degree of travel to suit plays who want to either sit bolt upright or have a more laid back race. This is locked into place with a zig/zag locking mechanism and is just as solid as the overall frame.

In use, the 301 feels pretty great to be sitting in. I played many, many rounds of both lightweight classic arcade racer Daytona USA and the more energetic and strenuous Wreckfest and found the 301 to admirably be up to the task. Wreckfest in particular is a really fun game to play on a steering wheel, the force feedback throwing the wheel and our hands around with some seriou force. Again, on my old portable desk this was a game that would have me needing to reset my position as it moved about under the strain. On the 301 I had no such issues, as with the sturdy frame and my own body weight that wheel had no chance of moving out of position. The only slight hiccup I had once was when I hadn’t quite locked the locking knob in properly meaning it shifted down and clicked into place mid game. It can be a little finicky if you don’t line it up just right in this regard, but once I’ve readjusted it, it hasn’t moved in all my games since.

Storage is probably going to be the biggest concern, and that’ll be a case by case thing of course. For me, I’ve been folding up the pedals, dropping the headrest, and tucking it in under my TV for now. Once we finish redecorating the room I’ll find a more discrete home for it, although even as it is it’s not too much in the way. It can be folded flat with the steering wheel dropped down too, although I wasn’t as much a fan of doing this unless needed so I didn’t have to reset the wheel every time I played.

So far so good, but there are a couple of small nit picks. For one, it comes with some velcro straps to tie cables down and out of the way, as well as a bigger one for helping keep the pedals out of the way when it’s folded. However, the smaller ones are a bit awkward to put on tightly enough, and the bigger one actually broke on me on my first use. A bit of gaffa tape sorted this out, and luckily no toes were crushed by the pedals.

The other main issue I had is that in order to lower the seat, we first have to close it up fully to unlock the mechanism to allow us to lower it fully, then we can adjust it up to where we want it to be. It’s a byproduct of the mechanism’s design that holds the seat in place, but in order to fully fold it up we either have to drop the wheel out of place or fold down the head rest as they block each other. It’s not the end of the world if you’re the only person using it, but my two children kept wanting to take turns, and between the three of us all had different requirements for how high the seat should be. Some sort of quick release on the legs would be a nie touch, though perhaps that’s saved for the more expensive versions.

And that leads us to price. At £176 it’s not a cheap buy, but, considering the sturdy feel and ease of set up and use, it’s a price that feels fair. RacGTing offer much more expensive premium options, but if like me you’re a casual race fan who just wants to relive his youth in the arcade in his own home, the 301 is a great entry point that won’t break the bank.

Conclusion

For players looking to have a basic but effective racing setup that feels sturdy and is super simple to use, the 301 Challenger is going to be hard to beat. It makes using a steering wheel far more enjoyable, and won’t break the bank for those looking for a more casual setup.

Hardware provided by the manufacturer for review purposes.