I hung a CS Pro wheel on an R9. Dumb? Maybe. But it taught me one thing: the whole torque conversation is wrong. Everyone talks about Nm like it’s a dick-measuring contest. ‘I’ve got 12!’ ‘I’ve got 16!’ But that’s not the point. The point is what you do with it.
And more importantly, what you hang on it.
Scrolling through Reddit, you see the same question pop up again and again. Moza R9 vs R12? Is the R16 overkill? People are confused. They’re staring at spec sheets but forgetting the main event: their wheel. The games they play. And whether they have a steel pelvis.
Let’s fix that.
The Big Misconception: Torque is King
Nope. Torque is a court jester. A useful one, but not the ruler.
The real queen is wheel weight. And how that weight dampens the motor’s force. Hang a heavy wheel like a Moza CS (~2.9kg) or a Fanatec Podium on an R9, and you’ll feel it immediately. The detail vanishes. The force feels… dull. Like steering through pudding.
The Moza R9 is a genuinely good base. For 9Nm, it’s quick and responsive. But it has a weakness: heavy wheels. Anything over 2.8kg starts to annoy it. The motor has to work harder to deliver the same sensation, and you lose the finesse — the tiny slip-angles and curb rumble that make direct-drive so great.
So ask yourself this: what wheel are you using now? What wheel do you want in a year?
If your answer is ‘a light, round rim’ or ‘the Moza ES,’ then the R9 is your buddy. Stop reading and buy it. But if you’re dreaming of a CS, a GS, or a Fanatec wheel with an adapter… keep going.
The R12: The Sweet Spot (Usually)
This is where it gets interesting. The Moza R12 doesn’t cost much more than the R9. For that extra €110–€210, you get 3Nm. Sounds like peanuts.
It’s everything.
That extra torque headroom isn’t for ripping your arms off. It’s a buffer. Breathing room for the motor. With an R12, you can hang a CS Pro (~2.9kg) and still feel every detail — every curb hit, every moment of rear-end rotation, every bit of load transfer that’d get swallowed on a lesser base. The motor doesn’t have to run at 95% to move the mass. It has overhead. It can relax.
And relaxed motors are happier, more accurate motors.
For most people — and I mean 80% of sim racers — the R12 is the logical endgame. Unless you drive a Formula 1 car (virtual or real), you don’t need 16Nm. Really. The R12 gives you enough force to make every car in iRacing, ACC, or Automobilista 2 feel real, without needing a chiropractor after a race stint.
The R12 v2 fixed the bugs from the v1. It’s quiet. Reliable. The workhorse of the Moza lineup.
But.
The R16: For Those Who Want to Feel It
You only drive GT3. Or Formula cars. Your rig is 80/20 aluminum. Your pedals have over 100kg of resistance. You want it to hurt.
Then the Moza R16 is for you.
This isn’t a subtle upgrade. The R16 gives you torque in abundance. You can set it up so you have to fight to catch a slide. It feels raw. Unfiltered. Like there’s a real power steering rack between you and the game.
Is it necessary? No.
Is it cool? Absolutely.
The big advantage of the R16 isn’t the peak force, it’s the dynamic range. Because the motor is so over-specced for most situations, it responds stupidly fast. The tiny corrections, the letting go in an oversteer moment, the wrestling back… it feels more organic. Like there’s less between you and the tires.
But there’s a cost. And I’m not talking about money.
You need a solid rig. A desk clamp won’t hold this. Period. You also need to be willing to put time into FFB tuning. At full power, the R16 is a beast that wants taming.
Your games matter more than your specs
What games do you play?
This might be the most important question, and almost nobody asks it. FFB implementation varies wildly between titles.
iRacing has one of the most detailed but also ‘quieter’ FFB models. Loads of information, no huge force spikes. An R9 or R12 is plenty here for most cars.
ACC is a different animal. That game hits. Kerbs, slip, contacts — it delivers sharp, fast feedback. An R12 feels glorious in ACC. An R9 can sometimes feel a bit flat at high speed, like the motor is running out of breath just when you need it most.
F1 24 and Forza? More arcade-style FFB. Lots of effects, less nuance. An R9 handles those fine.
rFactor 2 and Automobilista 2 are where things get interesting. Those titles can be extremely detailed, and they reward a base with high dynamic range. If you’re deep into AMS2 physics, that’s where an R12 or R16 earns its keep.
Don’t buy your base for the game you play now. Buy it for the game you want to play.
So which one do you actually buy?
The R9 is for tight budgets, light wheels (under 2.5kg), and rigs that aren’t super sturdy. Desk mount, lightweight frame, rally games, arcade titles — the R9 handles all of that well. It’s a killer entry-level DD. But understand that it’s an endgame for light wheels only.
The R12 is the one I’d tell most people to buy. Heavier wheel? GS, CS, Fanatec with an adapter? The R12 doesn’t care, it eats those for breakfast. You’re racing iRacing or ACC competitively? The R12 has the headroom you need. And honestly, the price difference over the R9 is so small that it’s almost irresponsible not to step up. I’ve yet to meet someone who regretted buying the R12 — but I’ve met plenty who wished they hadn’t stopped at the R9.
The R16 is for the 10% who already know they want it. Steel rig or heavy 80/20 aluminum. GT and formula cars. FFB cranked to 80–100%. If that’s you, you don’t need my permission. Go. But if you’re asking “do I need the R16?” — you don’t.
Buy with your brain, not your ego
I see too many people buy the R9, slap a CS Pro on it, and then complain the FFB is ‘muddy.’ That’s not the base’s fault. That’s a mismatch.
Match the base to your wheel weight and your games. That’s the whole trick. That extra hundred bucks for the R12 over the R9 is the cheapest insurance against upgrade-itis you’ll ever find.
And if you go for the R16 anyway… good luck. Buy an icepack.