From Real Roads to Racing Rigs: How Melexis Sensor Expertise Drives the Next Generation of Simulation Racing Hardware

As the video game industry has matured and technology has advanced, few genres have benefited as much as driving games. While early titles somewhat recreated cars and race circuits, today’s simulation racers, powered by advanced physics engines, powerful gaming PCs, and highly accurate steering wheels, replicate real-life racing in astonishing detail.

Simulation racing has grown far beyond its arcade origins. It is now a platform for both serious driver training and ultra-competitive esports. The line between virtual and real racing has blurred to the point where the skills required to excel in either discipline are virtually identical. Programs like Gran Turismo’s GT Academy have turned sim racers into professional drivers, while hardware such as Logitech and McLaren ensure real motorsport feedback directly influences sim racing hardware.

As this crossover accelerates, hardware expectations are rising just as quickly. The sim racing market is projected to grow at a 15.6% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) through to 2030, with mid- to high-end direct-drive wheels seeing surging demand. Gamers and professional drivers alike are seeking ultra-realistic force feedback – every corner, slide, and suspension movement must be transmitted instantly, smoothly, and reliably.

When milliseconds can decide race outcomes and hardware must endure thousands of hours of continuous use, the sensor technology behind the wheel becomes critical. To deliver the necessary realism, gaming hardware needs to approach true automotive performance standards. That is why companies like Melexis, which has decades of experience supplying sensors to the automotive industry, offer high-performance yet cost-optimized solutions tailored to gaming peripherals.

What Sim Racers (and Manufacturers) Need From Their Sensors

For sim racers chasing realism, it is not enough for a steering wheel to simply follow inputs – it must replicate the feel of a real car with absolute fidelity.

In competitive sim racing, feeling subtle cues like the vehicle’s weight transfer while trail braking into the first corner of a race or the moment a car begins to oversteer on worn tires is critical. To catch a slide or adjust brake pressure instinctively, a driver needs to feel those changes instantly and precisely through the wheel.

This level of feedback is only possible when the entire system, particularly the steering angle sensor, operates without delay and accurately transmits both the driver’s inputs and the control signals for the wheel’s force-feedback motor. High-end direct-drive wheels have already eliminated the backlash common in gear- or belt-driven systems, but even the best mechanics can only perform as well as the sensor that feeds them data. If the steering angle measurement introduces jitter, lag, or signal “dead zones,” the simulation of driving a real vehicle breaks down – and so does the driver’s control.

To deliver this level of realism, steering sensors for simulation racing must meet several key requirements:

1. Absolute Precision

With the smallest steering inputs often deciding whether a car stays on the racing line or spins off track, position sensors must measure wheel angle with high resolution and repeatability, free from signal noise or drift over time. Even minor inaccuracies can distort force-feedback calculations, making weight transfer feel inconsistent or masking the exact moment the tires begin to lose grip.

2. Minimal Latency

Force feedback must react the instant the car’s physics change. Any delay between sensor measurement and motor response forces drivers to anticipate rather than instinctively react, breaking immersion and reducing performance. For competitive sim racing, sensors must not only detect even the smallest angular movements accurately but also deliver this data to the master controller with minimal processing delay.

3. Reliability Under Continuous High Loads

Direct-drive systems can exert high torque levels for hours at a time, especially in professional training environments or during 24-hour sim racing events. Sensors must maintain accuracy and signal stability within the wheel’s thermal and vibrational environment, without performance degradation or induced noise. Consistent operation over thousands of hours is critical for both driver confidence and product longevity.

4. Seamless System Integration

Modern sim racing wheels already integrate a wide range of electronics—direct-drive motors, multiple dials, paddle shifters, rotary encoders, and LED displays compete for limited space inside the housing. Simple and reliable integration is therefore essential to keep assembly straightforward and reduce development time. A compact steering sensor with on-chip angle calculation and a straightforward digital interface simplifies both the physical layout and the electronic architecture, helping manufacturers accelerate time to market while minimizing potential failure points.

5. Cost-Optimized Performance

Simulation hardware is not subject to the stringent environmental and functional safety requirements of automotive systems, yet it must still achieve precision and responsiveness comparable to real racing components. Sensors designed for this balance — high accuracy and reliability without unnecessary automotive-grade features — allow manufacturers to address the expanding mid- to high-end market segment while maintaining competitive price points.

Recognizing the Role of Critical Components

Sim racers today are often highly discerning and knowledgeable about their equipment, well-versed in features such as direct-drive motors, quick-release systems, and load cell pedals. Yet, within this technically minded community, the critical role of sensors, particularly steering angle sensors, can sometimes be overlooked despite their fundamental impact on performance and realism. As simulation hardware continues to evolve, wheel manufacturers who recognize and highlight the quality of their underlying components can gain a valuable opportunity to demonstrate the superior performance of their products to this discerning audience.

The MLX90427 and Sim Racing

Achieving true-to-life force feedback depends on accurately converting subtle steering movements into digital signals that the control system can process without delay. The Melexis MLX90427 is engineered precisely for this purpose. It is a monolithic magnetic position sensor integrated circuit (IC) based on Melexis’ proprietary Triaxis® Hall effect technology. By sensing three components of the magnetic flux (Bx, By, Bz) and processing these through integrated analog-to-digital conversion and advanced digital signal processing (DSP), it delivers absolute rotary position sensing with 14-bit output resolution.

Leveraging Melexis' extensive expertise in magnetic sensing, the MLX90427 combines high-performance capabilities with a streamlined feature set tailored to the specific challenges of sim racing hardware. This balance enables manufacturers to satisfy the demanding requirements of sim racers while remaining competitive in the expanding mid- to high-end market segment.

With an internal execution time of under one millisecond, the MLX90427 ensures low-latency performance ideally suited for the rapid feedback loops required by direct-drive wheels. Its high-speed, SPI-compatible full-duplex interface facilitates real-time angular feedback with minimal communication delay, ensuring that steering inputs and force feedback respond instantaneously to changes in the game’s physics engine.

Unlike conventional magnetometers, which rely on external microcontrollers or lookup tables to determine angular position, the MLX90427’s integrated DSP directly computes the angle on-chip. This approach reduces processing overhead, enhances signal consistency, and eliminates delays and noise associated with external processing. As a result, it simplifies engineering efforts and accelerates development cycles, a critical advantage for manufacturers designing electronics-dense sim racing wheels.

How Melexis Aims to Bring Something Special to Gaming

Melexis has a proven track record in sim wheels, with angular sensor ICs already adopted by leading sim hardware manufacturers. This experience reflects a deep understanding of the unique demands of gaming peripherals. Drawing on its extensive automotive and industrial heritage, Melexis provides technologies, like the MLX90427, which are engineered for harsh environments and high reliability – qualities that directly benefit simulation hardware requiring precision and durability.

Beyond the core technology it provides, Melexis’ established global supply chains and stringent quality standards ensure consistent delivery and traceability at scale, an essential advantage as the sim racing market expands and evolves. With a growing focus on gaming, Melexis is committed to supporting the next generation of sim racing hardware and bringing sensor fidelity and robustness to match the increasing realism and competitive nature of the market.

Conclusion: Closing the Gap Between Simulation and Reality

As simulation hardware advances, the demand for authentic driving experiences continues to grow. While realistic software lays the foundation, true immersion depends on precise, responsive hardware that faithfully translates virtual physics into tangible feedback. This synergy is essential as sim racing increasingly mirrors real-world motorsport in both performance and complexity.

The expanding market for mid- to high-end simulation peripherals underscores the need for solutions that balance accuracy, reliability, and cost-effectiveness. Melexis’ MLX90427, with its tailored capabilities and real-world sensor expertise, exemplifies the type of technology enabling this next generation of racing hardware.