What is the Numskull Steering Wheel for Nintendo Switch?
This item seems to go by many names depending on which online retailer you look at. The title on the Numskull website is a bit wordy, but describes it best – the ‘Numskull Nintendo Switch Joy Con Steering Wheel Table Attachment’. Attach the Numskull Steering Wheel to your table or another surface, put your Nintendo Switch Joycons inside, and use it as a steering wheel.
I see this as somewhat of a middle area between the steering wheel holders that you put a controller in and turn in the air and a high-end steering wheel accessory, such as the Thrustmaster T150. One major benefit that it has – it’s not much more expensive than the lower-end offerings, but better in many ways.
It’s important to note that this just uses the existing motion control function of the Joycons. As such, it can only be used with games that support the Joycon motion controls such as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Star Wars Racer, and FAST RMX. For the purpose of this review, I’ve been primarily testing it with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
As a side-note, any third-party joycons such as the Gioteck JC-20 that are larger than the official ones won’t work this with accessory.
What’s the Appeal?
Using a steering wheel is a great way to add immersion to the games you play and a fun way to change up how you play the game too. If like me, you ever played the Mario Kart arcade games, it’s nice to replicate that in a small way. A lot of people do just enjoy playing with steering wheels too – even Tesla has got in on it by letting you play Beach Buggy Racing 2 with your actual steering wheel.
Some people claim that a steering wheel could give you a competitive advantage too. I don’t know about this personally, but after getting used to it, I did set a new record on a time trial while using it and then beat that record again.
Ready. Set. Go.
Opening up the box, you find a wheel, a base, some screws, an Allen key, and the instructions. While there is some assembly required, it only took a few minutes. It was just a case of two screws. I would suggest that an adult may need to help if it is a gift for a child though, as quite a bit of strength was needed to lock it into place.
I placed the joycons inside the wheel. This was fairly easy and it’s designed to avoid damage to the joycons, so I wasn’t concerned about that. It was quite a tight fit, so it required a bit of strength to get them out again later.
I placed it on the table. It comes with four suction cups, so I wet these slightly and pressed them firmly to the table. I then popped up the stand in the base to raise the angle and I was ready to go.
How is the wheel?
I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the Numskull Steering Wheel to be blunt. It costs £15 which is barely more than the solid pieces of plastic that you can put a joycon inside and turn in the air.
A big reason why I was so impressed is the resistance. As you turn it, it will return to an upward position if you let go. The more you turn, the more resistance there is. I imagine that this is done by internal springs. This helped to make it feel more real.
On the turning, one limitation here is that it has a fairly limited turning angle. As it springs back after approximately a 90-degree turn to the left or right, it doesn’t compare with the higher-end offerings in this way. Of course, the reminder here is that it is less than ten percent of the cost of most of these.
The build quality itself seems fairly solid. I can’t speak for the internals, but the housing seems like it could survive some force. And I have known some people that do get angry when they play Mario Kart, so that’s probably a good thing.
Some similar accessories I’ve tried have had issues with using the controllers themselves while they are in the accessory. Luckily, it doesn’t seem to be a problem here. The front shoulder buttons were a little difficult to get to, but they weren’t used in the game and were still accessible. Everything else was easily accessible. This allowed me to navigate the menus without any issues.
The only major downside with the Numskull Steering Wheel is how it attached to the table or other surfaces that I tried. While I did get it attached fairly securely with suction cups, it took a few tries and still moved about slightly. You don’t really want the steering wheel coming off while you’re trying to turn it and this did happen before I secured it well. In the end, this is a very light piece of equipment and it is not secured tightly. It would probably increase the cost in exchange, but I’d like to see another method such as a clamp or lever lock suction cups with a stronger grip.
Verdict
Overall I feel like the Numskull Steering Wheel punches far above its weight when the price is considered. It offers an affordable way to experience using a steering wheel with several popular games on the Nintendo Switch. The quality is certainly respectable. The only real concern is securing it to the table. It still improved the Mario Kart experience quite a bit though.
NUMSKULL STEERING WHEEL IS RECOMMENDED
Purchase Link: Geek Store
Why not check out our Hardware reviews? Why not check out our review of the Gioteck WX4 Wireless or Gioteck JC-20 Joycons for Nintendo Switch?
Many thanks go to Numskull for a review unit.

A gamer since the days of Amstrad and DOS and someone who has dabbled in a variety of professions. He enjoys a wide variety of genres, but has been focusing on visual novels and virtual reality in recent years. Head Editor of NookGaming. Follow him and the website on @NookSite.