Sim Gaming Expo 2026 - Chicago, Sept 18–20
North America's first expo for sim racing, flight & VR. Test the latest gear, meet the creators, score show-only deals. Schaumburg, Chicago - September 18–20.
Gamescom 2026 is only a few days away, and while the event obviously covers the entire gaming industry, there is already quite a bit happening on the sim racing side. Moza is preparing several major reveals, PXN is bringing a substantial collection of new hardware, and there are still plenty of opportunities for surprises once the doors actually open.
Gamescom runs from August 26 through August 30 in Cologne, Germany, with Opening Night Live taking place on August 25. For sim racers specifically, Moza looks like the company to watch this year, especially after spending the last year teasing several major licensed collaborations.
The most unusual product we know is coming is Moza’s officially licensed MotoGP simulation hardware. Moza originally announced the MotoGP collaboration at Gamescom 2025, and one year later, the actual product is finally getting its world premiere.
Teasers show a rider sitting on what appears to be a motorcycle-style simulator while playing one of Milestone’s MotoGP titles. The visible hardware includes motorcycle handlebars with a twist throttle, hand-operated braking, and several illuminated controls. What remains unclear is whether the complete motorcycle structure will be sold as part of the product or whether the consumer hardware will focus primarily on the handlebar system.
There is also the much bigger question of movement. Moza has not shown whether the final system can lean, move, or provide some kind of force feedback through the handlebars. Considering how little serious motorcycle simulation hardware currently exists, this is easily one of the more interesting reveals of the entire show.
Moza has also started teasing a completely new collaboration with Ford, specifically stating that it is coming to Gamescom 2026. Beyond that, the company has revealed almost nothing, so we currently do not know exactly what kind of hardware is being developed.
A steering wheel seems like the obvious possibility. Ford has plenty of interesting modern and historic machinery to work from, including the Mustang GT3 and GT4, the Mustang road cars, and a huge back catalog of motorsport hardware. A proper Mustang GT3 replica wheel would fit particularly well within Moza’s growing range of officially licensed steering wheels, but for now that is only speculation.
Whatever it turns out to be, Ford represents another major automotive license for Moza. The company already sells licensed Lamborghini and Porsche products, so another real-world replica would fit naturally into where the ecosystem has been heading.
The other collaboration worth watching is Mercedes-Benz. Moza announced a future partnership with Mercedes-Benz at Gamescom 2025 alongside its MotoGP deal, but unlike MotoGP, we still have not seen the finished product.
That makes Gamescom 2026 an obvious place for the next announcement, although Moza has not publicly confirmed exactly what will be shown. There are plenty of possibilities, from a Mercedes-AMG GT racing wheel to something inspired by one of the company’s road cars. With Moza increasingly building highly detailed licensed replicas, I would be surprised if this partnership does not eventually produce something fairly substantial.
For now, though, the important distinction is that the collaboration itself is confirmed while the exact hardware is not. So this is one to watch rather than something we can confidently put on the final product list just yet.
Moza will be located in Hall 10.1 at Booth A-022 and is bringing six simulator stations covering both racing and flight simulation. The company is also planning a live broadcast from its booth on August 29 with Jarno Opmeer and Porsche driver Dirk Schouten, and has specifically teased special reveals making their debut at Gamescom.
That leaves plenty of room for hardware beyond the products already being teased. Moza has had an extremely busy 2026 with the R5 Pro, R16 Ultra, HMA150 motion system, new flight hardware, and its upcoming PlayStation and Gran Turismo products, so Gamescom could end up adding even more to that list.
PXN is also putting a much bigger focus on enthusiast-level sim racing hardware this year. Its Gamescom showcase includes two new Formula-style steering wheels called the W FC Formula Wheel and W FS Formula Wheel.
The W FC is the more elaborate design, with a carbon fiber faceplate and rear cover, a 4.3-inch touchscreen, customizable dashboards, self-centering toggle switches, and 12-position thumb encoders. The W FS also uses a 4.3-inch display, along with four carbon fiber paddles, 12 programmable buttons, 15 adjustable rev LEDs, six flag indicators, and support for both PXN’s own software and SimHub.
PXN is also showing more of its wider ecosystem, including the GT ONE wheel, VD4 and VD6 direct drive bundles, its SF SH H-pattern and sequential shifter, the SF SMG sequential shifter, and its growing range of pedals and accessories. The company has been moving noticeably further upmarket recently, so Gamescom should give us a better idea of how serious that push is becoming.
Gamescom is obviously not a dedicated sim racing show, but it has become an increasingly important place for hardware announcements. Moza used last year’s event to reveal its R21 Ultra and R25 Ultra wheel bases, show the Lamborghini Revuelto steering wheel, and announce the Mercedes-Benz and MotoGP partnerships that we are still seeing develop now.
This year already looks similarly busy. We know the MotoGP hardware is finally being unveiled, Ford is coming, PXN has new Formula wheels on display, and Mercedes-Benz remains a major collaboration still waiting for its proper product reveal.
There will almost certainly be more once the show begins. For now, though, those are the sim racing products and announcements I would be paying the closest attention to when Gamescom 2026 kicks off in Cologne.
