Playseat Trophy

Aug 29, 2023

We recently reviewed Logitech G's premium PRO Racing Wheel and Pedals. While a fantastic set of peripherals for racing games (if you can afford it), due to the force of the direct drive motor inside the wheel, it did tend to shake my pretty solid computer desk once in a while. Originally teased with the racing wheel and pedals last year, the company's collaboration with Playseat is finally here.

Estimated reading time: 20 minutes

Our Playseat Trophy – Logitech G Edition looks at a sturdy, frameless structured racing chair that is a perfect pairing for the Logitech G PRO Racing Wheel and Pedals. Read on for our full review and see why it earned a Highly Rated badge here at Techaeris!

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Something new we’re going to try out here at Techaeris is a quick summary of the review which covers the key pros and cons of the product, almost a wrap-up in reverse!

If you have a direct drive racing wheel, especially the Logitech G PRO Racing Wheel and Pedals, the Playseat Trophy – Logitech G Edition is a solid, sturdy, and I’d say fairly reasonably priced seat stand. It's pretty straightforward to assemble, matches nicely with the PRO Racing Wheel and Pedal branding, and is comfortable to sit in even though it has a floating seat design. Playseat's ActiFit™ Material is very comfortable and dissipates heat so you don't get sweat, even after long gaming sessions.

Because of the design and hollow carbon steel design, this racing seat is both durable and fairly lightweight, all things considered. The Playseat Trophy – Logitech G Edition also offers plenty of adjustments including the wheel plate, pedal tilt and angle, seat back angle, lumbar support, and frame length to accommodate different body types and heights. Not only that, if you are playing a TRUEFORCE-compatible game, you can actually feel the engine and road vibrations in the seat itself.

Even if you don't have the Logitech G PRO Racing Wheel and Pedals, the fact that this edition comes with extra plate holes over the standard Playseat Trophy should make it a consideration instead, depending on what racing wheel and pedals you have. The extra mounting holes ensure compatibility with even more pedals that are on the market.

The Playseat Trophy – Logitech G Edition we reviewed has the following features and specifications:

While not a new product, the Playseat Trophy – Logitech G Edition is a collaboration between Playseat and Logitech G. The key difference between the standard Playseat Trophy and the Logitech G Edition is the grey colouring and the Logitech G logo placed in a few spots on it. If you’re not familiar with the Playseat Trophy, it is a racing seat designed specifically for direct drive racing wheels, like the Logitech G PRO Racing Wheel. Due to the stronger force feedback in those wheels, a pretty decent frame is required to prevent excess movement while using the wheel.

Once assembled (which we’ll cover in the next section), the Playseat Trophy – Logitech G Edition is just under 23″ wide, just over 55″ in length, and just under 39 1/2″ in height. If you take the seat height out of the equation, the top of the wheel tray is about 23 3/4″ from the floor. For storage purposes, once you have it assembled and the PRO Racing Wheel and Pedals installed, the width remains the same but the height to the top of the wheel is about 35″, but with the wheel rim removed, you can shave that down to 31 1/2″ or so. The Pedals do add a bit to the length as well, making it 57 1/2″ in length.

The Playseat Trophy is constructed with lightweight carbon steel tubing, in this case with a grey powder coating over most of it. The tubing on the main frame is about 1 3/4″ in diameter. Other support components are a bit thinner at about an inch in diameter. The frame for the racing seat is also thinner, and powder coated in black which doesn't matter for aesthetics as it is covered by the seat cover.

Looking from the side of the Playseat Trophy, the frame starts under the wheel plate and angles down at roughly 45°. The first leg, so to speak, is about 25″ in length before curving down into a rounded 90° corner for another 9 1/2″ before curving upward for another 27 1/2″ (extendable to ~32 1/2″) then a final 90° corner down for the final 24″ of the frame underneath the seat. At both the top by the wheel plate and under the seat, the main frame tubing curves inwards and joins together with the other half of the seat frame.

The back seat frame is attached to the main frame by way of an adjustment bar on either side. This frame has wingtips towards the top and the top of the frame is padded with a foam that extends down the sides almost to the side wings.

Nestled in the bottom front frame section is a plate with a series of holes and two blue-coloured knobs. Towards the front of the rig are five holes labelled 01 to 05 for pedal tilt adjustment. On the opposite side, towards the actual seat, are two holes labelled A and B for pedal height adjustment.

The seat itself is more of a cover that "floats" on the frame when attached. At first, I was skeptical as there is no bottom cushion or anything but the ActiFit™ Material in the middle and the PU leather finish on the edges and headrest on it are quite comfortable. The seat is black with blue accent lines on the back, adding a splash of colour. There is also an adjustable back strap for lumbar support with an easy-to-access blue tab on the edge and the words DRIVE TO WIN printed on it. Once the seat cover was strapped in and tightened to the frame and coupled with the adjustable lumbar strap, I felt no extra give when sitting in it and even when using the wheel for extended periods like a few hours.

As far as branding is concerned, along the angled frame on each side coming down from the wheel plate is a Playseat and Logitech G sticker in black. The same sticker sits along the bottom back cross bar which sits on the floor. Embroidered in silverish-grey on the front of the seat in the headrest area is the Logitech G "G" logo. On the back, in the same spot, is the same G logo with the Logitech wordmark logo below it, also stitched in silverish-grey.

While there is no spot for a gearshift or handbrake, you can order a Gearshift and Handbrake Holder from Playseat for $49.99 (mind you, shipping to Canada is $199 🤔). You’ll need the Logitech G Racing Adapter as well to use older Logitech G gearshifts with the Wheel Pro which will set you back another $39.99.

One omission from the Playseat Trophy is the lack of rubber feet of any kind. While I use it on an area rug, it would be nice to have rubber feet on the four corners of the tubing for use on floors. That being said, I would have to be a pretty lengthy design that wraps around the tube as when you adjust the length, both the front and back bars do rotate a bit as the center or the Playseat rises when extending the frame. If you are using it on a floor, you can order a floor mat from Playseat for $39.99 but even something like interlocking gym/play mats would work as well.

Comparatively speaking, this direct drive seat frame is considered lightweight at just over 37 lbs (without the wheel and pedals installed) compared to other direct drive seats. With the PRO Racing Wheel and pedals attached, your total weight will be closer to 67 lbs. While that sounds heavy, I had no issues lifting it over the back of the couch by myself to put it out of the way while not in use. Looking at some of the other direct drive seat setups, they look way heavier and less conducive to being liftable by one person.

Overall, not only does the Playseat Trophy – Logitech G Edition look impressive, it is sturdy, comfortable, and really does off an immersive racing experience when coupled with the Logitech G PRO Racing Wheel and Pedals.

Assembling the Playseat Trophy – Logitech G Edition took me about an hour to do by myself. The instructions are pretty straightforward and all the pieces required, and a few extras, are included. The seat consists of thirteen pieces in total, as well as various bolts, knobs, and washers. Oh, and it comes with white gloves to help protect the frame during installation.

I won't go over the assembly in detail, but it consists of putting the two large side frames together, attaching those to the under-seat frame, then building the seat back frame and attaching that to the main frame. Once that's done, the aluminum pedal and wheel plates are attached before the adjustable back strap and seat are added. The seat itself went on snugly and consisted of pulling it down over the top of the back seat frame, attaching two velcro straps around the tubs, and then fastening the back straps together followed by three straps on the underside of the seat, one going around the seat adjustment bars, and the other two around the main frame.

The back lumbar strap instructions, however, aren't accurate and if followed, it doesn't work properly. After making a quick Reddit post, I found that instead of feeding the strap through the buckle and then around the opposite seat adjustment arm which left it loose and very odd to adjust, it was best to just loop the entire strap around the two bars, feed the blue tab through the buckle and velcro it together. This way, you can pull the blue tab on the end of it, pull or loosen it to your liking, then pull the blue tab down, reattaching the velcro on the two pieces of the strap. Not only that, you can now see the DRIVE TO WIN text printed on the back.

As with any assembly, it is best to place screws and twist but not tighten until all screws for that juncture are in, then tighten. As mentioned, there are a few extra pieces namely four rubber rings and some velcro. According to Logitech, the rubber rings are for the pedal plate screws, they can be placed here to add friction (at the expense of rigidity) and allow for easier on-the-fly adjustment of the pedal plate. I opted to leave them off as I’d prefer as little movement as possible when stomping on the gas or brake pedals. The velcro, on the other hand, is for placing between the frame and the floor, to avoid scratches and protect the floor if needed. Again, I opted not to use these and would have preferred something with a bit more substance like a rubber covering around those sections of the frame where it might touch the floor.

Being the Logitech edition, the screw holes for the PRO Racing Wheel and Pedals are outlined in white on the pedal and wheel plates. Even better, all the screws needed to attach the wheel base and pedals to the plates are included. While all the necessary holes (six in total) are outlined on the pedal plate, the wheel plate only has two back ones outlined but you’ll also want to attach the front screw as well for added clamping. Before you attach the pedals, however, I strongly suggest you connect the cable to the wheel first. While you can do so after, it is a bit trickier as there isn't as much space there to fit your fingers in, especially if you have bigger hands.

Here's another reason why you’ll want to buy the Logitech G Edition if you have the PRO Racing Wheel and Pedals. When browsing Reddit for the lumbar strap installation issues, I stumbled across a post with someone having issues not being able to use more than three screws for the pedals. It turns out the pedal plate for the Logitech G Edition has EXTRA slots specifically for the PRO Pedals. On that note, users of the non-branded Playseat Trophy report that using only three screws seem to be fine enough, although I’d rather have the extra especially if there's no additional cost for the branded version of the seat. Plus I prefer the grey colourway over the default black or red one that Playseat sells directly. In the image below you can see the difference between the original Playseat Trophy pedal plate (left – courtesy of u/Scotty002H on Reddit) and the one that comes with the Logitech G Edition (right).

Once you have the wheel and pedals on, the wires from the pedal to the wheel and the USB and power cables from the wheel can be nicely tied to the frame of the Playseat Trophy (I used the right side) with the included velcro cable ties. Not only is it a nice inclusion, but the fact they are the tab/loop velcro ties, you can easily remove and readjust them as needed.

Extra pieces These are complimentary parts; velcro to place between the frame and the floor, to avoid scratches and protect the floor if needed. The rubber rings are for the pedal plate screws, they can be placed here to add friction (at the expense of rigidity) and allow for easier on-the-fly adjustment of the pedal plate.

There are six ways to adjust the frame and seat: the length, the wheel plate orientation, the pedal plate angle, the pedal plate tilt, and the angle of the back of the actual seat. Another nice feature is that most of these are labelled with hint stickers or stitching which doesn't look out of place when looking at the setup as a whole.

The length is adjusted by loosening, but not removing, the two hex bolts with one of the included Allen keys within the blue ovalish Playseat piece on each side of the frame. Once loosened the frame can be extended up to an extra five inches or so. There are markings on the black tube beneath showing markings for S, M, and L. I’m around 6′ or so and found the medium setting to be just about perfect, but then again it all depends on your height as well as body shape (i.e. if you have longer or shorter legs). While adjustable, it's not the easiest to do and I found it easiest with having one person holding down the front of the frame while gently pulling the middle of the frame away from the bottom. Once you’ve set your desired length, be sure to re-tighten the hex bolts.

If you find the racing wheel too close to you, you can flip the wheel plate around by removing the four bolts (two on each side) holding it in place. Lift the wheel plate off, rotate it horizontally a full 180°, place it back on the crossbar and screw it back into place.

The pedal plate angle and tilt can be easily adjusted by loosening the four knobs on the sides of the pedal plate, again two on each side. This one was a bit easier to adjust once adequately loosened. The knob closest to the front of the frame has five different slots you can move it into while the knob closest to the actual seat slides along a single slot. Once positioned properly, tighten the knobs and you are good to go.

The hardest to adjust, behind the frame length, is the seat back angle. The actual adjustment isn't too bad, as all you need to do is remove the bolt in the black adjustment arm between the frame and the chair frame back. Once removed, you can move it forward or back to one of five positions, re-insert the bolt and tighten it. While that may seem straightforward, it's a bit of a pain to access it once the seat is one. To get to it, you need to unfasten at least two of the seat cover flaps and tuck them up and out of the way. For most gamers, this won't be an issue but when you have a range of ages and body types in the house wanting to use the seat, it does take extra time out of playing.

Finally, there is a back strap that can be adjusted to provide extra lumbar support. As mentioned above in the assembly section, it does work better if it is attached differently than the instructions indicate.

So, is a seat frame worth it for racing games? In the past, I’ve gotten away with a simple wheel stand and based on the wheels I was using, it was more than suitable. However, with the direct drive wheel, something more substantial is definitely needed. When reviewing the PRO Wheel and Pedals, I found that it did tend to vibrate my computer desk or table when used on PC or Xbox. With the wheel stand, it wasn't much better.

Even though the Playseat Trophy – Logitech G Edition takes up substantially more space, the design of the frame and sturdiness of the aluminum pedal and wheel plates offer not only add comfort but practically eliminate any potential shaking or moving — aside from the force feedback and TRUEFORCE vibrations that you are supposed to feel. In addition, when playing a game like GRID which supports TRUEFORCE, you can actually feel the engine and road vibrations in the seat itself if the in-game settings are tuned correctly.

Even though it's not a full-on seat, I had reservations about the floating design. However, it's very comfortable, doesn't feel like it's going to give at all, and is adjustable. As mentioned above, the ActiFit™ Material also dissipates heat and I never felt my back getting sweaty while racing for a few hours

When coupled with the Logitech G PRO Racing Wheel and Pedals and set to 8Nm of force for most games, the Playseat Trophy – Logitech G Edition is a great choice for those wanting a sim racing setup without going for a bigger, heavier, less-movable rig.

While this next bit isn't really performance-related, the Playseat setup definitely has an enjoyment factor. Not only for myself but for everyone who tried it including my teenage kids, their friends, and my 70-year-old father-in-law. The latter was the most enjoyable to watch as it was super easy to get an older person into the game by saying "hey, here's a driving seat" as opposed to trying to explain how a controller works to them. His face really lit up once he got the hang of it and was ripping around Mexico in Forza Horizon 5.

Collaborations usually cost a bit more than the standard version of any product. However, in the case of the Playseat Trophy – Logitech G Edition, it is priced at $599 which is the same as the non-branded iteration. That being said, if you do have the Logitech G PRO Racing Wheel and Pedals, you are better off getting this version due to the extra holes which are also specifically marked for the wheel and pedals in the brake and wheel trays.

As far as seats go, the Playseat Trophy is pretty reasonably priced. Not only does it have a sturdy construction and build quality, but it is also "lightweight" (all things considered) and can be moved around fairly easily. The fact that the pedal plate, wheel plate, and seat back are adjustable also adds value, making it a seat that multiple people can use.

If you have a direct drive racing wheel like the Logitech G PRO Racing Wheel and Pedals, you need to get a seat like the Playseat Trophy to complete your sim racing experience and make it more immersive. Not only does the Playseat Trophy – Logitech G Edition look impressive, it is sturdy, comfortable, and really does off an immersive racing experience when coupled with the PRO Racing Wheel and Pedals. Sure, it takes up space and costs a bit, but you’ve already spent more on the wheel and pedals themselves.

Last Updated on May 29, 2023.