The Rotary Mouse rethinks the traditional scroll wheel, and that could make it a budget alternative for driving and racing titles.
The classic PC peripheral route for racing games and sims probably looked something like this for most: mouse and keyboard, gamepad, wheel and pedals - scale up to fully-fledged rigs from there. However, that isn't always possible for everyone, be it because of financial or spatial limitations.
Unveiling a new project, Rotary Mouse by Airratech might be a budget alternative. True to its name, the device replaces the traditional scroll wheel with a rotary dial instead, which allows for a "continuous, more controlled input", according to its announcement. Airratech promises faster scrolling with more control.
Originally, the project started to limit finger strain while coding, but it soon evolved to be a bit more than that. "The result is a mouse that can handle fast or slow scrolling, everyday scrolling, and more specialized cases like timeline scrubbing and analog-style control."
Rotary Mouse in Racing Games & Sims?
The latter point is the important one for fans of driving and racing games. In fact, Rotary Mouse even lists them as a possible use case.
The Rotary Mouse website has a gif showing the device being used for driving and racing, which refuses to be embedded here.
While not providing as smooth an input as a wheel might, the Rotary Mouse appears to work fairly well in this context. The small radius of rotation should mean that, in theory, you could react relatively quickly if steering corrections are needed in a racing title.
Rotary Mouse Specs
- Materials: ABS plastic (production version)
- Prototype: 3D printed (PLA / resin)
- Connectivity: Wireless 2.4GHz USB receiver
- Weight: 59 g (without battery)
- Buttons: Silent L/R, middle click, DPI button
- Sensor: Optical
- DPI: 800 / 1200 / 1600
- Color: Matte black
- OS: Windows, Linux, macOS, Android
- Power: 1x AAA (included) with auto sleep
Incorporating the mouse into keyboard controls is not a new concept for racing games, though it has usually been done a bit differently. Titles such as GTR2 offered the option to use mouse steering, which made use of the mouse itself being moved left and right to have more precise steering inputs compared to the on/off nature of pressing a key on your keyboard.
Compared to a controller's analog stick's short travel, this made smoother inputs possible, which could otherwise translate to quite hectic steering wheel movements in the game.
Shipping Set To Commence In November
The Rotary Mouse project is now open for support on Kickstarter, with the first batch consisting of 600 units. Delivery is expected for November 2026, and supporters will get a discount from the CA$139 (€74/$99 USD/£74) MSRP depending on the level of support they choose.
It is an interesting approach to a new way of controlling steering in driving and racing titles. However, that would still leave the brake and accelerator as digital inputs, which also need more precision. For those, a controller with analog triggers would make more sense - so to solely improve your racing and driving experience, a gamepad with those features would be the better overall alternative for the price.
What do you think about the Rotary Mouse, also in a non-gaming context? Let us know in the comments below!
