Brunner FFB-G Rudder Pedals Review - Is 80% of the Best Worth Half the Price?

For years, Brunner force feedback meant one thing - spending big. The set I had running in my sim before this one was over $2,000 USD. The Brunner FFB-G Rudder Pedals are $799. Less than half the price, and on paper they do about 80% of what the big ones do.

So that's the question this whole review is really about. What's the 20% you're giving up for that price drop? And is it the 20% that actually matters? Because I've been flying these for a few weeks now, and once you understand where the cuts have been made, it's not exactly what I expected going in.
Brunner sent these for review.

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What Are the Brunner FFB-G Rudder Pedals?

The easiest way to describe them is that they're the baby sibling of Brunner's bigger, more powerful CLS-E rudder pedals. The casing, control box, mounting points, and overall size is about 80% of the full-size CLS-E. The pedals themselves are from what I can remember about the same, with a slightly different metal finish.
Weight-wise the two sets are surprisingly close - 6.5 kilos on the FFB-G against 6.1 on the more powerful CLS-E. So the smaller sibling is actually marginally heavier. That tells you something important - this is about the footprint of the enclosure, not about being some flimsy stripped-back version of the CLS-E rudders.
And what hasn't shrunk is the bit that matters most. Peak force on the FFB-G is 190 newtons. Hold that number - it's going to do some heavy lifting in the comparison section, and it's the thing that surprised me most about these pedals.

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The Main Feature - Airspeed Dependent Resistance

This is the entire reason force feedback rudders exist. Everything else is a bonus.
The concept is airspeed dependent resistance - the faster the air moving over your rudder, the stiffer and more precise the pedals become. Slow down and they go soft and lazy. It's all adjustable per aircraft through the SimUX software.

Here's what that feels like in practice. On final in the Cessna 172 at 60 knots with flaps out, the pedals feel lethargic and dull. You're making bigger, lazier inputs just to nudge the nose. Take that same 172 and put me at 105 knots or more - the pedals are nippy and tight. Smaller inputs, sharp response, real force needed to deflect. And between those two speeds there's a very smooth ramp up and down. You essentially feel the airplane wake up and go to sleep again through your feet.

It's genuinely hard to describe how satisfying that is until you've felt it, especially if you're also running a force feedback yoke at the same time. If you're at that stage of your setup and considering force feedback on the controls side, our guide to the best force feedback yokes for flight simulation covers exactly what's available and what to look for before committing. Check it out here 

But the single-engine example doesn't actually sell this feature as well as a twin does.
Think about losing an engine. Asymmetric thrust - one side pulling, one side dead. The aircraft wants to yaw hard toward the dead engine. The fix is rudder. You stand on the live side and hold it. On these pedals you feel exactly how much pressure it takes to hold that yaw straight. And as you slow down toward minimum control speed, you feel the rudder go mushy and start running out of authority right underneath you.

That's a sensation a normal spring pedal physically cannot give you. The airplane is talking to you through your feet.

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Engine Vibration and the Other Features

Brunner already do the best engine feel of anyone I've tested. That hasn't changed. But they've added something genuinely clever this time - through SimUX you can edit the vibration curve to replicate resonance in a specific airframe.

Every machine with an engine has a certain RPM range where the whole frame buzzes a little bit deeper or harder. That's a resonance point. If your aircraft shakes through say 1,500 to 1,600 RPM, you can dial that exact character into the profile. Sounds like a tiny detail. Layered on top of vibration that's already the best out there, it's the kind of thing that makes you sit back and grin.

Beyond that, you can run these with no centering detent at all if you want - purely through software. You can set strength based purely on deflection, separate from the airspeed effect. Then layer airspeed, deflection, centering, and resonance all on top of each other. What you end up with is a feel that's genuinely your own.

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Build Quality

Full metal build. Metal mounting points, metal pedals. The alloy might be slightly different on the pedals themselves but you'd never know it underfoot. The whole unit is built like a tank for the money you're spending. Setup is genuinely plug and play. Swiss made. Two year warranty.

This isn't a budget product with budget build quality. It's a smaller version of something very good, built to the same standard.

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The Toe Brakes

This is where things get a little less flattering and I'd rather just be straight with you. The toe brakes are fine. Smooth enough. Nothing special. There's no adjustable pedal angle - Brunner say you can technically adjust it but they actively don't recommend it. That's one of the things you're giving up at this price point. I personally never had any issue with the physical pedal angle but plenty of people will miss that option.

On pure brake feel, I'd rank the Virtual Fly Ruddos and the WINCTRL Orions ahead, then the Thrustmaster TPRs, then these. That doesn't make them bad - the brakes just aren't why you'd buy this set. You're buying them for the rudder axis, and on that front they deliver.

The pedals do sit fairly close together, enough to mimic most real life GA aircraft setups. That's a genuine positive worth noting.

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Software — SimUX

SimUX is Brunner's new software platform and it's a meaningful improvement over the old CLS2Sim. Way more intuitive, much easier to create and adjust profiles, and the language used to describe effects actually makes sense.

Compatibility covers Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 and 2024, X-Plane 11 and 12. No native DCS integration - that was true of the old software too and nothing has changed there. I've only tested these in MSFS and X-Plane and performance in both is consistent. As with most force feedback gear you'll probably get a little more out of it in X-Plane, but both work well.

One important change from the old setup - previously if you had Brunner rudders and a yoke you'd route the rudders through the yoke and then to the PC. That's gone. Everything now connects directly to the PC via USB, independent of each other. That's a welcome simplification.

I did hit some minor reliability wobbles with SimUX early on but Brunner tidied that up quickly. Current version has been solid.

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Three Things You Need to Know Before Buying

First - it's another piece of software to run. If you're already in the Brunner ecosystem with the yoke this is a non-issue - it's the same system. If you're coming in fresh just be aware SimUX needs to be running alongside your sim.

Second - these need their own power. Another mains device. If you've got an elaborate rig, plan your power routing before these arrive.

Third - and this one is not optional - you have to hard mount these. A cockpit, a heavy plate, something solid that will not move, and you bolt them down. You are not dropping these on carpet and expecting to get the effects you've paid for. The movement eats away at the force feedback and you've literally paid for effects that disappear into a vibrating base.

I have mine mounted to a Next Level Racing Flight Sim Pro. On the NLR rudder plate you can only mount through the front two or back two points at once - I went front two and they didn't budge at all. Works well. But sort your mounting situation before they arrive.

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The Comparison - Three Options, One Number That Matters

Right now there are three force feedback rudder options genuinely worth knowing about. All prices in USD.

Option one - the FliteSim.com CLS force feedback rudder

$1,799 USD excluding shipping. The headline is the force — they claim 370 linear newtons, which they describe as the highest in the industry. That's close to double the FFB-G and comfortably more than the CLS-E at 220. Still pre-order at time of writing, non-refundable, ships by sea freight to US, UK, and Europe — so eight to twelve weeks potentially. Not a brand new unproven product from what I understand, they've been around a while. But I've never used them. I reached out some time ago and never heard back. If you've got a set, the comments are waiting for you.

Option two - the Brunner FFB-G Rudder Pedals

$799 USD. 190 newtons peak. 130mm of travel. No adjustable pedal angle. Swiss made. In stock.

Option three — the Brunner CLS-E MK II

$2,010 USD. The flagship. 220 newtons peak. 150mm of travel. Adjustable pedals. Also Swiss made.
There is a fourth option starting to emerge — WINCTRL, the rebrand of WinWing. I've seen a working set. Info is sketchy so do your own research before spending anything there.

The FFB-G at $799 gives you 190 newtons against the CLS-E at 220. That's around 14% less peak force for less than half the price. Can I tell you how that 14% actually feels? Honestly, no. The big set went back to Brunner a long time ago and I'd be bullshitting you if I told you I still remembered exactly how much stronger they felt. So I'm not going to pretend.

What I can tell you is I never once sat in these and thought they needed more grunt. Not coordinating a turn — not that I'm any good at that. Not in a crosswind. Not holding a slip. Whatever that 14% is on paper, in practice I think these have got enough.

There's also something worth understanding about peak force figures before you get too hung up on them. Peak is a momentary maximum - not what a unit holds under a sustained load. The FliteSim.com rudders publish a max continuous figure of 180 newtons on their website. Brunner don't publish a continuous figure for either rudder - only peak. So those big headline numbers aren't always comparing the same thing, and that's worth knowing before you make a decision based purely on newtons.

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Should You Buy the Brunner FFB-G Rudder Pedals?

Here's how I genuinely see this. This is the kind of product everyone wants, nobody really needs. You can have an absolute ball in a simulator without force feedback rudders. So a purchase like this belongs at the tail end of a setup - not at the start of one. Get your yoke, screens, and basics sorted first. Then think about something like this.

If you're at that stage and you want airspeed-loaded, living-airplane feel through your feet without spending two grand to get it, the FFB-G makes more sense than anything else in the Brunner range right now. At almost the force of the flagship for less than half the price, the feel that made me fall in love with force feedback in the first place is all still here.

The smaller footprint is arguably better for home use anyway. The build quality is every bit as solid as the flagship. The CLS-E MK II's extra money buys you dual pilot synchronisation and training level integration - if you're not running a full training cockpit, that's capability you're simply never going to touch.
For home use, on a properly hard-mounted cockpit rig, flying GA or commercial in X-Plane or MSFS — the Brunner FFB-G Rudder Pedals are very hard to look past.

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