Logitech announces expanded sim racing lineup, long-awaited peripherals and a more affordable Astro A50
All the highlights from the Logi Play event in Paris.
Logitech has announced a raft of new products from its annual Logi Play showcase in Paris, including new esports-grade peripherals that adopt controversial new features, an expanded range of sim racing gear not destined for the UK and a more affordable Astro A50 headset that ditches the premiere feature of the A50 X.
There's also a new AI-powered software tool which actually looks useful for a change too, but let's cover the fun stuff first - after all, your next keyboard, mouse, headset or racing wheel may be amongst the new arrivals.
Here are the full highlights then, filed live from an extremely rambunctious event. Scroll on to read through, or hit up the quick links below to jump to the bits and pieces you're interested in!
- Logitech's new esports mice and keyboards: rapid trigger, SOCD and an ergo Superlight
- A massively expanded sim racing suite: but the UK's not getting the best bits
- The new low profile halo keyboard: long-awaited upgrades
- A cheaper Astro A50 X: minus HDMI features, plus docked Switch support
- Automatic game highlights for social: a promising AI use case?
Logitech's first rapid trigger keyboard, first asymmetric ultra-light and an updated classic
Logitech arguably kicked off the ultra-light mouse craze with the original G Pro Wireless, and from then on they've been known for their streamlined symmetric designs, reliable Lightspeed wireless and high-performance Hero optical sensors. These features (and numerous sponsorship deals) have made Logitech ultra-light mice the most popular option amongst esports players, as well as a DF favourite, so it's a pleasant surprise to see the same fundamentals applied to a new ergonomic, right-handed mouse design: the Superlight 2 Dex.
Beyond the new shape, which is preferred by a good percentage of players, Logitech has thrown the kitchen sink in when it comes to specs and features. There's 8KHz wireless polling, a Hero 2 optical sensor and hybrid optical-mechanical Lightforce switches. The mouse is also made from 55 percent recycled ABS plastic, as part of Logitech's ongoing sustainability goals.
Logitech is also updating the original Pro Wireless mouse design with more modern components, with the result being the Pro 2 Lightspeed. The Superlight 2 and Superlight 2 Dex remain the best-performing mice in the lineup, but the Pro 2 comes with many of the same technologies while costing significantly less - a sensible move given how popular the original G Pro Wireless remains thanks to its much more sensible price point.
Beyond the two new mice, which go on sale today, Logitech is also announcing their first rapid trigger keyboard. This input speed tech has taken the keyboard space by storm - alongside even more far-reaching and controversial SOCD features that were recently banned in Counter-Strike 2 for offering a huge advantage to player movement. Therefore, it makes sense that Logitech is offering both features to stay relevant against rivals like Wooting, Razer and SteelSeries.
These new esports-focused features can be dialled in on the keyboard itself without software, but can be adjusted alongside other common magnetic switch tweaks in G Hub as well. Rather than using off-the-shelf Gateron Hall Effect magnetic switches, Logitech is reportedly using their own custom-designed versions, but the Logitech press release doesn't detail any differences in functionality. The Pro X TKL Rapid keyboard is set to debut in December.
Wider-ranging sim racing gear, but only a new shifter for the UK
Logitech make some seriously nice sim racing kit, but the Pro Racing wheel and pedals wasn't much of an ecosystem - until today. Logitech are adding a host of new Racing Series products, dramatically widening the available options to support more racing genres, though only one element is coming to the UK.
The new RS products include a Track Wheel, with a squared-off shape familiar to viewers of GT3 and Formula racing, a Round Wheel better for rally and drifting, a QR adapter that allows a selection of third-party wheels to be used instead, a Wheel Hub that connects either of the Logitech wheels to a Logitech direct drive base, and a two-in-one Shifter and Handbrake that allows you to effect manual gear changes or start a slide with a single satisfying pull.
It's the £130 shifter that is the only one set to be available in the UK, with the rest of the line-up only receiving US pricing and availability at present. (For the record, that's $130 for a PC hub, $150 for an Xbox/PC hub, $70 for either wheel and $60 for the adaptor.) That's a real shame, given the strength of the UK sim racing scene, so I hope that we do see the rest of the lineup available before too long.
G915 X: a more modern low profile halo keyboard
Logitech's G915 has long been a Digital Foundry keyboard recommendation, offering a satisfying and snappy typing experience in a full-size or TKL form factor with laptop-style low profile mechanical switches, and now there's a new one: the G915 X.
Like the Logitech G515, the keyboard uses more traditional Cherry MX style cross stems, allowing for wider keycap compatibility and greater stability, while the ABS keycaps have been swapped for more premium PBT alternatives. Other small tweaks have been made too, to actuation points and top plate thickness. These changes help Logitech keep pace with a surging industry of boutique brands pushing forward the typing experience, with more complicated assemblies and a greater focus on sound and durability, and we've seen similar efforts by other gaming brands recently too.
Battery life has also improved marginally, by around 20 percent, but remains orders of magnitude better with lighting disabled. The overall form factor remains similar, though the new-to-Logitech ability to remap any key on the keyboard rather than dedicated macro keys has been brought over from the G515.
The cheapest G915 X is the £199 wired model, with the Lightspeed TKL at £220 and full-size Lightspeed at £230. All three are extremely premium affairs then, even for wireless mechanical keyboards, but with Logitech's propensity for deep discounts in sale seasons they ought to reach more reasonable price points in the months following their September 17th launch.
5th-gen Astro A50 gaming headset: a cheaper A50 X with docked Switch support
The Astro A50 has long been a generally good high-end headset for console gaming, known for its chunky charging base station, with the latest model being Astro A50 X. That £359 iteration came with an HDMI 2.1 hub as its main feature, allowing you to use a single video input on monitor or TV for multiple platforms, and now we're seeing a stripped-down model that ditches the HDMI functionality to hit a (slightly) lower price point: £299.
The A50 5th-gen headset can still be connected to multiple platforms - PS5, Series X/S, Switch, PC - but now this happens only over USB, similar to the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro but with three USB inputs rather than two. Logitech are calling this Playsync Audio, and there's a single button on the headset to switch platforms.
Elsewhere, the fifth-gen A50 is much the same as the A50 X that's already on the market, with similar 'Pro-G graphene' audio drivers to that of the Logitech G Pro X 2 Wireless, 24-bit uncompressed Lightspeed wireless, a familiar design and customisation via both the PC-based G Hub and iOS/Android-based G App software.
Given that the A50 X attracted relatively warm appraisals of its core features, it makes sense to bring the majority of that package to a lower price - though, as always, sales on the earlier product mean that there's not as much of a gap as the RRPs would suggest. (At present, the A 50 X is £20 more expensive than the A50's RRP.) There's also the new support for docked Switch play, which was omitted from the A50 X and is now present and correct.
AI Game Highlighter: automatic clip generation for social media
Logitech also announced an AI product, but thankfully it's a free piece of software rather than a dedicated piece of hardware: the AI Game Highlighter. The idea is to ingest live stream footage and automatically spit out social-media-friendly highlight reels, complete with music and transitions. It's a well-worn space that probably won't suit professional streamers, who may well demand more fine-grained control over the output, but for more occasional streamers that simply want to have their best moments pre-packaged then it could come in handy. The software needs to be updated on a per-game basis, with Fortnite being the first title supported.
A catch-up event
After having seen everything Logitech has announced, I feel a bit conflicted about the event as a whole. A lot of the new products fulfil requests Logitech fans have been making for years - an ergonomic rather than symmetric Superlight mouse, a more affordable Astro A50 headset, a wider and more accessible ecosystem of sim racing gear. And yet, there's a sense that Logitech is playing catch-up, adding features that have proven popular on products made from other brands, rather than necessarily pushing the space forward. I guess that's inevitable - not every new release can be revolutionary, and a lot of products are about filling niches created by halo products above - but it feels like it'll soon be the Swiss firm's turn to push the industry forward once again.
Logitech provided flights and accommodation to see their new products at their Paris event.