Two Years of Evolution

The VANDAL DSP didn’t begin as the VANDAL DSP.

Our first steering wheel concept was considerably simpler: no LCD, no configurable display pages and no mobile app.

Just a lightweight, purpose-built performance steering wheel built around the controls a driver actually needed.

It could have stopped there.

It didn’t.

Version One: Get the Wheel Right

The first stage of development concentrated almost entirely on hardware.

We experimented with geometry, ergonomics, control placement, paddle positioning, materials and internal packaging.

Every change taught us something.

A button could move a few millimeters and suddenly become easier to reach.

A paddle adjustment could completely change the shift experience.

Internal components could be redesigned to remove unnecessary mass.

The product improved through iteration rather than assumption.

And eventually we had something we loved.

Then we started asking harder questions.

What If the Wheel Could Show You the Car?

Once we had the physical interface, adding vehicle data became the natural next step.

That decision changed the project dramatically.

An LCD wasn’t simply another component.

It required new electronics, new packaging, new firmware and an entirely different approach to how the driver interacted with the wheel.

We experimented with what information belonged on the display and, just as importantly, what didn’t.

More data isn’t always better.

At speed, information needs to be understandable almost instantly.

The DSP Takes Shape

The display transformed the steering wheel into something much closer to what we originally imagined without knowing how to describe it.

A Driver System Platform.

The wheel could provide physical control while simultaneously presenting supported vehicle and performance data back to the driver.

Inputs and information were now part of the same interface.

But configuration created another problem.

As capability increased, we didn’t want usability to decrease.

Adding the CANchecked App

Powerful hardware isn’t particularly useful if configuring it is painful.

So development expanded again — this time into software integration.

CANchecked became VANDAL’s firmware partner, bringing its established motorsport electronics platform to the DSP.

Through the CANchecked App, drivers can configure supported DSP functions directly from a smartphone.

Integrating the hardware, firmware and app required another development cycle spanning communication, interface design and real-world testing.

Suddenly, developing a steering wheel meant developing an ecosystem.

The Product Never Stopped Evolving

That’s why the DSP took more than two years to reach production.

The product itself kept revealing what it could become.

A purpose-built steering wheel became an electronic steering wheel.

The electronic steering wheel gained a display.

The display created the need for deeper configuration.

Configuration brought the CANchecked App into the system.

And each new capability forced us to revisit the hardware underneath it.

The final product looks inevitable when you see it completed.

It wasn’t.

It was the result of hundreds of decisions, revisions and lessons accumulated throughout development.

We didn’t begin by trying to build the most complicated steering wheel possible.

We began by trying to build a better one.

The VANDAL DSP is where that process took us.