In both Mario Kart games for the Wii and Wii U, the game shows an icon on players who it tells are playing with a Wii Wheel. I've always wondered -- what mechanism does the console use to detect whether a Wii Wheel is being used? It seems to just be a piece of plastic.


The wheel icon is shown when the player is using tilt steering with the Wiimote-only controls. It does not matter whether the wheel accessory is involved, which cannot be detected anyway, as it is just a plastic shell around the controller.