One of the tuning shops in Japan has several racing steering wheels for sale, look nearly new one has the leather finish like the re-pops but another had suede. He wanted around £770 for the suede one and £630 for the stock one. The repops are £300....
On the steering wheel he implied it was made like that??
If you're talking about the original Nissan Sports Option 'Datsun Competition' steering wheels (originally manufactured by Izumi), none of them were ever made with suede grips.
NISMO commissioned a real leather re-pop for their 10th Anniversary in 1994, along with a re-pop of the 'standard' moulded urethane 'leather look' grip. I bought one at the time with the intention of using it instead of my 1971-dated original to preserve it. Quite a few other people bought them and put them away, and they do come on the market from time to time.
However, there are now numerous Chinese-made copies on the market, alongside Chinese-made fakes complete with fake NISMO 10th Anniversary packaging. Buyer beware.
Where is this anyway? Is it JDS (Japan Datsun Service) in Gokanmecho, Yokohama? If so, I wouldn't buy anything from him. Usually silly prices on things you can get for much less elsewhere.
In any case, a suede-covered re-pop Datsun Compe steering wheel is like a steak and kidney pie served with custard. It is neither one thing nor the other. If that's what you really want, you can get an original OEM Izumi wheel cut down and re-trimmed in suede for a lot less than £770.