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Update 11/28 - the situation has stabilized somewhat with Fanatec emailing me updated wheel firmware which solves the saving settings problem and about half of the high pitched whining. It does not resolve the "spontaneous loss of FFB" problem that I am not alone in experiencing, but the problem is sporadic and sometimes doesn't happen for days, so I'm not returning the wheel over it. I did return the CSR Shifter Set because it was junk. I cannot return the pedals because the plastic base has deformed under usage loads/pedal reorientation and I doubt Fanatec would take it back even if I tried. As I said in another thread, I should have bought the CSP instead as their mounts are metal-on-metal and not metal-on-plastic. I'm still unhappy with Fanatec products overall, but as I am stuck with what I've got I am now going to use them until they break, at which point we will see if Fanatec warranty service is any better than their web support. ETA: 3 months.
Original unedited post follows below
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Hi all, new here but figure I need to get my voice heard somewhere, since obviously Fanatec support doesn't hear it or respond to it. You'd think they would at least answer 1 email after I dropped 500 bucks on a top flight sim setup from their webshop....
Anyway... I picked up the CSR, CSR elite pedals, and CSR shifter set a couple weeks back (to add to my Bob Earl Racing Seat v1), and the wheel specifically has been nothing but trouble from day 1.
The wheel emits high pitched electronic whine (similar to coil whine on GPUs) most of the time (possibly all the time, I don't know because I wear headphones) and this is in PC mode, not XBOX mode (the mode everyone seems to claim is the cause of this problem). It also makes this mid-range mechanical/electronic noise that I can't describe, loudest when first turned on but still audible at any point afterwards.
It also has the firmware problem of not saving profile settings after power off. Coupled with the below problem of losing FFB and needing a reboot, I've found myself re-inputting all of my wheel settings a dozen times per day.
The wheel shakes/vibrates at very low levels at all times (every couple seconds) even when in windows (!).
The wheel frequently loses center and locks onto false centers, and repeatedly loses FFB completely (including centering) in the middle of play, needing to be power cycled to regain it (and of course when it does that it loses my saved settings too, and I have to restart the game and drop out of online play!) This happens every hour or even more frequently, and makes completing races or playing online absolutely impossible.
Lets get off the wheel for a minute and discuss the hideous ergonomics of physically adjusting the CSR Elite pedals -- an hour long job of monumental frustration (what the heck were they thinking when they designed the bolting system used for left-right pedal adjustment?) followed by another hour of trial and error adjustments because you can't physically tell how it will work until you sit down and test it. Oh, and Fanatec could have mentioned in the manual that the lowest placement possible for throw ("longest" throw, as I understand it) doesn't work for clutch or brake because clutch clips on something at around 90% depression and brake only gives you around 60% range due to the load cell not being able to reach due to the long throw. These are stupid design decisions you shouldn't see in such a pricey product...
With all of these wheel problems I haven't bothered to touch or even open the box of the shifter yet. No idea what I will find when I do.
At least the pedals are sturdy, very well designed overall, and mostly made of high quality materials, more than I can say for that cheap plastic rubbish Fanatec calls a premium racing wheel. And I say mostly because I noticed the geartooth input feeders for the pedals are made out of the cheapest plastic you could imagine. An odd choice considering where they are, what they are, and how important they are. It would have cost what, 25 cents to make them out of aluminum? All those high quality aluminum components and then you see that.
The wheel is pretty much the opposite though, with extremely cheap plastic everywhere and a couple of alcantara and metal bits thrown in to distract from how poorly constructed the wheel actually is, and to justify the ridiculous price. I doubt the CSR will last for even 6 months of daily simming, and since I won't be able to afford a replacement this year, that makes me extremely sad, as I am heavily addicted to rFactor (the reason I bought this rubbish in the first place). The pedals, even with the problems, were worth 150 bucks because they're solid, well built, very functional, and generally high quality. But no way in the world is that cheap plastic glitchpile of a wheel worth 250. NO WAY.
I've encountered all of these issues (and more I haven't mentioned) repeatedly in the 2 weeks I've been a Fanatec owner and, needless to say, I am not at all impressed. I go online and find no updated firmware, no response to support emails, and nobody with any answers.
Did I just waste 500 bucks? I'm seriously bummed here.
PS: When everything works properly, I enjoy this setup a great deal. It just doesn't work properly for any reasonable period of time. The 250 dollar plastic steering wheel seriously bummed me out (as a 10-2 position driver), so I hand-wrapped the top plastic part of the wheel with gel grip tape. A great improvement, but it was stupid that I had to spend 10 more dollars to cover up those ugly plastic seams (and that one nasty sharp plastic seam joint on the left side that kept cutting my hand). Pretty much typical of my Fanatec experience so far though... so.... yeah.... sorry this was long, but I'm frustrated to my absolute limit.
Original unedited post follows below
-----
Hi all, new here but figure I need to get my voice heard somewhere, since obviously Fanatec support doesn't hear it or respond to it. You'd think they would at least answer 1 email after I dropped 500 bucks on a top flight sim setup from their webshop....
Anyway... I picked up the CSR, CSR elite pedals, and CSR shifter set a couple weeks back (to add to my Bob Earl Racing Seat v1), and the wheel specifically has been nothing but trouble from day 1.
The wheel emits high pitched electronic whine (similar to coil whine on GPUs) most of the time (possibly all the time, I don't know because I wear headphones) and this is in PC mode, not XBOX mode (the mode everyone seems to claim is the cause of this problem). It also makes this mid-range mechanical/electronic noise that I can't describe, loudest when first turned on but still audible at any point afterwards.
It also has the firmware problem of not saving profile settings after power off. Coupled with the below problem of losing FFB and needing a reboot, I've found myself re-inputting all of my wheel settings a dozen times per day.
The wheel shakes/vibrates at very low levels at all times (every couple seconds) even when in windows (!).
The wheel frequently loses center and locks onto false centers, and repeatedly loses FFB completely (including centering) in the middle of play, needing to be power cycled to regain it (and of course when it does that it loses my saved settings too, and I have to restart the game and drop out of online play!) This happens every hour or even more frequently, and makes completing races or playing online absolutely impossible.
Lets get off the wheel for a minute and discuss the hideous ergonomics of physically adjusting the CSR Elite pedals -- an hour long job of monumental frustration (what the heck were they thinking when they designed the bolting system used for left-right pedal adjustment?) followed by another hour of trial and error adjustments because you can't physically tell how it will work until you sit down and test it. Oh, and Fanatec could have mentioned in the manual that the lowest placement possible for throw ("longest" throw, as I understand it) doesn't work for clutch or brake because clutch clips on something at around 90% depression and brake only gives you around 60% range due to the load cell not being able to reach due to the long throw. These are stupid design decisions you shouldn't see in such a pricey product...
With all of these wheel problems I haven't bothered to touch or even open the box of the shifter yet. No idea what I will find when I do.
At least the pedals are sturdy, very well designed overall, and mostly made of high quality materials, more than I can say for that cheap plastic rubbish Fanatec calls a premium racing wheel. And I say mostly because I noticed the geartooth input feeders for the pedals are made out of the cheapest plastic you could imagine. An odd choice considering where they are, what they are, and how important they are. It would have cost what, 25 cents to make them out of aluminum? All those high quality aluminum components and then you see that.
The wheel is pretty much the opposite though, with extremely cheap plastic everywhere and a couple of alcantara and metal bits thrown in to distract from how poorly constructed the wheel actually is, and to justify the ridiculous price. I doubt the CSR will last for even 6 months of daily simming, and since I won't be able to afford a replacement this year, that makes me extremely sad, as I am heavily addicted to rFactor (the reason I bought this rubbish in the first place). The pedals, even with the problems, were worth 150 bucks because they're solid, well built, very functional, and generally high quality. But no way in the world is that cheap plastic glitchpile of a wheel worth 250. NO WAY.
I've encountered all of these issues (and more I haven't mentioned) repeatedly in the 2 weeks I've been a Fanatec owner and, needless to say, I am not at all impressed. I go online and find no updated firmware, no response to support emails, and nobody with any answers.
Did I just waste 500 bucks? I'm seriously bummed here.
PS: When everything works properly, I enjoy this setup a great deal. It just doesn't work properly for any reasonable period of time. The 250 dollar plastic steering wheel seriously bummed me out (as a 10-2 position driver), so I hand-wrapped the top plastic part of the wheel with gel grip tape. A great improvement, but it was stupid that I had to spend 10 more dollars to cover up those ugly plastic seams (and that one nasty sharp plastic seam joint on the left side that kept cutting my hand). Pretty much typical of my Fanatec experience so far though... so.... yeah.... sorry this was long, but I'm frustrated to my absolute limit.
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