Fanatec Announcements: CSW V2 Reviews Out

[Nick Moxley]

It is truly amazing that the first CSP v3 pedal sets are showing up in the hands of actual customer before any have been released to professional reviewers. There are still zero reviews; nothing beyond the original PR video, photos and specifications from Fanatec.

This is quite a departure from previous new product releases from Fanatec. I'm not sure what that means but I guess Fanatec didn't feel that it was worthwhile to make early production for the review sites.

Imo with the V3's not being that far off from the V2's is probably what warranted the no beta testers/reviewer's, They could test the basics in house (load cell, Dampers, Pedal pads and Extra springs) and the rest is tried tested and true * Despite what some might claim

 

[paskowitz]

I am curious how the stiffest setting compares to my current V2s. Also the rebound. I put in a stupid heavy spring (I can barely fully compress it with my arms/hands... maybe I need to hit the gym) in my V2s and it is super stiff and springy.

... the rest is tried tested and true * Despite what some might claim

I still have a CSP v2 set from the first month they were released and the only problem I have had in the years (gosh I forget how many) I have had them has been 2 failed throttle sensors. Based on anecdotal reading, I would say the CSPs are Fanatec's most reliable product.

 

[fatkrakr]

Received my pedals and damper today. Hooked them up, made all the adjustments I needed (mostly) and hotlapped about an hour. Overall very impressed and pretty happy. I do have a couple of issues though, first and for me anyway pretty minor is that the rumble motors are useless. I cant feel them at all while racing and just barely testing them just sitting there. I have simvibe so have no use for them anyway, but anyone looking to that as a plus will be disappointed.

The other issue is pretty major. I cant remove any of the 3 pedal faces. They all have at least one screw that wont budge, the 2 of 6 I did get out where a real bear and chewed the heads up. So that means the pedal extensions and tilton pads are useless to me right now.


Other than my issues I am very happy with the way the pedals perform and more importantly the way they feel. Was hoping for at least as good as the brake I was replacing, I must say it is vastly improved and the damper is what made them better. I am not looking forward to the RMA process though and pretty pissed I need to the very first day I received them.

 

[paskowitz]

Received my pedals and damper today. Hooked them up, made all the adjustments I needed (mostly) and hotlapped about an hour. Overall very impressed and pretty happy. I do have a couple of issues though, first and for me anyway pretty minor is that the rumble motors are useless. I cant feel them at all while racing and just barely testing them just sitting there. I have simvibe so have no use for them anyway, but anyone looking to that as a plus will be disappointed.

The other issue is pretty major. I cant remove any of the 3 pedal faces. They all have at least one screw that wont budge, the 2 of 6 I did get out where a real bear and chewed the heads up. So that means the pedal extensions and tilton pads are useless to me right now.


Other than my issues I am very happy with the way the pedals perform and more importantly the way they feel. Was hoping for at least as good as the brake I was replacing, I must say it is vastly improved and the damper is what made them better. I am not looking forward to the RMA process though and pretty pissed I need to the very first day I received them.

 

[fatkrakr]

Normally I would agree but I busted 2 hex keys and the ones that are left will need to be drilled out. No other way around it. Someone went nuts with the torque wrench.

 

[paskowitz]

Simulators are getting so realistic now. Breaking tools and stripped screws, all the fun of owning a real car, now in your living room!

 

[Fanapryde]

I connected mine tonight.

I am curious about the clutch and especially the included set of harder springs.
Did you use them ?

The clutch on T500RS (and a G27 I owned before these) are really too weak to mimic a real one and that has been bothering me for a long time now.

 

[K1LLD0z3R]

Clutch I pressed a few times. It has a good feel, but if I used it I would pad the bump stop on release. Springs, pedal pads, lithium grease for something, cables for RJ to RJ wheel or USB to USB PC. Lots of configurations possible.

Resolution is great, right out of the box. I need to try 0 ABS, with wheel and pedal adjustments. Been a long time no ABS.

 

[fatkrakr]

I am curious about the clutch and especially the included set of harder springs.
Did you use them ?

The clutch on T500RS (and a G27 I owned before these) are really too weak to mimic a real one and that has been bothering me for a long time now.

The clutch has a better feel than the G27 clutch, I wouldn't call it feeling real, but is a improvement. There isn't much difference when engaging the clutch, but the release is much much better.

The stock springs (red) are a bit softer than stock G27 pedals, while the black springs are about as stiff (maybe a bit stiffer) as the stock springs of G27. They have ALOT more travel than the G27 pedals and for me what makes these pedals better than G27 clutch and gas pedal.

I used the perfect pedal for the brake and I can get this brake to feel very similar too the perfect pedal, but with double the travel. You can also make them extremely stronger than them, I mean lift you rig off the floor stiff. The damper is pretty trick as well. You can up the damping to be very stiff, but the rebound stays the same no matter how stiff you run them, pretty nice trick there. All in all a very nice upgrade to G27 pedals with perfect pedal.

 

[paskowitz]

Is the spring size the same as the CSPv2s?

 

[Shinu]

So without dampers the pedal resistance is about the same as g27 ?

 

[K1LLD0z3R]

@K1LLD0z3R Which pedals did you have before? I'm curious especially if you upgrading from V2, V1, or CSR Elite pedals.

I upgraded from V2. I love the new brake.

 

[K_Soze]

I upgraded from V2. I love the new brake.

DON'T SAY THAT !

"my CSP V2 are good enough. my CSP V2 are good enough. my CSP V2 are good enough. my CSP V2 are good enough. my CSP V2 are good enough. my CSP V2 are good enough."

 

[fatkrakr]

So without dampers the pedal resistance is about the same as g27 ?

With the black springs the clutch and throttle is a bit stronger than the G27 clutch and throttle. The red springs are a bit softer than the G27. There is no comparing the stock G27 brake to the CSP brake with or without the damper. I do highly recommend the damper for the V3 though. I would put the brake a step or 2 better than my perfect pedal. Mostly for the pedal travel, but also because it feels really nice. With all the adjustments for the brake I cant see how you couldn't find the feel you want. From F1 stiff to Ford Pinto squishy. I had to up the brake force from the stock 30 to 70 because the wheels where locking up to easy.

 

[Shinu]

I'm planing to get the pedals (I'm using my old spiking g27 pedals for now). Just thinking, should I get the dampers also.

 

[lazjet]

Got my pedals yesterday, and nothing but headache -_-. First off i have not used them yet lol. One my obutto Rig i have my V2 pedals inverted. So i planned on doing the same for the V3. One big issue the new andoized hex nuts on the V3 and the torque on alot of these nuts. Long story short stripped a few nuts, resulting in a broken nut on the pedal tray, and 2-3 stripped on the side of base.

And when finally getting the pedals inverted i forgot two of the gold spacer/washers on the clutch pedal, when i tried to add them in stripped another bolt. So i now have a loose clutch pedal -_-.

By the time i got the pedals on my rig i already spent to much time and energy so i have yet to plug them in and test them out.

As far as pedal feel compared to the V2, the brake w/ shock mod has a wider variety of adjustabilty to get the brake feel you want. Im not sure if its cause i added the pedal extension, but the gas pedal has a longer throw then the V2 with the added resolution this should have alot more modulation. For the clutch, it feels smoother other then that not much different then the V2.

Will be pluggin them up after work today and testing them out on the track.

Other then the huge headache i experienced inverting the pedals, so far i am impressed with the feel of these changes to the brake and gas. Also the way the new brake pedal is setup, when inverting you can choose to have the brake closer to the clutch or closer to the gas pedal as the spacers can be put on either side, with the V2 you are stuck with the brake closer to the clutch. This also means for non inverted you can change the spacers around as well if you want your brake to be further from the gas.

 

[fatkrakr]

Got my pedals yesterday, and nothing but headache -_-. First off i have not used them yet lol. One my obutto Rig i have my V2 pedals inverted. So i planned on doing the same for the V3. One big issue the new andoized hex nuts on the V3 and the torque on alot of these nuts. Long story short stripped a few nuts, resulting in a broken nut on the pedal tray, and 2-3 stripped on the side of base.

And when finally getting the pedals inverted i forgot two of the gold spacer/washers on the clutch pedal, when i tried to add them in stripped another bolt. So i now have a loose clutch pedal -_-.

By the time i got the pedals on my rig i already spent to much time and energy so i have yet to plug them in and test them out.

As far as pedal feel compared to the V2, the brake w/ shock mod has a wider variety of adjustabilty to get the brake feel you want. Im not sure if its cause i added the pedal extension, but the gas pedal has a longer throw then the V2 with the added resolution this should have alot more modulation. For the clutch, it feels smoother other then that not much different then the V2.

Will be pluggin them up after work today and testing them out on the track.

Other then the huge headache i experienced inverting the pedals, so far i am impressed with the feel of these changes to the brake and gas. Also the way the new brake pedal is setup, when inverting you can choose to have the brake closer to the clutch or closer to the gas pedal as the spacers can be put on either side, with the V2 you are stuck with the brake closer to the clutch. This also means for non inverted you can change the spacers around as well if you want your brake to be further from the gas.

Its seems somebody at the Fanatec assembly plant has been working out. My pedal faces are the same way.

 

[K1LLD0z3R]

On my V2 set I had one pedal pad bolt that was way tight. On the V3 I had to remove the foot rest to mount them to my rig and those bolts were quite tight. I will check the pedal pad bolts on the V3 tonight. I suspect mine will be the same as yours. I wonder if a small amount of heat just on the bolt would help?

 

[fatkrakr]

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Ontel-Speed-Out-Speed-Out-Screw-Extractor-4-Piece-1000264/205110987 I am going to give this a shot tonight.

 

[K1LLD0z3R]

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Ontel-Speed-Out-Speed-Out-Screw-Extractor-4-Piece-1000264/205110987 I am going to give this a shot tonight.

That's for use if you have stripped them. If you break them off you'll need an EZ out. http://www.homedepot.com/p/Vermont-American-Screw-Extractor-and-Drill-Bit-Set-21829/202850653

 

[K1LLD0z3R]

I was thinking if mine are stuck I will try this http://www.homedepot.com/p/Bernzomatic-UL100-Basic-Propane-Torch-Kit-334458/203665003 and just wrap the pedal in a damp cloth to avoid heat transfer.

 

[fatkrakr]

I was thinking if mine are stuck I will try this http://www.homedepot.com/p/Bernzomatic-UL100-Basic-Propane-Torch-Kit-334458/203665003 and just wrap the pedal in a damp cloth to avoid heat transfer.

I'm pretty sure that will ruin the finish on the pedals. If I cant get them out with the screw extractor tonight it will be up to Fanatec to remove them.

 

[Punknoodle]

You guys stripping heads of screws, you aren't using ball head or imperial keys are you?

A good idea would be to use an impact driver to loosen the screws.

 

[fatkrakr]

You guys stripping heads of screws, you aren't using ball head or imperial keys are you?

A good idea would be to use an impact driver to loosen the screws.

All of the above. The damn things are just put on way to tight for the cheap soft metal they are made of. I'm not even sure the extractor is going to work, but figured I would give it a try before shipping them back across the country. If it does work you can bet stainless steel hardware is replacing them.

 

[K1LLD0z3R]

I made it home for lunch and was able to loosen all pedal cover screws. They were quite tight so I was very gentle after hearing of others issues. The proper size Allen hex is 4mm.

 

[lazjet]

You guys stripping heads of screws, you aren't using ball head or imperial keys are you?

A good idea would be to use an impact driver to loosen the screws.

These new anodized screws seem to be very weak, ive had no issues when i worked on my V2 pedals. i have however had an issue with the allen screws on my Clubsport hand brake, they over torque the 3 small allen screws on the top cover, so that is another product id have to drill out the screws on -_-, was able to work around it and get it mounted to my rig using the side holes and some long bolts but it is not ideal.

 

[Blkout]

Imo with the V3's not being that far off from the V2's is probably what warranted the no beta testers/reviewer's, They could test the basics in house (load cell, Dampers, Pedal pads and Extra springs) and the rest is tried tested and true * Despite what some might claim

Guess you missed the part where Fanatec upgraded the Hall sensors for the v3's which was a MAJOR issue for the v2's reliability. Despite what you might claim, there are quite a few improvements in the v3 to fix the issues Fanatec had with the v2's. Of course the load cell is also much improved over the v2's also but most people are willing to accept that's a wear and tear item unlike the Hall sensors.

Here you go.

http://www.fanatec.com/us-en/pedals...net&utm_campaign=General+Links&a_aid=gtplanet


The electronics have been completely revised and the magnetic hall sensors of the gas and clutch feature 4x the resolution of the V2 pedals. Each axis can be calibrated in the wheel or in the driver.

 

[fatkrakr]

That did the trick. Got the pedals where I want them and very pleased.

I did find another issue though. I hooked them up using the usb cable to update the firmware and was just going to leave them hooked up that way, at first had them hooked to the wheel, but the brake force adjustment doesn't work when hooked up via usb. It has the slider and you can move it, but it has no effect on the pedals. I had to go back to hooked to the base so I can set the brake force.

 

[Shinu]

So are the dampers worth the money (knowing that they may be used in low resistance) ?

 

[Blue028]

for those having troubles with the allen screws, i recommend not trying to turn the allen key to loosen it ALWAYS try turning the nut on the back first (provided they are secured the same way as my trusty old V1s )