Getting a wheel: G27, Fanatic, etc.

[HDT Commodore]

Thanks for these responses! Just so you guys know, I'll probably wait and buy a wheel that will work with PS4. I don't have an XBox so it doesn't need to be compatible. Also, I've never had much hardware break before as i tend to look after things very well, so as long as it's mildly reliable. FFB doesn't matter so much to me. I mainly don't want to spend too much more than I need to in order to have a clutch + a good wheel. I think the DFGT was the one I would have gone with until I found it was clutchless.

 

[Sixflags48]

Not many wheels available for PS4 apart from the not too great Thrustmaster T80. G27 might be PS4 compatible, but no word on if it will or not. Fanatec might have to make a whole new wheel. pCARS will need some FFB on the PS4, so I can't wait to see what comes out. Hopefully Q1 in gaming.

 

[BWX]

Well I for one can say with certainty the Force Feedback is better even on my lowly CSR than a G25/ G27. It is stronger, faster, and much, much smoother, it is also quieter. The big deal is the adjust-ability and the bigger deal is the fact that you can get a bundle with load cell brake in the Elite pedals (with the 911 too).

Also to let you know one person's experience with Fanatec customer service.

I have had my pedals for well over a year, and the load cell started becoming inconsistent. I told Fanatec, and after I made a vid to show them the problem, they immediately sent out a brand new CSR Elite pedal set, with return label inside. I was not without pedals for one day, and had a brand new set for no money and no time invested. New ones work great still. Also I guess they sell the load cell separately for cheap, and I could have probably fixed it for less than $30.

Just don't let the horror stories scare you.

My first G25 that I got in 2006 (or whenever they first came out) was defective from the get-go, it was just really loud.. the gears were just very loud and not smooth at all. Logitech also replaced that, but never asked for the defective one back, they just sent a new one. I also still have both of those, and they both still work.. That first one is just noisy, funny thing is I never used it, so that one is still like new in the box.

 

[Johnnypenso]

I had the issue that @BrandonW77 referred to earlier with my G27 when it was 6 months old. Went off centre gradually during a sprint race to the point where it was undrivable after 2 or 3 laps being 90 degrees off centre sometimes. Mine was still under warranty so I got a free replacement (Best Buy). And no I don't drive like an idiot. I purposely avoided driving the X1's and the F1's to avoid abusing the wheel and no drifting either. Of course many people have used the wheel successfully for years without issue, not all of them break, but this cheap plastic part cracking is a known issue with the G27.

Beyond that I'm very satisfied with the wheel. I bought the @GTEYE brake mod which I highly recommend and swapped the brake spring into the clutch for improved feel. The wheel is very smooth and very quiet and a huge step up from my DFGT.

If you are Canadian and have a BestBuy nearby you should know they will price match. Any deal you can find on a brand new G27 by any Canadian retailer online they will match. I got mine for about $220 1 year ago.

 

[HBR-Roadhog]

and i can see spending the money on that, but don't tell me the fanatec is a step up from a g27 when it emulates the ffb of the g27.

Clearly you have not used a Fanatec wheel. The FFB is very smooth and very strong, lots of adjustments and yes it does emulate a G25 on the PS3 but it is belt drive and a very nice wheel.

I of course use the CSR Elite and CS pedal set as I also play Forza and PC games and wanted one really good wheel for all of them. There is nothing else out there that compares to it. As for FFB Clipping the Fanatec is the smoothest out there so long as you keep the FFB at 100 on the wheel settings, not to mention the other options it gives and constant mods via FW updates if you like.

The Fanatec also have FFB that is not active on the PS3 but is on the PC and Forza, the Pedals also have some FFB when used on the PC

I also had good experience with Fanatec support. My first wheel I got the standard pedals bundled with it and they had some issues. The wheel also had an issue with a noisy fan. I talked with the guys at Fanatec via email and I opted to fix the wheel myself. They sent me instructions as to how to disassemble the wheel and then sent me a new fan for it free of charge of course.

In the case of the pedals they continued to give me problems even after repairing them and Fanatec told me they would send me a new set of pedals or credit the purchase price toward a set of CS pedals. I opted for the free set and again had some issues with them so I ended up getting the CS pedals. I later bought the CSR Elite but the original TurboS I bought still works beautifully. I have had no problems with the CS pedals nor with the Elite wheel. Both are top notch.

Most of my racing buddies also have Fanatec set ups either TurboS, GT2, CSR or CSR Elite and all have either the CS, CSv2 or CSR Elite pedal sets. All of them are happy with them and all of them owned other wheels before.

 

[LeMansAid]

I had not seen the clamps, they do look a bit odd, but it would make it much better to clamp it to something. I was meaning for the non-DIY buyer, but what you buy can't ever be perfect, or we would have a bunch of Frex setups for $300.

Oops, I should have specified that the shifters are awkward in shape ie. nothing's actually straight on them. Working with the way they mount by default, it's really not too difficult to make a mounting bracket though.

 

[Rash-182]

I bought Fanatec Carrera wheel for GT5, when it came out. Prior to this, I have been using Logitech DFP for GT4, but that was a long time ago, so I couldn´t make any direct comparsions. Still the wheel felt much better in every way, even if a bit noisy. If I´d have any proper wheelstand or rig to attach it to, it would be even better. Just clamped on the table, i had problems with my shifther constantly moving the wheel, when shifting.

Now regarding the Fanatec customer service.
I also had problems with the standard pedals. After a month or so, the gas pedal was getting flimsy, resulting in about 10% permanent throttle in GT5. I´ve trided to contact customer service on fanatec website, but with no luck. Sadly (luckily) Thomas was (or still is) very active on this forum, so i PM´d him, he gave me instructions and in about a week, i had the new set of pedals at my house. That was about 3 years ago, so things may have changed since then, but i wounldn´t have a problem buying another product from Fanatec. I sold the wheel shortly after (because GT5 SUCKED and it was the only game, i had it for).
The wheel itself was very nice for the price and with proper mounting and better set of pedals, it still could be a great option for you. The adjustment option is a HUGE plus on the PS3, so just based on that, I would recommend buying Fanatec. Sadly, i never had the chance to compare between G25 or even G27.
Now, I am considering the 911 GT3 RS, but not just for GT6, but for pCars, Asseto and some others. The only thing, that is holding me back right now is the unclear situation regarding the PS4 support..as soon as more information emerge on that, I´m going for it.

Q: So far, the only wheel I´ve heard of, that automaticaly comes back to center possition when drifting is the T500..can somebody comment on that? The Carrera wheel didn´t do this.

 

[HBR-Roadhog]

The Fanatec wheels will come back to center, no problem but it does depend on your settings. In order to get the wheel to snap back you need to have the FFB turned up on it. If you make it soft then it may not come back very well.

The standard pedals they used to sell with the TurboS and others of that era were junk. I had two sets of them, I took them both apart and repaired them more than once and was never able to get them to work properly for more than a few weeks before they started acting up again. Problems were little things like brakes coming on at 5-10% by themselves, throttle not going past 85-90% and such, The CS pedals on the other hand have been awesome.

 

[Rash-182]

I was using the exhact same settings as Darin from SRT showed in one of their vids..FFB definetly to the max. Maybe it was because the Carrera is gear driven as oposed to belt?

 

[LeMansAid]

I was using the exhact same settings as Darin from SRT showed in one of their vids..FFB definetly to the max. Maybe it was because the Carrera is gear driven as oposed to belt?

My nephew has a Carrera wheel and it certainly has no issues with correct centering. Turning up the Spring setting would make it more eager though, I assume. There's also the option to lower the degrees of rotation, so that every degree on the actual wheel will equal more in game. This can also be offset with some Linearity adjustment, so that the more the wheel is turned, the greater the acceleration of degrees.

 

[TheCrazySwede]

I used a Fanatec CSR before, and I've tried my friend's G27. Personally, the G27 is too small for my taste, and feels flimsy compared to my CSR (maybe just a bad build on that one.) As of now, I use a T500RS and I've never looked back

 

[HDT Commodore]

As always thanks for the input. I guess I'll wait for a wheel I know'll work on the PS4.

 

[OdeFinn]

@Johnnypenso, that slowly missing center is due warming up screw lock clue, common problem on certain revisions of G-wheels.
I have tighten those two screws few times end changed then clue to drop of "superglue", no problems after that.
(Two screws what connects pcb of optical reader to motor)

 

[Rash-182]

My nephew has a Carrera wheel and it certainly has no issues with correct centering. Turning up the Spring setting would make it more eager though, I assume. There's also the option to lower the degrees of rotation, so that every degree on the actual wheel will equal more in game. This can also be offset with some Linearity adjustment, so that the more the wheel is turned, the greater the acceleration of degrees.

I´m talking about this, at 33:30..are You sure Carrera does this? They talk like it´s the only wheel capable of doing that.

 

[BWX]

I know the CSR will self center better than my G25 did.. It depends on settings though.. 900 degrees at FF2 in game, it might not.. But I use 650 to 720, and 4 in game and it self centers nicely and also does not oscillate like the G25/ G27 has been known to do (my G25 did really bad in Gt5).

I'm sure the CSR Elite and ClubSport will do it even better.

Too bad thrustmaster won't update their wheels with on-wheel adjust-ability like Fanatec has.

I'll never buy a Thrustmaster until they do that, and also come out with load cell brake. Not sure what they're waiting for.


BTW, this looks like it is going to be the best wheel ever made to date when it finally comes out..

 

[HBR-Roadhog]

I know the CSR will self center better than my G25 did.. It depends on settings though.. 900 degrees at FF2 in game, it might not.. But I use 650 to 720, and 4 in game and it self centers nicely and also does not oscillate like the G25/ G27 has been known to do (my G25 did really bad in Gt5).

I'm sure the CSR Elite and ClubSport will do it even better.

I have used the CSR and I would say that my CSR Elite does do it a bit better, If I am not mistaken the CSR has a 120watt FFB motor where the Elite model has two 90 watt motors so about 50% more power and I use a setting of 5 in game. It responds strongly as one would expect under different conditions, It really does seem like it tries to rip your arm off now and then I can just release some grip and let the wheel slide in my hands as I exit a tight corner and it returns to center, much like I would do it a real car.

I do not do drifting though, never really got into it much, most likely the FFB I use would be too much for drifting, would definitely be a work out.

 

[Rash-182]

I don´t do drifting too, but that was the best exhample I could come up with..the tight corners is much better one, thanks. Ok, so you guys think that Fanatec 911 GT3 RS should be capable of doing that?

 

[sik180sx]

I snapped the wheel of my 3.5 year old 911 turbo s last week,went to work the next day and turned up a nolatrene(i think thats what it's called)hub,and now have a full size veilside wheel,old one off my 180sx,now attatched.

The wheel was the perfect shape to accomodate the chipboard thingy with all the buttons on it,and i also made some custom flappy paddles.Now i will never look back,so glad i broke it otherwise i would never have done this mod.

 

[parabulla]

I snapped the wheel of my 3.5 year old 911 turbo s last week,went to work the next day and turned up a nolatrene(i think thats what it's called)hub,and now have a full size veilside wheel,old one off my 180sx,now attatched.

The wheel was the perfect shape to accomodate the chipboard thingy with all the buttons on it,and i also made some custom flappy paddles.Now i will never look back,so glad i broke it otherwise i would never have done this mod.

Nolathane - plastic

Got pics? I'd like to see the results.

 

[sik180sx]

Nolathane - plastic

Got pics? I'd like to see the results.

Yeah,it's super hard plastic,if you can tell me how to get pics up here i would love to show you,i've been dying to show off my frankenwheel haha 👍 I dont have a pc either but i should be able to borrow one if i have to.

 

[BWX]

Yeah,it's super hard plastic,if you can tell me how to get pics up here i would love to show you,i've been dying to show off my frankenwheel haha 👍 I dont have a pc either but i should be able to borrow one if i have to.

Put the pics on your PS3 and then upload them to google picasa, then go to the browser and go to google picasa and get the link and put the link here. I used to do it all the time when I didn't feel like putting certain pics onto a PC, like GT photos, etc.

 

[LeMansAid]

I don´t do drifting too, but that was the best exhample I could come up with..the tight corners is much better one, thanks. Ok, so you guys think that Fanatec 911 GT3 RS should be capable of doing that?

They're all capable, it's just a matter of how fast the response is. The T500rs has the most powerful motor of any of the mass produced wheels on the market. If you haven't thoroughly tested different set ups with your Carrera, I suggest you do though. The motor in the GT3 would be the same as the motor in the Carrera I would have thought. As far as I know the main difference would be the belt vs gear drive.

 

[parabulla]

Yeah,it's super hard plastic,if you can tell me how to get pics up here i would love to show you,i've been dying to show off my frankenwheel haha 👍 I dont have a pc either but i should be able to borrow one if i have to.

I'm using my android phone, scrolled below the text entry, selected 'upload file', uploaded the photo, and I'm about to click 'post reply'. Let's see if that works, this picture is of my Fanatec 911 that arrived today broken

 

[sik180sx]

http://s893.photobucket.com/user/sik180sx/library/?sort=3&page=1

Hope this link worksI'm using a stupid iphone,when i go to upload a file,the choose file option is greyed out stupid iphone.

Edit:I don't think it worked,do i have to link each image seperately or can i link the album?

Double edit:try this

http://s893.photobucket.com/user/sik180sx/library/

AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
My head will explode

 

[sik180sx]

http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/ac135/sik180sx/photo_zps209bb0ed.jpgYay it works haha,I want people to see this frankenwheel.

 

[parabulla]

Yup, that's definitely Frankenwheel! Thanks for sharing.

 

[sik180sx]

Yup, that's definitely Frankenwheel! Thanks for sharing.

Yes it is not pretty haha but the bigger wheel definately makes a difference,it's upsetting to see where yours broke mine didn't break the shaft,just in the hub of the wheel,i do know your pain and i hope you can get something sorted out.

Edit:did you see all seven pics?

 

[BWX]

They should really have spent the extra 5 bucks and made those critical pieces out of metal. That's exactly where I think the weak link and cheap feel comes from, where even Logitech uses more metal in it's construction.

 

[parabulla]

Yes it is not pretty haha but the bigger wheel definately makes a difference,it's upsetting to see where yours broke mine didn't break the shaft,just in the hub of the wheel,i do know your pain and i hope you can get something sorted out.

Edit:did you see all seven pics?

Just now I did, it's mesmerizing in the way I imagine people enjoy horror films. (of which I am not one)