Fanatec Porsche Wheel vs G25

[Typhoon]

Is any one here using a Fanatec wheel with their race sims? http://www.fanatec.com/ I am after a wheel to play Race07/GTREvo and am torn between the tried and test G25 or to get one of these. They cost a bit more but they seem better built and studier. They have a vibration motors in addition to the force feedback ones the G25 has. The pedals are meant to be studier with better break feel and not dead spot. I was looking at the new PC only GT3RS wheel either with the standard pedals for an extra EUR49, though they have a deal for the wheel and the tasty clubsport pedals. There a cheaper Carerra package which has wheel, manual shifter and pedals but its not available till May. Anyone have one? Worth it?
Cheers

 

[Jernau]

I have a Fanatec Porsche 911 Turbo wheel with the standard wireless pedals.

The wheel is truly superb; excellent build quality, amazing force-feedback and almost silent belt-drive motor. The size and thickness of the wheel allow for a perfect racing grip (one of the reasons I chose this wheel over the G25, whose rim is too thin for my taste). There are plenty of buttons, all sensibly placed (another plus over the G25). The quick release clamp system works perfectly on my desk (but apparently not so well if your desk has a lip). I turn off the 'rumble' motors built into the rim, as they're not utilised by iRacing yet, and their default setting doesn't add any immersion for me.

The H-Shifter and sequential shifters are excellent, but the mounting system (two rods running through the wheel) torques a little too much when you change gear hard - especially noticeable on the H-Shifter.

The standard wireless pedals are good, but not great. The progressive feel on the brake pedal is excellent and really helps with brake modulation. The clutch also feels very realistic. However, the throttle is a little too loose for my taste and feels slightly flimsy (it clicks occasionally when you hit full throttle).

The drivers need a little work; I'm running 32bit XP and have to open the Porsche Wheel properties dialog to load my desired settings every time I re-connect the wheel after a reboot. Apparently a new driver is coming out very soon, so hopefully these minor issues will be fixed.

I only drive iRacing now (once you've driven on their laser scanned tracks, it's practically impossible to go back to any other sim), and the Fanatec wheel is 'fantastic' in iRacing: accurate, wonderful force-feedback and no center dead-spot all help to make me a little bit faster.

I plan on upgrading to the club sport pedals as soon as they hit general release. The Sim Racing Tonight review of these convinced me that I have to have them.

I've only used a G25 briefly, but I thought it was also an excellent wheel. In my opinion, the standard pedals are slightly better on the G25, and being able to mount the gear stick separately is a plus. However, the rim thickness, center dead-spot (which apparently can be reduced with a 107% FFS in the Logitech profiler), and overall feel of the G25 compared to the Fanatec made my decision pretty easy for me.

Bear in mind that the cheaper Carerra wheel is gear driven (not belt like the Turbo and GT3 RS), which makes it much noisier. But apparently the force-feedback sensation is still excellent.

 

[Typhoon]

Thanks Jernau for taking the time, great little summary. I have seen the SRT review of the Carrera wheel, looks like it has the better of the G25 for less money, but I may take your advice and go for the GT3RS combo with the new pedals, big money but I'll probably kick myself after a few weeks knowing if I had only stumped up a few more readies. I dont suppose you know anything about Vista x64 support do you? Could alwas dual boot with vista32 if need be but thats a pain I could do with out. What the buying process like from Germany? Smooth?

 

[Jernau]

I don't think that you'll be disappointed if you go for the GT3 RS/Club Sport pedals combination.

Unfortunately, I don't have any first-hand experience with the 64bit Vista drivers, but I've heard that they have a few issues. Hopefully they should also be improved with the upcoming driver release.

The ordering process was incredibly smooth; I ordered my wheel on a Monday and it arrived in Sweden by Wednesday afternoon. I've also been very impressed with Fanatec customer support - somehow I managed to lose the base-plate screws in the excitement of unpacking the wheel. A quick e-mail to Fanatec and a new bag of screws (and a screwdriver) arrived in my letterbox within a couple of days.

 

[Mr Latte]

I have the GT3RS Clubsport already ordered (£274)

Not a big sim player on PC but play a lot of GT5 (frequently in the top 10 rankings for TTs)

Have a Playseat and G25 but upgrading to the GT3RS and i only use Paddles so not worried about the other shifters.
I will have a full review/comparison with lots of pics when it arrives (though probably on AVF with the guys i race a lot with)

Benifits supposed of the GT3RS

* Wheel Shape is more comfortable and a lot thicker than a G25 thin wheel
* FFB is meant to be quieter and more precise with BELT DRIVE rather than gear drive
* Pedals, well no comparison and worth the extra £100 for these alone

Considering this also to complement the wheel...

 

[eekfek]

holy smoley !! that triple screen , seat and wheel setup on that site is amazing... WANT!!!

I bought a G25 last year and it still gives me a big grin when i attach it to the desk , such good quality and fantastic bit of kit.

havent had the chance to try the Fanatec gear although i'd really like too, it looks like top quality ...

my advice is buy what you can afford and if that means stretching your budget.. then do it !

 

[Typhoon]

Well I am pretty much decided on getting the GT3RS wheel. I do have a triple head set up but theres nowway I could afford the Rennsport Cockpit

I'm now thinking of getting the folding Stand as well instead of mounting it on the desk to make setting and clearing up a bit easier and for better postioning of the wheel. I intend on using the wheel sat on my office chair in front of the desk. How much is that Cobra seat, I may be able to mate something like that top the botom of an office chair

 

[bee]

been looking forward to the gt3rs clubsport for quite a while, only just noticed they finally added a pre order for it. will be selling my g25 for one of those for sure

 

[Mr Latte]

This particular Cobra is a special by a dealer "612" see them down at the bay approx £300 per pair but good bucket seats are available for a lot less.

Cobra do office chairs n all, look them up but if your anyway serious youll ditch the office chair and even consider a Playseat or self build project.

Gees a 3 screen cockpit with such a wheel deserves it

Can you post any pics of your setup at all, which monitors you using and any fading problems with the viewing angle?

 

[PinkFloyd]

I'd love a proper racing setup, not got the space here though. Will have to wait till I've got my own house with more room.
Sticking with my wobbly desk and a big leather chair that likes to roll backwards, recline and rotate when I'm racing

I'd love to try out one of these wheels in comparison to my G25

 

[Typhoon]

This particular Cobra is a special by a dealer "612" see them down at the bay approx £300 per pair but good bucket seats are available for a lot less.

Cobra do office chairs n all, look them up but if your anyway serious youll ditch the office chair and even consider a Playseat or self build project.

Gees a 3 screen cockpit with such a wheel deserves it

Can you post any pics of your setup at all, which monitors you using and any fading problems with the viewing angle?

Wonder if they will sell them singley,I spotted that Cobra sell office chair bases with hydraulic lift to fit all their seats. A playseat or similar will be too low to see the monitors which have to be on the desk for other tasks.

This is Race07 in 5040x1050, the FOV is the in game default of 100%. There is some sort of bug that cause object in the periphery to disappear when using 5040x1050 (grandstand on the left screen has gone). Setting the FOV to 80% largely removes it but its still there. Hopefully this will get fixed in a patch. All the other Simbin sims are reported to work fine though at this res, including the earlier GTR2 and GT Legends.

Its all fine in 3840x1024, which is what I have run it at. Here it is again with default FOV 100%.

Main advantage of Triplehead in this game, besides the immersiveness is that you can see both your side mirror, spot car coming along side and apexes before you get there.

Edit: I forgot to activate bezel management for these pictures

 

[Typhoon]

I done the deed and put an order in for the Fanatec GT3 RS wheel/pedals and manual shifter. Looks like it will be at least a month to wait though

 

[LeeB0y]

That's a pretty nice set-up you got there Typhoon, would love to try out playing some racing games like that

 

[Mr Latte]

Sorry for hijacking....

Thanks very much for showing the 3way.
You dont seem to have an issue with dimming too much with those screens.
Can you post another couple with cars in an apex or alongside to illustrate the benifits. Do you have GTR EVO yet and is it supported?
I once played Forza 1 with 3 screens and it was great way back then.

Are you using the matrox triplehead or via software?
Whats the differences/advantages if any? Im considering 22-24" in the future for both PC racing and hopefully GT5.
The new Codies F1 im sure will probably support 3way and no doubt it will look amazing when its released.

PS hope you enjoy the GT3 wheel as much as i expect too, itd got to be great.
I rang 612 the other day about the seat and yes they will sell seperate but quoted me £180, maybe thats negotiable though.
No doubt on the bay you could get a cheaper one and do a diy mod to bolt to a wooden base for a office chair.

BTW if your into PS3 GT5P look on AV Forums as theirs a great bunch of lads and we all have great craik with TTs, youd be welcomed their if you have or enjoy that game.

 

[Typhoon]

Hi Latte, I am using TripleHead2Go. There should be no dimming with TH2GO as only 1 DVI port of off the graphic card is used and the Matrox box is powered to boost the signal. The screens are TN panels so the sides look a little differant from where the picture was taken. But sittting in the middle looking directly at the screen tilted towards you, they are identical. SofTH has a big performance hit and uses up CPU processes. Compatablity is nowhere as good (needs drivers and programs written for specific games to work) as TH2go with games, and SoftTH does not support Crossfire, SLi or DX10.
All the main Sims like LFS, GT2, rFactor, GTR2, RaceO7, GTR EVO (and arcades - Dirt, GRID, NFS, Burnout etc) have native TH2Go support (no drivers or mods to the config files need - the game automatically offers you the correct range of resolutions in the Options screen). For games that dont have native support, Matrox provides a regularly updated utility that will patch the the game to work.
Those screenies were from Race07/GTREvo- Brandshatch/Mini, work fine in 3840x1024 as per the second screenie. I'll get a couple at an apex tomorrow and post here.
I dont have a consol, but I will see what deals are available when GT5 comes out.

 

[muggs]

I have the GT3RS Clubsport already ordered (£274)

Not a big sim player on PC but play a lot of GT5 (frequently in the top 10 rankings for TTs)

Have a Playseat and G25 but upgrading to the GT3RS and i only use Paddles so not worried about the other shifters.
I will have a full review/comparison with lots of pics when it arrives (though probably on AVF with the guys i race a lot with)

Benifits supposed of the GT3RS

* Wheel Shape is more comfortable and a lot thicker than a G25 thin wheel
* FFB is meant to be quieter and more precise with BELT DRIVE rather than gear drive
* Pedals, well no comparison and worth the extra £100 for these alone

Considering this also to complement the wheel...

cant wait for your review and pics dude.

was wondering is the gt wheel wireless like the turbo wheel? i hope not

 

[Mr Latte]

This wheel will be everything the Turbo S was regards quality.
If anything less hasslebecause it is WIRED so no messing around with a dongle etc.

Personally i think it will be much more comfortable too over the Turbo S with its thumb grips/shaped wheel and the Alcantra leather will give it excellent softness which might help against blisters and long gaming sessions.

 

[Mr Latte]

Thanks Typhoon

BTW this blew me away,see 1:45
The additional monitors really heighten the sense of speed too.

 

[Typhoon]

As requested, here are a couple of pictures to show the extra view you get with TripleHead. I have tried to get both shots parked up in exactly the same spot. All in game settings are the same, besides resolution. The first pic is the game running in single screen mode on my 24"@1680x1050. The whole of the monitor is shown. Sorry about the camera shake

This is the same spot in TripleHead. I am only showing part of screen 1 and 2 as I would have to stand too far back to get all 3 screens in shot that the image would be too small. This is @3840x1024. So on screen 1 you can now see the up coming corner, and any cars that may be pulling up along side (only half of screen 1 shown).

 

[Mr Latte]

Is that picture right, just 2 moniors showing their?

Why dont you 1/2 the monitor surround/frame between each display by placing the cente monitor in front of the right & left sides of the outer monitors?