Steering wheel dilemma

pastymuncher · 25 Mar 2024 at 19:15

First off I am not a passionate racer that plays nothing but racing games. I do enjoy other types of games as well. With regards to wheel sets I mostly play ETS2 and ATS along with a couple of racing games (only casually and not online) and my usage pattern is usually a couple of months of ATS followed by a couple of months of ETS before I get bored and put the wheel set away for a good few months, maybe more. With that in mind I am not after a mid blowing set up with a cockpit and top notch wheel and pedals however, I do enjoy feeling immersed in the games. I currently have a Thrustmaster F430 wheel set and being only a 270 degree wheel it's just not enough and as things have moved on it would probably be considered a very budget entry wheel now. I have a max of £450-500 to spend on a wheel and pedals and have three possible options right now. The first is a Thrustmaster T300 RS GT wheel and triple pedals for £290 brand new and delivered. It's still a belt driven FFB wheel and no doubt will be noisey and I will feel the notches of the driving gears but it's a decent step up from my F430. The next is starting to go down the DD rabbit hole and thats a PXN V12 Lite 6Nm DD base, wheel, triple pedals and mounts set at £461 delivered although there may be import tax to pay on top. From the reviews I have seen it's a very good setup at a "affordable" price. The third option is Fanatec CSL Ready2Race bundle which consists of CSL DD 5Nm, CSL pedals, CSL wheel for £399.99 plus the extra clutch pedal kit at £39.99 so £439.98 plus on top of that I would have import taxes again. Fanatec also has delays in it's EU warehouse at the moment. Don't go saying don't bother with a 5Nm DD base because the 8/9/12Nm ones are better. That they may be but they are also much more expensive plus a 5Nm DD base is going to be a hell of a lot more than what I am currently used to. So which of these would you go for bearing in mind my usage.

Options
1. Thrustmaster T300 RS GT
2. PXN V12 Lite
3. Fanatec CSL Ready2Race bundle plus extra clutch pedal
4. Something else

Many thanks.

roddypoddy · 26 Mar 2024 at 11:33

Moza r5 perhaps

Tediore · 26 Mar 2024 at 13:21

Either the Moza R5 or Fanatec bundle. I wouldn't bother looking at anything other than direct drive bases these days if buying new.

The Fanatec can be upgraded with an 8nm power supply from somewhere like eBay or AliExpress if you decide you want more torque in the future. My friend has been happy with his setup and did exactly that.

pastymuncher · 26 Mar 2024 at 14:59

The problem I have with the Moza R5 bundle is I don't like the wheel as I really wanted a round one plus by the time I buy the extra clutch pedal it works that's £500 gone. I might start looking around for second hand DD bases then I can add my own choice of pedals and wheel.

mr griffin · 28 Mar 2024 at 00:43

I would just save for a little longer it's worth it, then you only need to buy once. Sim racing seems to be really taking off in a big way these days you will love it. Logitech G Pro can be had from not a lot over £800 for wheel and pedals if you get a 25% discount code with Logitech and talk to the right person to also use other discount codes. Is plenty for virtually anyone I would say with 11nm torque and console and pc support and decent load cell brakes.

If you get a 5nm wheel base you will soon be wanting to upgrade. I think personally it starts getting good at 10nm+. I sometimes wish I had gone for the Invictor base over the Forte for the extra power and that's 18nm.

I think you will be like a dog with two ***** with the Logitech.

Sim racing is an expensive hobby as I'm finding out and was warned the rabbit hole is deep by other sim racers and they're not wrong. Ok if you have unlimited budget, but for most of us it's not getting what you want, but what's best in your budget especially if you're unsure how much you are going to like it. I was in the same boat myself recently.

Started off looking at the Logitech pro and PlaySeat Trophy , Ended up with a full aluminium setup, But I still think the Logitech would have been plenty good enough to have plenty of fun on.

Personality+ · 28 Mar 2024 at 00:57

I bought a Cammus C5 which may or may not be of interest to you,

I ended up using it for less than 10 hours (I thought I'd use it a lot more)

so yeah I'd stay on the cheaper side unless you're going to commit countless hours towards it long term.

I feel even the Cammus C5 is over kill for my needs as a casual

mr griffin · 28 Mar 2024 at 08:13

Personality+ said:
I bought a Cammus C5 which may or may not be of interest to you,

I ended up using it for less than 10 hours (I thought I'd use it a lot more)

so yeah I'd stay on the cheaper side unless you're going to commit countless hours towards it long term.

I feel even the Cammus C5 is over kill for my needs as a casual

Why don't you use it much? Is it not much good?

Personality+ · 28 Mar 2024 at 09:22

mr griffin said:
Why don't you use it much? Is it not much good?

I just ended up not enjoying it as much as I thought I would and also having to manually configure and tune for each game got tedious for me, they used to have settings you could just download from their app from other users for most games.

Worst thing about the device is the initial set up process and average software if you run into any issues. I didn't luckily, and also it was a bit overkill to use on my desk if I had settings and even a reasonable level for enjoyment. Depends on your set up though.

Mike_J_Smith · 28 Mar 2024 at 10:58

Either the Fanatec Bundle or Moza bundle would be your best bet in my opinion. Don't forget that with the Fanatec kit, you won't pay VAT on your purchase so the purchase price is lower than intially displayed on their website. You'll then add 20% VAT and around £10-15 service charge to DHL. It's a smooth process, I've done it twice now. There aren't any significant delays now as far as I know provided what you want is in stock. Then add the 8nm upgrade from eBay. Why do you want to add a clutch? Do you have a shifter already as I don't see that in your wishlist.

Or you can buy second hand; there are a couple of groups on facebook, ebay, here, racedepartment forum where a lot of kit gets sold through under use. I got my CSW 2.5 and pedals on eBay. Since then I've added the Clubsport V3 pedals and a couple of wheels (one second hand from ebay).

pastymuncher · 28 Mar 2024 at 12:01

mr griffin said:
I would just save for a little longer it's worth it, then you only need to buy once. Sim racing seems to be really taking off in a big way these days you will love it. Logitech G Pro can be had from not a lot over £800 for wheel and pedals if you get a 25% discount code with Logitech and talk to the right person to also use other discount codes. Is plenty for virtually anyone I would say with 11nm torque and console and pc support and decent load cell brakes.

If you get a 5nm wheel base you will soon be wanting to upgrade. I think personally it starts getting good at 10nm+. I sometimes wish I had gone for the Invictor base over the Forte for the extra power and that's 18nm.

I think you will be like a dog with two ***** with the Logitech.

Sim racing is an expensive hobby as I'm finding out and was warned the rabbit hole is deep by other sim racers and they're not wrong. Ok if you have unlimited budget, but for most of us it's not getting what you want, but what's best in your budget especially if you're unsure how much you are going to like it. I was in the same boat myself recently.

Started off looking at the Logitech pro and PlaySeat Trophy , Ended up with a full aluminium setup, But I still think the Logitech would have been plenty good enough to have plenty of fun on.

Did you read my post? I play ETS2/ATS mainly, also the odd racing game but not online and even then rarely. I am not spending silly amounts of money on a overpriced Logitech set.

Anyway, I have put in a offer for the B-grade Moza R5 base so will see if it gets accepted or not before choosing A wheel to go with it. I have my eye on a triple set of decent pedals already.

Mike_J_Smith · 28 Mar 2024 at 13:20

pastymuncher said:
I play ETS2/ATS mainly,

pastymuncher said:
before choosing A wheel to go with it.

https://mozaracing.com/product/moza-tsw-truck-wheel

Boom!

mr griffin · 28 Mar 2024 at 16:50

pastymuncher said:
Did you read my post? I play ETS2/ATS mainly, also the odd racing game but not online and even then rarely. I am not spending silly amounts of money on a overpriced Logitech set.

Anyway, I have put in a offer for the B-grade Moza R5 base so will see if it gets accepted or not before choosing A wheel to go with it. I have my eye on a triple set of decent pedals already.

Yeah I did read it, that's why I said my advice is to save a bit more and go a bit higher end. logitech is a great wheel, but If you have ur heart set on the moza R5 hope that it works out good for you.

pastymuncher · 28 Mar 2024 at 19:52

Mike_J_Smith said:
https://mozaracing.com/product/moza-tsw-truck-wheel

Boom!

I saw that and it looks great but it's too much for just a wheel right now, maybe when it's on sale.

They accepted my offer on the Moza R5 wheelbase so I will most likely be getting the new version of the Simsonn Pro triple pedal set along with the cheapest Moza wheel to be getting on with.