CSR Elite - First Impressions

  • Thread starter Thread starter kondor999
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kondor999

kondor999

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Wow. Unbelievably good with the newest 721b firmware. I have *never* used a wheel that really felt like a real car.

I am now able to effectively determine my adhesion limits and make corrections *before* they become visibly evident via yaw rate. No other wheel I've owned has been fast enough to do this effectively. My G25 was always playing "catch-up" and I was actually quicker with FFB turned off.

This wheel has transformed all my sims: Forza4, GT5, rFactor, GTR2, iRacing, Simraceway and NetKar Pro. They aren't games, they aren't just sims anymore.

They are now *tools* to enable me to push the limits and learn how to drive better. I've been to BMW's driving school in Spartanburg, and have been racing off and on since high school (with my dad in a Schnitzer BMW 323i, for those who remember what those were!). And what I'm feeling through this wheel is damn close to what I'd expect from a real car. The only thing now missing are the G forces.

Way to go Fanatec. My power brick may have been DOA, but this wheel is the best thing to come out of Germany since Michael Schumacher. 👍👍👍
 
Yeah it is something a bit special. I'm looking forward to seeing what new rims Thomas comes up with.
 
I find it impressive how the FFB change from car to car in Forza 4. As an example, when I drive the Mazda Furai the FFB is strong but when I switch to drive my Pro-touring Pinto ( yes...you read that right! ) on the same track the FFB feels even heavier. When I used my CSR I didn't get that.......everything kinda felt the same.
 
Even more amazing, perhaps, is that the amount of downforce on the car *at any given moment* is not only being dynamically calculated (something I've noticed Forza 4 does extremely well), but the steering resistance will reflect that in real-time. This is a revelation for high-downforce cars like the Peugeot 905 Evo 1.

Why? *Because I can *feel* the grip level before I get to a turn. Yes, it takes practice - just like real life! But the information is finally there. Before, I was reduced to trial and error. I couldn't tell what was going on vis à vis grip levels until, effectively, it was way too late.

The FFB on this wheel is not some toy gimmick. It provides accurate real-time info on what the car is doing. Anyone who's driven a fast car knows that such feedback is critical. Hell, I even had the power steering (which is electrical on this particular car) disconnected on my S2000 for this very reason when I'd go for a track day. I had a hard(er) time feeling what was happening at the limit with that power assist masking the actual resistance that was being communicated through the steering rack.

This wheel is to my old G25 what the G25 is to a handheld controller.


thehawk05
I find it impressive how the FFB change from car to car in Forza 4. As an example, when I drive the Mazda Furai the FFB is strong but when I switch to drive my Pro-touring Pinto ( yes...you read that right! ) on the same track the FFB feels even heavier. When I used my CSR I didn't get that.......everything kinda felt the same.
Click to expand...
 
Hi kondor999,
thanks for your well done description of the improved FFB in comparison to the older wheels on the market. Do you feel the different grip level by adjusting the downforce or chassis setting in GT5 too?
I'm more interested to buy the CSW now.
 
thehawk05
I find it impressive how the FFB change from car to car in Forza 4. As an example, when I drive the Mazda Furai the FFB is strong but when I switch to drive my Pro-touring Pinto ( yes...you read that right! ) on the same track the FFB feels even heavier. When I used my CSR I didn't get that.......everything kinda felt the same.
Click to expand...

does this happen in gt5 also?
 
BLACK86
does this happen in gt5 also?
Click to expand...

Don't know....haven't tried GT5 with it yet as I've spending my time dialing in my settings on Forza and F1 on Xbox.

Really liking the wheel so far. Only beefs I have:

The shaft slop
Wheel loses center after several laps.....seems to happen if I had to do a quick counter steer movement and then the wheel will be off by 5-10* to the right. Does this on both games so far on the Xbox.
 
Strange one that Hawk. I thought the sensor mounted to the steering axis made that impossible?
 
Spagetti69
Strange one that Hawk. I thought the sensor mounted to the steering axis made that impossible?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure that's the case because my wheel loses center consistently and I'm not the 1st to complain about it as I know others have had it happen.

I'm not sure if it's a firmware glitch with 721 because I don't remember reading complaints about it with the other firmwares but I've read a few complain about it since 721 came out.
 
thehawk05
Don't know....haven't tried GT5 with it yet as I've spending my time dialing in my settings on Forza and F1 on Xbox.

Really liking the wheel so far. Only beefs I have:

The shaft slop
Wheel loses center after several laps.....seems to happen if I had to do a quick counter steer movement and then the wheel will be off by 5-10* to the right. Does this on both games so far on the Xbox.
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Hey hawk would you post your setup in my thread entitled "csr elite game tunings"? im not having much luck finding the sweet spot yet, i know its there though
 
After getting my wheel and having a few issues I was thinking about hawks issue. The sensors are optical which means there has been a distance that is tuned (in focus might be an easier way to think of it). Maybe under heavy counter steering, if the shaft is pulled on a little and separates from the area the optical has been tuned for, then maybe it doesn't pick up the rotation, and ends up being out of centre after the shaft is brought back to the neutral position.
 
After some thought that's my thinking as well. I was doing some testing earlier driving F1 and what I did was pull the wheel back until it stopped and then drove while applying some slight effort pulling the wheel towards me to prevent any accidental back and forward movement of the axis shaft. I drove a good 15 laps and did some crazy countersteering movements and violent back and forth sawing action on the wheel. During that test it never lost center once.
 
I'll be playing with GT5 now that I've got Forza4 dialed in (actually, I just used all default settings but turned FFB down to 50% - least tuning I've ever had to do).

After that, it's the ultimate test: How does it handle the DRM Revival mod in rFactor? For those of you who don't know about it, just look at this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mr2fgznoDDw&feature=youtube_gdata_player

GT-Roadie
Hi kondor999,
thanks for your well done description of the improved FFB in comparison to the older wheels on the market. Do you feel the different grip level by adjusting the downforce or chassis setting in GT5 too?
I'm more interested to buy the CSW now.
Click to expand...
 
kondor999
I'll be playing with GT5 now that I've got Forza4 dialed in (actually, I just used all default settings but turned FFB down to 50% - least tuning I've ever had to do).

After that, it's the ultimate test: How does it handle the DRM Revival mod in rFactor? For those of you who don't know about it, just look at this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mr2fgznoDDw&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Click to expand...

Can I just check, did you turn ffb down to 50% in game or on the wheel?
 
I did the same with Forza settings on the Elite.....I carried over my old CSR settings but I dialed the in game FFB setting down to 75% (100% FF on wheel)

Depending on the car I drive though I turn the FF on the wheel down as the strength can change significantly from car to car. I also change SEn on the wheel with certain cars.

My current Forza 4 settings

In game 75% strength
100% vibration

Sen 540-700 (car dependent )
FF 100
Sho 100
dri 003
Abs 75
Lin 0
dEA 0
SPr 0 (dropping this to -1 can make a significant change to FFB strength and how the wheel kicks )
dPr 0
ACL off
 
thehawk05
I did the same with Forza settings on the Elite.....I carried over my old CSR settings but I dialed the in game FFB setting down to 75% (100% FF on wheel)

Depending on the car I drive though I turn the FF on the wheel down as the strength can change significantly from car to car. I also change SEn on the wheel with certain cars.

My current Forza 4 settings

In game 75% strength
100% vibration

Sen 540-700 (car dependent )
FF 100
Sho 100
dri 003
Abs 75
Lin 0
dEA 0
SPr 0 (dropping this to -1 can make a significant change to FFB strength and how the wheel kicks )
dPr 0
ACL off
Click to expand...

Two questions, why turn autoclutch off? also, why add in drift?
 
I actually have been going with everything on "Default" for Forza4, especially the SENS because I read somewhere that linearity was screwed up with anything higher than 270.

Also, there's no real need for DRIFT modes if you make the FFB strength (in game) about 40%. This gives me a wheel "weight" which corresponds well to what I have IRL on my M6 and isn't so stiff as to prevent rapid corrective action. To simulate my old S2000, 20% was actually about right (it had very light steering and was lightning fast - perhaps too fast for a non-pro driver such as myself). Also, I've noticed that in FM4, the FFB % on the wheel seems to make no difference unless you set it to 0% (at which point, of course, it has no FFB at all). It always appears to be fixed at whatever you set in FM4. I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure I could tell no difference between 100% and 10% on the wheel setting.

Did the new 721b FW fix that linearity issue with SENS above 270? I'd really like to drive with about double that (540 has always felt best to me for road cars).
 
721B did fix the FFB issue (if there was one before). The linearity I believe may still be a problem.
 
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Odd then that so many excellent drivers are using high SENS values (540 and above) in their recommended settings for FM4 and the CSRE.

Guys, did that linearity bug in FM4 get squashed?

VWMasteR
712B did fix the FFB issue (if there was one before). The linearity I believe may still be a problem.
Click to expand...
 
Yeah I want to run 420 or 540 but my wheel becomes very odd when I do this in Forza4. At 270 the stability issues go away, but i'm no longer running the sensitivity I want.
 
VWMasteR
Yeah I want to run 420 or 540 but my wheel becomes very odd when I do this in Forza4. At 270 the stability issues go away, but i'm no longer running the sensitivity I want.
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Try adding linearity of 20 or 30 with a Sens of 540.
 
Yeah I've seen that suggestion before. My question is this, why should linearity be added? Like what's the reason that going to a higher sensitivity setting does it suddenly become so twitchy?
 
VWMasteR
Yeah I've seen that suggestion before. My question is this, why should linearity be added? Like what's the reason that going to a higher sensitivity setting does it suddenly become so twitchy?
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When setting your wheel to 270 or under it thinks it's a Microsoft wheel.

Try altering your degrees when on the dashboard (Xbox). Go above and below 270. It should say controller disconnected when you go above or below the threshold.

As for not needing linearity at 270. I think that's because of the fine tuning that T10 have done to the Xbox wheel. I imagine the wireless speed wheel thing runs at 270 also.
 
Spagetti69
When setting your wheel to 270 or under it thinks it's a Microsoft wheel.

Try altering your degrees when on the dashboard (Xbox). Go above and below 270. It should say controller disconnected when you go above or below the threshold.

As for not needing linearity at 270. I think that's because of the fine tuning that T10 have done to the Xbox wheel. I imagine the wireless speed wheel thing runs at 270 also.
Click to expand...

I noticed that when i set my sens to 270 for f1 2011 it also thought i was using the microsoft wheel, i had to go back into the menu and change it to custom.

This is all helpful info that is in the wrong thread though! i have an elite tuning thread where this discussion is better suited
 
I don't agree. My first impression was "WTF is wrong here with the sensitivity". This isn't tuning the wheel, I'm not looking for settings in game. What I don't understand is why the wheel reacts in a more sensitive fashion when in fact it should require almost twice the motion as before not 1/2.
 
I haven't tried 900, as I was never interested in it. I will try it tonight or tomorrow to see. There has to be something wrong here somewhere. Adding linearity when you are setting the wheel to a higher sensitivity doesn't really make sense.
 
lemansfanatic
Two questions, why turn autoclutch off? also, why add in drift?
Click to expand...

Because not all cars are faster with it on when using paddle shifters.

I like the drift setting in there for quicker counter steering as it prevents the wheel from fighting you when quick larger movements are required. I've actually tweaked it more and took it out as I lowered the in game FFB to 70%.
 
BLACK86
so are people not running forza at 900 with their elites because its too sensitive?
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The twitchiness in Forza 4 when running sensitivities higher than 270 is a bug in the game, not a problem of the wheel.

For some reason Forza 4 has a reverse linearity when you set your wheel sensitivity over 270 meaning the steering is more sensitive near the center. I can't remember where, but I have seen videos proving this. It has been shown that a Lin setting on the wheel of 20 is the best compromise for cancelling out the reverse linearity of the game.

I personally use 3 different sensitivities when playing Forza 4. Sen 400 for all R1 and some R2 cars on road tracks. Sen 540 for all other cars on road tracks. Sen 900 for all cars on oval tracks. I use a Lin setting of 20 for all sensitivities.
 

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