This is an interesting development and I have a few thoughts.
First, this is might be a good thing for US based customers. Trak Racer has notoriously bad customer service in the US, I’ve seen frequent complaints from missing parts and boxes to uncontactable customer service.
Secondly, Trak Racer make a lot of universal parts - I wonder if this will continue or if we’ll see a little, or even full on Fanatec exclusivity.
Similarly, they also sell a lot of third party products too, from big names like Heusinkveld and Simcube to more niche brands like BDH and VNM. Here in Australia, they’re one of the few places we can purchase products from these manufacturers without paying exuberant shipping costs, so I’m also curious to see how this affects that side of their business.
My final thoughts are regarding Trak Racer’s recently released TRZ motorbike simulator. At the moment it’s a passive rig but there are plans to add direct drive wheelbase support, so I wonder if Fanatec can be called up to add their expertise in this area. To be the first manufacturer with in-built motorbike game support would be pretty cool!