Fanatec Announcements: CSW V2 Reviews Out

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I don't think the console racers are not as good as PC racers due to laziness but rather limitations. A good comparison is take the Corvette C6R onto Road America in Forza 4 or at Sebring, then try the same in iRacing. There is no real comparison, one is very much arcadeish and the other is very much ... real.

Left have you driven a real Corvette at Road America?

When I see someone post that a sim is real it always makes me laugh. There is no physical danger in sim racing so it will NEVER be real.

I really want to try Iracing because it has tracks that I have been on real life and it would be fun to see how close they match up. That being said I would never say a game is real no matter how close the physics are.
 
He said "very much real," as in more realistic. No one here has delusions about iRacing being a perfect replica of reality.


Also, what does it matter if he's driven the exact car on the exact track being referred too. If he has driven a similar car in assimilation conditions then his comparison to reality has value.
 
Left have you driven a real Corvette at Road America?

When I see someone post that a sim is real it always makes me laugh. There is no physical danger in sim racing so it will NEVER be real.

I really want to try Iracing because it has tracks that I have been on real life and it would be fun to see how close they match up. That being said I would never say a game is real no matter how close the physics are.

I don't think he meant it is real, I think he meant it is MORE REALISTIC.

Go play iRacing with a good force feedback wheel, then go to the exact same track on GT5 and play it, GT5 feels completely lifeless. GT5's tracks are great *visual* representations of real tracks, iRacing's tracks are great *replicas* of real tracks. In real life, even the best race tracks are filled with bumps, very subtle dips, elevation changes, and other things to make you work harder, GT5 has almost none of that, iRacing has laser scanned each track, so it has all of those things. Watch a video of iRacing and you will see people constantly fighting with the force feedback to keep the car on its intended path due to the small imperfections in the track. Now when I go to play GT5 or Forza 4, it feels so easy, so simple, and so lifeless in comparison. This is why I find myself playing these games less and less as time goes on.
 
+1 to superbike's post above. I feel exactly the same way.

iRacing has truly ruined every other racing game for me basically. Once you get used to the luxury that laser scanned tracks gives you don't want to go back to other titles

I've tried my best to give these other titles a fair shake. The plan was to add to my review and keep comparing the t500rs. But alas, I feel like other racing games are kind of a massive waste of my time. They are good games. I do like to spin around in these other cars. But then as soon as I get on these lifeless tracks it's all ruined :crazy:

no bumps, no surface ffb = not a sim by my standards anymore.
 
That formula rim has won the war against Thrustmaster's f1 integral the day we found out many of the buttons didn't work. I was so pissed. I was so sure they would work.

I am not a fan of replicas. I like a neutral looking wheel more than one with a branding on it, no matter which brand it is (Porsche, Ferrari or whatever).

But we should be fair when compairing the F1 rims from Fanatec and Thrustmaster.

On the Fanatec rim I count 11 buttons, 2 D-Pads (Joysticks) and 2 paddle-shifters.

The Thrustmaster rim has 8 (+2*) buttons , 2 D-Pads (4-way and 8-way), 2 (+2*) paddle shifters, 3 switches and 2 rotary-dials in the advanced mode.
(* located on the wheel base)

When we talk about the look, I like the Fanatec rim a bit more. When we talk about functionality I do not see a clear winner of this contest. In advanced mode (PC only), the Thrustmaster seems to be a bit ahead of the Fanatec.

Robert
 
To be fair, Thomas clarified that their formula rim is not an 'f1' rim hence why it has so few buttons. If Fanatec makes an f1 rim it will no doubt have a rev limiter and the potential to use up to 29+ buttons like the f1 integral.

Looks wise I'd give CSW the nod.

We will all know the real deal soon enough once Logiforce gets his CSW. He will be able to compare it to the T500rs f1 integral wheel. 👍


Note: I'd still like the f1 integral rim but I don't want to pay 200 for it.
 
I can not see the difference between a "formula" rim and a "f1" rim, since "f1" stands for "formula one" :sly:

The rest is speculation, so let's wait and see...
 
You are correct. I dug up the post (see New Thrustmaster F1 rim thread, while digging up this post I noticed some vids I missed so just bumped it)

Well, it looks more like a GP2 rim because it is just like that. The FORMULA rim is not our F1 rim. It is a generic Formula style rim. We will have a real F1 rim later with even more functionality.
 
Personally I would not count the paddles on the base when using the Ferrari rim. I never was able to use them much for anything good in the heat of battle. Also the other L2 and R2 buttons on the base I don't use much.
It is simply just that I never take my hands off of the wheel when using that rim and playing any F1 game because the speed of those cars is so great you want to quickly shift and turn the wheel at all time. So basically I just want my stuff within reach.

Anyhow I'll definitely need to do a lot of comparing in the future. ;)
So far I like my T500 RS with all it's add-ons though. I just wish I could use my CSPs with it in every game and on every platform. That leaves me with another issue... I need something proper for my Xbox still and the CSW and T500 won't help me there. GT2, CSR or an Elite? I dunno... or get a proper rig first for my toys. ponders... ponders...
If only my car wasn't so expensive to maintain either.
 
Looking forward to that wheel. Thanks for searching Thomas' post. So there seems to be a lot in Fanatec's pipeline :-)

Having options is always good for us.
 
I don't know if this is off topic or not but I really like the fact that Fanatec uses branding on their wheels.
I mean I love Porsche, and having an autentic logo and autentic grip in my hands is something which is worth every penny.
BMW is a great move too, I love this form of business that Fanatec does, branding is great and I don't think they should stop.
 
same here!

ugh, forza 4 is sloooowwwllly growing on me. I really enjoy these slow road cars. iRacing does not have very good road cars really. The tracks are indeed beyond lifeless but its kind of fun.

I am afraid to get online tho and get wrecked (no saftey rating system like iRacing)

Yeah Logiforce that's a tough decision to make! :scared:
 
I can not see the difference between a "formula" rim and a "f1" rim, since "f1" stands for "formula one" :sly:

The rest is speculation, so let's wait and see...

"Formula" is simply a common term used for open wheel racing. For example, I grew up racing Formula Ford and Formula Continental and the steering wheels looked nothing like the F1 wheels.


LogiForce, if Thrustmaster left the stupid non-functional portions off of the F1 wheel addon and they had a quick release option for their wheels, I would already own them and I wouldn't be waiting so impatiently for the CSW.
 
"Formula" is simply a common term used for open wheel racing. For example, I grew up racing Formula Ford and Formula Continental and the steering wheels looked nothing like the F1 wheels.


LogiForce, if Thrustmaster left the stupid non-functional portions off of the F1 wheel addon and they had a quick release option for their wheels, I would already own them and I wouldn't be waiting so impatiently for the CSW.

Well, the wheel has a slow release which is hot pluggable. I can change the rim in-game without issues. At least I haven't found any. But I hear ya, I was kinda sad when I found out about those knobs not working. Especially since I pre-ordered it. At least I can compare the two now though. Also that quick release will be great.
 
I think we're having a communications blackout. I bet something big is happening and we don't know about it.



Well... one can hope at least.
 
hey CSR / csr elite owners in forza 4 storefronts I am trying to rotate the car skin I want to buy. But I cant get this to work. What button do you press to rotate the car??? do people just use a controller for this? Did they remove this feature? could've sworn this worked in fm 3
 
Pad only m8, or like you I can't find it.

I love painting, been neglecting my painting a bit since the Elite arrived. Thomas you have a lot to answer for, people are nagging me. I'm behind in my orders ;)
 
On the Fanatec rim I count 11 buttons, 2 D-Pads (Joysticks) and 2 paddle-shifters.

The Thrustmaster rim has 8 (+2*) buttons , 2 D-Pads (4-way and 8-way), 2 (+2*) paddle shifters, 3 switches and 2 rotary-dials in the advanced mode.
(* located on the wheel base)

I'm not sure the count on either wheel is accurate. The Thrustmaster has some controls that are simply duplicated (like the rotary dials).

The Fanatec has 1 D-Pad (stick) and 1 Analogue Stick, with push button capability and rotation on each taking the count to 13. I'm not sure of the mapping on the top banks on each side of the wheel are the same as the opposite side.

Both are quite decent in how many inputs they allow.
 
I am afraid to get online tho and get wrecked (no saftey rating system like iRacing)

I would wait about a month. So many new people on that don't really know how to race right now.

I like the Safety Rating iRacing has. I'm going to start that account later this week and check it out.

(Sorry for straying off topic) Are most league races on weekends? That'll be the best time for me.
 
Oh man there's formal racing all week long; every day :dopey:

I did some R1 racing with FM 4. I really love how they actually do prototype racing here (gt5 hosted sessions usually dont when I'm on). But yeah man I'm much slower on fm 4 then iRacing. The cars dont quite behave like i would expect. When I lock my brakes in fm 4 (ABS OFF), some of these cars just stay locked forever which seems broken too me. This most often occurs with road cars like that RUF and this Class F renault. iRacing lacks these cars and so does rFactor. So I cant really compare it so I dont know what's up here

I do like how I can firmly feel lack of traction in my wheel in fm 4. They do a good job of communicating what the car is doing at least. Its quite the excperience tho playing Forza with such a great wheel. But you can tell they dropped the ball in other areas. Like cant really use the wheel in these shops proper.
 
Hello guys,

I just experienced a fairly loud buzzing noise when turning on my wheel, I own the CSR and have never had this problem before. I turned it off and back on and it didn't seem to do it again. The issue didn't happen as soon as I turned on the wheel, it was as I was holding in the 2 buttons to get into PS3 mode. Have any of you guys ever experienced this? To me it sounded like the FFB motor :scared:

Also in the last couple of days I have had to raise my FFB to maximum in game and wheel options, before that I was using 10 in game and 60 on the wheel and felt like this was more than enough, it seems to me that the FFB has got a fair bit weaker.

Surely it shouldn't weaken after a few months use like this, anyone else noticed this?
 
I doubt it's actually getting weaker, you are probably becoming more accustomed. Kind of like the first time you drive a fast car, feels like a rocket, but then after a few months of driving it you are left wanting more power.

The buzzing noise, I dunno, I don't have any buzzing noise in my CSR. I can hear the fan when it's on, but no buzzing.
 
I doubt it's actually getting weaker, you are probably becoming more accustomed. Kind of like the first time you drive a fast car, feels like a rocket, but then after a few months of driving it you are left wanting more power.

The buzzing noise, I dunno, I don't have any buzzing noise in my CSR. I can hear the fan when it's on, but no buzzing.

It was a more worrying noise than the issue everybody had with xbox mode before the new firmware, as I said though didn't do it again when I turned the wheel on and off, so hopefully it was a one off.

As for the FFB you may be right, I know it never feels as strong after having it on for an hour or so compared to when you have just turned it on. Will see if it gets any worse over the next couple of weeks and report back.

:cheers:
 
Hello guys,

I just experienced a fairly loud buzzing noise when turning on my wheel, I own the CSR and have never had this problem before. I turned it off and back on and it didn't seem to do it again. The issue didn't happen as soon as I turned on the wheel, it was as I was holding in the 2 buttons to get into PS3 mode. Have any of you guys ever experienced this? To me it sounded like the FFB motor :scared:

Also in the last couple of days I have had to raise my FFB to maximum in game and wheel options, before that I was using 10 in game and 60 on the wheel and felt like this was more than enough, it seems to me that the FFB has got a fair bit weaker.

Surely it shouldn't weaken after a few months use like this, anyone else noticed this?
When I first turn the wheel on for the day, it makes an extremely loud grinding noise that eventually dies down. Because the wheel disconnects from the 360 so much, I have to turn the wheel off and then back on a couple of times a day, but the noise only happens the first time I turn it on that day. I'm going to have access to a video recorder soon and I'm going to make a video of it and send it to Fanatec.

As for the FFB...I have in fact turned it up, but I can't say if it's because it seemed like the FFB got weaker.
 
When I first turn the wheel on for the day, it makes an extremely loud grinding noise that eventually dies down. Because the wheel disconnects from the 360 so much, I have to turn the wheel off and then back on a couple of times a day, but the noise only happens the first time I turn it on that day. I'm going to have access to a video recorder soon and I'm going to make a video of it and send it to .

As for the FFB...I have in fact turned it up, but I can't say if it's because it seemed like the FFB got weaker.

Sounds like the same noise issue I had, wait and see your video to confirm it though.

It only happened for the first time today, when I next turn it on I will let you know if I experience the same thing 👍
 
varmintx
When I first turn the wheel on for the day, it makes an extremely loud grinding noise that eventually dies down. Because the wheel disconnects from the 360 so much, I have to turn the wheel off and then back on a couple of times a day, but the noise only happens the first time I turn it on that day. I'm going to have access to a video recorder soon and I'm going to make a video of it and send it to Fanatec.

As for the FFB...I have in fact turned it up, but I can't say if it's because it seemed like the FFB got weaker.

Turn your fan from the default on posistion to the off posistion.

My exhaust fan makes a noise on start up but when warmed up it's fine.

Also you can pinpoint if it is the fan or not by doing this.
When the fan is set to off, it will kick in when the temp rises so all is ok.

Let us know how you get on.
 
Hey everyone, need some help. Just got my setup delivered today and having troubles so far. CSR wheel, CSRElite pedals, CS shifter set and a wheel stand. So long story short I can't use my PS3 nor PC right now so I'm stuck with X360, not that that's a problem.. So I have everything connected per the instructions and I can't get it to connect to the X360. When I try to connect for the first time and I go into xbox mode, the xbox button just keeps blinking. I also hear a hum in xbox mode which is not in PC mode. This is all new to me so please bare with my noobish questions... No matter what I tried the wheel doesn't connect with the x360 slim. I haven't tried another xbox yet but I figured maybe my wheel is faulty? Help is greatly appreciated!!
 
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