I just got my CSR Elite Thread

[VWMasteR]

Years ago I ordered a fuel pump for the hot rod....about a $110 USD part. The vendor shipped it by UPS even though they promised to use anything but and UPS showed up with my pump and bill for $90+. Off the top of my head was a $35 fee just for brokerage paperwork, a gas surcharge, plus taxes on not only the declared value of the part but taxes on all their fees as well.

A company I work for now had a massive shipment that went to South America somewhere (can't remember). We received fees that exceeded the value of the shipment by around 30%. UNREAL! When we called a few months back and asked how this was possible and what the charges were for the response was "We're not sure we'll look in to it. To assure your account doesn't get cut off why don't you pay it and we'll apply a credit later." I almost choked.

 

[thehawk05]

I'll tell you how they do it......a blindfold and a dartboard with various COD fees instead of the usual numbers.....wherever the dart lands is what the charge

 

[left888]

Looking forward to your impressions mate.

I am fairly satisfied with what I've seen so far with the Elite, really my only concern is the rim.

 

[Spagetti69]

I am fairly satisfied with what I've seen so far with the Elite, really my only concern is the rim.

I don't think you've made a bad call at all.
It's obviously the best multi plat wheel around. Sure the rim looks like it could do better but the engine (heart) seems second to none.

Someone posted up a quick vid. No fuss, no talking just a bit of snow drifting. Wheel as smooth as silk. Think you'll be impressed.

 

[RReed43]

I received and have been using the CSR-E for about a week now. I moved from a G27, which I always enjoyed.

Here are some of my observations about it.
1) It allowed me to buy and play Forza 4 on the Xbox, while also continuing to play GT5 on the Playstation. I won't comment on FM4 versus GT5 other than to say I enjoy both of them a lot and it gives me more racing. This is a big positive.

2) The wheel is wonderful, very smooth and responsive. It is a step up from the G27 in being able to accurately steer a car around a corner or down a straight at high speed (for example the 3rd high speed secton at la Sarte). The FFB is excellent giving a good sense of where the car is regarding road adhesion and rate of turn.

3)The paddle shifters are excellent although not that dissimilar to the G27. The buttons are well placed and easy to operate. It is a step back from the G27 in that one can't map the buttons on GT5 and I particularly miss the ability to call up and adjust the car during the race. It is frustrating because the G27 had finally been mapped on GT5 and now that functionality is lost.

4) Regarding the design and quality of the rim. I personally like the feel of the rim. It is more comfortble for me than the G27 which chaffed my thumbs when I drove a lot. The Alcantara is located just right for my driving style and the rest of the wheel has a nice slip factor when letting it slide through your hands when recovering from a sharp turn. I drove my IRL car (Porshce 911 turbo) the other day and actually thought of I liked the size, contour and surface of the CSR-E better.

5) I certaily see and understand the comment regarding rim flexability and quality. The rim is not as high quality in impression as the body of the unit or even the interior of the wheel with the graphite spokes and LED display. I personally don't know if it is flexing in use because the Playseat wheel mount is definitely flexing during use. The Playseat is at it's upper end of usefulness with the CSR-E. It would be nice if the rim looked and felt of a higher quality but I wouldn't want that to come at the expense of a lot more weight. I think a light weight, low mass rim gives the drive better feedback and makes the wheel more responsive.

In conclusion, I am very happy with the CSR-E.

 

[mika haka]

3)The paddle shifters are excellent although not that dissimilar to the G27. The buttons are well placed and easy to operate. It is a step back from the G27 in that one can't map the buttons on GT5 and I particularly miss the ability to call up and adjust the car during the race. It is frustrating because the G27 had finally been mapped on GT5 and now that functionality is lost.

Try mapping the buttons using the dfgt or g27 settings. That's what works for me with my fanatec wheel.

 

[thehawk05]

Here's a follow up on my lost CSR Elite:

Just got an email informing me that an investigation has now been started. This situation just gets worse and worse:

Here's a quote from the email:

"It takes 24 business days to complete the investigation. We should have the results of the investigation on February 3, 2012. We will contact Endor about the status of this claim"


Needless to say I'm seething right now. That's at the least 2 CSR Es's that went missing off the same truck as the other Canuck posted the same stuff on the 911 blog that I posted above.

With my luck by the time this gets sorted (because my guess is Fanatec will wait until February to consider sending me another wheel) the Elites will be sold out and won't be available until the next production run seeing as CSW production might be the priority at that point.

 

[noobs]

Does anyone know how to turn off the blue dot on the display when in PS3 mode? Worst case, I can always put a piece of tape over it.

 

[RReed43]

Try mapping the buttons using the dfgt or g27 settings. That's what works for me with my fanatec wheel.

I can't figure out how to do that... can someone provide some instructions?

 

[lazjet]

Here's a follow up on my lost CSR Elite:

Just got an email informing me that an investigation has now been started. This situation just gets worse and worse:

Here's a quote from the email:

"It takes 24 business days to complete the investigation. We should have the results of the investigation on February 3, 2012. We will contact Endor about the status of this claim"


Needless to say I'm seething right now. That's at the least 2 CSR Es's that went missing off the same truck as the other Canuck posted the same stuff on the 911 blog that I posted above.

With my luck by the time this gets sorted (because my guess is Fanatec will wait until February to consider sending me another wheel) the Elites will be sold out and won't be available until the next production run seeing as CSW production might be the priority at that point.

Saw your post and the other guys post on 911 blog and wow that really sucks. Have you also been in contact with fanatec? I believe you should be compensated something for this screw up. I doubt that the wheels will be out of stock, I actually think by February that the wheel should actually drop to the $499 mark. Which would make your situation even worse since you were one of the first pre-orders. I believe fanatec should have already sent out another wheel and be dealing with the usps screw up not you.

 

[left888]

I had ordered a Thrustmaster TH8 Shifter out of New York on November 11th, they are not available in Canada yet. Purchased it through e-bay from a company with a great rating, plus I used pay-pal which offers buying protection. My shipment also went missing, after 20 days I asked the seller to look into it, they came back to me five days later stating my order was missing and they gave me a full refund at that point.

 

[thehawk05]

Saw your post and the other guys post on 911 blog and wow that really sucks. Have you also been in contact with fanatec? I believe you should be compensated something for this screw up. I doubt that the wheels will be out of stock, I actually think by February that the wheel should actually drop to the $499 mark. Which would make your situation even worse since you were one of the first pre-orders. I believe fanatec should have already sent out another wheel and be dealing with the usps screw up not you.

I've been dealing with Crystal Hansel-Daoust who works for the company that takes care of the logistics part of Fanatec's shipping. She's actually awesome to deal with.....she promptly responds to emails within a couple hours at most when I contact her and she's very thorough and clear in her responses to keep me informed. I haven't spoken with anyone directly at Fanatec myself but she informed me she would contact Endor about the current claim. I emailed her back to find out exactly what that means in terms of my order but didn't hear back. To hear credit though I emailed her after business hours with that request.

I would hope that at the very least Fanatec would promptly ship me out another wheel and simply instruct USPS to redirect the other one back to Fanatec if it's found (given the fact two went missing on the same shipment I think it's safe to say they're stolen at this point) a little something for my grief would be nice as well considering I've been out of pocket for over $570 CDN for over a month with nothing to show for it but a tracking number that's now useless.

Frankly at this point I'm so frustrated with how the Canadian end has been handled with the preorders I'm on the verge of simply canceling altogether. It's not just the fact that my order got "lost".....there's been other issues that I found to be quite annoying that had me frustrated before this MIA fiasco. I was so pumped to get this thing and the wait has been killing me as the reviews have seeped in. Now because of all the crap that's transpired over the past two weeks I've lost all my enthusiasm for it.

 

[VWMasteR]

@thehawk05
I'm one of the people that have had their wheel lost. I tried not to post to often as each time I did it would anger me a bit all over again (I'm on holidays and need to relax). Anyway I too have been dealing with Crystal. I have reread every email to make sure that I'm remaining level headed, fair and not being rude. She has responded promptly each time. On top of it all of her replies are kind / courteous, professional and helpful (informative). When she said at the beginning of the week that she would launch an inquiry today, she did without me needing to prompt her. When I emailed her today to remind her, incase she was busy, she actually had informed me maybe 10 minutes later that she could not launch an inquiry until 5pm Eastern has passed (they had to give Canada Post until the end of the day for the possibility of a scan). She then emailed me again tonight with news about the search possibly taking until February. I sent a very disappointed email and she then stated that Fanatec will wait a few days to allow it to be found but likely try to send me a shipment as soon as possible, and that she would work towards that goal and inform Germany of what has happened.

She is possibly the best customer service representative I've ever dealt with, and as an IT contractor I deal with a massive amount of them. I'm not happy about the situation but couldn't be happier knowing that she is dealing with it.

Right now it's very easy for me to agree with thehawk05 on all the bad points, as I'm quite ticked about this, but thought I would write this instead. I believe Fanatec have been working on customer support and I think it shows. I felt a bit shaky after all this, and reading about peoples problems with the wheel, thought about canceling my order for a refund on the part of the order that hasn't been fulfilled. I'm now swaying back in the direction of wanting to wait it out.

 

[mika haka]

I can't figure out how to do that... can someone provide some instructions?

Go to the options then scroll down to the part with the wheels. Try changing the buttons for the different dfgt's or g27's till you find the one that corresponds to your wheel. Check your manual for what buttons on your wheel correspond to what PS3 button. It was the first dfgt for my wheel.

 

[HoiHman]

I can't figure out how to do that... can someone provide some instructions?

The CSR Elite emulates the G25 in the "PS3 mode"

You should change the buttons assignments in : options, hardware, steering controlers, G25 racing wheel (1st one)

If you want to know which button of you CSR Elite corresponds with the G25 :

-Put the CSR Elite in the PS3 mode
-Connect it to a windows PC
-Install Logitech profiler (download from Logitech.com)
-Launch Profiler

The CSR Elite will be recongised as a G25. In profiler you can see the buttons light up when you press the on your CSR Elite.

Make a drawing of the button layout and a use this in GT5

 

[RReed43]

The CSR Elite emulates the G25 in the "PS3 mode"

You should change the buttons assignments in : options, hardware, steering controlers, G25 racing wheel (1st one)

If you want to know which button of you CSR Elite corresponds with the G25 :

-Put the CSR Elite in the PS3 mode
-Connect it to a windows PC
-Install Logitech profiler (download from Logitech.com)
-Launch Profiler

The CSR Elite will be recongised as a G25. In profiler you can see the buttons light up when you press the on your CSR Elite.

Make a drawing of the button layout and a use this in GT5

Thanks I'll do that and share the mapping.

 

[VWMasteR]

@HoiHman

Thanks I was curious about that question also.

 

[Energizerrr]

Fanatec wheels use G25 profile on GT5 as of 2.0 update.
That includes:
Carrera, GT3 RS, GT2, CSR and CSR-E - they all use G25 profile #1/#2 (depending on your main controller).

 

[kcheeb]

Hey theHawk05 and VWMaster, was the last scan on your wheels at Los Angeles Sort Center on Dec 21st?

If so, looks like my shifter set is caught up in the mess :-(

 

[thehawk05]

Mine was last scanned Dec.20th at 1:31am leaving the sort facility in LA

 

[VWMasteR]

@kcheeb
2011/12/20 01:49 International item processed in origin country
01:49 International item has left the origin country and is en route to Canada
2011/12/14 20:16 International item mailed in origin country

They must have something going on. It seems it was on a different shipment. Maybe the new guy stole them.

 

[kcheeb]

Mine was last scanned Dec.20th at 1:31am leaving the sort facility in LA

Thanks, looks like I'll be letting Crystal know about the issue too.

 

[thehawk05]

Keep in mind your 1:49 scan is likely when the item is last scanned before going on the truck. Given you're within 20 mins of my last scan time likely means your item was on the same truck.

Now as long as a set of pedals we're on that truck too then somebody out there is rocking a nice full Fanatec sim setup

Kcheebs certainly looks like a different shipment though

 

[RReed43]

The CSR Elite emulates the G25 in the "PS3 mode"

You should change the buttons assignments in : options, hardware, steering controlers, G25 racing wheel (1st one)

If you want to know which button of you CSR Elite corresponds with the G25 :

-Put the CSR Elite in the PS3 mode
-Connect it to a windows PC
-Install Logitech profiler (download from Logitech.com)
-Launch Profiler

The CSR Elite will be recongised as a G25. In profiler you can see the buttons light up when you press the on your CSR Elite.

Make a drawing of the button layout and a use this in GT5

I downloaded the Logitech software on my laptop. I tested it with the G27 which I had removed from my racing rig, it worked fine. When I attached the CSR-E to the laptop it was not recognized by the Logitech software and therefore I can't map the buttons.

Windows does see the CSR-E as a "game controller" and identifies it as a Fanatec CSR. I can test and map the buttons but this does me no good for GT5.

 

[HoiHman]

I downloaded the Logitech software on my laptop. I tested it with the G27 which I had removed from my racing rig, it worked fine. When I attached the CSR-E to the laptop it was not recognized by the Logitech software and therefore I can't map the buttons.

Windows does see the CSR-E as a "game controller" and identifies it as a Fanatec CSR. I can test and map the buttons but this does me no good for GT5.

You have to put your CSR Elite in Ps3 mode:

Turn the wheel of
Connect to pc with usb
Power on the wheel
Push the back and connect button ( like you do when connect to ps3)

Windows will recognise the csr elite as a G25

You can even use profiler for games that do not recognise the csr elite

 

[Mr Latte]

Really my heart goes out to your situation Hawk.
If you paid by credit card is their some way of you getting the chance of another order dispatched and for Fanatec/Courier to sort out their own mess.

If the courier cannot confirm you have taken delivery then I would of thought your own countries consumer law would be on your side. If the wheel then turns up later it could be returned.

 

[VWMasteR]

Keep in mind your 1:49 scan is likely when the item is last scanned before going on the truck. Given you're within 20 mins of my last scan time likely means your item was on the same truck.

Now as long as a set of pedals we're on that truck too then somebody out there is rocking a nice full Fanatec sim setup

Kcheebs certainly looks like a different shipment though

Honestly our orders had to have been stolen. The odds of this being a coincidence is really really low at this point. I'll PM you with any updates I get from Crystal.

 

[ilonioum]

You have to put your CSR Elite in Ps3 mode:

Turn the wheel of
Connect to pc with usb
Power on the wheel
Push the back and connect button ( like you do when connect to ps3)

Windows will recognise the csr elite as a G25

You can even use profiler for games that do not recognise the csr elite

Worked for me, thank you

 

[drugstorecowboy]

Finished attatching the shifter earlier (lots of cable ties) but I've been playing with the Elite for a few days now and it is awesome. I had and loved the G25 but replaced it with a GT2 for Xbox compatibility, never got on with that wheel though, I missed the speed and detail of the G25 but thankfully the Elite feels nothing like the GT2 whatsoever - force feedback is so fast and direct, light when it needs to be and then in an instant the rim is torn from your grip.

I'm surprised to see some hate for this wheel popping up on forums, imo it's fantastic.

 

[Energizerrr]

I downloaded the Logitech software on my laptop. I tested it with the G27 which I had removed from my racing rig, it worked fine. When I attached the CSR-E to the laptop it was not recognized by the Logitech software and therefore I can't map the buttons.

Windows does see the CSR-E as a "game controller" and identifies it as a Fanatec CSR. I can test and map the buttons but this does me no good for GT5.

CSR-E is recognized as a G25 on GT5. Use G25 profile if you want to re-assign buttons.