Testing Fanatec 911 PWTS, Gt3RS V2 and G27

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Darkdog786

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Darkdog786
Hey guys. I got an opportunity to test Fanatec and Logitech wheels on different platforms and different games so thought to stop by and post a little of what i think the wheel has to offer. I must say that each and every product has it's own cons and pros but they all serves the same purpose which is 'having fun and realism'.

Fanatec 911 PWTS :-
I have been using PWTS for almost a year now and was able to test it out on rfactor and Gt5 Time Trial. The FF is simly amazing and the way the car response to a user reaction is also very great. Noise level for the motors is a little bit high as compare to G27 and GT3RS. Different tuning setups on the wheel like ABS, SEN, SHO, FF, DRI are a great addition to this wheel. You can save setups also for a specific game or a specific track. One of the great feature is the Porsche logo and the dongle which pretty much looks like a Porsche 911 car key. The standard pedals are good which comes stock with the full purchase of the wheel but i highly recommend buying the Clubsport Pedals. Why ? because it's a one great looking pedals set i have ever seen. Silver coated material gives a very bright look and the vibration motor feature is simply stunning and the weight of the pedals is alot which helps you putting the pedals in the carpet without even sliding(If you don't have a stand). If you set ABS to 80 or 90 and whenever you try to press the brakes you will feel the vibration at the level ABS is set so that you don't press it all the way down and helps you alot when you have ABS set to OFF. The wireless dongle has a pretty good range and you can have your computer anywhere and the wheel still picks up the signal strength. This is the only wheel which works on all the platforms PC, PS3 and Xbox360. I made couple of videos for rfactor, Forza 3 and Gt5 Time Trial.

Forza 3:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3NIHtLl_wQ

rfactor :-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjgvv1Nb3C8

Gt5 Time Trial :-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JnBLi09wzQ

Fanatec 911 GT3RS V2 :-
The new version of GT3RS is a stunning piece of work. Everything was re programmed and i can guarantee that whoever owns this wheel will not be disappointed at all. Why ? because the noise level is very very minimal, You can set different settings for ABS like 90, 80, 78, etc and the same thing for FF which previously can only be set to 3 static numbers (100, 66 and 33). With this wheel you can set the FF to whatever you like as the numbers are no longer static. It works perfect with the Clubsport pedals. As usual the vibration in the pedals helps avoiding users locking the brakes (Which i am used to it alot). On the other hand you had 2 new options which are Linearity and Dead zone settings. The wheel comes with a USB wire which serves the purpose of plug and play and there is no need to bind to a specific platform. The orange look & feel on the wheel, the Gt3RS logo and the diameter of the wheel are all very attractive and nice. I was able to run it on rfactor and uploaded a video also :-

rfactor :-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W59IMjWyndI

rfactor:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRH239nAX30

Gt5 Prologue:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvd8_jFQAoY

Logitech G27 :-
I previously owned G25 and bought it just to play Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. Did not had a good laptop to play rfactor so never got a chance to test it. Since i needed a wheel which will be compatible for all the platforms i decided to sell G25 on ebay and bought a 911 PWTS. Recenlty i got a chance to see how good G27 wheel is and i tested it throughly on rfactor but could not do a lot of testing for Gt5 Prologue as the pedal shifters are not supported. The noise level for G27 to me was very minimal and the FF strength was very good. The pedals and the wheel gives you a look of a racing car and the response is also very great.The diameter of the wheel is a little small as compare to other wheels and the other fearure which i missed in the pedals was the vibration which helps me not lock my tires (Some of you might not care about it). Other than that i really had fun with this wheel . A video which i made using G27 :-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGQOFAvONHA

Please bear in mind that the stuff which i wroted earlier for all the wheels is the way i felt when driving it. I am sure alot of people have different opinions. Like i said earlier, all of these wheels serves the purpose of making racing fun but each one of them is a little different from each other. If you have any questions feel free to ask.
 
Thanks for putting this review together. I've been needing to replace my G25 for a while now and and have been looking at the Fanatec equipment. Does the clubsport pedal vibration feature work with GT5p?
 
Oh yes and that is one of the great feature of Fanatec Clubsport pedals which helps you avoid locking the tires which i struggle alot in Xbox360 on Forza 3 with MS Wheel and G25 on GT5Prologue.
 
Darkdog786
Oh yes and that is one of the great feature of Fanatec Clubsport pedals which helps you avoid locking the tires which i struggle alot in Xbox360 on Forza 3 with MS Wheel and G25 on GT5Prologue.
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Are you sure the vibration function works? According to Fanatec's site:

"Please note that the vibration function on the brake is not supported on gaming consoles so far."

That's from this page:

http://www.fanatec.de/webshop/new_u...id=60&osCsid=c2fa5481348facf34cec1135094862a4

Oh, has anyone happened to try the Fanatec products with a PS2? Or with one of the original PS3s running GT4? I still play GT4 a lot and really wouldn't want to have to switch wheels when I wanted to play GT4.
 
I have not tried it on PS2 as i don't own one. You might want to contact the support people to see what they have to say about that. However, about the link you posted it's wiered that they stated that the brake vibration is not supported on the pedals but works just fine for me on PS3 and PC.
 
i have G27 but could never configure it for Rfactor, so if you have any tips on that i would be greatful ! Very interesting on the Fanatec stuff tho.
 
unv412
i have G27 but could never configure it for Rfactor, so if you have any tips on that i would be greatful ! Very interesting on the Fanatec stuff tho.
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Configuring G27 was not hard at all. All i did was installed the software which came with the G27 wheel and then made sure to callibrate before playing rfactor and then under settings (rfactor) i changed the settings for acceleration, brakes, etc. Worked fine for me bro.
 
I think it doesn't support Ps2 cause it's build after but i could be wrong (look at the fanatec thread, i think i read it there). But maybe ps2 games played on the ps3?
Will try it out when i get my wheel this month

Pedal vibration: "Please note that the vibration function is not supported by all games and can be implemented with plug ins to our driver if the games sends the telemetry data. " Just saw that your statement is written down at the page so big? But it seems to work so cool thing

I will have the same problem. But can try because i got the ps3 60gb. Just bought enthusia.

"can you use the g25 and the clubsport pedals together? " On Pc yes, consoles i don't think so

And cool review:tup: Nice to have vids. You could ask a mod to repost your thread in the steering wheel section. Hard to find else
 
I owned both the G25 and Fanatec, the big thing I noticed was the hair pin at Suzuka was alot easier to slow down for using the fanatec.

I used to dread that corner with the G25 but the fanatec seems to keep the car more stable (maybe due to the clubsport pedals)

Also at Fuji.......the corner before the straight that has the really hard breaking at the end of it, the g25 required me to back off slightly (just before getting on to the straight) to prevent a tank slapper so to speak...the fanatec again seems to smooth things out.


I could be talking rubbish though.
 
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Quote """"""""""One of the great feature is the Porsche logo and the dongle which pretty much looks like a Porsche 911 car key. The standard pedals are good which comes stock with the full purchase of the wheel but i highly recommend buying the Clubsport Pedals. Why ? because it's a one great looking pedals set i have ever seen. Silver coated material gives a very bright look and the vibration motor feature is simply stunning and the weight of the pedals is alot which helps you putting the pedals in the carpet without even sliding(If you don't have a stand).""""""""""""" Unquote

Its solid Aluminium.
 
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Well, in a fit of insanity I went ahead and ordered myself the GT3 RS v2 wheel. I'll let you know what I think. I've used the DFP and the G25 for years now, and I've driven auto-x and ice-x now for almost 5 seasons, so hopefully I'll have something intelligent to add (then again, maybe not...)
 
panjandrum
Well, in a fit of insanity I went ahead and ordered myself the GT3 RS v2 wheel. I'll let you know what I think. I've used the DFP and the G25 for years now, and I've driven auto-x and ice-x now for almost 5 seasons, so hopefully I'll have something intelligent to add (then again, maybe not...)
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I am sure mate you will not be disappointed. Good luck !
 
panjandrum
Well, in a fit of insanity I went ahead and ordered myself the GT3 RS v2 wheel. I'll let you know what I think. I've used the DFP and the G25 for years now, and I've driven auto-x and ice-x now for almost 5 seasons, so hopefully I'll have something intelligent to add (then again, maybe not...)
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I also thin that the V2 is simply the best wheel created by Fanatec. The only drawback which i saw is that it is not compatible with xbox360 though.
 
mike46and2
I too ordered the GT3RSv2, it's arriving tomorrow!
What settings do you guys use on gt5p? Is it pretty much plug and play?
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I usually set my FF to 80, SHO 90, ABS 80, dri = 0, LIN = 30 and SEN = 250. Try these settins and see how you like it. If not then reset to default.
 
thanks for the settings i've been trying different settings but the is so much difference its hard to tell whats best. Steering sensitivity is the big question, does it give us an unfair advantage over other wheels? It seems like this could help us alot. Has anyone figured how to use the clutch? I tried triangle but no use, does it not work on v2?
 
Had a chance to play with the wheel for a bit now, and will post some short thoughts sometime after I've had a bit more experience with it. Very nice product overall, I'm quite happy with it. The pedals are especially good.

Two quick notes:

1) It works fine in Gran Turismo 4 playing on the PS3. Don't know about on the PS2 yet, but I'll give it a whirl sometime soon.

2) The accelerator-to-steering wheel vibration motors DO work on the PS3 (or anything, that's in hardware), but the Brake vibration motor in the pedal set does NOT work on anything on the PS3 as far as I can tell. However, since I am unable to locate a manual for the v2 version of the wheel I'm unsure as to whether or not there is a feature I need to turn on to make this function. Anyone know where a manual specific to the v2 wheel is available?

EDIT: ok, figured out the braking vibration. This is the "abs" setting in the wheel itself. By default this is off. Turning it on gives you brake and wheel vibration at a user-specified point of pedal travel. However, turning this feature on automatically turns off the wheel vibration associated with the accelerator. I suppose the brake function is more useful, but the engine vibration sure is nice. Going to be a difficult choice. Wish they were separate so that the brake only vibrated the brake pedal and left the wheel motors available for the accelerator.
 
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Well, I've had plenty of time with the Fanatec GT3RS V2 wheel and clubsport pedals now. I don't have much to add to the spot-on review above. This is a great piece of equipment. If anything, the major improvement over the G25 is the pedals. These clubsport pedals feel very much like pedals in a real car. The brake pedal is a little "dead" feeling, but the way it reacts to pressure rather than only reacting to the distance traveled (like the Logitech pedals do), means that I was finally able to begin competing with the ABS off in most sims (still having trouble in GT5p though). Unlike many, I prefer bottom-hinged pedals as this is what I'm used to in real life, so no ripping apart the pedals and making top-hinged set like we've seen in some setups. At any rate, the pedals feel wonderful to me. I also like the brake-vibration function, but wish that turning it on didn't disable wheel vibration for the accelerator. Can't have everything I guess.

The feedback is excellent, but there are a couple notable differences between this wheel and the G25. Most notable, the G25 is a bit harsher in the feedback responses, while the Fanatec is a bit more refined. This is mostly great, but I do find that for certain types of events (dirt tracks in the GT4, the DIRT 2 game, etc.) that I actually miss the G25's brutality a bit. Secondly, the Fanatec does not fully lighten-up when a car leaves the ground, there is still significant turning resistance. This was very disconcerting at first and at least in the one respect it is less realistic than the G25. You can, however, get most of this back if you adjust the "Drift" setting. However this also reduces the turning resistance all the time, not just when your wheels are hanging in mid-air. I'm not super-happy with that, but overall it isn't enough of an issue to significantly reduce my enjoyment of the wheel. The only area where I think the G25 really outshines the Fanatec is in the wheel grip. Maybe this is because I own and autocross classic vehicles, but I've never liked super-thick steering wheels. The G25 was perfect in my opinion, but the Fanatec is so thick that even with my relatively large hands I can't find a nice comfortable grip. I also like traditional leather much more than this suede-like kind. I wouldn't be surprised though if most people feel exactly the opposite...

Oh, and as I mentioned in a previous post, this wheel works perfectly well in GT4 running on the PS3, so that's good news for those of us who still like to crawl back into GT4 from time to time.
 
Sorry for bumping this thread but how did you make the GT3RS wheel work in GT4. All I could do is make the buttons work in the options menu.
 
nick09
Sorry for bumping this thread but how did you make the GT3RS wheel work in GT4. All I could do is make the buttons work in the options menu.
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I didn't have to do anything special. Just used it the same as I did when using the Logitech G25. Make sure the wheel is plugged into the first USB slot and make sure that no other controller is turned on. I think those are the steps. It is so automatic I don't really think about it anymore. Oh, and put the Fanatec into "PS3 mode" of course.

(I have the first-gen PS3 with hardware PS2 support. I suppose if you have the software-emulation version it could be different.)
 
Thank you for the instructions. I got it working and I have a first-gen PS3 also. Now I can see how the cars feel like in the game.
 
Does the GT3 V2 work with G25 Pedals? Fanatec offers an adapter. But I am not sure if it is for G25 with CS pedals or G25 pedals with Fanatec wheels.

I would also like to know if I do have all the setting options that the GT3 V2 offers for the PS3 available? I assume there is no way of adjusting the settings running it with a PS3. So do I have to set it up on the PC an then use it on the PS3?
 
carlosy
do I have to set it up on the PC an then use it on the PS3?
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Actually, you can change your settings right on the wheel using a little LED screen. At first it is a bit confusing, but once you figure out what the settings do it work pretty well. You can also save a total of 5 presets, so you don't have to diddle with them continually.
 
panjandrum
I didn't have to do anything special. Just used it the same as I did when using the Logitech G25. Make sure the wheel is plugged into the first USB slot and make sure that no other controller is turned on. I think those are the steps. It is so automatic I don't really think about it anymore. Oh, and put the Fanatec into "PS3 mode" of course.

(I have the first-gen PS3 with hardware PS2 support. I suppose if you have the software-emulation version it could be different.)
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can i get this straight.. so the gt2rsv2 wheel requires a usb cable from it to the ps3? i thought it was wireless. i thought the usb cable was only for wheel to PC usage. i look at the fanatec manual and it doesn't show anything about usb cable to ps3, and that it has to be plugged into the first usb slot. also, no explanation that no controller should be turned on... is this all right???
 

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