Turbo s wheel poll- faulty or perfect

  • Thread starter Thread starter bevo
  • 78 comments
  • 6,061 views

How has your experience with fanatec went so far?

  • My wheel, pedals, shifter works perfect

    Votes: 22 73.3%

  • My wheel, pedals, or shifter was broken when I recieved them

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Something was either received broken or has broken and been fixed or replaced in a timely manner

    Votes: 3 10.0%

  • Something is broken and it has been weeks and I haven't had a reply about fixing it

    Votes: 5 16.7%
  • Total voters
    30
Delphic Reason
I've had a less than ideal experience with Fanatec, and so far, everyone I know that has purchased anything from them has had a very similar experience. An experience that has been echoed time and time again on these and many other forums.



;)
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Yeah. I'm not defending their setup for customer service at all. I think my perspective is just different. I'm involved in way too many hobbies, and most of those hobbies lend themselves to tinkering or actually require it. I think I'm tending to defend fanatec not because they're a good example of service but I'm so used to absolutely zero service in my other hobbies.

I'm new to sim racing as the last wheel I had was so horrible as to keep me from wanting to get involved (DFP I got with GT4... the motor/gear drag was horrible). In the past 2 weeks alone I've had to yell at the customer service desk at Fry's electronics to get them to understand that the sealed video card box they sold me actually had the wrong part in it and I just wanted to exchange it for the right part, Codemasters blew off a Tech support issue I had with Dirt 2, and I had to deal with cancelling DirecTV for my Grandmother since my Grandfather just passed away. Every single experience was horrible and absolutely terrible customer service.

In contrast Steam refunded my money for Dirt 2 after 4 days and some small hoops to jump through, and my experiences with fanatec.

After getting my PWTS my shifter went bad within a couple of weeks. I e-mailed e-support and within 2 weeks had a new shifter at my house. My wheel also had the center "hump" issue. I sent video and detailed descriptions of the issue and within 3 weeks, including the Christmas holiday break they took, I had a beta firmware e-mailed to me that resolved the issue. My customer service experiences with them have been exemplary.

Obviously I'm not everyone or even a majority of people and apparently people's mileage will vary... alot.

Raitziger
Lets say they sold 2500 wheels and 20% have been having trouble. That is 500 cases for around ten people :)
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I just watched your Youtube videos. I think you're right about the dampening in the PWTS. Even on the PC with firmware 660 if you turn the dampening to 0 it stays at full. In previous firmware releases it actually lowered the resistance when you lowered the dampening. I think it's a bug in the firmware.
 
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I have the GT3 RS (with Clubsport Pedals) and the Turbo S (normal pedals) and both wheels are working 100%.

But Fanatec has Customer Service problems. Everybody knows that they have to improve it.
 
I just noticed firmware 660 broke my 6-speed shifter. I swithced back to old firmware and now it works again.
 
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Raitziger
I just noticed firmware 660 broke my 6-speed shifter. I swithced back to old firmware and now it works again.
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Ummmmm...

Did you recalibrate the shifter?


Firmware Update for Fanatec Wheel with Bootloader.doc
Step 14
You might need to calibrate the 7GS shifter and/or bind the dongle after a firmware update.
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:odd:
 
Ok i will have to see how to rebalibrate the shifter as the pc app did not have calibnration option.

EDIT: I did not have 6-speed pluged so skiped the calibration but i did not remember that due it was long time ago. Thank you for helping me :)
 
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Raitziger
Ok i will have to see how to rebalibrate the shifter as the pc app did not have calibnration option.
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Shifter calibration is built into the wheel.


Page 26 of the manual. It is a very easy process, and sounds like it is 100% the problem you had.


Since it has a heavy focus on console usability, most of its calibration/setup options are built into the firmware.
 
I had my first problems recently. My shifter is starting to die, when I shift it's starting to go into random gears, and it's shifting whenever it wants to sometimes. I emailed them last night, and got a reply back today. Now we will see how long it takes to get another shifter. Armin is wanting me to send him a video of the problem, which would actually be hard since I would need to show things that happen at random times, and would have to be able to show the screen and shifter well at the same time. I also don't have anyway of recording anything other then a 1985 VHS camera. He said I could send back the shifter and when he got it He would send a new one out. That seems like a waste of money to me, since the shipping would be payed for a product that doesn't work, but I told him that and now we will see what happens.
 
If they just have shipped the wheel with manual. It far bigger obstacle for me to go online and browse a pdf vs normal paper. :)

btw i sprayed some crc to shifer and now it goes to gears more smoothly.
 
Raitziger
If they just have shipped the wheel with manual. It far bigger obstacle for me to go online and browse a pdf vs normal paper. :)

btw i sprayed some crc to shifer and now it goes to gears more smoothly.
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crc?
 
Actually CRC is very popular chemical company and people use the CRC term here when they casually talk about basic lubricant they make. So as american you might use WD40 also or similar product.
 
I've figured out my shifter problem more. My third gear has something like a short in it. If the shifter moves to the right just a little it jumps to fifth gear real quick and then back to third. If it moves up slightly it goes into neutral for a split second and then back into third. It's bad enough that it does it from vibrations from my sib or just turning quickly. If anyone has any ideas how I could fix this I would love to give it a try.
 
That's roughly the same as what happened with my shifter. I e-mailed support and they sent me a new one. Best to get in line now :/
 
Submitted by Thomas on Sat, 02/13/2010 - 03:00.
I am happy to announce GameStop Italy is now selling Fanatec products in all of their shops in Italy.

GameStop Italy is the the biggest subsidary in Europe of GameStop with over 300 shops. This sounds small for US citizens but GameStop is the No. 1 in video games in Italy.

The following products are available from next week:

Porsche 911 Turbo S whee

Porsche 911 Turbo S wheel Pure Edition

ClubSports Pedals

RennSport Wheel Stand



If this co-operation is succesful we would be very interested to expand it to other countries as well.


How big of a slap in the face is that to everyone with broken products who have been told that fanatec doesn't have whatever you have broken in stock? I was told they have no shifters in stock and it would be some time before they could replace mine. It hasn't been that long yet though so I guess I'll wait and see how long it's going to take.
 
I got one response from Amir (on 1/14/10) about my pedal problems and now the wheel itself is acting up. I'm thinking about doing the firmware update but emailed tech support to see what they thought and nothing for over a week.

This is getting ridiculous. I'm usually not one to bash a company but......
 
I had to open my standard pedals and reseat the pots... I also glued them to the pedals since I think the brake pedal wasn't a secure enough fit and was coming loose.

Contrary to my earlier lauding now that I've had to fix every component of the package (wheel (center bump issue), shifter (replaced), pedals (reseat and secure the pots)). I would put this product in the realm of hobbyist. It works great and it's the best if you own a full set of hex wrenches, screwdrivers, a t10 driver, and are comfortable with flashing firmwares and the like.

It's not really plug and play like many would like or hope to have, however since I'm the hobbyist type I don't regret my purchase and use the wheel every night. I admit without my tools and willingness to take the thing apart I'd be sitting here with pedals that didn't work.
 
I might have to take apart my standard pedals. The brake is registering by just lightly pressing anywhere on the base, in the general vicinity of the brake pedal. I noticed it when watching a replay. Every time I use my clutch, the brake lights light up. When browsing through a menu screen I can move back and forth between items by pressing lightly on the base. Very frustrating.

Honestly, I would rather find a set of G25 pedals and invert them, at this point. I'm finding it very difficult to acquire a set of pedals without buying the entire G25 package. I used to own a G25, but sold it recently. I'm definitely kicking myself for that.

Anyone have any G25 pedals they're willing to sell? Name your price!



;)
 
I received an email from armin today saying they would send me a shifter set I just needed to fill out the RMA report. It needed an invoice #, serial # for the shifters. The problem is I never received any kind of invoice and the shifters have no serial # on them. I explained that to them but there is no telling where it will go now.
Time to play the waiting game.

Here's a set of G25 pedals on ebay. http://cgi.ebay.com/Logitech-G25-G2...oysticks_Game_Controllers?hash=item3ca9f71c05
 
Delphic Reason
I might have to take apart my standard pedals. The brake is registering by just lightly pressing anywhere on the base, in the general vicinity of the brake pedal. I noticed it when watching a replay. Every time I use my clutch, the brake lights light up. When browsing through a menu screen I can move back and forth between items by pressing lightly on the base. Very frustrating.

Honestly, I would rather find a set of G25 pedals and invert them, at this point. I'm finding it very difficult to acquire a set of pedals without buying the entire G25 package. I used to own a G25, but sold it recently. I'm definitely kicking myself for that.

Anyone have any G25 pedals they're willing to sell? Name your price!



;)
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What is your declaration outside deadzone set to in the Forza 3 game advanced settings?

I use the G25 pedals and the adapter is very exact. My G25 brake pedal is sticking slightly and needs a clean so having the deadzone set to 90-100% makes the brake come on. I have to set the deadzone to about 80%.
 
MrDrWatson
My wheel, clubsport edition, is working perfectly. I have it since the middle of December and I've used it with all systems (x360, pc and ps3). Reading all the complaints in the forums and waiting for the wheel to arrive was nerve shattering but when I got the package, everything was properly secure and well packaged. I mounted it to a Wheel Stand Pro (had to fix it with 2 screws) and it feels solid. Overall a great product, better than a g27 imho.
As a side note, I prefer to use the wheel with the ps3 and the pc, it seems to me the x360 games weren't designed for a 900 wheel. Forza 3 and 2 are great but the others....meh. GT4 is great!
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This wheel works with the Xbox 360? I thought the Usb system was different in the 360? Ive been looking for a decent wheel for this system since my g25 isnt compatable and the microsoft one is low degree and has a flat bottom (which I hate for letting the wheel slip)
 
chromatic9
What is your declaration outside deadzone set to in the Forza 3 game advanced settings?

I use the G25 pedals and the adapter is very exact. My G25 brake pedal is sticking slightly and needs a clean so having the deadzone set to 90-100% makes the brake come on. I have to set the deadzone to about 80%.
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I can easily get around the problem by changing the deadzone settings (and I have). However, the problem is with the pedals, and thus they need to be replaced or repaired. At this point, I would much rather replace them with a set of G25's. I have a G25/Microsoft adapter (Thank you Armin 👍), so hooking up the pedals will be a breeze. Finding said pedals is not so easy.

There are many other little issues with the pedals that are giving me grief as well, but nothing that can be fixed. Most of my problems are with the general design of the pedals. The layout makes heal-toe downshifting more difficult than it need be, the gas pedal is exceedingly "floppy", and the whole unit feels flimsy and cheap. They fall particularly flat on their face when compared to my old G25 pedals (Nixim modded of course). Huge difference in feel, and the adjustability of the G25 pedals adds quite a lot to the apeal to those of us with homebuilt cockpits.

This wheel works with the Xbox 360?
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The 911 Turbo S (only the "S" model) works with Xbox 360, Playstation 3 (not PS2), and PC.





;)
 
F34R
how did you not receive an invoice?
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I have no idea. All that was on the box was the shipping label, and there was no invoice in the box. I also never received an email invoice. The only email I had was that my payment didn't go through and I took care of that in 2008. All I ever had was an order # and that was at fanatec's website in my account.
 
gatorchad
I didn't vote because I don't see a response that applies. I currently have an issue with my clubsport brake pedal load cell sensor. I've had an email exchange with Fanatec support, but haven't gotten the issue resolved yet. It's been a week (as of 2/2/10).
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After a second email exchange with Fanatec, I received a new loadcell on 2/19/10. That's about 3.5 weeks after my initial contact with Fanatec.

Overall I am satisfied with the fact that my issue got resolved, and the timeframe was not completely unreasonable. They trusted my diagnosis and sent me the new part without any hassle. The main issue with the service was the delayed responses and lack of communication. The part showed up and I didn't even know it was coming. I also had to send a follow-up email to remind them that I was waiting for a response.

~Chad
 
Poll does not give right details as some people's wheels have been already fixed(there is no way change answer) And of course some working wheels might now be broken. Please remove the poll.
 
I want to know how these people are getting their wheels and pedals fixed so damn fast. I've been emailing since the beginning of December back and forth, and finally was told a couple weeks ago I'd be getting parts for my clubsport pedals. Still waiting for parts. Everytime I've heard back from Armin so far it's been a damn month in between. This is ridiculous.
 
I had a faulty shifter, and fanatec sent me a new set without returning my old ones, or posting a video. It took about 2-3 weeks, but it's here now, and everything is working great again. Hopefully everyone else is getting taken care of too, maybe fanatec is starting to get caught up and getting everyone back to racing.
 
Delphic Reason
I might have to take apart my standard pedals. The brake is registering by just lightly pressing anywhere on the base, in the general vicinity of the brake pedal. I noticed it when watching a replay. Every time I use my clutch, the brake lights light up. When browsing through a menu screen I can move back and forth between items by pressing lightly on the base. Very frustrating.

Honestly, I would rather find a set of G25 pedals and invert them, at this point. I'm finding it very difficult to acquire a set of pedals without buying the entire G25 package. I used to own a G25, but sold it recently. I'm definitely kicking myself for that.

Anyone have any G25 pedals they're willing to sell? Name your price!



;)
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Don't open the standard pedals without clamps (c clamps or the like) handy. Otherwise you'll go insane trying to put them back together.

I had the exact same issue you have and opening the pedals allowed me to fix it. Make sure you have the right sized screw driver, a t10 driver and at least 2 clamps.
 
Yoritomo79
Don't open the standard pedals without clamps (c clamps or the like) handy. Otherwise you'll go insane trying to put them back together.

I had the exact same issue you have and opening the pedals allowed me to fix it. Make sure you have the right sized screw driver, a t10 driver and at least 2 clamps.
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Thanks for the advice. I did take them apart, and fix the problem.

However, I'm STILL looking for a set of G25/G27 pedals.

Now that my pedals work how they should, my attention is drawn to everything else about them that is less than ideal.





;)
 
My wheel staus is now broken. Belt snapped or came of while playing GT5:P. Let's see how long it takes for this to work out.
 

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