Alright, so everything went well. Getting to the seller's place was a bit of a hassle because of all of the bridge constructions/repairs/redirections and the GPS was a bit useless from there on. However, I still managed to get there on time, which was 5pm. The seller thought he'd call me at 5pm to determine when I'd be arriving and was shocked to hear I'm already at the corner of his street. Once in his apartment, the wheel was setup in front of me.
He clamped the wheel on his desk and launched "Test Drive Unlimited" and "NFS Underground" on his PC. He first played and tested the wheel in front of me. After powering up, the wheel centered and showed me that all buttons were working and the shifter is working both in sequential and in H-gated pattern. He played without FFB at first and he was a bit perplexed only to remember to re-enable it in the game. All looked more "natural" and after turning the wheel left and right multiple times, the wheel was still centered.
When it was my turn to try it, I tested the pedals. Clutch, brake, and throttle were fine, no sudden or brief unintended acceleration and deceleration, and very good resistance in all pedals. The shifter behaves properly. There isn't much resistance as everyone knows for a G25, and this has been modified for the G27. There's a mod for this, and I'll probably go for it. The wheel's FFB is strong. I had a little bit of trouble at first because I'm not used to drive with 2 hands. The FFB feels mechanical and artificial in comparison to Fanatec's Turbo S that was more organic. That's probably because Fanatec's rim is thicker, but at least I know the G25's rim is rock solid and will not fail. There weren't any noticeable tear and wear and the connections were solid.
Overall, I was pleased with the wheel. I've seen it a few times up close when it was first launched back in the days, and I don't remember it looked this great, maybe because I never owned it. Other than the lack of XBox compatibility (that I don't care since I have no XBox), I think the G25 (and possibly G27) excels in what the Fanatec's Turbo S (with the standard pedals and standard shifters) lacks and vice-versa. Fanatec's shifters were very stiff. I had to control my strength just enough so that I can shift without breaking it. The G25's is effortless, a bit too effortless. I do miss the organic feel of the Fanatec rim, but at the same time, I know I can rip the G25's rim and it'll not fail me. The G25 buttons are much better because they are individual buttons; Fanatec's are shared by the same "plating" and feel like they'll get stuck and/or fall off if abused. For the pedals, I do like G25's because of the resistance especially to the throttle. The Fanatec's throttle on its standard pedals were like bird flapping wings, and it's not like the pedals' shapes were any better. One thing I do liked about those standard pedals compared to the G25 was the clutch. You can feel the spring in the G25's clutch but you can sort of feel the engagement point in the Fanatec's standard pedals.
I'm about to place an order for a wheel stand. I'm going WheelStandPro because of better adjustability. Fanatec's Rennsport Wheel Stand is solid, sturdy, and cheaper, but limiting to 90' and 110' isn't comfortable. The price will turn out roughly the same in the end with about $30 difference.
