Worth buying a CSW v2 now?

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adi518

adi518

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I've been thinking about this lately, but I have this hunch Fana will pop with a v3 after the batch due at the end of the month. V3 will probably introduce 1080 degrees and other small improvements. Will be quite annoying to pay 600$ to just find out it's EOL a week later. So, what do you think?
 
Is that typical Fanatec product cycle? I admit to knowing next to nothing about Fanatec other than it would cost me approximately $1500 to get the same basic components I could get from Thrustmaster for $850.
Is the $600 for the Wheel Base really $200 better than the T300rs?
 
I tend to believe so, especially with recent TM offerings.

I simply did the math. There aren't nearly as many complaints over Fanatec as on TM. They had issues with V1 obviously, some stuff that wasn't thought out 100%, but it seems like they fixed everything in V2 and that thing sells, even though their intentionally low-stock-high-price strategy.
 
I own a CSW V2, a TM 500RS and a TM TX. The CSW is significantly better than the two offerings from TM. And the extra cost for the CSW is more than worth it in my opinion. If you buy a CSW V2 you will not be disappointed, however, whether the V3 will be released soon and how much of an improvement it is over the V2, nobody knows.
 
The CSWv2 is less than a year old. I expect Fanatec to release replacements to their ~4 year old entry level wheels (CSR and Porsche) next. Then maybe, just maybe, go upwards towards a full Direct Drive solution.

The CSWv2 is selling well, fits into a price bracket without competition, and has a unique feature set (PC, PS3, XBox One and a couple of PS4 games depending on rim) and is definitely a safe buy right now.


P.S. euro pricing right now is absurd however:
CSWv2 base €749, rim €480-500, v3 pedals €360, SQ shifter €260. That's €1880 for a setup with base, Porsche rim, pedals and shifter.
That money would buy you a T500 (usually around €400-450), T300 (€300-350), T3PA-Pro (€180), 599XXEvo rim (€180), TX (€350), T3PA (€100-110) and three TH8A shifters (3x €150). Enough to have three separate rigs for PC, PS4 and Xbox One.....
 
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I'd be astonished if a V3 popped up any time soon. A revision for the V2 is entirely possible at any point...... but that could also be a cost cutting revision. As with consoles, sometimes revisions improve a product, sometimes they downgrade it.

I think @skazz is spot on - the cheaper wheels, by contrast, are well and truly due for replacement.
 
Yep, Skazz has it. I know about the US vs EU prices. Stupid on another level, but I'll be importing it from the US anyway.
 
Yeah the V3 wont be out anytime soon I don't think as the V2 has been out for less than a year. Get one if you can, i use it for iracing and it's great.
 
I can't imagine the v3 coming out any time soon either, Fanatec has already said they were going to release new wheels at different price points so I would expect new cheaper options being hinted at soon. Fanatec treat every product as separate so having v3 pedals doesn't mean there will be a v3 wheel base, there were v2 pedals for a long time before the v2 wheelbase was announced.
 
I'm with most others and can't see a CSW v3 any time soon. The CSW v2 is such a dramatic overhaul over the original. If there are future revisions, I imagine they'll be more subtle.

If you look at the Porsche wheels they retained much of the same engineering for years. The Porsche 911 Turbo, Turbo S, GT3 RS, GT2, and CSR are all more or less the same internals with different steering wheels. The only significant material change was the added Xbox 360 compatibility with certain models.
 
Fanatec could do with a 300-400 ish price bracket wheel base option.
The current format is too expensive for many console driven players, myself included.

Without trying to read tea-leaves I would drop 2 sugar on something resembling the CSR Elite being brewed.
Potentially using revised existing components but removing many of the features V2 offers.

Remember how the CSR Elite did not have hot swapping, LED, analogue controls within the wheel rim.
Many of those could be removed and still have a product that beats the current TM/Logitec offerings.

The PS4/XB1 seemed to bring a short life to the CSR Elite having only 2 years circulation.
What is weird but part effect of this is how swappable rims never really worked for the Elite but TM have had great success with.
 
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I don't think they caught on for the elite because Fanatec took so long to make a rim available. Then shortly after making the formula rim available they quietly discontinued the elite wheel base. So it really had no chance to take off. On the other hand, add on rims for the CSW have been a huge success. I think had it had a longer life span add ons would of sold very well for it also.
 
Trouble is, a €400 base which uses the same rim system as the CSWv2 still means paying >€1000 for a full set including base, rim, pedals. You effectively only save €350 over a CSWv2 setup and that feels like too small a gap.

Thrustmaster has a very convincing ~€300 wheelbase+rim combo in the T300, which becomes a €480 package including T3PA-Pro pedals. The CSWv2 outdoes that in terms of quality and motor capability, but a "lesser" Fanatec set will have stiff competition if it tries to compete in that Thrustmaster/Logitech price range. If it costs more than the Thrustmaster, then it will need to perform clearly better.

So in short, I'm very curious which price point and feature set Fanatec will go for. Only time will tell.
 
skazz
Trouble is, a €400 base which uses the same rim system as the CSWv2 still means paying >€1000 for a full set including base, rim, pedals. You effectively only save €350 over a CSWv2 setup and that feels like too small a gap.

Thrustmaster has a very convincing ~€300 wheelbase+rim combo in the T300, which becomes a €480 package including T3PA-Pro pedals. The CSWv2 outdoes that in terms of quality and motor capability, but a "lesser" Fanatec set will have stiff competition if it tries to compete in that Thrustmaster/Logitech price range. If it costs more than the Thrustmaster, then it will need to perform clearly better.

So in short, I'm very curious which price point and feature set Fanatec will go for. Only time will tell.
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Excellent points. In my opinion their best option would be driving the cost of the CSWv2 down (or maintain it) and attack a higher end market. I think a direct-drive, stand-alone wheel base compatible with the existing rims, pedals, etc, another level up from the CSWv2, would be their best course of action. I don't think they could ever win competing against Thrustmaster unless they get much better distribution. There are no other high quality, mass market wheel makers (that I am aware of), so they have that market more or less cornered. Getting into Thrustmaster's market would be a risky move.
 
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crowhop
Is that typical Fanatec product cycle? I admit to knowing next to nothing about Fanatec other than it would cost me approximately $1500 to get the same basic components I could get from Thrustmaster for $850.
Is the $600 for the Wheel Base really $200 better than the T300rs?
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F ya it does, On aesthetics alone the Fana gear Kicks the CRAP out of TM. Not even mentioning FFB quality and selection of wheel to suite your needs. lol
 

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