Fanatec

It’s no secret that Thrustmaster very much has a stronghold on the Playstation side of the sim racing market. Despite a few offerings elsewhere, the company has done well with its Sony-compatible products that include entry level wheels like the T150 series and high end products like the upcoming GT Sport wheel.

News has arrived out of Germany that Fanatec’s older racing wheel base, the ClubSport Wheel Base V2, has received a makeover and has been upgraded to V2.5. Even though the technology inside hasn’t been completely altered, the V2.5 does feature some noticeable improvements.

The latest in high-end racing wheel technology will be coming to the Fanatec line of wheels, according to a post by the company’s CEO on the private iRacing forums. ‘Direct Drive’ has been the focus of much attention in the sim racing peripheral space recently and Thomas Jackermeier ensures that Fanatec has not been unwise to this – with products of their own planned.

In order to push the impression of driving a real car to the maximum level possible, sim-racing accessory manufacturer Fanatec has launched an improved version of their popular pedal set, the ClubSport V3. Inverted mounting points for the brake and clutch along with a longer range of travel are all designed to make the set feel more realistic.

The news of a seventh entry in the Forza Motorsport franchise — expected to release within the next year — is unlikely to come as a surprise to anyone. What is surprising is the first mention of the team’s next project doesn’t come from Turn 10 itself, but has been outed by Fanatec CEO Thomas Jackermeier.

Black Friday has only just begun, but we’ve been keeping track of the deals since last week. One area that seems to be lacking — especially compared to last year — is sim racing hardware like wheels and seats. Fanatec has stepped up to offer a discount on a small selection of its wares, and depending on region, it could save keen racers almost 50% compared to retail.

Fanatec has just announced the latest addition in its extensive lineup of sim racing accessories: the CSL Elite wheel base and pedal set. The new model sits below the existing high-end Clubsport V2 model, but is usefully more powerful than the original V1. It is compatible with both Xbox One and PC platforms.

As if things weren’t crazy enough on “Black Friday”, things are heating up in the world of sim-racing deals this weekend! Of course, we already told you about most of them in our Black Friday Buyer’s Guide earlier this week, but there’s a few more surprises you need to know about.

After teasing us last week, Fanatec has shown off their newest product in full, the CSL Steering Wheel P1. Compatible with the Club Sport Wheel Bases (the original as well as V2), the CSL wheel is unique among the existing lineup, as it doesn’t require the Universal Wheel Hub to perform on the XBox One.

Sim racers on Microsoft’s system look set to get a new option in the increasingly-crowded affordable wheel market. Fanatec released the above image on Facebook yesterday, showing a leather-clad wheel with an integrated information panel and centre-line. Visible behind the wheel are the expected flappy-paddles, but beyond that, there isn’t much more info available in the original image Fanatec supplied.

In what has already proven itself to be one of the most active years yet for sim racers, the commotion continues with Fanatec’s recent announcement of their newest product made in cooperation with Turn 10 Studios and tailor-made for Forza Motorsport 6, an official Forza Motorsport-branded ClubSport Wheel Rim GT.

Sim-racing accessory manufacturer Fanatec has just announced a new version of their “ClubSport Pedals”, a popular upgrade used by many GTPlanet members.

Fanatec, the manufacturer of many high-end sim racing accessories, has announced a special limited-time sale to celebrate “Black Friday” weekend. The deals focus on their “CSL Seat” and the two of their detachable wheels, the BMW M3 GT2 and “Formula Black” rims.

Steering wheel controllers have come a long ways over the past few years, and with Logitech reducing their involvement in the sim-racing accessory market, competition has picked up between higher-end manufacturers like Thrustmaster and Fanatec.

The last 12 months have been a busy year for Fanatec, who have been steadily updating their line of products aimed towards the more demanding sim racer.

With former steering wheel market leader Logitech resting on its laurels, there’s been a flurry of activity fill the mid-to-high end range of steering wheels over the last few years. For Gran Turismo 5 players, the licensed Thrustmaster T500RS was generally considered one of the best options – until now.

With the launch of Gran Turismo 5, the steering wheel market is really heating up. Now, however, the bar has apparently been raised with the new Fanatec Porsche 911 GT2. The wheel is receiving high marks from users in our steering wheels forum, and there’s even more kind words from the hosts at InsideSimRacing, who called it part of the “best package” to play the game. Keep an eye on the wheel segment of InsideSimRacing’s Gran Turismo 5 review in the video above (you’ll find the wheel discussion begins at 24:45) for more, or watch Darin’s mini-feature on the GT2 here.

This head-to-head shootout between GT5 Prologue and Forza 2 by the Inside Sim Racing guys caused quite a stir in our forums last week, and it’s worth posting here for those of you who missed it.  Needless to say, the latest GT game didn’t fare quite so well, partly due to the fact that it wasn’t able to provide the features, size, or scale of a complete title.  This has put some GT fans up in arms, and you can argue that some of the evaluated criteria wasn’t appropriate.  That aside, their critiques are honest.  More than anything, though, the review spotlights what features Gran Turismo 5 needs the most in order to stay competitive.