Fanatec Direct Drive Wheel - An Interview With Thomas Jackermeier

[Paul Jeffrey]

RaceDepartment recently had the opportunity to chat to Endor CEO Thomas Jackermeier about the upcoming Fanatec Direct Drive wheel range. Check it out below.

Receiving plenty of attention at the recent Sim Racing Expo, the Fanatec stand would feature both of the brand new and in development Podium range Direct Drive wheels, and as such benefitted from a very high number of curious fans looking to get some time behind the wheel of this impressive piece of kit.

Thankfully despite his busy schedule, we managed to grab a bit of time with Endor CEO and the man behind the Fanatec brand Thomas Jackermeier, to have a chat about what the new wheel range will mean for users going forward, and what exactly will be improved over the now very popular Clubsport Wheel V2.5.

Following the interview you see below, I had the chance to spend a few laps behind the wheel myself, and my first impressions were overwhelmingly positive about the quality that Fanatec have managed to produce. As a CSW v2 owner myself, I have a fairly solid understanding of where I would want the baseline expectation to end up, and I must admit I was pleased with the amount of force the wheel was able to produce.

Unfortunately the wheel would be running at the Expo using Project CARS 2, and as such I don't believe that platform, using those settings, would prove to be the best combination to truly show the fine levels of detail that could be produced by the new wheel range. As I mentioned at the time in a post under the Sim Expo article, despite the forces proving to be both strong and smooth, I still didn't have any feeling of what the car was doing underneath me. Now having tried PCARS 2 at home on my own kit, and having a much more active feeling through the wheel (although still not exactly great), I very much think my findings must be more down to how the wheel and game were setup, rather than a direct reflection on either the hardware of software.

You can check out the interview and some footage from the wheel in action below;

No release window has been confirmed by Fanatec at this stage, however it is expected that the first production models will start to become available within the next few months.

In an effort to ensure we can give you the best and most thorough insight into this new piece of hardware I have requested a long term test unit, of which I have been verbally granted by Thomas, so once all that has been agreed formally and arranged I will look to get you a much more detailed insight into the pros and cons, and how it differs from the current top of the Fanatec range, the ClubSport V2.

Stay tuned to RaceDepartment for more info as and when it becomes available...

Like your sim racing hardware? Got a question or need some advice? No worries, head over to our Sim Racing Hardware sub forum and drop a post now!

Like the look of the Fanatec DD wheel range? Direct Drive owner already? What are you thoughts on this new kind of wheel technology? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[Mr Latte]

Been waiting on this to arrive, great video and good questions....
Thomas still has to be one of the nicest guys from the sim hardware scene.

 

[Paul Jeffrey]

Was a difficult bloke to interview tho! Hard interview actually, as rather foolishly I went in with pretty much 0 knowledge of the DD range and just sort of winged it from that point

It is a great looking and solid feeling piece of kit. Personally I've had the V1 and now V2 and both have been excellent. Despite the occasional reliability comments I hear from folks, I've got a lot of faith in Fanatec, I'm more than happy with my experiences over the years with them and I trust this wheel range will be the same.

Interested to know the price however... Suspect Mrs. J will be putting any blockers on that for me

 

[RustyDriver00]

Was a difficult bloke to interview tho! Hard interview actually, as rather foolishly I went in with pretty much 0 knowledge of the DD range and just sort of winged it from that point

It is a great looking and solid feeling piece of kit. Personally I've had the V1 and now V2 and both have been excellent. Despite the occasional reliability comments I hear from folks, I've got a lot of faith in Fanatec, I'm more than happy with my experiences over the years with them and I trust this wheel range will be the same.

Interested to know the price however... Suspect Mrs. J will be putting any blockers on that for me

Understandably with the minimal time you had and the game/gear combo this may be hard to answer (also not knowing price, making this even more of a difficult question) for someone considering purchasing the clubsport v2.5 would you say wait for the DD or would you go for a 2.5V? Price I'm not too worried about, hoping it's not more then around X2 the price of the clubsport though.

 

[Alex72]

It will probably be around AccuForce Pro and OSW. Little more than double v2.5 + rim (~650€). Maybe 1500-1600€?

 

[RustyDriver00]

It will probably be around AccuForce Pro and OSW. Little more than double v2.5 + rim (~650€). Maybe 1500-1600€?

I'm thinking since Thomas was stating it's around the price that people in the community think if we should all start guessing just slightly more then the csw v2.5 lol

To be serious though, the csw is $829 aud at the moment plus $299 for the F1 wheel, so if the DD with F1 wheels comes in at or under 2k I'll be happy

 

[wombat999]

Fanatec products are really outstanding and (so far) bloody difficult to purchase locally in Australia.
'Remote' buying is all well and good but not on my list of options when it comes to expensive kit and really expensive shipping.
One would expect living in a major city there should be a retail outlet carrying Fanatec, but not for me.
Very interesting interview, albeit short.
I do like the methodology driving the new kit.

 

[hazardic]

Another competitor! That's good for the market and for us

 

[RustyDriver00]

Fanatec products are really outstanding and (so far) bloody difficult to purchase locally in Australia.
'Remote' buying is all well and good but not on my list of options when it comes to expensive kit and really expensive shipping.
One would expect living in a major city there should be a retail outlet carrying Fanatec, but not for me.
Very interesting interview, albeit short.
I do like the methodology driving the new kit.

You can buy directly from fanatec in Australia

https://www.fanatec.com/au-en/

Postage is usually only a few days.

(May have misunderstood though and you mean you would prefer to not have any shipping)

 

[Conrad Miller]

Showcase a DD wheel on PC2 is like testing the newest Pirelli F1 tyres on a wheelbarrow. Couldn't Fanatec find a decent sim to showcase their wheel rather than this arcade garbage?

 

[Mr Latte]

Showcase a DD wheel on PC2 is like testing the newest Pirelli F1 tyres on a wheelbarrow. Couldn't Fanatec find a decent sim to showcase their wheel rather than this arcade garbage?

I think this is called marketing, brands/companies do team up for such promotional events.

 

[wombat999]

Thanks for the link Shawn.
I'll check it out.
I was referring to buying from O/S with the often jaw dropping shipping costs!
And I'll admit to being somewhat old school, I do like to discuss a purchase face to face in a bricks and mortar retail outlet.

 

[Jeff Huber]

Was a difficult bloke to interview tho! Hard interview actually, as rather foolishly I went in with pretty much 0 knowledge of the DD range and just sort of winged it from that point

It is a great looking and solid feeling piece of kit. Personally I've had the V1 and now V2 and both have been excellent. Despite the occasional reliability comments I hear from folks, I've got a lot of faith in Fanatec, I'm more than happy with my experiences over the years with them and I trust this wheel range will be the same.

Interested to know the price however... Suspect Mrs. J will be putting any blockers on that for me

I think you did great Paul! There really wasn't much info to get at this time I think , and it sounded like Thomas didn't want to give to much out anyways. Hopefully they get some good tester's out there to put this thing through it's paces.

One question I have is......did the unit have mounting holes on the bottom , or just the ones on the side for that big fancy looking gold mount they were using?

 

[Fanapryde]

Showcase a DD wheel on PC2 is like testing the newest Pirelli F1 tyres on a wheelbarrow. Couldn't Fanatec find a decent sim to showcase their wheel rather than this arcade garbage?

On pC I'd agree, but no need bashing on pC2, since FFB is REALLY good. Did you even try ? Or is it from "hear say". A few changes from standard settings (which are not good for most cars) and the FFB equals other sims (at least on my Fanatec CSW V2)