We Check Out the Fanatec Direct Drive Wheel

[Paul Jeffrey]

At the 2017 Sim Racing Expo today I had the chance to check out the new Fanatec Direct Drive wheel... here are my first impressions.

Now before going any further I need to give out some caveats. My time with the wheel was limited and used with the so far unreleased Project CARS 2 software. I had over three and a half laps at Spa in PCARS 2, under race conditions at night. Not an ideal scenario to give a serious and informed opinion, but enough to at least give me an idea of what we can expect to find come release day.

Using the Porsche rim from the Fanatec ClubSport range, the wheel felt like a marked step up from my personal ClubSport V2 I use regularly at home. The initial weight of the wheel on first turn into a corner carried more force, as did the step up in resistance once additional forces were applied to the car under heavy cornering.

The build quality was the usual Fanatec standard, well put together, stylish in finish and I must say a rather neat and "cool" solution in comparison to some of the other Direct Drive products available in the marketplace today.

Having spoken with Endor CEO Thomas Jackermeier at length about the new range (interview video to follow later), he confirmed the Podium series of wheels will be compatible with earlier ClubSport rims as well as receiving a brand new range of rims, pedals and accessories further down the line. Additional confirmation was given that two different DD units will be produced, both containing the same housing but with different torque strengths.

No release date has been confirmed as yet, however early development units are under testing as we speak.

RaceDepartment have requested and have been approved for a long term test unit, of which we will put through its paces once it arrives and give you a full and detailed review in the coming months.



Stay tuned to RaceDepartment for more news and insight from the Sim Racing Expo over the next few days and follow us on social media at on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Twitch, Steam and YouTube.

Looking forward to the Fanatec Direct Drive range of products? Can the company challenge the established DD manufacturers? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[MarkR]

It's rumoured this is the car Fanatec used to take the DD wheel to the show...

I'm yet to be convinced by DD wheels, a lot of money for increased feedback strength when I already have to reduce the feedback on my 'consumer' wheel.

 

[rosgillies]

Fanatec moving into the, "no can afford" wheel area; for the average punter anyway.
I'll be sticking with my trouble free T500rs for now.

Yep, me too. It may be the best wheel coming out, who knows, BUT! if the game ffb software does not match the wheel capabilities it`s a bit pointless to spend all that money. Bit like in Project cars 1 did`nt matter really what ffb wheel you had, ffb was C*****P anyway

 

[WOKOWEN1]

So much buzz about a steering wheel geez...when are people going to learn that the steering wheel is not the most important thing on simulation?? I rather have a G25 with a realistic motion seat than have this waste of money crap alone. If only this wheel would improve bad force feedback games.

 

[Bitacaia]

So much buzz about a steering wheel geez...when are people going to learn that the steering wheel is not the most important thing on simulation?? I rather have a G25 with a realistic motion seat than have this waste of money crap alone. If only this wheel would improve bad force feedback games.

But the problem of the motion is: you will always have lag from the game to the rig... you cannot overcome that. You can reduce by reducing the weight of the moving parts and having really good actuators... and in the and you will get just some bump information (fun to feel it, but not useful for racing) because you cannot replicate the G force of a car...

I try 2 rigs with motion in simexpo. One with motion on the seat, and i found it not so fun to be compressed against the wheel and pedals. And other with wheel and pedals attached to the moving rig, and you could feel the lag.

So, my conclusion: Fun, not useful to drive better and too expensive. If you have a limited budget, get the Pedals with load cell first, then the wheel. In the end get the motion...

 

[Jens Roos]

An motion rig can never get anything close to the real thing but could be a nice feature anyway.

As an owner of OSW and TS-PC it's not about pure force, I limited that on my TM wheel as well. An DD wheel will have an wider range of FFB and can provide crisp (if you want) ffb and smooth movement in a way any belt driven wheel can't provide, regardless of brand.

It's like comparing an brake or throttle pedal with 8bit and 16bit resolution, you will be fast with both but if you used the better one there is no going back.

Together with the fanatec eco system and other item in the fanatec range I think this will be an attractive product for many.

 

[Sicario Del Toro]

 

[WOKOWEN1]

But the problem of the motion is: you will always have lag from the game to the rig... you cannot overcome that. You can reduce by reducing the weight of the moving parts and having really good actuators... and in the and you will get just some bump information (fun to feel it, but not useful for racing) because you cannot replicate the G force of a car...

I try 2 rigs with motion in simexpo. One with motion on the seat, and i found it not so fun to be compressed against the wheel and pedals. And other with wheel and pedals attached to the moving rig, and you could feel the lag.

So, my conclusion: Fun, not useful to drive better and too expensive. If you have a limited budget, get the Pedals with load cell first, then the wheel. In the end get the motion...

I agree about current the lag status on motion rigs but I would never invest in a steering anywhere close to this one. I much prefer to wait for a decent motion seat and spend my money on it

 

[Neil Farren]

I agree about current the lag status on motion rigs but I would never invest in a steering anywhere close to this one. I much prefer to wait for a decent motion seat and spend my money on it

There is your answer, we are not all you

 

[WOKOWEN1]

An motion rig can never get anything close to the real thing but could be a nice feature anyway.

As an owner of OSW and TS-PC it's not about pure force, I limited that on my TM wheel as well. An DD wheel will have an wider range of FFB and can provide crisp (if you want) ffb and smooth movement in a way any belt driven wheel can't provide, regardless of brand.

It's like comparing an brake or throttle pedal with 8bit and 16bit resolution, you will be fast with both but if you used the better one there is no going back.

Together with the fanatec eco system and other item in the fanatec range I think this will be an attractive product for many.

I drive all sorts of diferent cars every day for a world wide rental car company, from the fiat 500 up to Lamborghini and I can tell you that a cheap Logitech G25/27 is enough to bring the feel of any of the real world steering motion. The common mistake people do is to try and transmit the feel of a car into the steering wheel. Its like trying to build a car specifically for a paraplegic so that he can feel everything on his hands. It just doesnt work that way guys

 

[WOKOWEN1]

#There is your answer, we are not all you

I am glad you admit

 

[Neil Farren]

#There is your answer, we are not all you

I am glad you admit

I admitted nothing. I've got a motion rig and I would suggest to anyone getting into sim racing to first get a decent ffb wheel, better than a crappy G25, before even thinking about getting a motion rig.

You also totally disregard that the vast majority will not have the space or want for a motion. For them a high quality ffb wheel is a much better solution than a very poor one like a G25.

 

[Khristian Gillespie]

I have seen her early reviews of fantanec products, like the V2.5 base review.

 

[Craig Dunkley]

Gosh, a direct drive wheel, can only be a dream for me eh, I doubt that I will ever have the readies for one.

Will be very interesting to see there price point ..my guess, just under what is already on the market, even if they could, I doubt that they would slash the current cost of one....to early for that eh.

 

[rollator]

what I would really love to see enthusiast-tier hardware companies like Fanatec doing is to start to officially support GNU/Linux users. Sadly only one game so far with the Dirt Rally port released in early 2017 (hey: just 2 years late!). Yet I have had partial success in running rFactor-1 and RBR through wine in the past until Kernel 3.16 arrived and I was no longer able to deactivate the on-by-default center-spring effect on my G25 due to some changes in how Debian handled write-permissions to device adresses... ...which marked the end of my experiments (those take time out of my day, too).

I mean: Fanatec they are asking serious money for what I believe to be a serious product. I would be much more enthusiastic about "investing" in a €1000..€1500 tier wheel if I knew the hardware was not "locked" to an operating-system that - going forward - is set out to respect the users' freedom and privacy even less than it ever has in the past.
2020 is apporaching fast - and with that the end of Win-7 support, so I would welcome any hardware-manufacturer to start catering to a broader audience and stop releasing tied-in, disposable-by-limited-support hardware!
AMD has finally released some genuinely useful graphics-drivers for the Linux platform, Nvidia's closed-source drivers are steadily praised as hassle-free and with open APIs like Vulkan getting more love, I think this could mark a good time to start getting your feet wet.

Currently on a T300, which proves to be a paper-weight when it comes to my productivity-platform of choice.

 

[snyperal]

what I would really love to see enthusiast-tier hardware companies like Fanatec doing is to start to officially support GNU/Linux users. Sadly only one game so far with the Dirt Rally port released in early 2017 (hey: just 2 years late!). Yet I have had partial success in running rFactor-1 and RBR through wine in the past until Kernel 3.16 arrived and I was no longer able to deactivate the on-by-default center-spring effect on my G25 due to some changes in how Debian handled write-permissions to device adresses... ...which marked the end of my experiments (those take time out of my day, too).

I mean: Fanatec they are asking serious money for what I believe to be a serious product. I would be much more enthusiastic about "investing" in a €1000..€1500 tier wheel if I knew the hardware was not "locked" to an operating-system that - going forward - is set out to respect the users' freedom and privacy even less than it ever has in the past.
2020 is apporaching fast - and with that the end of Win-7 support, so I would welcome any hardware-manufacturer to start catering to a broader audience and stop releasing tied-in, disposable-by-limited-support hardware!
AMD has finally released some genuinely useful graphics-drivers for the Linux platform, Nvidia's closed-source drivers are steadily praised as hassle-free and with open APIs like Vulkan getting more love, I think this could mark a good time to start getting your feet wet.

Currently on a T300, which proves to be a paper-weight when it comes to my productivity-platform of choice.

Just dual boot windows 10? You can still keep your secrets.

 

[Phaster89]

Fanatec moving into the, "no can afford" wheel area; for the average punter anyway.
I'll be sticking with my trouble free T500rs for now.

they're already there lol

 

[Sigmar Bomar]

I'm curious how many aliens, if any, use direct drive wheels?

Greger Huttu using DD Mige motor with Fanatec F1 rim and HE Pro pedals - you can see his setup in World's Fastest Gamer video about him. Funny enough they try to show as if he is using Logitech in some close-ups.
Martin Kronke using Bodnar (v2 I think) - Simpit interview.
There you go, 2 fastest F1 aliens.

 

[thewarmer]

Come on let us face it Fanatec are not going give an design secrets away hence the Auto styled camouflaged casing & all the electronics hidden away from the prying eyes of the likes of rivals . They are not the only main stream FFB wheel developers working on a off the shelf Direct Drive solution for Sim racing , Thrustmaster are also in the same market to & maybe even Logitech will finally step up there game instead of just reworking their old hardware.
For me Fanatec are out of my market already never mind with Direct drive wheels.
Though I would love to test one for sure.
Next year I must upgrade my PC first before I think of a knew wheel.

 

[Raikku]

If someone has enough money to buy motion rig, why on earth he would use some sub par-wheel in that system, like G25/G27 etc. That would be simply idiotic.

 

[WOKOWEN1]

If someone has enough money to buy motion rig, why on earth he would use some sub par-wheel in that system, like G25/G27 etc. That would be simply idiotic.

Just as idiotic as spending 1000 bucks on a steering wheel alone and imagining how the car would really feel in real life