Fanatec 911 Turbo Wheel - First Impressions

[Jakg]

Me, GP4Flo, Vykos, niels1, Primoz, teedot, Bash0r and KamkoR (thats all the people i know of, enlighten me if there are any more!) have been selected to beta test this wheel (we will get it before they go on sale).

Discussion of this wheel was already in this thread, but i wanted a better titled thread to put my pictures, videos and thoughts into.

To all you other beta testers - you are under NO NDA, you can post whatever you want about the product (good, bad, pics, videos) anywhere. In fact you are ENCOURAGED to do so.

I should have the wheel next week, however the lucky Germans will probably get theirs first.

As each person posts a small "summary" of it i'll link to that post in this post.

[thisnameistaken]

Reserved for making glib remarks in a week's time.

We should start all forum threads a week before anything actually happens, give everybody time to really gear up for them.

Edit: It has been over a week and so far nobody has seen the Fanny Tech Pork Turdo Wheel. This thread may become more useful in a few more days' time.

[JEP]

Waiting to the pics and the video !

I"ll post it on LFSIL ,


Jenia .

[Jakg]

Feel free Kev, lets see what crazy ideas you can come up with :P

[kamkorPL]

Good idea about reserving a post. Will be nice if people can just enter a thread and see reviews and not lots of review comments inbeetwen.

I will be testing the wheel mostly in LFS, RBR and rFactor in as heavy situations as I can get. Lots of rallying, lots of drifting, lots of heavy impact on wheel. I hope I can make videos too.

[Dajmin]

Well bah. If only I was in on this - I'm currently wheel-less since my R440 packed in. I keep bidding on DFPs on ebay but no joy so far.

Looking forward to reading the reviews

[baSh0r]

everybody was selected as beta tester, who wrote a mail to them, included me

[anttt69]

Originally Posted by thisnameistaken

We should start all forum threads a week before anything actually happens, give everybody time to really gear up for them.

lol .

[Dajmin]

Well since I'd never even heard of the thing until this thread, I think I have an excuse for not being invited. I guess that'll teach me to ignore the hardware subforums.

[St4Lk3R]

Reserved for whatever my opinion on your later reviews is.

Originally Posted by thisnameistaken

We should start all forum threads a week before anything actually happens, give everybody time to really gear up for them.

signed. Lets stop the darn avatar month thingy for a time and make February the

MONTH OF RESERVED POSTS!

[Vykos69]

Originally Posted by baSh0r

everybody was selected as beta tester, who wrote a mail to them, included me

err no. They selected several, but not all.

[niels1]

Reserved for some review. I will give it a go. Wanna see whats it capable off. Maybe even a vid. Just have to look for a good quality camera.

RESERVED SPACE

[geeman1]

Interesting.

[sgt.flippy]

Make a post to subscribe to a thread month?

[teedot]

Reserving this space for a review.

Getting my wheel next week Cant wait to try this bad boy out!

[ajp71]

Originally Posted by Jakg

Discussion of this wheel was already in this thread, but i wanted a better titled thread to put my pictures, videos and thoughts into.

It should be titled 'Fanatec 911 Turbo wheel: Test' so maybe a mod could rename it? Did you actually read the agreement?

[Jakg]

Yes i've read the agreement, actually (it's a first!)

Wheel was originally gonna be called the "Fanatec 911 Turbo S Wheel" if you wanna get technical, but it wasn't because the 911 Turbo S wont be out before the launch of the new wheel.

</useless Trivia>

[sosna]

great news guys,cant wait for ur reviews


kamkorPL drift the wheel apart!lol!

[Gabkicks]

Not my 1st impressions, but someone's from www.gtplanet.net

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dWjLRhd8w0

[baSh0r]

Originally Posted by Vykos69

err no. They selected several, but not all.

all was ment as almost everybody, this is no normal "selection" like i know. They selected much more people then usual

[Luke.S]

Reserved for telling how rubbish it is against my g25 even though i haven't become a beta tester.



RESERVED FOR LUKE

[Luke.S]

Sry for double post the other is reserved for my rant.

R u getting it for free?

if so u are a lucky sod and do u get to keep it after if it is free?

My G25 is better!!

Useless post above but it probebly is.

[mcintyrej]

My comment on youtube that was too large to fit:

Biased review to be honest.

You didn't setup the control's properly in LFS at all and i could actually see the Fanetec pedal's lagging. The logitech G25 doesn't feel like a toy, also the shifter doesn't have as much resistance? Do you want to be having to slam your shifter into gear? The G25 shifter allows for a smooth change. The shifter on the fanetec shifter is on the right hand side? If you can't remove that and switch it over, looks like they have no market for the UK and europe.

The G25 is a far better wheel, Its an enthusiast wheel for people racing on simulators such as LFS and GTR2.

The Fanatec is for people who play arcade games and belive that manufacturer marketing makes the wheel better. You said the G25 looked and felt like the toy compared to the Fanatec, I think its the other way around.

[mikey_G]

I agree, that was 1 bad review tbh. All that I saw was g25 bashing and fanatac praising for useless features like wireless pedals and an attached gearshifter.

And did he really say the g25 pedals were too close to eachother?


and no, i'm not a g25 fanboy

[ajp71]

You didn't setup the control's properly in LFS at all and i could actually see the Fanetec pedal's lagging. The logitech G25 doesn't feel like a toy,

The G25s I saw at Autosport looked cheap and tacky typical Logitech, stacks better than the previous plastic wheels sure but nothing compared to a real wheel, which there's no reason (other than being cheap) that they couldn't use on the G25. I wouldn't choose a G25 over my Frex and I doubt I'm going to decide to buy the 911 wheel even at the discount price. The idea of something chunkier will be interesting, not really going to be practical all round though is it for single seaters and so on? I don't like the idea of a leather wheel seeing as you'd never choose to have one in a real racing car (another dislike about the G25). That review wasn't helpful other than to show the relative size of different bits really clearly the guy was clueless.

also the shifter doesn't have as much resistance? Do you want to be having to slam your shifter into gear? The G25 shifter allows for a smooth change.

I don't have a G25 but in fairness there have been a lot of complaints about the G25 shifter being the weak link. The 911 wheel's shifter did look very plasticy and not at all impressive though. I'm not sure how sturdy the shifter will be on those aluminum supports, I'd have gone for a separate clamp myself. As for the positioning of the shifter I don't really see a problem seeing as if you really can't cope with the concept of the shifter on the right you may as well give up any desire to drive any racing car short of a BRM, even the RHD sports racing cars usually had the shifter on the right.

[srdsprinter]

Hmm... why go for the Turbo edition, when you know there will always be a GT3 GT2 version out in a year or so?

[ajp71]

Originally Posted by srdsprinter

Hmm... why go for the Turbo edition, when you know there will always be a GT3 GT2 version out in a year or so?

Actually according to the FAQ this is the top of the range model and there's a strong hint there that there'll be other wheels based on other models for less later

[JEP]

The shifter of the 911 Fanatec look's like a toy ..

[Kegetys]

Seems like it has some nice features over the G25 like, if I understood right, a programmable LCD (I'd like to play around with some outgauge apps for that :P) but overall doesn't seem anything special... Difficult to know much from that crappy "review" though. Either way it is unlikely I would be buying one personally as I already have the G25.

[mcintyrej]

Kegetys summed it up right there. I think the only thing that will topple the G25 overall will be the FREX wheel, which is still in development. But who knows how much that will cost?