GT DD Pro vs CSL DD
Dave Lee
Member
Hi
Cosmetic differences and PS compatibility aside, is there any difference between the GT DD Pro and the CSL DD?
CSL DD seems to get good reviews but I'd like to have PS compatibility, so the GT DD Pro looks interesting.
That said, I've been reading on this forum about experiences people have had with reliability and poor support and I'm starting to get a little worried about investing in Fanatec gear at all. 😑
Granted, the GT/CSL is lower cost than their other stuff, but still quite an investment for a lot of people. It would be great if Fanatec could make some statement around expanding their support team, dealing with quality control etc, to give newcomers to the ecosystem a bit more confidence in the company/products.
Dave
Comments
My guess is that it's often a case of user error. People are either under or over tightening stuff, using old firmware or bad tuning menu settings, or they're leaning and pulling on the wheel when getting in and out of the rig.
Console people (GT DD) are in general less knowledgeable when it comes to technology than PC people (CSL DD) - maybe that's why we see more GT DD users complain. That could be one of many reasons.
Personally, after updating the firmware, learning how to use the tuning menu, tightening everything with a torque wrench, and taping the groove on the shaft to get a tighter connection, I couldn't be happier with my GT DD. If that's too much of a hassle, maybe consider something less complex, like a Logitech wheel (you'll need to clean the potentiometers though, which you don't need with hall sensors).
Just to add my experiences with the GT DD Pro. I'm a console user but I've had mine since the end of February, the load cell since mid March and recently purchased the McLaren GT3 V2 wheel. I've followed the manuals closely when it comes to installation, updated the drivers and have not had any issues.
I understand people have had problems for whatever reason but I don't regret my purchases and am very happy so far.
Thanks both. I'm happy enough to tweak stuff if necessary to get a good experience. I'd be less than happy waiting months for support to sort RMAs etc. It's good to hear a bit of balance and that you're enjoying your Fanatec stuff.
In my "cart" at the moment is the 8nm GT DD, LC pedals and McLaren v2 wheel, so looking at exactly the same kit as you Stephen. Good to hear all is well.
I'm interested to understand the differences between GT DD and CSL DD. Would I be compromising anything by having the PS compatibility?
Dave
the GT DD (PRO) is the bundle. the CSL DD is the stand alone wheelbase (thats pc/xbox). You want the CSL DD PRO - which is ps compatible.
Nothing is different between the DD and DD Pro - apart from the PS compatibily and looks.
I took delivery of my CSL DD back in late August. Ordered the McLaren v2 wheel along with it. Didn't need pedals as I have a set of Clubsport v1's that I bought way back in 2011 and are still working great.
Initially, everything was great. It wasn't until January or so when I started having problems. The wheel would become unresponsive, the buttons would randomly stop working, and similar annoyances. Tried some user-suggested fixes such as reseating and tightening the QR, which ultimately didn't help. Fanatec had me send back both the wheel and the base.
Three weeks later (two weeks to ship out and back, one for them to do whatever they wound up doing), and I got my stuff back. Literally 10 minutes into my session, I began experiencing the same issues I had before.
Got in touch with Fanatec (this was late January 2022... just before their customer service department had a complete meltdown), they notified me they had replaced the McLaren wheel, but sent me back the same CSL DD base. After some back and forth, I wound up going through the RMA process AGAIN... this time for just the base.
Another three week wait later (I had been without a working product for a good two months at this point) and I finally got it back and got everything set up again.
Since then, things have largely been ok. I've gone through some rather annoying EMI issues that I think I've managed to get under control with some help from the community here. Now, the question is, did EMI play a part in the issues I had from the beginning? Maybe. But remember that I had no problems with my setup for the first 4 or 5 months. Was it a case of user error and me manhandling my wheel, eventually pulling the QR shaft loose? Doubtful. I am very conscious to not push or pull on the wheel during use, as the wheel stand I use (one of those with a single, center pole) will tend to get loose at its base and the whole thing could collapse if I'm too rough with it. So I make very sure that I'm not gorilla fisting it...heck, I don't even like to rest the weight of my arms on the wheel when I use it because I worry that the extra pressure on the shaft might be bad for it. I think ultimately I just got unlucky and got products that were going to fail, regardless.
So that's been my experience. I'm pretty happy with my gear currently, but it's been a long bumpy road to get here. The thing you or anyone looking to get into the Fanatec ecosystem need to ask themselves is this: if I'm unlucky and do wind up needing customer support for whatever reason, am I ok with waiting weeks at a time or potentially longer before getting my issue resolved? Customer Service response times have been hovering around the 2-week mark for a few months now. There are some signs that they're recovering, but also consider that the 14-day return policy on most Fanatec gear will likely be up by the time they ever respond to you if you do wind up having an issue.
Fanatec are in the situation they're in as a result of their poor planning, poor crisis management, questionable quality control practices, and lack of transparency and forthrightness with their customers. The CSL/DD wheelbases were made to a price, and as such, Fanatec knew they had to cut corners and that failure/defect rates would be higher. They either sold way more units than they expected, or defect rates were way higher than expected, or both. Either way, their customer service has been completely overwhelmed since March or so.
They'll eventually get caught up with the backlog of requests, but it's worrying to me that things ever got this bad in the first place, and I'm honestly doubtful that whatever measures Fanatec may have taken (or are yet to take) will prevent something like this from happening again.
As I said, I'm currently happy with my Fanatec gear. But if I knew then what I know now, I'm not sure I'd make the same choice.
Hey Hugo. Thanks for sharing your experiences. Can you let me know how do you tape the groove on the shaft or share a photo?
There is no CSL DD PRO.
There is only a CSL DD and a GT DD PRO.
The GT DD PRO is available as a Bundle and as a standalone Base but even the standalone Base is still called a GT DD PRO.
The comment about console users being, in general, less knowledgeable than pc users is somewhat so “generic” that hurts, sorry 😊
A lot of pc users are just ‘users’ without any extra knowledge rather than the one needed to power on the pc itself and use it until it works.
And a lot of users had their units not working straight out of the box, and no matter what they do the unit remains unusable.
I do not agree with you, the company takes money for whoever is out there willing to buy their products, and the service has to be impeccable.
I buy a product.... and a service. 🤷♂️
Having said that, I had not a single issue with all my Fanatec gear in 5 years, this doesn’t mean that many others are struggling with issues and defective stuff and it’s not their own fault.
Have a nice evening! 😊
Ciao!
It's extremely simple and can't damage anything. You just make the connection a bit tighter.
Not my wheel below - just Googled.
Thanks very much man! Really appreciate the help and guidance!
It's sad that situation has gone so bad, at least in public discussaion. I'm still thinking if I a t some point will buy Fanatec DD or not. I have used CSW v1 and v2(still use this) so many years(10?) without any problems in those bases(or wheels, pedals etc etc), so would be quite unfortunate if straight after switching to DD's(CSL or Podium) there would be just problems after problems.
Fanatec really should shed some light to/about current situation, if increased public problems are just caused be hugely bigger sales amount etc. Or if there are manufacturing problems in China, they should just admit that and tell that they try to fix those problems.
My issue is the frequency of problems seemingly with the gt dd pro and the fact that you have stranded customers for 2 weeks and more……what does that mean? It means there is a larger volume of problems than fanatec expected and they cannot cope which means issues with qc at the manufacturing stage. Why can’t they be transparent and let us know about the problems….this is so arrogant and shows they don’t care in any way about their customers.
On top of that i openened my 3rd rma in 2 months. First replacement had exactly the same problem and worse than the first unit (aggressive grainy feedback) with latest drivers whether wheel is connected to ps5 or not. I’m a console user and find it offensive that someone posted we don’t know how to set stuff up or have user error. I have spent probably 20 hours trying to troubleshoot both units with highly technical steps before I’m now on my 2nd RMA and this time it seems they try to repair my unit by replacing the pcba. Problem is, countless people here had their pcba replaced and it didn’t solve this particular problem which is a known issue so now I’m more than nervous if this repair solved my problem. If it’s not solved I’m out of the fanatec system. They can have their stuff back and I will institute a chargeback with my cc company for non performance from their side. I have never ever experienced such poor support, I mean they can’t even get the basics right and solve a customers problems the first time around.
I will not go through this absolutely terrible support again especially since there would always be a chance I would need support further down the line.