The sensational low cost DD has arrived! DD 0.5
Thomas Jackermeier
Member
Millions of you asked for this product and we listened! A direct-drive wheel base with near-Podium performance at the price of an entry level wheel base!
We gave this almost impossible task to our brilliant engineers and their solution was ingenious: cut our DD1 in half! Everything will be smaller, even the giftbox and the driver software.
And while we were at it, we even integrated the super-innovative FluxBarrier™ technology. I can’t really explain what it does but it is sensationally good… as if it came straight from the future.
Of course we needed to save weight to reduce the shipping costs so we made the internals from carbon fibre, another innovation for sim racing and indeed electric motors in general.
The result is our brand new DD 0.5, available for €/$ 349.95!
This product combines the latest technology at a low cost, something we could only achieve by producing it completely with robots and selling it with chatbots. Even this text was generated by our new blogbot.
Watch out for more details soon.
Your Tombot
- How do you like our new DD 0.5?52 votes
- THIS is exactly what I was waiting for. Take my Bitcoins!53.85%
- You must be joking. This sounds too good to be true46.15%
Comments
Fantastic work
More details about the product would be apriciated. Torque, compatibility (ps4/5, pc, Xbox). When it will be availible for sale and if it possible to test the product.
What a gamechanger! Must I feel bad now for buying a V2.5 last Black Friday? Haha
Edit: Nevermind
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Happy April Fools day!
Although, I would admit that this would be pretty neat to see in person if this were a joke post.
FluxBarrier? Like we say Flux Capacitor? 😉
Happy April fools Thomas. 🤣
I'm looking forward to the announcement in 2nd of April.
Worst April's fool i have seen today. A better one would have been,
We fixed al our open issues with the drivers / firmware on our DD wheelbases and now after 1.5 year you finally can fully enjoy your DD1/2's ITM features and the display is usable instead of giving unwanted jolts during use.We all know that would have been a joke also but at least it would be a bit more plausible than the DD 0.5 . Only the phrase "half the driver software" wasn't a joke... that's already something they accomplished with the current DD1/2 drivers and firmware.
How about you fix your current lineup? :/ My CSW 2.5 has loss in FFB after 40 minutes of drive. No money back offered, only that you take it in at test it for 10-14 days. Like it should work from day 1. (Yes I know this is an Aprils Fools joke, but my CSW 2.5 also feels like one right now)
Wow... wonderfull work (with photoshop) 😅
It's hard to see from this angle, but the base has integrated inverted Clubsport v4 pedals on the back. They are tiny, so pretty hard to see. And of course hard to reach, but hey...
Also holds a new, transparent steering wheel to better see the display on the base through it.
Bad April 1st joke.
People are already frustrated that Fanatec items are out of stock, yet here they are posting stupid stuff about fake new products.
Fanatec, you can't even maintain your current inventory.
The real joke is that half of their items is out of stock. That their procurement / forecasting and supply chain is laughable.
Here's something that is not a joke...I'm done trying to buy Fanatec grear.
A display that actually works instead of the one on the DD1 / 2 that comes with the nice jolts as a side effect when you use it?
The whole driver / firmware part for the DD1 / 2 and the quality control / testing before stuff get's released is a joke tho. Still no time path on how and when those issues that are out there for almost 1.5 year are going to be fixed.
And you know what the worst part is... it's not a joke, not even a bad one but hard reality for customers who payed for premium hardware that get's crippled by it's own software.
And when you finally get it it doesn't work.
You joke, but I bet a DD0 with ~6nm peak and a 500-600 price range would sell like hot cakes.
April April, well done Fanatec 😜👍️
I guess the FluxBarrier™ is powered with garbage? Finally, I don't have to run to the bin everytime and save the environment too. Great job guys!
My favorite part of the DD 0.5 are all the salty posts. Thanks for making my day Tombot.
You must have forgotten we have been in the midst of a severe global pandemic for the last year. Supply chains were halted worldwide while simultaneously the demand for sim racing hardware expanded exponentially. Given the situation, Fanatec has actually done a pretty good job in that aspect of things.
When it comes to Fanatec's Quality Control and Drivers implementation I will agree that they don't leave much to be admired in this arena. Fanatec actually has pretty good quality in most places but the problem is they consistently either overlook or ignore glaring issues on almost every product - a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. It's still beyond me how they can spend months working on the design of something, have 95% of it dialed in, and yet still consistently overlook at least one fairly major thing, THAT IS EASILY FIXABLE, on every single one of their products (the notorious Fanatec Fatal Flaws). Something that pretty much every reviewer and customer discovers in the first 5 mins yet the designers at Fanatec (who are literally professionals at this) cannot seem to. Most recently the extreme flex on the CSL Unv hub's shifters. It's like did anybody who actually sim races even try this before release? Just increase the cost by $5-$10 and manufacture it with shifters that have less flex. I guarantee you almost every person who buys it would prefer to pay a bit more for stiff shifters and I know they are losing a lot of sales due to people avoiding its flexy shifters. The tactile feedback of the shifters is one of the things that contributes the most to a positive experience on a sim rim.
It would be one thing if it was just this hub but literally, almost every one of their products has their signature Fanatec Fatal Flaw that could have been easily avoidable with proper testing (Formula V2 - it's pointless thumb encoders and awful stock shifters, Podium shifters - 2mm carbon that flexed and snapped, CSL Elite - weak USB and power ports that snap off the cb, DD1/DD2 - flex/drivers issues, Porsche 918 RSR - rim often snapped, Mclaren V1 - shifter issues, etc.) I could go on and on but I won't. The point is with proper testing Fanatec should be able to catch and fix most of these things with a fairly small marginal cost. Once Fanatec gets over their fatal flaw issues I think they can justify the prices they are charging.
Drivers... at this point Fanatec needs to outsource this to a company that knows what they are doing or bring an experienced person/team in-house to do it. Whatever they have been doing for the last year and a half obviously isn't working. I am kind of puzzled as to why they haven't yet but I imagine they've wasted a lot of hours of labor trying to get it right, lost a lot of DD1/DD2 sales, and customers to other hardware ecosystems in the 1.5 years they have been trying to learn it themselves. I know I have personally held off on buying a DD1 for almost a year now and have looked into other ecosystems solely because of DD! driver issues. Fanatec could have saved a lot of costs and gained a lot of sales just by hiring an experienced team from the start. Hindsight is 20/20 but the bottom line is that their DD competitors have somehow managed to make much better drivers, in less time, and with a fraction of their resources.
All that said, Fanatec does a lot right and there is no question they have pushed the industry forward more than any other manufacturer in the industry. Sure they are not perfect but that doesn't mean they can't make a joke on April Fools Day. Have a little fun. I personally am looking forward to all the new stuff Fanatec has in the pipeline. Cheers!
Yes i thought first that this is april fools joke but i think the idea by creating a lower Tourqe DD isnt a bad think . My maximum price that i ll spend on a new new wheelbase is under 1000€ lets say 700 bugs . I dont need 20nm FFB , i am happy with my CSW.2.5 but i think the fast reaction time on a dd motor is a step further . Thomas you should consider this in the new product road map
Uff, so salty some comments here... can't even take the joke.
Maybe that should make them think about how to serve customers who paid quite a bit of money and the current state their premium products are regarding to software development and the quality control of it because that’s currently the biggest joke.
You can call it salty but it’s hard reality that Fanatec isn’t able to solve issues that are open on their podium wheelbases for more than a year!
Yes, as you seem to say every time you post something. Still, it was a joke.....on April Fools Day.....not really out of left field for social media.
Ask replacement, sell it and go to another brand that you believe that they don't have a problem (trust me you will be surprised there as well)... Each and every post you are complaining about the same. Yeah we got it. Fanatec is shit, without QC for the amount of money you spent... Now either accept it that they are trying to deal with it anyway they can or just move along.... It is getting worse than the joke on April Fools Day.
Jeeeez some people.
Ask a replacement? For what? Every single DD1 and DD2 has this issue, no matter if it was the first unit that came of the belt or the one that came of yesterday... they all have it. It’s a software issue so no matter how many times they will exchange it the issue will resist as long as they don’t come up with a proper software solution for it.
And why should customers accept that they get a product that doesn’t work as advertised?
And I already have another wheelbase besides the DD2, the SC2 sport and yes nothing is perfect but at least Granite isn’t letting it’s customers left out in the dark with software issues that are as old as their wheelbases are.
So please explain why customers should accept the fact that an issue (and is a known issue for almost 1.5 year) that is crippling the behaviour of the wheelbase when you want to use the full functionality as advertised on the product page?
Besides that, I already invested a lot of money in the eco system, and I’m overall happy with (because I still find the DD2 an masterpiece of engineering when it comes to the hardware) the eco system but it would be nice if Fanatec came up with a time path and kept users updated about the progress they are making solving those open issues because at the moment nobody knows IF they are working on it, IF it is going to be resolved AND when they expect it to be resolved.
So besides helping other people out here on the forums I also take the opportunity once in a while to remind Fanatec of the things that need to be resolved since Podium wheelbase owners paid a lot of money for the premium product Fanatec claims to deliver on their product page.
Jeeez some people ;)
again, can't even take a small joke on April's 1st. If you're so unhappy with Fanatec please just sell your stuff...
once in a while? see my above post. Just sell it and let go.
Euhmmm how about nope. Why should i sell stuff and take a loss on it when selling it just because Fanatec isn’t capable of solving the issues on their premium products and isn’t delivering the the product as advertised on the product page.
Again give me one good reason. But if Fanatec is willing to take it back based on non conformity and just refund the full amount paid for the DD2 they can contact me, i already had this conversation a few times with some Fanatec employees a while back and it remained dead silent.
So instead I’ll just stick around and keep reminding them once in a while that they have some open issues on their backlog that are open for a very long time and some transparency and / or a time path on how these issues are going to be fixed would be a welcome change. Not only for myself but also for some other users who have mentioned these issues on a regular base and future customers who are considering a DD1 / DD2.