GT DD Pro DOA?

Hi all, just received my GT DD Pro this morning (ordered last Friday, really pleased with how quickly it came to the UK!). Sadly it looks like the wheelbase is dead on arrival.

I got a Formula V2.5 wheel and the CSL pedals. Got it all plugged in and ready to go. Installed the driver stuff on my PC then tried to update the firmware and the firmware manager just freezes and after a while it says it encountered a problem and tells me to turn everything off, repair the driver install on my PC and try again. As with any error I've ever encountered, the suggestion never works. I've tried resetting everything, using a different USB port, updating with the wheel attached and detached, updating in PC mode, and PC Compat mode. I considered looking up how to do a manual firmware update but that gives you a warning saying it could brick the wheelbase if you don't do it properly so I've left that alone (although it looks like that barely matters right now).

So after having literally no luck with updating the firmware I figured it has at least SOME firmware installed on it, so it should work on the PS5. I was right, sort of. It turns on just fine, can change modes just fine and will send power to the wheel and even does a few rotations (very slowly - is that normal?) when first powered up. The cherry on the cake is that the Formula V2.5 wheel works absolutely flawlessly (aside from no haptic feedback, touch on that shortly) - all the buttons work as they're supposed to, the paddles work and everything gets the exact response I would expect in GT7 and F1 22. However, when attempting to drive literally anything there's no force applied to the wheel from the wheelbase it just glides smoothly. When you get control of the car it steers right as if the steering wheel is on hard lock. No matter how many rotations I make to the left it is unresponsive. It's weird because it's like everything is connected and working perfectly, aside from the actual steering part which is arguably rather important! Tried in both PS4/PS5 base mode, and compat mode.

Another weird thing is that I tried testing it on PC too, F1 22 again, and I got the exact same result (in both PC and PC compat modes). Only one slight difference when playing on PC - I got haptic feedback through the wheel (a feature of the Formula V2.5, not the wheelbase). That was such a tease because it felt so good! Not sure if the haptic feedback is even something that is supposed to work on PS5, if not I may switch to PC if I ever get this POS up and running...

Oh last thing, when plugged into the PC, in the Fanatec Control Panel you have the option to "test force feedback" and "center wheel", neither of those appear to do anything at all. No force feedback and no indication that once I've centered the wheel it's actually centered.

Has anyone here had any similar issues? Does it sound like my only option is RMA? Hopefully Fanatec actually agree to that if that's the case. I've no clue why they shouldn't but honestly I'm just feeling a tad unlucky right now!

Comments

  • First think I would try is completely deleting the driver package from your PC - then restart the PC and reinstall the latest Beta driver package from this forum - V443. Then try going through the update process again.

    If that doesn't work - contact support t see if they have any other ideas or if they suggest simply returning.

  • Thanks for the response!

    Tried what you said and I'm still getting the following error pop up after a minute of it saying "Please wait":

    Guess this is just the most expensive brick I own now lol. I've sent a support ticket and will cross my fingers Fanatec can help me resolve this remotely. I can't even begin to imagine how expensive it'll be to send this thing back from the UK!

  • You just bought it, so it's still covered by the warranty agreement. Should Fanatec be unable to assist you remotely, they are legally obliged to either replace or repair the unit, at their discretion.

    I can't say for certain about UK policies, but I know that in the US, for any returns/ repairs within the warranty period, Fanatec 100% covers the cost of shipping to and from the local repair facility (located in California, in my case).

  • Thanks, Gregg! That's good to know. Will update this thread when I've heard back from them. 7 day wait on these tickets at the moment.

    Properly sucks when this happens! Was so excited to try a direct drive wheel out but so far, my Logitech G29 is far superior lol!

  • Just updating this post so potential future users having similar issues can maybe find a solution.

    Fanatec support emailed me today very promptly, asking me to follow these steps to try reinstalling the firmware etc.:

    -Remove the steering wheel and disconnect everything from the wheel base, except the power and USB cable.

    -Reset the wheel base to the default settings according to the instructions. https://forum.fanatec.com/discussion/1758/symptom-fanatec-driver-does-not-install-uninstall-correctly

    -Turn off the wheel base and connect it to another USB port (do not turn on the wheel base yet).

    -Remove all the hidden Fanatec devices in the device manager according to the attached manual.

    -Disable ALL anti-virus software.

    -Look for Windows Update. If available, please install it.

    -Download driver V439 If you have already downloaded it, please download it again.

    https://fanatec.com/eu-de/driver

    -Install driver package V439 and restart your system.

    -Disable ALL anti-virus software once again.

    -Open the Fanatec Control Panel, make sure to enable the "manual firmware update" in the top right corner and perform all the updates in this order: Motor -> wheel base.

    -Do not attach the steering wheel yet, even if the software asks you to do so.

    -Only when the wheel base and the motor are updated manually, you can attach the steering wheel and update it.

    I completed all the steps but ran into the same issue, the firmware manager freezes every time I try to update the Motor firmware. I've sent them a video of my issue as they requested it - now waiting for further instruction.

  • Fanatec have now asked me to complete the above tasks 3 times in a row. The wheel base motor is clearly faulty and I feel like I'm being strung along. Every time they respond they offer the same response:


    Please make sure the wheel base is connected directly to your PC (Motherboard) without using any USB extensions or hubs and follow the instruction step by step (very important).

    -Remove the steering wheel and disconnect everything from the wheel base, except the power and usb cable.

    -Reset the wheel base to the default settings according to the instructions. https://forum.fanatec.com/discussion/1758/symptom-fanatec-driver-does-not-install-uninstall-correctly

    -Turn off the wheel base and connect it to another USB port (do not turn on the wheel base yet).

    -Remove all the hidden Fanatec devices in the device manager according to the attached manual.

    -Disable ALL anti-virus software.

    -Look for Windows Update. If available, please install it.

    -Download driver V439 If you have already downloaded it, please download it again.

    https://fanatec.com/eu-de/driver

    -Install driver package V439 and restart your system.

    -Disable ALL anti-virus software once again.

    -Open the Fanatec Control Panel, make sure to enable the "manual firmware update" in the top right corner and perform all the updates in this order: Motor -> wheel base.

    -Do not attach the steering wheel yet, even if the software asks you to do so.

    -Only when the wheel base and the motor are updated manually, you can attach the steering wheel and update it.

    I will be looking forward to hearing from your outcome!

    Have a nice day and take care! 


    This has not worked for me, I've told them it hasn't worked 3 times now. This is absolutely outrageous service I wish I'd never given this company a penny of my money.

  • Sorry to hear that, Matthew. Seems you can't throw a stone these days without hitting someone with a Fanatec Customer Service horror story to tell (myself included).

    It's really been the last 4 or 5 months when they really began going sharply downhill. My opinion is that this was mainly due to the large number of sales of their CSL products (namely, the CSL / GT DD Pro), and the, shall we say, sometimes "questionable" quality control and manufacturing processes/ tolerances employed in their production. This led to a huge number of CS requests, ticket response times swelled to well over 2 to 3 weeks in many cases... to the point where a couple of months ago, they decided to discontinue their Live Chat to focus on email requests... and their email inbox subsequently overflowed and CS was completely unreachable in any form for a number of days.

    I had heard a couple of more recent stories that maybe suggested Fanatec was starting to recover from their CS nightmare and could start rebuilding their battered reputation... but hearing stories like yours, Matthew, would suggest they still have a ways to go. All I can say is, best of luck. I hope things finally work out for you.

  • Crikey - I had no idea it was that bad. If I'd have known that I probably would have reconsidered spending over £1000 on equipment from them. I think it's looking like I may just have to swallow that. At the very least I can sell the wheel and pedals on ebay and recover some of the money lost. Who knows, maybe I can ask my bank to chargeback the funds as I'm not being reimbursed for a faulty product but I'll never see that hefty VAT bill back of almost £200. I'll give Fanatec a little bit more time to resolve this before I resort to such drastic measures though! I'm very much hoping they do resolve it but after the last few days they've not given me much to go on.

    Such a shame really, all I see is people on Youtube raving about their products but no one is being truthful about the situation as you have been.

    I'll update this thread as the situation evolves.

  • To be fair, I don't believe that Fanatec are trying to scam anyone, and I do believe they will eventually tend to you and get your situation sorted. The problem is that things like this have been happening with a disturbing amount of frequency, judging from these forums, reddit, etc. Of course there's the counter-argument that "you only hear from people who have problems, happy customers tend not to talk about their experience", which is true enough I suppose. But considering the fact that like I said, Fanatec at one point were compelled to disable their Live Chat support and resort to only email (which then quickly was overwhelmed)...that's a clear indication that either Fanatec QC practices are substandard, or at the very least, that their CS team is woefully unprepared and/or understaffed. In either case, the result is the same: frustrated customers and a damaged reputation.

  • I think I know how to fix your issue, for what you explained I believe the problem is that the shaft is loosen, if you see the shaft next to the wheelbase has a black ring tighten with an allen key bolt to it, you will have to loosen it as much as you can and firmily push the shaft into the wheelbase, the connection will be firmly done and the force feedback will start to work!

    I say this because i actually am looking into buying one and i saw almost every single video about the csl dd and gt even the troubles that comes with the bases and i saw some people habing the same problem, where the wheel would work and the force feedback wouldn't, even saw one guy that it happened to him in a middle of a race, where the wheel just stopped giving any force feedback whatsoever, the solution that they came up with was what i said above.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfDEkZYGCGQ

  • This is a good suggestion, as this is a VERY common problem (I've suffered from it myself on more than one occasion). I'm actually a bit embarrassed that I didn't think to mention it. Fanatec absolutely are aware of this problem, and whether this actually fixes Matthew's problem or not, I think it's pretty disappointing that this wasn't one of the first things that they recommended as a potential solution.

  • Thanks for the suggestion! Sadly I did look into that after checking out forums and youtube for advice, but my wheel base seems to have no gap at all in the drive shaft. I tried loosening the clamp and pushing the shaft into the wheel base a bit further but it was as far as it could go. That issue tends to cause wheels to become unresponsive too (i.e. buttons stop working) and all the buttons on my wheel work perfectly fine. Funnily enough, I went into F1 22 and mapped the steering to one of the joysticks on the Formula wheel and I could literally play the entire game like that. Very straight holding a wheel / rim and using a joystick on it to steer, but that shows the connection is made at least. So I still think it's a defect with the actual motor and it's unlikely there's anything I can do to fix it.

    Strange that Fanatec didn't think to mention this, especially as they have now claimed to have started the RMA process and I'm now waiting to hear back from a different department with information on shipping. Hopefully it's not too expensive as I have kids birthdays coming up 😂

    Totally agree with that - yes bad news travels faster than good news but it's clear to see that there is quite a sizeable chunk of said bad news! QC definitely seems to be the issue. They're probably just manufacturing a bunch of equipment and quality checking probably 10-20% of it. Sounds like they're getting too big for their boots and they should probably look in at increasing the size of their teams!

  • Update! Fanatec have opened an RMA for the device and have already booked it in for COLLECTION tomorrow! It's being sent to a UK repair centre too - totally unexpected and very welcomed as I was concerned about needing to send this back to Germany out of my own pocket so absolutely delighted with this outcome. Really looked like I wasn't getting anywhere with it yesterday but now thankfully it looks like Fanatec are getting it all sorted for me.

    Will update to hopefully conclude the situation soon!

  • Final update:

    The wheelbase was delivered back to a UK Fanatec repair centre on Friday 5th August quite late in the day. On Monday 8th the unit was fixed and sent back to me on Tuesday 9th morning. It arrived yesterday (11th) and as soon as it arrived I got it hooked up to my PC and updated it (using the current beta driver 443) without issue! Got it installed into my rig and it worked flawlessly! I've only had about an hour with it so far, busy week, but wow! It was well worth the wait and all the messing around with trying to get it fixed and then eventually going through the RMA process. Coming from a G29 to this was an absolutely colossal jump - one that I was not expecting, and I had high expectations!

    Also to add, it cost me literally nothing to send the wheelbase back. The collection and re-delivery was all arranged by Fanatec all I had to do was box the thing up and let them know when I was available to have it collected.

  • Glad you got it fixed. But there was never any risk of you having to pay return shipping as there are legal protections in place. Fanatec shipped you a faulty item. It never worked. It is their responsibility to fix or replace it. Disappointing that they delayed the return for so long. If they had immediately accepted the RMA the situation could have been resolved within a couple of days of you first posting instead of two weeks.

  • Did you ever get it figured out or did it need to be fixed by Fanatec. I have the same problem Had my wheel since Feb23

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