Blog

Benjamín Navalon González

The day has finally come.

I am happy to tell you that we started to ship the first Podium Wheel Bases today to our customers. We started with the Podium Racing Wheel but DD1 and DD2 will follow soon so we will deliver all pre-orders of the first batch on or before April 30th, as promised.

Here is the first unboxing video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ohOYdqAgGA

The additional software package is not final yet but we will make it available by the end of the month as well. Driver and firmware are ready of course so you can immediately use it. Only the stand alone version of the Podium Advanced Paddle Module does not make it in time as we had to postpone the shipping date to mid June due to a production shortage.

I can't wait to see the first customer reviews and impressions. We worked many years and we never invested so much money into anything in the history of Endor / Fanatec so I really hope we made it right and you like it. Let me know once you receive your Podium Direct Drive Wheel Base.

Richie Ryan

Let’s talk about data safety. We have discovered a potential safety leak on our website which could have theoretically been used by an attacker to obtain some customer data, including names, addresses, and passwords. Payment and credit card details were never in danger.

Popular websites like Fanatec.com are the target of hacker attacks every week, and usually they fail on our firewalls; in this case we cannot 100% guarantee that all attempts were unsuccessful. If we found the leak someone else might have found it as well.

There is no evidence that any data was stolen but due to the new data protection laws in Europe we want to be extra cautious and therefore are implementing a mandatory password reset.

Here is the direct link to do so:

Of course we are now working hard to improve the security on our website. The new website with a state-of-the-art shop system will be launched in April/May.

If you also want to improve your personal data safety, I would personally like to recommend a database for your passwords (Password Manager) which is convenient and 100% safe. I’ve used it for 2 years and couldn’t live without it anymore. This is a great solution for passwords on the internet because it is safe and very convenient.

• Use an individual and very complex password for every website you need to log-in.

• No need to memorize dozens of different passwords.

• All the passwords and website links are available on all your devices and in one place.

• Use it for all your website log-ins, credit card details, banking details, passport data, etc.

• Super convenient because you only need to memorize ONE password, and you can even log-in with your fingerprint. Auto-fill of forms on websites is also supported.

• The passwords are not saved in the browser or cloud (which is NOT safe) but locally on a super encrypted and personal database file on your mobile phone, tablet, or PC.

• The tool is free of charge and from a non-profit organization which uses open-source code. Your personal password database is protected with the same algorithm which is used by the NSA.

If you like to do this, you need to install two things:

1. A data cloud service like Microsoft OneDrive (free)

2. The database tool KeePass (free)

First you install OneDrive (or similar) on all your mobile phones, PCs, and tablets. There is now a data folder which is synced to all your devices.

Then you install KeePass on all your devices and create a new password database. Store this database file in your OneDrive folder so it will be available on all your devices.

You can now access all your passwords with one single master password, or your fingerprint, and don’t need to worry that your 12345678 password is used by a hacker to log-in to your iRacing account then drives like a maniac in your name.

Jevon Gregory

I’m pleased to confirm that we are on track to ship the first batch of the Podium Series direct drive systems on April 30th. This includes all three systems: Podium Wheel Base DD1, Podium Wheel Base DD2, and Podium Racing Wheel F1® PS4™. All units already pre-ordered until now will ship on time.

Please note that due to high demand, we are very nearly sold out worldwide for this first batch. In fact, some variants are already sold out in some regions, for example the Podium Racing Wheel F1® PS4™ in Australia, and the Podium Wheel Base DD2 in Europe. So if you see the estimated availability date change on the product page, this isn’t because we are delayed, it’s because you’ve missed the first batch!

Production continues to ramp up and we are beginning to prepare the second batch, which will ship in June. Thank you for your patience; we’re really excited to get this remarkable technology into your hands.

Marcel de Groene

Good: We just started the shipment of the Formula V2 and therefore it is in time with the expected launch date

:-bd

Not so good: Due to the strong demand we just sold out and have to put this product on pre-order again.

:-q

Along with it comes a new driver / firmware package 328 which fixed several small issues as well as improving the force feedback on Xbox significantly.

Development still goes smoothly for the Podium DD. All remaining minor issues can be fixed by firmware so that we can ship in April as planned. Please put in your order in time so you can make sure your unit will ship in the first batch.

Ryan Reid

We get several inquiries about the compatibility of our steering wheels to other Direct Drive systems.

Fanatec is supporting open systems and we made our wheel bases, pedals, shifters and handbrakes compatible with other products as you can use them with USB together with any other brand.

We also allow and welcome the use of custom steering wheels on our wheel bases as long as there is no connection to our electronics and those wheels are using the Universal Hub or the upcoming Podium Wheel Adapter as a basis. This has several reasons:

Untested devices can damage your wheel base. The electronics as well as the mechanics.
Our products are fully certified (CE, FCC etc.) and this certification is only valid with original Fanatec equipment
Our license partners do not tolerate a connection of untested devices on their consoles

For the same reasons we do not allow the connection of one of our steering wheels to an adapter and use it on an untested non-Fanatec wheel base. You risk damage to your steering wheel and of course will lose the warranty.

Because it is hard for us to identify if a steering wheel was used on such an adapter we had to encrypt the communication between the wheel base and the steering wheel in order to prevent the wrong usage.

Our Podium DD has a special QR adapter on the base side which prevents any shaking and therefore damage. This is very important with the high forces of Direct Drive Wheels. Therefore I can only emphasize that you should use your Fanatec steering wheels only with Fanatec wheel bases in order to avoid damage.

We could probably make some more money by tolerating the use of our steering wheels on OSW but those customers could end up in a bad surprise with damaged products without warranty. Therefore please take the compatibility notes on our product description serious and use your Fanatec products only in the way they were designed.

Wendy Latka

Following another successful year of growth, Fanatec continues to expand quickly, and new positions have become available within the company as we look to build an even stronger team.

One of the key reasons why we can innovate and create great products is because our team has a passion for sim racing. This drive keeps the company full of fun and energy, and we want this culture to continue.

If you would like to turn your hobby into a career, please take a look at the jobs section of our site. We are looking for skilled and enthusiastic people to join the company, located in the beautiful Bavarian town of Landshut, expanding our R&D, marketing, and support departments.

Leave a comment and mention someone who wants to work with us; if we hire this person you will win a PODIUM Wheel Base DD1!

Please note: when sending in applications, it's important to mention who recommended you for the position. If the application is successful, the person who recommended you will receive a Podium Wheel Base DD1.

Only the first person who mentioned the name will get the reward. So hurry up!

fanatec.com/jobs

Monik Gadhvana

It’s a great pleasure for me to reveal one more product before 2018 comes to an end:

the ClubSport Steering Wheel Formula V2!

This incorporates all of the new features we introduced in the limited edition ClubSport Steering Wheel F1® 2018, in a more familiar shape. We’ve listened to your requests, and here it is: our first Formula-style wheel officially licensed for Xbox One and Windows 10. The Microsoft security chip inside the wheel means you can attach this product to any of our current wheel base lineup and enjoy full Xbox One compatibility.

The Formula V2 enters our product range permanently; it is not limited. This means that everyone has access to new features such as 12-way multi-position switches with rotary encoders, thumb encoders, rocker switches, multi-colour LEDs and so on. It’s also compatible with the Podium Advanced Paddle Module, which upgrades this wheel way beyond ClubSport spec.

You can control the amazing amount of 67 (!) different game functions with this steering wheel. This includes up to 4 additional analog axis and the new Multi Position switches which now can be operated in two modes. You can either use them to jump directly to a specific value or you use them as rotary encoder with endless rotation.

No need for any button box if you have this steering wheel.

This steering wheel will replace the Formula Carbon and will co-exist with the F1 Esports wheel whhich will replace the Formula Black.

The ClubSport Steering Wheel Formula V2 is available for pre-order today. Please check out the webshop product page for all the details.

Maurice Böschen

Now for some good news: I’m proud to reveal the full details of our Podium Racing Wheel F1® - Officially Licensed for PS4™!

The first ever direct drive system for PS4 completes the lineup of our three Podium Series Direct Drive systems, and this is my favourite!

Officially licensed by Formula 1™, the Podium Racing Wheel F1® is based on our DD1 technology, bringing unprecedented performance to the Sony platform. It is quite simply the most realistic force feedback system ever on a console, working seamlessly with all PS4™ and PS4™ Pro systems. Compatibility is tested and certified. It is fully backwards compatible to all titles supporting the CSL Elite Racing Wheel.

A new ClubSport Steering Wheel F1® PS4™ is included, an F1®-style wheel with a huge number of features and controls, including 12-way multi-position switches, thumb encoders, rocker switches, RGB RevLEDs and FlagLEDs. It uses the same technology and materials of the F1 2018 steering wheel and will not be offered separately at this point.

And we’re including the Podium Advanced Paddle Module, which provides two magnetic shifters that generate a solid, positive feel to every shift and two additional magnetic paddles for functions like DRS. Dual analogue clutch paddles allow F1®-style launch control by pre-defining the clutch bite point. Automotive grade quality, with real carbon fibre paddle plates, and an aluminium cage. You have to feel it!

The P APM is available for pre-order from today for 179,95 Euro/ USD and will launch together with the Podium Racing Wheel at the end of April. You can even upgrade your existing Universal Hub for Xbox One with it.

The Podium Racing Wheel F1® is available to pre-order for 1499,95 USD / Euro from today. Please check out the webshop for all the details.

Adam Baldwin

To all customers waiting for the Podium Wheel Base

I can imagine how much you’re looking forward to the release of this product. We’ve been working tirelessly to optimise and improve long term reliability, implementing many changes during the development phase. Until recently, it was looking very good that we could fulfill our estimated availability date in early December, but in final testing we discovered a serious issue which affects about 0.7% of the units produced so far.

We discussed if this really justifies a delay, but I made the painful decision to stop delivery. This product must be nothing less than flawless! In electronics design there’s always a chance that something can be missed, but if we are already aware of an issue, we cannot ship the unit. Not our flagship.

The problem requires thorough analysis, and we need to determine if we can rework the electronics of the units which were already produced or need to make new electronics. It is therefore important to adjust our realistic shipping date to the end of April. If we can begin shipments earlier, then we will do so, of course.

I’m sure you are just as disappointed as we are, but we want to keep you happy, and we want you to stay with us. Of course you are free to cancel your order now, but if you are willing to wait, we are offering a special gift as a gesture of appreciation.

All customers who pre-ordered the Podium Wheel Base DD1 or DD2 up to yesterday will receive a free steering wheel. It will be the new ClubSport Steering Wheel F1 2019 which is due to be released in May next year. It is very similar to the F1 2018 version we just released, but comes in a special and exciting new colour scheme. It is also a limited edition product, with a value of 349,95 USD / Euro

Rest assured that the Podium Series Wheel Bases will be well worth the wait.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

UPDATE

In case you have already ordered the F1 2018 steering wheel or you want a different steering wheel you can let our sales team know and we will send you a voucher for the same amount so you can use it on a different steering wheel.

UPDATE2

All Podium DD1, DD2 and racing Wheels which were supposed to be shipped on or before April 30th have left the warehouse. Thank you very much for your patience.

If you did not receive your base yet then make sure you are really on the first batch or that the product is still onthe way or in customs.

Luis Trapero

It is Christmas time again and independent of what you believe in or not I think everybody loves to receive little presents.

Instead of doing an auction again or a boring raffle we thought about a very special system for the Advents Calendar 2018 which gives all of you a fair chance to get your desired Fanatec product for free!

We will give away prices worth 35.000$ this year and this means every day one product per region.

Everyday at the same time, we will put a 100% discount code on a random product page and you will get this product for free (plus shipping).

You need to be fast to find the product we've assigned each day as only ONE customer can access the code. We give away almost 100 products in total and not everybody looks at the same page so you have a realistic chance to win.

And in case you win, you will receive another 10 discount vouchers so all your friends can also buy this product with 10% off.

Here are the rules:

The Advent Calendar starts December 1st 2018. The last code will appear on December 24th 2018.
24 different products will be featured in the Advent Calendar. (For each region different as well)
A 100% discount button will appear on a random product page.
The first person to press the button will receive an email with the code.
- This code is only valid for the product assigned with the button.
- Apply this code to your basket.
- The code is valid for 24 hours after receiving it.
A new code will go live each day at 19.00 local time (EU is CET, AU is AEDT, US is PST, JP is JST).
There can only be one winner (in every region) each day.
To complete the deal, the customer must add the product to the basket, enter the code during the checkout process, and pay the shipping costs for the item.
On top of that, the winner gets 10 vouchers. The 10% off vouchers provided in the winner’s confirmation email must be used within 24 hours of receipt and are only valid for the same product the sender received.

Tips:

Log-in or register at least 30 minutes before the code appears as the website can be slow
Open the product page of your favourite product and refresh the page at exactly 19.00

Good Luck!

Luna L

Here are our special offers this year. After a lot of people complained about the lack of PS4 deals we made sure that this

year we have offers for everybody.
And there will be a new product announced this year!

The offers will be available from Friday morning (German Time) until Monday. Exact times will not be announced on purpose.

We have moved to a new sever but could not get the new website online so website problems on Friday can occur. Please be patient. Thank you.

Let us know your favourite!

Gaetano Cammareri

I’m pleased to confirm that auctions for US and EU customers will commence next week! The auction for the Podium Wheel Base DD1 for Fanatec US customers begins *Tuesday 13th November, from 18:00 PST (21:00 EST)*.

This will be followed by the auction for Fanatec Europe, which begins *Thursday 15th November, from 19:00 CET (18:00 GMT)*.

As before, each unit starts at $1 (1€ for Fanatec Europe) with no reserve. Several Australians made a very good deal so expect that some lucky winners in Europe and USA as well.

*These are the only auction sessions we have planned for these two regions.*

There will no more auction in Australia and no auction in Japan. All DD1 units sold by auction (as well as the pre-ordered DD1) will have the bigger DD2 motor.

If you are a PS4 user you should wait for early December when we will release all details about the Podium Racing Wheel for PS4

Instructions:

- For those based in the relevant region wishing to participate, please create a Fanatec account in advance and log in.

- Once active, you’ll see an ‘Enter Auction Page’ button on the DD1 product page, which launches a secure bidding area hosted on Amazon’s servers, which has been thoroughly tested for stability. (Anyone can click this link to watch the bids in real-time.)

- Click to bid as many times as you wish. Each click automatically increases the price by a fixed increment of $10 (10€).

- After every new bid is placed, a 60-second timer will reset.

- If there are no new bids after the timer reaches zero, the auction ends, and the winner receives an email with details on how to complete the pre-order.

- The next auction begins immediately, starting at $1 (1€).

*Please note:*

*- There is an unlimited amount of auctions if the auction ends at $970 (970€) or higher (which is still below the regular price of $999.95 (999.95€).*

*- We will stop the auction sessions after 30 units (for US) and 45 units (for Europe) reach an end price below $970 (970€).*

*- You will be able to see the previous winning bid values.*

*- Any bids above the regular pre-order price are automatically invalid.*

*- If you win an auction, it is not possible to bid for another unit.*

Standard pre-orders for both the DD1 and DD2 wheel bases are already available in all regions; the auction system is a genuine opportunity for our customers to score a great pre-order price for this cutting-edge sim hardware.

Links to product pages:

Europe

USA

UPDATE 1

Here are some important tips and tricks for a succesfull bidding and how to get a cheap unit.

The longer you wait the lower the prices. In USA the prices got really low after 3 hours after the session started.
Be patient and don't click like crazy. Do not place a bid if the price is above your limit.
Do not place a bid if the counter shows above 30 seconds. You will only win after nobody is bidding for 60 seconds anyway.
Do not place a bid if the price is above the pre-order price. It just delays the auction session for everyone else and is therefore not only unreasonable but also unfair to other bidders. We can block you in such a case.
Watch how many units are left below the threshold. After 45 units in EU we will end the session.
Be patient and wait. You will have ONE MINUTE before the auction ends. If prices go up like crazy then there is no chance that your bid is succesfull anyway.
All pre-ordered or auctioned DD1 as well as the Podium Racing Wheel PS4 will get the DD2 motor
If you win an auction and cancel the pre-order you made, you will lose your delivery slot

Christophe Zwecker

At the Simracing Expo 2018 we were showing the new modular steering wheel system which is an eco-system with our eco-system.

Here is a brief introduction and some impressions about the expo:

Highlights:

The new Podium Wheel Adapter is the motorsport version of our universal hub and allows the connection of advanced button plates like the new Podium Button Plate.
You can also attach any non-Fanatec custom wheel to it and then use a USB cable just like on any other DD system.
The new Podium Advanced Paddle Module provides 4 magnetic paddles and two analog paddles. It can be mounted to the Podium Wheel Adapter as well as to the Universal Hub for Xbox (with full functionality) and future steering wheels of the Podium and ClubSport series
The QR is also exchangeable and upgradeable
We were also showing 4 new wheel rims at the expo. Two versions of the 911 CUP rim, the R300 which has the same shape but 30 cm diameter and the Alcantara version of our GT rim

Have you been at the Expo? What was your impression?

Danilo Alfio Longhitano

We had the 20th anniversary of Endor and combined it with a community event for the Podium DD wheel bases.

It was really a big pleasure to meet all these guys and we had an excelent time. Here is a summary of the various feedback we got:

https://www.facebook.com/RaceSpotTV/videos/279234972903030/

https://www.bsimracing.com/fanatec-podium-series-community-event-some-impressions/

German:

https://www.isar-tv.com/mediathek/kategorie/wirtschaft/video/communityevent-bei-fanatec-in-landshut/

https://forum.virtualracing.org/showthread.php/104725-FANATEC-DIRECT-DRIVE-infothread?p=2382425&viewfull=1#post2382425

https://forum.virtualracing.org/showthread.php/104725-FANATEC-DIRECT-DRIVE-infothread?p=2382476&viewfull=1#post2382476

https://germansimracing.de/artikel/das-fanatec-podium-direct-drive-event-und-unser-eindruck/

French:

Italian:

We will have the test bench at the Simracing Expo and I hope to see you at the Nürburgring this weekend!

Thorsten Rinkenberger

After reading some comments on the live stream we thought it was a good idea to make this video in order to explain some points in more depth.

This video summarises the unique benefits of the Podium DD Wheel Bases, announces pricing and explains the auction system. I will even show a new steering wheel which is in development.

We also decided to publish these torque graphs so you can see how our outrunner servo motors behave over time. Even the most expensive DD motors de-rate when they heat up as it is a physical law that heat increases resistance and therefore reduces power. But please consider that it is not typical in simracing that the motor is operated in full stall for 5 minutes or more.

In our realistic life test scenarios we reach only 60°C motor temperature if operated with 100% force feedback. But not everybody really wants to drive at 100%

P K

This is how the auction system for the DD1 will work.

Our intention was to create a system where everybody has a fair chance to make a good deal and to eliminate luck. We also want to avoid any technical problems and therefore the auctions are hosted on the Amazon webservers with much better performance of our current server. Side note: We are working on a complete new website and change our server host with it sometime later this year.

Our target is to start with the auctions on the 30th of July but only if it was tested carefully and runs stable. The exact timing and all parameters will be revealed later.

This is how it works:

The DD1 will be on pre-order before the first auction starts and will be available for regular pre-order the whole time. So you have the choice to place a regular pre-order or to take part in the auction system.
Every registered customer can place as many bids as he like per auction but is allowed to win only one auction. We want to avoid resellers.
The auction starts at 1 USD / Euro and every bid changes the auctionprice for a certain increment (e.g. +5,00)
With every bid a countdown is reset.
If nobody bids within the countdown, the auction is closed
After an auction is closed the next product will be put on auction automatically.
We will put as many products on auction until a certain amount (will be announced) of auctions reach a certain price of XXX (will be announced) which is below the regular pre-order price.
This will guarantee that a lot of customers will get the DD1 well below the pre-order price and it can go down as far as a couple of Dollars if there is no more demand. Naturally demand will go down the more we put on auction.
Auctions will be held in Europe, USA, Australia and Japan but not at the same time. Exact timing and dates will be announced here and on the auction page.
We currently plan only one event but if it is succesful then we might make more events in the pre-order phase.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

UPDATE 1
The auction system is still beeing tested. The auction will not start before 12.00 German Time. We will let you know more by that time.

UPDATE 2

The auction system is running but we need more time for testing. We have to avoid the problems we had during the Adventvalendar auctions and therefore we decided to postpone the auctions. I assume it will be postponed for two weeks but I will give you an exact date as soon as we have a reliable date.

UPDATE 3

So the first auction will start on Monday 20th of August at 20.00 AEST. It is limited to Australia only as we want to get familiar with the new auction system and we expect less traffic in this region.

We will put plenty of DD1 on auction and make sure that there will be several units sold below the RRP of 1599,90 AUD. Prices above the RRP make now sense and such auctions will be ended by us if the bidding goes above.

After a succesful first round we will announce the date for Europe, USA and Japan.

Please note that you must live in Australia and have an australian account on Fanatec.com in order to place a bid. But other regions can follow the auctions on the austrialian webpage of the DD1 .

There will be an auction button which you need to press in order to get to the auction page.

We will annouce the auction results here as well.

Perhaps we will do another round of auctions. We will not stop until we have sold at least 100 units well below the pre-order price.

UPDATE 4

We’re giving our Fanatec Australia customers a second opportunity to participate in an auction for the Podium Wheel Base DD1 on Tuesday 30th October, starting 21:00 AEDT. Other regions will follow, and we’ll make separate updates about that.

As before, each unit starts at 1 AUD with no reserve. This is for Australian customers only, but all regions can view the auctions in real-time.

Instructions:

- For those based in Australia wishing to participate, please create a Fanatec account in advance and log in.

- Once active, you’ll see an ‘Enter Auction Page’ button on the DD1 product page, which launches a secure bidding area hosted on Amazon’s servers, which has been thoroughly tested for stability. (Anyone can click this link to watch the bids in real-time.)

- Click to bid as many times as they wish. Each click automatically increases the price by a fixed increment of 10 AUD.

- After every new bid is placed, a 60-second timer will reset.

- If there are no new bids after the timer reaches zero, the auction ends, and the winner receives an email with details on how to complete the pre-order.

- The next auction begins immediately, starting at 1 AUD.

- There is an unlimited amount of auctions if the Auction ends at 1500 AUD or higher (which is still below the regular price of 1599,90 AUD).

- We will stop the auction event in Australia after 10 Auctions reached an end price below 1500 AUD.

Thomas Schuster

I would like to introduce you to Dom Brennan who works as a community manager for us now. He moved from the UK to Bavaria and is a simracer who knows what he is talking about.

Dom will also be active in this forum from now on and help you with answers. He is also building up a real forum with help section and guidelines how to set up your Fanatec product in a game.

This year we are celebrating 20 years of Endor/Fanatec. As we take any chance to make a party we will celebrate that on the 25th of August in Landshut.

Such a party would not be complete without our fans and customers.Therefore we would like to invite a couple of you to celebrate with us so it will be a community event.

We will put our old products on display as well as showing the latest Podium DD wheel bases. You can even compare them with its most important competitors both in a racing simulation as well as with test tools to measure torque, smoothness, acceleration, etc.

So who would like to come to Landshut?

Maurice Böschen

So finally it is time to release all information about our revolutionary Direct Drive Wheel Bases.

Here are the webshop descriptions of the products:

EU

https://www.fanatec.com/eu-en/wheel-bases/podium-wheel-base-dd2-eu.html

https://www.fanatec.com/eu-en/wheel-bases/podium-wheel-base-dd1-eu-1.html

https://www.fanatec.com/eu-en/racing-wheels/podium-racing-wheel-officially-licensed-for-ps4-eu.html

US

https://www.fanatec.com/us-en/wheel-bases/podium-wheel-base-dd2-usa.html

https://www.fanatec.com/us-en/wheel-bases/podium-wheel-base-dd1-usa.html

https://www.fanatec.com/us-en/racing-wheels/podium-racing-wheel-officially-licensed-for-ps4-usa.html

AUS

https://www.fanatec.com/au-en/wheel-bases/podium-wheel-base-dd2.html

https://www.fanatec.com/au-en/wheel-bases/podium-wheel-base-dd1-aus.html

https://www.fanatec.com/au-en/racing-wheels/podium-racing-wheel-officially-licensed-for-ps4-aus.html

J

https://www.fanatec.com/ja-en/wheel-bases/podium-wheel-base-dd2-1.html

https://www.fanatec.com/ja-en/wheel-bases/podium-wheel-base-dd1-japan.html

If there is some information missing, please let me know in the comments.

Pre-order of the DD2 start right away and the auctions for DD1 on July 30th.

And no, the 1 Euro/USD start price for the DD1 auctions were NOT a joke

Stephen Frith

Esports is getting more and more popular and while other game genres are already attracting millions of viewers, racing is a bit behind in popularity.

This will change now and one of the leading racing esports series will be Formula 1.

All participants of the F1 Esports finals will use Fanatec gear and we also get a massive presence with our simulators at the F1 races and Fan festivals. This agreement is for five seasons.

But of course we will also come up with licensed and official F1 branded steering wheels which will feature new technology and will be supported by the upcoming F1 games by Codemasters.

In parallel we also made an agreement with Codemasters and starting in 2018 you can expect attractive bundle deals of the F1 games with our products.

Oh and we will have some Paddock Club tickets available for our community.

Are you a fan of F1? What is your favourite race?

Antoine Goossens

Let me present our first stand-alone wheel base officially licensed for PS4: CSL Elite Wheel Base+

These features are exclusive among official licensed PS4 racing wheels and wheel bases:

Unmatched compatibility. It is the master of compatibility among all racing wheels on the market
Precision. The steering sensor mounted directly on the axis and not on the motor avoids all the negative influence of the belt drive on the precision
Silk smooth single belt drive system
1000Hz update rate with lowest latency of all PS4 wheels
Strongest servo motor on the PS4 (identical to the ClubSport Wheel Base V2.5)
Solid metal QR system
Integrated rev lights

This product is available and will ship right away! Please use our configurator to add all the peripherals you would like to add.

Paul Hartl

Massimiliano Pecora

We are about to release a new firmware for the Mclaren Steering Wheel which will feature a new Clutch Bite Point Mode.

Now you can finally launch your car like a F1 driver. SimRacingGirl will explain how to use it in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=au5IAe2WdxI

The McLaren is only the first wheel which will make use of this feature. There will be more steering wheels in the ClubSport and Podium series with this very useful function in the near future.

Rami Ahola

If you missed the pre-order opportunity for the CSL Elite Steering Wheel McLaren then here is your chance to place an regular order.

From today you can pre-order those steering wheels again and they will be available worldwide on June 6th for shipment.

I kindly invite all pre-order customers who already revceived their McLaren wheel to give me their impressions or reviews here in the comments.

Andrew Hake

PlayStation Announcement

With the March patch, GT Sport will add full native support of the Fanatec CSL Elite Racing Wheel. The ClubSport Shifter and even the ClubSport handbrake is supported as well if connected to the wheel base.

There is no more need to switch to compatibility mode and your Fanatec wheel will be shown in the options menu of the game.

Kazunori Yamauchi told me that the implementation is still not completely finished and they will continue to add features and better functionality in future updates.

I will meet with him very soon so please let me know how you like the implementation now and what improvements related to our wheels you would like to see. Please do not list any issues related to the overall force feedback system of the game.

It took a little bit longer than expected but we are building up a solid long term relationship with Polyphony and in the long run this you all will benefit from that.

UPDATE

As a lot of our community members are complaining about the understeer rattling effect, I would like to mention that this effect is not a bug but present with other wheels as well.

Please head over to GTplanet and participate in this poll so you can tell us your favourite choice.

My personal suggestion to PD will be to make this effect adjustable in the game options.

Dominic Brennan

I would like to give you a short update on some important topics.

CSL Elite Steering Wheel McLaren GT3

We had some last minute electrostatic issues on this product and we had to make some small design changes. This means that the shipping date will be postponed to late April.

All customers who pre-ordered the steering wheel will get an e-mail and they can also expect a nice compensation for this delay. All affected customers will get a free ClubSport quick release adapter or a coupon code if they already purchased one. Of course they can also cancel the pre-order at any time.

Podium Wheel Base

Talking about delays...

We are all waiting for this product to be released but we had to fight a lot of small issues. The pre-production is done and we are still making internal tests to verify the design and sort out some obvious issues.

Currently we select the beta testers and will get in contact with them shortly. The beta tests will start in late february and it is still planned to held a community event in our HQ where we will invite interested potential customers and direct drive specialists to help us fine tuning the wheel base.

At the moment we are aiming to start selling the DD wheel bases in summer.

Some good news as well. We managed to crank up the torque on both versions. We also successfully eliminated all torque ripple so you can expect the same smoothness as on your ClubSport Wheel bases which is on par with the very best DDs out there or even better.

Full Implementation of the CSL ELite Racing Wheel in GTS (blue mode)

I have received an update from Polyphony and got the confirmation that the wheel is already implemented in the code and that they are fine tuning it. Unfortunately I did not get any confirmation when this change will be patched to the game.

But it looks that this this should not stop you from going fast.

Richard Higgs

Happy new year everybody!

2018 will be an exciting year for us. Not only the long awaited Podium DD Wheel Bases will launch in the next months but much more good stuff is coming.

We will start this year with a competition to design a McLaren 650S GT3 and a Porsche 911 Cup livery in full Fanatec design.

The winning liveries will be featured in Raceroom Experience so that anybody can use them. The Porsche design will also be featured on the giftbox of one of our new products this year. And of course the winner of the McLaren livery will also get our new McLaren GT3 steering wheel with ClubSport QR and the winning designer of the Porsche artwork will get a surprise product as well.

Terms:

Competition ends on January 14th
Submit the livery of the McLaren 650S GT3 race car and /or the Porsche 911 Cup (2017 /2018) here in the comments of this post. Make sure you post several views but not more than 4 pictures / car
Fanatec logo and "F" signet can be downloaded in the download section. Please use either black on white or white on black.
A third coulour is allowed but you need to choose either ClubSport red (#B8161C / R=184, G=22, B=28) or Podium gold
You can use any game or program to create the artwork
By posting your artwork you agree that Endor or any other community member can copy and/or use this design.

All other users are welcome to let us know what designs you like the most.

Good luck!

UPDATE

The terms have changed

UPDATE 2

It was quite hard for us to choose the winners as there were so many really great liveries submitted. All of you made a great job!

But we had to pick just two winners and those were:

Fabien Tarakci

René-Yves Jean-Charles

Congratulations!

Roman Kruszewskki

To make waiting for Christmas a bit easier for you, we came up with our Advent Calendar which started today.

It is an advanced Auction system and the rules are created to give everybody a fair chance and at the same time to make sure that the winner ends up with a good deal.

As it is a new system we first launched it only in the US and EU. The first auction just finished and the winner just grabbed a ClubSport Racing Wheel BMW for 426,-€ instead of 849,90€. This is a discount of 50%!

Please make sure you read the instructions carefully because you only have ONE bid per day. Use it wisely. It is more about luck than having the biggest wallet.

Auction start and end times as well as the duration changes daily and it is different in both regions. If you do not want to destroy your F5 key then I recommend you subscribe to the auction newsletter.

Auctions are new to us so we want to learn how to improve it. Please tell us here in the comments what you like or how you want to improve it.

Good luck!

UPDATE

We decided to change the terms in order to make it more convenient for you.
Everyday the auction will start at the same time and will last for 2 hours.
We are still improving the performance so I hope it gets better everyday.

Monik Gadhvana

We already put it on pre-order and here is a short video aboutr the main features. We have put a lot of attention to details in this steering wheel.

Please participate in the survey and let me know what you like on it.

I will fly to to the factory next week in order to supervise the start of production. Can't wait

Lorenzo TMR

So it is Black Friday again. :-bd

This year we will have 4 offers and I hope this pleases existing customers as well as new ones. All offers will be revealed during this weekend and the sale starts on Nov 24th at 9.00 German time. As usual we will continue the sale until Monday or as long as supply lasts. There is enough inventory so that you do not have to be there at 9.00 but I would not recommend to wait until Monday if you want to be 100% sure to get one of those offers.

Offer 1 of 4:

ClubSport Pedals V3 inverted
Get the inverted pedals for the price of the regular ones! -40% !
$299.95
359,95€ (incl. VAT)
499.95AUD (incl. tax)
42,900JPY (incl. tax)

Offer 2 of 4:

ClubSport Steering Wheel Universal Hub for XBOX One
Get the Rim for FREE!
$299.95
349,95€ (incl. VAT)
499.95AUD (incl. tax)
43,900JPY (incl. tax)

Offer 3 of 4:

CSL Elite Wheel Starter Pack for XBOX One & PC
$299.95
299,95€ (incl. VAT)
399.95AUD (incl. tax)
39,000JPY (incl. tax)

Offer 4 of 4:

Our last offer is the new steering wheel which will be exclusively available for pre-order during the Black Friday Weekend.

Some people were dissapointed that there is no offer for PS4 users but this is actually not true as you can create your own PS4 bundle if you combine offer 1, 2 and/or 4 with the CSL Elite Racing wheel.

UPDATE

This was a painful and slow experience today and I would like to apologize for that. This Black Friday is much stronger than in the years before and in the first 8 hours we made about 16 times the turnover of a normal full day.

Please take your time as you will get your discount for sure, even if the product is out of stock. But we do have inventory.
You have plenty of time until Tuesday morning 9.00 CET and all pre-orders of the McLaren will be shipped on the same day anyway.

UPDATE2
The CSP V3i are sold out in USA and Japan now but we will keep the discounted price for pre-orders as promised.

Danilo Alfio Longhitano

So what is this?

Thorsten Rinkenberger

The CSL Elite Racing Wheel is the most compatible racing wheel out there. It works with all PS4 and PC games as well as all Xbox One games if you connect a Xbox One steering wheel to it.

Finding the right setting is easy but you need to know how to do it. Therefore I will give you some guidance how to tune your force feedback settings.

First of all you need to get the latest firmware. Please make sure that the wheel is in PC mode (red) if you open the game controller options to do the firmware update. It also works on an Apple PC if you install Windows on it.

Some games (e.g. Assetto Corsa, WRC 7) also require that you first configure the game with the Dualshock controller and choose a wheel in the controller options menu.

Selecting the right mode for PS4 is important. You need to do that before starting the game.
For most games you can use the blue mode. This list will tell you what games require the compatibility mode (purple).
For Dirt Rally, F1 2015 and Project Cars 1 I recommend to use the yellow mode. You need to press and hold the mode button for 10 seconds to go to yellow compatibility mode.

Please note that Project Cars 2 currently has a major bug in the support of our wheel so we recommend to use the purple mode until this is fixed. They are fully working on it.

Every new game will use the blue mode so it will get easier.

In game settings:
The most important is to avoid force feedback clipping. This means the game sends out signals which are to high for the motor to reproduce. You will lose fine signals from the road. If the ff is very active on straights but in corners you only feel the full power but no more details then you probably have clipping. Lower the ff strength in the game (not the wheel) to avoid clipping.

I also suggest to add some small dead zone on the pedal axis which will avoid that you accidentally press a pedal if your foot rests on it.

Tuning parameters on the wheel:

FEI Force Effects Intensity
Always start at 100% and if the effects are too sharp or there is a strong and noisy rattle which you do not like then turn it down to a lower value.

FF Force Feedback
Some games like GTS do not have the option to adjust overall force feedback strength. Therefore you can reduce the strength in wheel. Otherwise I would always suggest to keep this value at 100 and adjust the ff strength in game.

SPR Spring
Very few games use spring effects instead of force effects. This value controls the signal coming from the game. Keep it at 100 unless you notice dull force feedback because there is a permanent spring over all other force effects.

DPR Damper
This option controls only the damper effect signals coming from the game. It really makes sense to keep it at 100 unless an effect really annoys you. Usually a damper makes sense for example when the car is standing and you try to turn the wheel.

DRI Drift
The default is -5 but all values from -5 to 0 will add a damper over all other effects. A natural damper will avoid shaking on straights and also make the car feel more realistic but you might want to choose a higher value if you prefer a faster response from the wheel. Values above 0 will use motor power to artificially accelerate the steering wheel. Please note that this can cause the wheel to shake heavily if you release it. Those higher values are recommended for heavy steering wheels or for drifting in games.

And if you think that you screwed up all settings then simply make a reset by pressing the Tuning menu button for 10 seconds until you see "rst" on the display.

Please let me know if you want to know more or still need help.

Chris Gambera

Announcement:

"Some of you might have tried the demo version of GT Sport which is online as of today.
Unfortunately, at this time it is not possible to select the CSL Elite Racing Wheel in the GT Sport controller options menu. Therefore players can’t enjoy some of the wheels advanced features in the game, such as Force Feedback.
We apologize for any inconvenience caused, and are working hard with our engineers and partners with the aim of rectifying this for the games launch. We will continue to update you and appreciate your patience. "

UPDATE

GT Sport has been released and it works great with the Fanatec CSL Elite Racing Wheel. Due to time constraints, Polyphony was not yet able to fully implement our wheel in the controller options menu but you can enjoy full force feedback and support for the rev lights and the ClubSport Shifter if you install the latest firmware v335 (which is included in the driver v293) on your wheel.
This firmware has a revised compatibility mode which now adds compatibility to:

GT Sports
F1 2016
WRC6
DriveClub

Polyphony assured us that they will fully implement our wheel and that they are working on it. In the meantime you can already enjoy the game with the compatibility mode.

Please let us know your preferred Tuning settings for the new games.

Maurice Böschen

Finally! We got approval to start the pre-orders of the CSL Elite Racing Wheel in the USA and Canada and the first shipments are on the way as well.

CSL Elite Racing Wheel: $479.95
CSL Elite Starter Kit: $499.95

Jesus Gallegos

Introducing the new Fanatec Podium Series.

The Podium products will be our hardcore range of products and positioned above the ClubSport Series. Of course the compatibility throughout the whole product palette will remain.

We try to set new standards in terms of functionality, performance and durability combined with the typical Fanatec attributes plug&play comfort, compatibility and a great price performance.

We will show the first Podium product at the Simracing Expo: Our new direct drive wheel base

UPDATE

Some interviews:

https://www.facebook.com/Fanatec/videos/1492461347496523/

Thorsten Rinkenberger

I am quite proud of what my team has achieved together with our strong community in the past 20 years.

Fanatec invented the idea of an eco-system and nobody offers a bigger variety of high-end sim racing products than us.

We already have three product lines and will add another one very soon. Almost every component is compatible with each other and we managed to make the first and only true multi platorm licensed racing wheel.

Products like our ClubSport Pedals or the Formula rim became sim racing Icons and our community is growing every single day.

Please keep telling us what you want and we will make it happen.

Maurice Böschen

We are continuing to expand our range of CSL and CSL Elite steering wheels to make high-end performance better available for a broader group of sim racers.

Of Course it looks familiar to you as it is based on our popular P1 steering Wheel. But the Elite Version of the P1 Comes with the following improvements:

• The realistic sized steering wheel (Ø30cm/11,81") has a lightweight design of only approx. 970g which makes it the lightest steering wheel Fanatec currently offers.
• The design incorporates aluminum spokes, a fiber enforced back cover, as well as genuine Alcantara® with an eye-catching red cross-stitched seam.
• The newly designed durable shifter paddles utilize Snapdome™ technology and have an intensive and positive click feeling.
• The Xbox One® button caps can be exchanged easily to racing style button caps (included), with symbols that match the most popular functions needed during a race.

It is an Xbox One licensed product and just like our other licensed steering wheels it will work fine with the upcoming Xbox One X later this year.

Please check out our new "Xbox One Competition Pack" which combines the power of our V2.5 base and the fully metal CSL Elite pedals with this steering wheel for just 699,95 €

It is available for pre-order and will be delivered in early September.

Maurice Böschen

We have developed a new firmware and driver (v291) for the CSL Wheel Bases and we kindly ask you to test it and give us your feedback.

On one hand the CSL Elite Wheel Bases (CSL E WB, CSL E RW PS4) can reproduce high-dynamic force feedback effects as intense as sent by games/simulations. On the other hand some of you and some reviewers reported that these harsh effects can cause some mechanical noise within the new and extremely direct (single) belt drive system. Even if this behaviour does not harm the hardware in any way, in some situations the mechanical sounds of the wheel base might be perceived as being too loud, depending on your game and tuning menu settings.

To provide optimizations according to your personal preference we are introducing a new tuning menu parameter called 'FEI' ('Force Effect Intensity'), adjustable within the range of 000 - 010. The current default setting is 000 which is equal to the parameters in previous public released firmwares for both bases. Increasing the value for FEI means that the motor will decrease the attack impact, when FFB effects are leading to immediate direction changes. Higher FEI values softens up the intensity of harsh effects to reduce mechanical sounds and can even make them feel more natural.

We’re giving you full ability to tweak your wheel within the FEI scale to find your preferred sweet spot, or still enjoy the product even without using this new parameter.

Please tell us which FEI setting you would recommend to be our new default setting providing a perfect balance between effect intensity, feeling and noise. This should suit to the average customer out of box, not only the hardcore sim-racer. Please test it in as many simulations/games and platforms as possible.

If there is anything you want to let us know then please post it in a comment.

Changelog:

Driver changes:

• Included new CSL rim option "Disable CSL Steering Wheel RevStripe" in Property Page - Settings tab.

• Included new CSL E WB PS4 option "Allow CSW V2 Compatibility mode on PC" in Property Page - Settings tab.

• Various small improvements and bug-fixes

Firmware changes:

• New firmwares for CSL E WB and CSL E WB PS4 (CSL Elite PS4 Racing Wheel)

• “FEI” function has been added to tuning menu

• CSL P1 rev-stripe can be de-activated by the driver

There is no new firmware for other wheels, wheel bases, pedals or accessories included in this package but the driver still can be used for other devices as well.

Torbjørn Mundal

We are happy and proud that Fanatec is growing and growing and already became one of the pacemakers in sim racing.

Main reason for our great success story is a strong team of professionals which know exactly what to do in order to bring us to the next level.

We are now looking for three more team members and would love to recruit those among our strong community. Please check out the detailed job descriptions and contact us as described below.

If you know somebody which would be a good fit, please post his name below and ask her/him to contact us as descibed below. Only the frst member who mentions the name will get the reward so hurry up and check with your friends.

If we hire the person you recommended, you will get a free Direct Drive Wheel Base once it is available!

Position 1: Quality Manager

Endor is looking for an experienced Quality Manager for its worldwide operations. Multi-country Supply Chain Management is also an appreciated experience.

This individual will be responsible for extensive personal , written and programatic interaction with Endor's suppliers, on-site in Germany, China, the USA and some other countries.

Primary activities include enforcement of Quality Control Systems, defined in written form, with owners, managers, QC managers and workers in Endor's primary suppliers, both in person and by electronic communications.

Also included in the duties of the job:

Management of Endor's own QC team in China
Root-cause analysis of common quality errors
Manufacturing line inspections
Materials inspection
Leading continous improvement efforts in suppliers and in HQ offices
Problem solving
Observing and reporting activities in suppliers facilities back to HQ offices
Supplier relations
Writing, and teaching the writing, of Quality Standards and Methods
Design and implementation of QC procedures and HQ offices

Formal qualifications include:

4-5 years experience managing internal company quality control and document control
2-3 years experience interacting deeply with domestic or foreign manufactures, specifically in areas of quality control documentation
Team leadership in manufacturing and/or manufacturing QC experience
People skills
Superb ability to read and write German and English
Knowledge of Mandarin is a definite plus
Experience manufacturing in China is a plus
Experience with standard certification processes (ISO, BRC, etc.) is helpful, although we will not implement such a system

Travel is a significant part of the job. Total travel per year not less than 4-5 months.

Salary commensurate with experience. In case you are interested, contact us the way described at the very bottom of this blog post!

Position 2: PR Manager

In July 2016 we already looked for a PR Manager and also found somebody but we still need to expand in this area. If you already applied for this job in 2016 and you are still interested, please feel free to apply for this position again.

Responsibilities:

Manage press and community reviews and tests
Provide ideas from the community/press to the product development team
Helping to create, develop, and manage all proactive and reactive press opportunities (print and online)
Press release and newsletter writing and dissemination
International media outreach
Provide content (reviews) to the web and social media team

Requirements

Decent knowledge of sim racing equipment and racing simulations
Fluent spoken and written English with excellent grammar is mandatory. German or other languages are a plus
Strategic thinker, with excellent public relations skills, solid and cooperative media relationships, and knowledge of the evolving digital and social media fields
Should have strong writing and organizational skills, excellent people skills, plus the ability to always keep calm and proffessional.
Bachelor's degree is not required but a plus.
Two or more years’ experience in an agency or corporate environment

Position 3: Customer care / Technical support

Since German-speaking is a mandatory skill for this position the call for proposals is expressed in German:

Als stetig wachsendes Unternehmen suchen wir einen neuen motivierten, engagierten Mitarbeiter als Unterstützung im Bereich technischer Support, aber auch Qualitätssicherung und Entwicklung. Die Hauptkompetenz von Endor/Fanatec sind bekanntermaßen Projekte im Produktumfeld Spiele-Controller für PC und Konsolen (PS4, Xbox One) mit dem Hauptaugenmerk auf Sim-Racing-Hardware.

Wir bieten Ihnen ein interessantes Arbeitsumfeld mit vielseitigen Aufgabenbereichen als Teil eines hochmotivierten Teams an unserem Standort im Zentrum von Landshut.

Ihr Aufgabengebiet:

• Unterstützung und Entlastung des technischen Supports

• Sofortige Mitarbeit an konkreten Projekten in der Produktentwicklung

• Schnittstelle zwischen technischen und administrativen Abteilungen

• Übernahme diverser Aufgaben in unserer Werkstatt

Ihr Profil:

• Flüssiges Deutsch und Englisch in Schrift und Sprache ist Voraussetzung. Weitere Sprachkenntnisse in Französisch/Italienisch/Spanisch sind von Vorteil aber nicht notwendig

• Praktische Erfahrung in Sachen Hardware, Elektronik/Mechanik wünschenswert

• Belastbar, flexibel, teamfähig

• Gute EDV Kenntnisse: Erfahrungen mit PC-Hardware sowie Microsoft-Betriebssystemen und Spielekonsolen

• Handwerkliches Geschick sowie Basiskenntnisse Umgang mit Schraubenzieher, Kabeln und Steckern

• Erfahrungen mit PC- bzw. Konsolenspielen (vA. Rennspiele) sind hilfreich. Diesbezügliches Interesse wird vorausgesetzt.

Der primäre Arbeitsort wäre unsere Firmenzentrale im Zentrum von Landshut. Alternativ könnten konkrete Vorschläge bzgl. Fernarbeit, nach einer ausreichend intensiven Einarbeitungsphase, in Betracht gezogen werden.

Wenn Sie an dieser abwechslungsreichen Aufgabe interessiert sind, freuen wir uns über Ihre aussagekräftige, schriftliche Bewerbung. Bitte senden sie uns ihre vollständigen Bewerbungsunterlagen mit Angabe Ihrer Gehaltsvorstellung und Ihres frühestmöglichen Einstiegstermins wie im folgenden Absatz (Englisch) beschrieben:

To apply for those positions within our company please send your CV and other documents to [email protected]

Since there will be automatic filtering, please use the following subjects in your Email: “Quality Manager”, "PR Manager" or “Technical Support”.

Please notice that we will not be able to process incoming Emails which do have other subjects or which do not have the necessary document(s) attached.

Please do not forget to mention the first person who recommended you so that we can give him/her a new Fanatec DD.

Thank you very much for your time. I hope to welcome you very soon to our great team.

David Madden

It is an open secret that we are working on a Direct Drive wheel. I have posted in several forums and there are some bits of information here and there. It's time to open a single thread for this subject.

This post will be updated from time to time and the main purpose for us is to collect information of what you really want. Of course we already have nailed down several specs but there are still things we can change or add. So please tell us what your dream system looks like.

Models
We are developing more than one base. The main difference will be the maximum torque. The torque range is starting at a competitive level far above the CS WB V2.5 and ranges up to a level most of you will not be able to use for a long time.
It will not replace the CS WB V2.5 and we will keep this model as the best non-DD solution on the market.

The DD wheel bases are the first products of a complete series of hardcore products which are positioned above the ClubSport series. This series will include wheel bases, steering wheels, pedals, shifters and handbrakes in the (very) long run.

Plug&Play
The DD will be a typical plug&play product like other Fanatec wheel bases. All in one housing and no cable mess.

Certification

Like any other Fanatec product, the DD will be fully certified and lab tested. This will avoid EMI issues and other interference with your other devices. The DD uses a lot of power and huge magnets are involved so this is a very important point which is often not considered until you get a lot of mysterious issues and damages to your whole system.

Compatibility
PC for sure as this is the main market and there is no reason that it should not work on Xbox One. The first generation will not be compatible to PS4.
We have a great relationship with all racing game developers and you can be sure that there will be broad support for this wheel base. Our target is to set a new standard in simracing.

Motors:

We looked at the current motors on the market and there was nothing which really fulfilled our requirements. Those industrial motors were not designed for simracing. Steppers and hybrid steppers deliver a way too notchy feeling for a hardcore product, no matter how good you tweak the software. Also other servo motors are always a compromise. Therefore we developed complete custom servo motors where we decided about what speed, torque, size, power consumption, pricing etc. we need.

Steering Wheels

All the current ClubSport steering wheels will be compatible. We developed a new QR system on the base to handle the extra power but it will stay a quick release.
There will be no cable from the wheel to the base or to USB. The wheel will be able to rotate unlimited without the risk to snap off a cable or to disturb you while driving.

The CSL and CSL Elite steering wheels will be compatible as well but torque will be reduced if such a wheel is detected.

Software

Please let us know what kind of software your are expecting to get with the DD. What parameters do you want to adjust and how and where do you want to adjust these parameters. We are pretty flexible on this point.

Target Dates

Disclaimer

Dates are always a very sensitive subject. In principle you need to understand that the DD technology is not only new to us, our DD wheels are completely designed from scratch and a breakthrough for the whole industry. This involves some completely new technology which had to be invented and everything is customized. A lot of unknown factors are not good to give any solid time projections.

We simply cannot give you any guaranteed dates at this point. But at least you get some indication of our target dates.

Community event:

There will be a community event where we invite interested simracers to test and compare our new DD wheels directly to all other solutions on the market. Time and date is not defined yet but it will obviously be before the launch date. More news and how to apply for this test will be posted here.

Beta Test:

The external beta test will start after all internal tests are done. We will also make a separate announcement where you can apply to become a tester. We are interested in the opinion of current DD users and ultra hardcore users as well as people with analytic and structured thinking which are able to find remaining bugs and make suggestions for improvements.
Please make sure you already filled out this form.

First public appearance:

We plan to show this product at the Simracing Expo this year.

Launch date:

Q4 2017

Pricing

There will be a significant difference to the current wheel bases we have so there will be different performance levels at different price points. As the current CS WB V2.5 is still priced significantly lower than any other DD wheel on the market (please compare it with a full system incl. steering wheel with buttons) there is still room for us to make a very competitive offer.
Our new DD bases can compete in pricing as well as superior functionality and performance.

Oh and did I mention the beauty of them?

Hristo Goshev

The CSL Elite Racing Wheel - officially licensed for PS4™ is available in our webshop from today and it is the first Fanatec® racing wheel which is officially licensed by Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe (SIEE) for PlayStation®4.

In the press release we will talk about the specs and features but most of you already know our products well so let me tell you some inside information.

The Wheel Base

The base looks obviously very similar to our CSL Elite Wheel base, but there are some significant differences.

As this is an officially licensed product we added some electronics provided by Sony and this ensures that the racing wheel is properly recognized by the console
The motor driver electronics are completely different to the CSL Elite Wheel Base and the same as on the ClubSport Wheel Base V2.5.
The motor itseld and the power supply is also identical to the CS WB V2.5 but because of the diffferent gear ratio, this wheel base has less torque but more speed.

The Steering Wheel

The steering wheel of the CSL Elite Racing Wheel also looks familiar but we improved it significantly on several points over the existing CSL P1 Steering Wheel.

It now comes with perforated genuine leather and suede fabric with blue stitching.
The weight is now reduced to 970g which makes it the lightest steering wheel in our range. This increases acceleration and consumes less torque.
The shifter paddles have been re-designed and now include Snaptron® snapdomes. They deliver a sensational positive and strong click feeling.
The buttons are now interchangeable so you can use easy symbols to remember the mapping of your most important racing game functions.

Please note that the steering wheel will not be sold separately for now.

Compatibility

By working really closely with SIEE on the development of the CSL Elite Racing Wheel we have been able to integrate features that we know racing fans on the PS4 will be able to appreciate, including:

Fully supported within the PS4 console menu.
Enables advanced functionality with select upcoming compatible games, including GT Sport.
The CSL E RW is backwards compatible to all games which were compatible to the CS WB V2 with the help of a compatibility mode. It will work fine in the game but not in the system menu of the console.
Assetto Corsa and Dirt 4 are the first fully compatible titels and many more will follow. This includes F1 2017, Project Cars II and of course GT Sport.

Availability

At the moment the CSL Elite Racing Wheel is only available in Europe and Australia but we are exploring the possibility of expanding the availability into further markets.

The orders will be shipped right away.

We will also have a special introduction bundle which will be attractive especially to new customers. For just 519,95 € you get a complete set with CSL Elite Pedals.

More info and a video to be posted soon.

How do you like it?

UPDATE 1

We just signed the agreement with Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC about selling this wheel in the US. Now we need to make new packaging and produce products and get all of that apporved so we are still some time away from shipping it to customers in the US but we will get there.

We have also developed a new firmware which gets rid of the clunky noise in some games. It will be adjustable through a Tuning parameter and is currently under beta testing.

Joseph Gossen

But what is it?

Here we go

Dan Binder

The first reviews of our new ClubSport Wheel Base V2.5 are coming in and Shaun Cole gives a detailed overview about the product and it's new features:

If you have bought a V2.5 it would be great to share your opinion in the comments as well.

Kimmo Leppänen

A lot of customers asking us now if we will offer an upgrade kit for the CSP V2 or V3.

This picture shows all the parts we have changed or are new in comparison to the regular CSP V3. That means an upgrade kit would have to include all the red parts.
As you can see you would have to exchange almost the complete pedal and this is only if you have a V3. In case of a V2 or even V1 you would have to change almost everything.

This kit would not be cheap either and it will be very difficult to assemble. This increases the risk of potential damage a lot and if your V3 pedal is still under warranty and you buy such a kit then you would expect a proper warranty as well, right?

We might make an upgrade kit for the CSL Elite pedals in future if demand is high enough as this would be much easier but for the CSP there is absolutely no way to make it work properly and easy enough.

The CSP V3i are still the most affordable inverted pedals with loadcell and hydraulics on the market and I hope you like the addition in our portfolio.

Carl Cavers

In 2017 we will announce a couple of exciting products and this is the first.

The new ClubSport Pedals V3 inverted.

It was developed for our driving school simulator and while the floor mounted CSP V3 are more close to a pure race car, the modified sportscars in a GT series come with inverted pedals.

Unlike other solutions on the market, the CSP V3i will come with two hanging and one floor mounted pedal. Just like in a real car.

We are also using exactly the same ergonomics as in a sports car so they are not just inverted.

Here are the changes to the regular CSP V3:

Clutch and brake pedals inverted
More travel and different mechanics on the clutch
Comes with damper kit pre-installed on the brake
Longer heel rest
Wider distance in between the pedals

The rest of the features is the same as on the CSP V3. We decided to use the PU foam and damper instead of the Eladur springs as this will give you a more realistic travel and feel. If you like the ultra stiff feeling of a formula car then you can still purchase the optional brake performance kit for those pedals as well. The stiffest setting of the Default V3i is a little bit softer than the softest stick combination of the BPK.

The footprint is the same as on the V3 pedals so it should fit well into most cockpits.

A lot of customers keep asking us how they can invert their CSP V3 or V2 and if we can offer an upgrade kit. As it is quite complicated to assemble it we decided to develop a completely new product and there will be no conversion kit.

It took way too long to develop this product and I learned that nothing is as easy as it seems if you want to make it right.

The ClubSport Pedal V3 inverted are in the warehouse and ready to ship in the EU and USA/Canada. Australia and Japan will follow soon.

Greg Snell

We have now added comparison charts to our pedals, wheel bases, wheel rims and steering wheels so get a better and quick overview about the differences between our products.

You will find them on the product page in a new "comparison" tab.

We have also added more info about the pedal axis sensor resolution in the special notes of each pedal.

Is there any other info you are missing on our Website?

John Warrington

I have a meeting with the team of Turn 10 this week and we will discuss several things we could do together for their next title of Forza Motorsport.

If you would like to add something, please let me know. Please tell me any wheel/pedal/shifter related issues you have in FM6 and let us know what new features you would like to see supported in FM7.

Please do not list any other things as we will only discuss issues or features related to our products.

This is your chance to change something!

UPDATE

I had a very good meeting with them and I am happy to report that there is a good chance that a lot of things will change for the better in upcoming FM titles.

The PC market seems very important for them and they are aware that this market is dominated by wheel users. Therefore we will intensify our co-operation and get the best out of the games for wheel users.

I cannot confirm at this point what features can be implemented but the interest to do so is very high.

:-bd

Please continue to give me feedback and I will make sure that you will be heard.

Dominik Rother

Last Friday was one of those days why I love my job. :x

I was invited by Kunos and Porsche to drive a 911 around the Vallelunga race track and had some great discussions there.

Gamereactor made this interview with me:

Gregory Karydis

We were finally able to ship the Brake Performance Kit for our ClubSport Pedals V3.

It makes your pedals more stiff than the stiffest settings you can reach with your PU foams and also allow a different feeling as you can combine PU foam and Elastomer springs for some travel in the beginning and then super stiff resistance for braking. This emulates a race car brake like you find in F1 or LMP. you will brake using only muscle memory instead of memorizing the foot position and this can make you faster.

This kit is not there to replace the damper kit as the damper will add hydraulic feel to it. And it is also not designed to fix any issues some customers had with the smoothness of their V3 brake in the first batches. Those customers should contact support and get a free PU foam with better lubrication which will not need service.

The Brake Performance Kit contains 4 different types of elastomer springs and a small PU foam which will allow different spring settings. Green is harder than red and both colours come in two diameters and the bigger the diameter the stiffer the pedal.

Please note that there is a reason why we did not ship the CSP V3 with the BPK as standard equipment as you will see that the adjustment of the travel and stiffness cannot be made with the pre-load screw anymore.

Let us know how you like the feeling of your modified brake pedal and what colour combo you use.

Daniel Kerwosvski

It became tradition that Fanatec makes one sale per year and this is on Black Friday (25.11.2016).

We will not just one but three strong offers:
A
Porsche 918 steering wheel for your ClubSport or CSL Elite Wheel base
EU: 299,95 €
US: 299,95 $
AUS: 449,95 AUD
J: 34.900 JPY

B
CSL Elite Wheel Base + CSL P1 Steering Wheel + Assetto Corsa (Xbox One)
EU: 399,95 €
US: 399,95 $
AUS: 649,95 AUD
J: 39.900 JPY

C
ClubSport Handbrake + ClubSport USB Adapter
EU: 79,95 €
US: 79,95 $
AUS: 139,95 AUD
J: 11.900 JPY

Depending on product and region this means we give discounts of up to 48% on our top products. But keep in mind that the sale starts only on November 25th and will last until supply lasts. With this message we just want to inform you ahead of time what you can expect. There will not be any other offer.

How do you like our offers?

UPDATE

The sale starts on Friday at 9.00 CET in the morning

Barrett Birnbaum

I am very pleased to tell you that we are able to ship the new CSL Elite Wheel base and the CSL Elite pedals with and without load cell kit from today and that means well ahead of the original schedule.

All pre-orders up to this moment will be fullfiled but supply is still very short and won't last very long. You will receive your pre-ordered unit within the next two weeks regardless what region.

If you are one of the lucky owners, please let us know how you like your new gear.

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