Fanatec shifter with GT DD Pro
Martin Bloom
Member
Hi. Last week I received my Fanatec GT DD pro wheel from Fanatec direct. I then bought a Fanatec Shifter SQ ver 1.5 from Digital-Motorsport.com. The shifter box was unsealed and when I set it up and calibrated it on my laptop, 1st gear thinks it’s reverse so I have reverse, reverse again then 2-7 gears. Eventually after 2 days and countless calibrations it started working normally but when using it on GT Sport with the clutch and in H pattern mode, it randomly jumps into Neutral when I’m not even changing gear. I’ll be going along in a gear on a straight with my hands holding the wheel so I’m not touching the shifter or clutch pedal and I’ll get a in-game crunching sound and the car goes into neutral. I’ve got in touch with Digital MotorSport and they said they would send me a new one, now they are saying they are not, and instead are in talks with Fanatec to see what to do. Has anyone else experienced this issue. Last night I tried to calibrate the shifter again and now I’ve lost 1, 3, 4 and 6 gears. The calibration through the wheel didn’t work either the process keeps ending before completing although I’ve since followed some advise on line about disconnecting, reconnecting and holding wheel on left turn and then calibrating gears and it completed but I’m still having the neutral issue.
Comments
There have been several firmware updates to try to fix this.
Dig through this forum and all the shifter post's. Also contact support. They sent me several firmware files to try and fix it. I'm not sure if it's fully fixed yet, though as I haven't been able to do any driving the past couple weeks.
I had the exact same issue.
Didnt want to open it up because i might lose guarantee so i just followed another tip here on the forum to put ferrite cores onto the cable.
I used 4 of them, havent had a problem now since 4 days.
i bought these:
https://www.amazon.de/dreamtop-Wechselrahmen-Rauschunterdr%C3%BCcker-Kabel-Clip-Innendurchmesser/dp/B01MG8GQ1F/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?__mk_de_DE=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&crid=2JKEYHNI84STR&keywords=ferritkern&qid=1646827492&sprefix=ferrit+kern%2Caps%2C88&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFKSE5FR0tWSVJBQzkmZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTA5MjMwOTYzT0RaRjhBMkxDWDcyJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA0ODcxODgyWkNOTlRGU040MlUzJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==
Hi, I have the same issue with my shifter unexpectedly changing to N (usually when in 3 or 4th gear on a straight). I updated the firmware about 2 weeks ago, guess I'll try again. If not then I'll have to create a case.
Using the combo DD Pro / GT7 / Shifter
have you seen my comment above your post?
Pretty sure this would solve your problems.
Hi Boris,
I did and I ordered the ferite cores but haven't received them yet. I'll let this thread know if it solves the problem, anyway many thanks for the tip.
// Best Regards, Sebastian
My shifter is still working perfectly fine since i put the cores on the cable, no mis-shift since 3200 km driven in GranTurismo 7.
Hope it works for you too!
I think Fanatec should add 3-5 of these ferrite cores to the shifter as standard because they cost nearly nothing and a lot of people seem to have this problem.
Boris
So Fanatec sent me a cord with 2 ferrite cores. That didn't work, I added 4 more myself, now that i understand what they are. That didn't work.
But last weekend I opened it up and cleaned the circuit boards with isopropyl alcohol and so far so good. I got the idea from this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nc-Nt2iY5ew&t=144s
It's easier to do that i expected. I did not remove the circuit boards from the shifter as the video suggests. I just pulled the small plug and cleaned the boards still attached to the shifter with a medium toothbrush.
But we'll see how long it lasts and if it's a repeatable thing i can do to fix it.
Hi Ohthreemthree, is your shifter still working good after cleaning the circuit boards?
I'm having this problem with my shifter too where it sometimes selects a neighboring gear from the same row of gears. It always worked fine with the Fanatec USB adapter but now I have it plugged into my new GT DD Pro, so I guess this is either an EMI problem or firmware problem but I dunno, I guess it could be a problem with the shifter itself.
I found this guide about fixing the alignment of the magnet that is used for left-right sensing but my magnet did not appear to be mis-aligned. If anything it was like half a millimeter to one side which I carefully corrected so it looks perfectly aligned, but the shifter still has the problem.
Mis-shifting Fanatec Clubsport Sequential (CSS SQ) v1.5 - Imgur
Heyo!
It worked great for about 2 weeks or so, and I had to do it again. Now it works great again. But. It is really ez to do.
I also saw some fixes that include adding electric tape to the back of those circuit boards, but I'm going to wait to see if the problem occurs again. Which i expect it will.
Others on the youtube comments of that video claim to have had no issues unless they let the shifter sit unused for a few weeks or so.
Well, as it turns out I fixed my shifter issues by grounding my rig. I suspect this is the real culprit in many cases, but it's not something most people ever think about. It certainly never even entered my mind until reading up on these Fanatec shifter issues, EMI and metal sim rigs with various components hard mounted to them.
My google searches on grounding sim rigs has been rather fruitless. How did you go about this?
Hi mate, it’s pretty easy, depending on your rig.
If you have a profile rig with threaded bar terminations you may crimp a 8mm ring to a 1-1.5 mm wire, and bolt it (adding a washer or wide bolt washer) to the profile.
Or bolt the termination ring to a bolt of your choice in your setup, everything mounted on the rig itself is good for this (I.e. you can use one of the bolt used to secure the wheelbase.
The other wire end should go into a wall plug with the earth pin only, someone secure this wire end to a wall radiator.
Pictures to give you an idea, wall plug is Typical italian one, I removed the lateral pins, leaving the central one (earth).
You can use the most and easiest fixing point in your rig, one of the shifter bracket bolt, wheelbase, one of the seat bracket bolt.
If you can’t access a proper wire terminal crimper you may “peel” a longer section and wrap it around the bolt and add a couple washers to “pack” the wire and hold it while you fix the bolt.
Something like this, it’s effective anyway: shifter bracket (external-internal, whatever), wheelbase mount, seat bracket.
Simple one: only at profile end.
Hey thanks for taking the time to do this! I actually bought a Ground plug and just have to get a wire setup now. This is very useful. :)
Glad to help mate! Feel free to ask if you need more info or suggestions!.
And don't be fooled by the several grounding points in my pics, I bolted every section just for precaution, space's tight ... one point on the rig bar is enough, I did like that because I prefer to hook it to an exposed metal part and not a painted one, coated or else (so I did not rely too much on the shifter bracket grounding).
I have several ...just "for fun" 🤣
Ciao!
That makes sense.
My only questions is should i ground to the Shifter Plate? Or to the Main part of the rig? I have this Rig atm due to my limited space: https://nextlevelracing.com/products/next-level-racing-wheel-stand-dd-for-direct-drive-wheels/
It does have a rubber sheet where the stand shifter Arm connects to the rig. It barely fit together, and I considered removing it, but i don't want it to wiggle.
Use one of the two pedal plate side mount screw for the rig grounding, that’s it.
You should be good with that; you may also consider nylon washers for the shifter mount like I did on mine.
I also fitted ferrite cores on both sides of the RJ cables...shifter cable, V3 pedal set cable.
Usb cable from Fanatec is already fitted with these cores.
Again, I had no issues on my previous rig but wheelbase is a CSL Elite PS4, different stuff from the DD Pro.
In my very short test shifter was fine; I finally got my TV stand so I hope to find time to set it up all and have a proper run....and over all that my DD Pro is one of the good unit... fingers crossed.
i have this problem with the short rj12 cable no jumping into neutral but with the long rj12 cable its doing it quite alot
then i looked at the 2 cables and the longer cable is completly different to the shorter and the shorter cable is more flat than the longer cable is more round and also the coloured wires in the transparent connecters are the other way around in the longer cable
i am now waiting for a replacement cable from fanatec