CSl elite V2 pedal stiffness
Ian Cutrona
Member
in Pedals
ok so i'm new to all this and have never used a load cell pedal system before. is it normal for it to be incredibly stiff? i mean i have to MASH the brake to get it to work. is this normal? i feel like no car ive ever driven has had that hard of a brake feel. any recommendations? it's got the 3 65's in there now making it as light as possible
Comments
They do require more pressure than potentiometer pedals. It's more pressure than travel.
Racing cars have no brake servo. So yeah, it's like hitting your foot into a brick, more or less.
In a racing car, the brake pedal has a stroke, even quite long, during which the brake calipers move closer to the disc. This is simulated by the spring underneath the Fanatec CSL Elite V2 pedal. However, a real racing car does not brake during this movement.
After that it is only a matter of strength, without any movement. But that's not always the case. It may happen that to save weight the brake calipers have a light structure, so they deform under the pressure given by the pedal, and "call" more oil from the system. This type of brake should have a more spongy feel, similar to that of elastomer.
In any case very hard and little movement.
However, the real drivers are helped by the G force when they press the brake, so the sensation is in any case very different from that of simracing and not easily replicable.
The high-end pedals, from € 600 upwards, all have vertical pedals, and not inclined like the Fanatec pedals. This is because they are pushed with the leg, rather than tilted down with the foot. It's a bit like the steering wheel, you hold it with your hands, but your arms rotate it. With the pedal it is the same, it is not the foot that presses it, but the leg that pushes it. This helps to memorize the right amount of brake for each turn.
Once you get used to it, it will feel very natural.
I received my CSL Elite V2 pedals yesterday and spent a bit of time with them last night. I don't find them too stiff, and compared to my CSL load cell brake, there's infinitely more feel. I never fully got on with the CSL load cell pedal. I understand that the load cell is basing everything on pressure rather than movement, but having almost zero travel did make it hard to modulate - the CSL Elite V2s, even without any tweaking represent a huge improvement.
I'm running with the standard spring and stack right now, and have brake force only set to 40%. I think I'll be looking to stiffen it up a bit as I get used to the feel.
Personally I like a pedal to be quite stiff, without any mush at the top. I switched out the master cylinder on my track car for one from a GT3 to stiffen up the pedal and make the bite more immediate. It took a few laps to get used to it, especially for heel and toeing, but once I got it dialled in I'd never go back.
Yeah I guess for me I’ve just never raced an actual race car and have only tracked road cars. Fast ones, but road cars nonetheless. So these just don’t feel like a normal brake pedal to me at all. Like a normal brake pedal had a lot more travel and it’s just a lot softer. So just not sure if I set this up wrong or something. But apparently little to no movement in the brake pedal is somewhat normal for this type of pedal
The problem with most modern road cars is that the brakes are massively over servoed, so that customers think the brakes feel powerful, but in reality it gives them little in the way of feel and modulation. But a really good hydraulic system will feel stiff, and will require effort, but the result is far more consistent braking and, of course, the ability to heel and toe without putting your head through the windscreen 😂
I reckon you'll get used to the Elite V2s pretty quickly - they feel great straight out of the box to me. You probably would have struggled with the the CSL load cell pedal, which even to me felt like it had zero travel. Thas said, I probably need to stop moaning about the CSL load cell pedals since I still need to sell those 😂
Hi Ian,
You should absolutely not need to 'mash' the pedal to make it work. The load cell is extremely sensitive and can detect very slight amounts of force, and you can reduce the amount of force needed by turning down the BRF setting in the Tuning Menu. At the lowest BRF value, it should be possible to apply 100% brake input with one finger. Because you're not pushing the pedal very hard on this setting, there won't be much travel, even with the 65 elastomers. The pedals aren't really intended to be used at such low forces, but it is possible. If you want to feel more travel, you have to push harder, and therefore you have to set BRF higher so that there is a reason to apply that amount of force. At max BRF, where you have to apply at least 90 KG of force on the pedal face, there should be a significant amount of travel, and this is why we don't recommend that you use the 65 elastomers for this because they would be compressed too much (if you check the Quick Guide, the table suggests 75 or 85 elastomers when using a BRF value above 80).
[Fanatec Community Manager]
You can use a combination of springs to soften the load cell pedal. The extremely stiff brake pedal with very little play is supposed to simulate a real race car brake pedal, it's not for everyone I suppose but if you persevere you may find you get used to it.
Anyway you can use these to soften the lc and get more play: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185621923716