Fanatec CSW Thoughts

Discuss new sims, mods, tracks and sim software/hardware
Post Reply
Yoda_NZ
Posts: 218
Joined: Mon Aug 01, 2011 1:08 pm

Fanatec CSW Thoughts

Post by Yoda_NZ » Wed Aug 20, 2014 12:23 pm

A few weeks ago I lashed out and brought a second-hand Fanatec CSW wheel off Trademe. I didn’t buy it thinking I would go faster (that would take a miracle wheel and they’re not available yet). I brought it because it looks cool and I like the idea of being able to change rims. But more so because the wife told me too as she was sick of me looking at it on the internet (racing porn?).

A couple of people have asked about it, so I thought I would write up my impressions.

Prior to buying and never having seen one I went and had a look at it. It was so impressive that just looking sold me, it is Techno Art! It looked amazing and felt great. It had that Teutonic presence of quality and substance that impresses.

In researching the wheel before buying there was an unsettling number of comments in the forums on Fanatec quality and service for the wheel. Many people regretted their purchase after encountering problems, but then again many just loved the wheel. So I gambled.

The wheel was a breeze to setup. It does required to be bolted to something as it doesn’t come with clamps. Mine easily attached with 3 screws to my rig and is solid. Unlike the G27, the buttons registered in rFactor, so no need to run anything like the Logitec Profiler.

With out making any changes to rFactor settings or wheel settings the Fanatec was out of the box as good or better than my G27 (which I had spent a lot of getting right). The FFB was smooth, and unlike the G27 on a straight if I took my hands off the wheel it wouldn’t oscillate and simply kept track.

I will start tweaking the setup soon, but on the wheel alone there are 10 settings that can be adjusted on the fly while in the game

SEN Sensitivity (wheel rotation 90 – 900)
FF Force Feed Back
SHO Shock shock from wheel motors
ABS ABS vibration
LIN Linearity
DEA Dead Zone
DRI Drift - Less damping on the wheel
For Force x force sent from game
Spr Spring force to return wheel to centre
Dpr Damping Wheel moves slower

There are 5 presets for these, so you can have different settings saved on the wheel for different games.

I did play a little with the settings and it is easy enough to have the FFB rip the wheel out of your hands. There is plenty of strength in those motors.

The wheel is very sensitive to in game settings. I have tried it on the rFactor and Assetto Corsa, both provide a very different feel and reactions. I will definitely have to setup individual presets for each games. Assetto Corsa provided more FFB which I will have to tune down slightly but interestingly there was more feeling of the road surface through the wheel than I had on the G27 with the same settings.

I brought it with the Formula rim and the BMW rim. Both are great, however the BMW rim is just too big for my little girly hands. Paddle changing is via finger tips and I can only reach a couple of the buttons with out having to move my hands. The diameter and additional weight of the BMW rim dilutes the FFB considerably from the formula rim. If I was constantly going to change rims in the same game I would have to have different presets for different rims.

The formula rim is just superb. Everything falls to hand perfectly. All the buttons are in reach. The paddles are in a comfortable place. The rim is a pleasure to use. It is as I expected AWESOME!

The buttons on the rims have different colours but they don’t match up between the rims. So if I match the red button for pit limiter on the formula rim, on the BMW rim this might be something else. A strange over sight I would have thought.

All was going well until………

It appears my gamble didn’t pay off. I have now encountered some technical problems. While driving I lost FFB and steering, the buttons worked but everything else died. It required a re-flash of the firmware and cleaning the sensors inside.

This has now happened a number of times. So I have become very skilled at taking the unit apart. On the plus side is that it is very easy to do (were they expecting this?). Getting to the position sensor is simple. I must say the internally it ‘looks’ well built and open to future modification. There is already a mod for motor replacement.

I note that the motors get very warm, even though the unit has two fans pushing air through. I am currently running the unit open (with out the bottom or back plate) so more air can pass over the motors. In my research prior to buying I noted the Fanatec had received a lot of bad motors that affected a number of their units. Maybe this is one of them.

I do note that there is a notchy (gear like) feel on the wheel in game. Almost like what I had on the G27. I would not have expected that on a belt driven device. It could be software related, as without the game running it is very smooth, but it could be an indication of a motor going.

Of cause I blame Hugh for this. We were talking on TS about the wheel and it’s reliability, I said it was going great guns which of course it had. Shortly after talking to him, strange things happened…… 

Despite what has happened I love the wheel. It is a step up from the G27. The additional buttons means there is no need for a button box or mucking with the keyboard while in the pits. The formula rim is everything I hoped for. The BMW rim I could take or leave. I will be buying a D shaped rim at some stage. Now they have the universal hub available there is a lot of ideas to choose from.

Would I recommend one to you? Don’t expect to think the wheel will make your noticeably faster. Rifty is blazingly fast with the G25. That comes with experience, practice and thousands and thousands of laps. If you want more buttons it is cheaper to buy a button box. If you want something that looks cool, and appears well built then I would recommend it. If you want something with lots of accessories then I would recommend it. If you want something that could frustrate you I would recommend it.

If the wheel broke tomorrow I would buy another one.

Now I have to get the wife catching me looking at XKR’s on the interweb.

User avatar
Riftcreator
Posts: 4104
Joined: Tue Mar 10, 2009 10:47 pm
Location: Christchurch
Contact:

Re: Fanatec CSW Thoughts

Post by Riftcreator » Wed Aug 20, 2014 1:29 pm

Image

Image A++ review, would read again.

User avatar
BK
Posts: 1117
Joined: Sat Mar 20, 2010 5:26 pm
Location: Blenheim

Re: Fanatec CSW Thoughts

Post by BK » Wed Aug 20, 2014 2:44 pm

Great write up Yoda.

Gamuz
Posts: 106
Joined: Sat Oct 05, 2013 9:59 am

Re: Fanatec CSW Thoughts

Post by Gamuz » Thu Aug 21, 2014 6:59 am

Great review Yoda too bad to hear about the problems but now you have an excuse if you are not doing very well just blame the wheel :larf: .

Post Reply