Don't believe the hype........ Or do you?
So what's the hype........ Fanatec CSW B V2
"Although it looks familiar to you it has almost no part which has not been modified or replaced to make it a better base.
Our focus was durability, durability, durability and then performance. And while we made a radical re-design, we decided to make an offer nobody can refuse.
The smoothness, vividness and precision of a Direct Drive wheel combined with a torque increase of about 75% and (optional) compatibility to the latest gaming consoles. And all that with a moderate price increase.
So, do you believe the hype? Read on..........
I was lucky enough to be picked as a beta tester for this base, a pre production CSW V2. I've had a long standing relationship with Fanatec being lucky enough to have used, owned or tested every wheel they have produced. The CSW V2 is by far the best product they have ever brought to market. I've been PC based sim racing since 2005, before that a console racer with a wheel and pedal set up, so I've used, owned, borrowed, tried or tested nearly every other commercial wheel by the other brands as well on the market.
The initial unboxing, which is in the same classy packaging we have come to expect from Fanatec reveals the familiar cloth bag that has wrapped the CSW rims and base from the past. Once removed the bag reveals what at first looks exactly like the V1, and for all intense and purposes it does look almost identical. The only noticeable difference being the diamond/lazer cut edge. The best thing about that is the wife/girlfriend probably wont notice you have a nice shiny new wheel
I've used the wheel with iRacing, rFactor 2 and AC.
First Use Impressions: Straight out of the box, 30 - 60 mins a car.
Superb, loved it. Set the wheel up to my usual settings, fired up rFactor2 and jumped into the Aussie V8 round Bathurst. What a workout. FFB was epic. Then I fired up Assetto Corsa and into the BM M3 we went. Smiles all round again, wheel felt sublime as I chucked the M3 round the Nurbergring, tucking the nose in and then keeping it all under control as I put the power down. Finally iRacing, Porsche, McClaren, Lotus 79, the MX5, all felt great with it feeling like I'd never been away from sim racing (I broke my hand last year and couldn't race for a while) as I hit my apexes and controlled the car on the edge of traction which was a lot easier than I remembered.
That was the first day I received and used the wheel and the five or so hours I spent driving flew past and it has only got better.
I've spent more time trying different track and car combinations and playing around with the FFB settings. Some of my favourites being the Aussie V8's round Bathurst. That feels like you've been to the gym, leaving you sweating and your forearms pumped as you twist and turn you way down the mountain. The Porsche round Zolder in iRacing had me giggling like a two year old as you go speeding over the ridge into the right hander at the bottom, the car trying to break away at the back as you keep it all under control with subtle, and sometimes not so subtle inputs. The Lotus 79 @ Sebring was just amazing, feels even bumpier than before but in a better way. AC had me smiling like a lottery winner driving the Ferrari round Silverstone. The wheel feels so rewarding, with it being very natural the way the FFB is transmitted with more detail than I've felt with any other wheel, smooth, even under quick transitions with no feeling of cogging and very accurate.
During testing I've cranked the FFB right up, yes it did show clipping in the iRacing meter, but even after about 4-5hours of use it hadn't shown any loss of detail or FFB, if I do the same with the V1 base it's a different story. Same with the power, even after running high FFB for several hours the power stayed consistent, not suffering from any heat fade. I have used both the Formula rim and the BMW GT rim that I have with have with no noticeable difference in FFB that you get with the CSW V1. I've also driven just making very quick left/right steering inputs to see how that would affect it's calibration, again it performed flawlessly with no loss of centre after several laps of some quite serious inputs, repeated several times with different cars and different sims.
All in all the wheel is a fantastic product which has performed extremely well during all of the testing that I've done.
If you have any questions feel free to fire me a PM or post here and I'll try to answer them
So what's the hype........ Fanatec CSW B V2
"Although it looks familiar to you it has almost no part which has not been modified or replaced to make it a better base.
Our focus was durability, durability, durability and then performance. And while we made a radical re-design, we decided to make an offer nobody can refuse.
The smoothness, vividness and precision of a Direct Drive wheel combined with a torque increase of about 75% and (optional) compatibility to the latest gaming consoles. And all that with a moderate price increase.
So, do you believe the hype? Read on..........
I was lucky enough to be picked as a beta tester for this base, a pre production CSW V2. I've had a long standing relationship with Fanatec being lucky enough to have used, owned or tested every wheel they have produced. The CSW V2 is by far the best product they have ever brought to market. I've been PC based sim racing since 2005, before that a console racer with a wheel and pedal set up, so I've used, owned, borrowed, tried or tested nearly every other commercial wheel by the other brands as well on the market.
The initial unboxing, which is in the same classy packaging we have come to expect from Fanatec reveals the familiar cloth bag that has wrapped the CSW rims and base from the past. Once removed the bag reveals what at first looks exactly like the V1, and for all intense and purposes it does look almost identical. The only noticeable difference being the diamond/lazer cut edge. The best thing about that is the wife/girlfriend probably wont notice you have a nice shiny new wheel
I've used the wheel with iRacing, rFactor 2 and AC.
First Use Impressions: Straight out of the box, 30 - 60 mins a car.
Superb, loved it. Set the wheel up to my usual settings, fired up rFactor2 and jumped into the Aussie V8 round Bathurst. What a workout. FFB was epic. Then I fired up Assetto Corsa and into the BM M3 we went. Smiles all round again, wheel felt sublime as I chucked the M3 round the Nurbergring, tucking the nose in and then keeping it all under control as I put the power down. Finally iRacing, Porsche, McClaren, Lotus 79, the MX5, all felt great with it feeling like I'd never been away from sim racing (I broke my hand last year and couldn't race for a while) as I hit my apexes and controlled the car on the edge of traction which was a lot easier than I remembered.
That was the first day I received and used the wheel and the five or so hours I spent driving flew past and it has only got better.
I've spent more time trying different track and car combinations and playing around with the FFB settings. Some of my favourites being the Aussie V8's round Bathurst. That feels like you've been to the gym, leaving you sweating and your forearms pumped as you twist and turn you way down the mountain. The Porsche round Zolder in iRacing had me giggling like a two year old as you go speeding over the ridge into the right hander at the bottom, the car trying to break away at the back as you keep it all under control with subtle, and sometimes not so subtle inputs. The Lotus 79 @ Sebring was just amazing, feels even bumpier than before but in a better way. AC had me smiling like a lottery winner driving the Ferrari round Silverstone. The wheel feels so rewarding, with it being very natural the way the FFB is transmitted with more detail than I've felt with any other wheel, smooth, even under quick transitions with no feeling of cogging and very accurate.
During testing I've cranked the FFB right up, yes it did show clipping in the iRacing meter, but even after about 4-5hours of use it hadn't shown any loss of detail or FFB, if I do the same with the V1 base it's a different story. Same with the power, even after running high FFB for several hours the power stayed consistent, not suffering from any heat fade. I have used both the Formula rim and the BMW GT rim that I have with have with no noticeable difference in FFB that you get with the CSW V1. I've also driven just making very quick left/right steering inputs to see how that would affect it's calibration, again it performed flawlessly with no loss of centre after several laps of some quite serious inputs, repeated several times with different cars and different sims.
All in all the wheel is a fantastic product which has performed extremely well during all of the testing that I've done.
If you have any questions feel free to fire me a PM or post here and I'll try to answer them
