Fanatec CSL Elite Wheelbase Opinions Please

Andrew Harper · Mar 24, 2017

Hi,

I was looking at upgrading in the next few weeks to a new wheel model.

My current one is over ten years old and although it works fine with older games (GTR2) it's just not recognised in newer titles and the lack of 900 degrees means I have to dial down the steering in the games and just be very gentle with steering inputs.

I was looking at the CSL Elite and an F1 rim to get me started. Just wondering if anyone on here has one of the new bases and what their thoughts are?

I have looked at the various online reviews and videos and they are all helpful. The general view seems it's a very good piece of kit. Not quite as powerful as the CSW V2 but in general a really good piece of sim racing hardware.

Two reasons why I'm looking at this one rather than the CSW V2.5. One is the Euro against the pound is just not doing well at the moment so I'd rather save myself the £200 and get the slightly cheaper model. The other possibility is the constant rumours about the Direct Drive model coming out. I'd rather upgrade from a cheaper model than the more expensive one, the wheels (if the rumours are true) will be transferrable.

Thanks

ricerracer · Apr 3, 2017

I have fanaect CSL elite and it is garbage for a few reasons:

1: The rubber pads at the bottom lost their glue and fell off within a few days
2: Customer service the worst I have met
3: Very hard to get the wheel compatible with games like Rfactor 2
4: FF Makes a lot of noise
5: It is very overpriced for what you actually get from the wheel
6: Pedals are shocking
7: Sometimes it will switch off when you counter steer too hard
8: Hardly anyone has this wheel so getting support for it is very hard
9: The drivers you download does not give you much options to adjust
10: The lights on the wheel and wheelbase hardly ever work even though I downloaded Fanaleds.

Do not buy fanatec and waste your money like I did - Buy a Thrustmaster TS-PC instead, I'm trying to get a refund for my fanatec to purchase a thrustmaster TS-PC

Andrew Harper · Apr 3, 2017

Hiya,

Thanks for the feedback

I decided to take the risk in the end and got the Fanatec v2.5 base and the Formula Wheel (rather than the CSL base). I'm lucky in that I don't pay VAT so the £120 difference between the two meant I may as well go for the more expensive version and also the heavier build quality, lots more metal, etc.

The exchange rates are just horrible at the moment so Direct Drive or OSW is just out of the question. I've waited a year to see if the Euro will recover and it just hasn't.

I've had some bad experiences with Thrustmaster unfortunately (I got through three sets of pedals with the last wheel as they eventually break at the base sometimes) but with anything like this I think it's slightly pot luck, how much you use it and so on.

I've heard horror stories about the TS-PC as well, however you're more likely to hear about bad stories from people than good ones

Point 10 in your list BTW isn't necessarily the wheel. I have an SLI display on my current wheel and sometimes the software doesn't want to talk to the game, usually when a sim is updated I have to redo the installation requirements to get the display working again. FanaLEDS doesn't work with all games, especially when they've been updated. Raceroom is the only one I get working with the rumble motor on the V2's.

Thanks for the feedback though and have fun with your TS-PC looks a good piece of kit