Fanatec Has Released Details on Their All New ClubSport V2

Fanatec V2.png

Fanatec has released the details on their new ClubSport Wheel Base V2. They say they have completely reworked the ClubSport with durability their top priority. The V2 is now powered by a brushless servo motor with 75% more torque than the V1, but whats this? A price of $599.99!

It may not be a direct drive, but they claim it feels as good as one and may be a direct competitor.

The V2 will also be available as a console friendly version to allow for use with Xbox One and PS4.

If this wheel turns out to be the way it sounds, its going to be difficult to beat that value! To make the deal even more irresistible existing ClubSport owners will have the option to pre-order the V2 at a significantly discounted price.

Fanatec has started production this week, and will begin accepting pre-orders once they start shipping. The first products are anticipated to arrive late September or early October.

Here's the details as stated by Fanatec.

7 Ultra Precise
We replaced the optical sensor with two magnetic high resolution hall sensors mounted on both the motor and the steering axis. The new sensors have double the resolution and the magnetic sensors are less vulnerable to dust or scratched code discs.

6 Smoothastic
The cogging of this system cannot be felt by a human anymore. It is incredible smooth and feels natural and realistic. It is on par or better with the best and most expensive wheel out there although those wheels costs a multiple of the CSW B V2.

Every little bump can be felt and effects which were filtered by the wheel mechanics can now be felt. Your racing simulations will feel different and new to you.

5 Rock Solid
Our focus was to achieve high durability even for hardcore users.
• Improved QR release with rubber o-ring and less tolerance in production
• A brushless motor which can be cooled much easier as it gets hot on the outside and not on the inside so heat can be transfered better
• New cooling system featuring an additional fan on the backside right behind the new huge heat sink
• Integrated heat sensor inside the motor
• Motor can now even be operated at 180 C° although the FOR overclocking would be de-activated already at 120 C° and FF would shut down at 130°C. The motor has plenty of power so most people will not use max settings anyway. And during betatests it never happened that a motor was shut down or the FF was cut due to overheating.
• Ball bearings on the motor axis and bigger ball bearings inside the pulleys so we can increase the belt tension and avoid any belt slip. At the same time we have much less drag in the system.
• Magnetic sensors instead of the optical so we avoid problems with dust and scratches
• New main cable
• New electronics
• And many other small improvements to the overall build quality


4 Power. A lot.
The new motor is custom designed and exclusive to Fanatec. Although the gear ratio has been changed to increase the rotation speed, it delivers about 75% more torque than the CSW B V1. This means over 7 NM of sheer
power and this is enough to use even heavy rims with no disadvantages. The size of the power supply has also increased in order to feed the big motor.

3 Brushless Servo
A brushless servo motor is currently state-of-the-art for force feedback systems and in principle this is exactly the same motor as the most expensive direct drive base units out there.
• Smooth performance with no cogging (in combination with our Poly-V belt drive system or direct drive)
• Easier to cool as the heat is on the outside of the motor and not on the motor shaft
• Strong axis with ball bearings
• Optimized for use in stall at max power
• Fast acceleration
• More efficiency -> more torque with same power

We had to develop entire new electronics for that motor as the motor
driver is quite complex. Now that it is done we can easily use it for smaller brushless motors or a direct drive wheel.

2 Next Generation
The ClubSport Wheel Base V2 is the next generation of our wheel base but there is also a strong demand of wheels for “Next-Gen” consoles. People were asking us to make their wheels compatible to the Xbox One and Playstation 4 but if we want to make it official and legal then we need to follow the rules of the console makers and they clearly do not allow
that.

So how can we make a product where there is a chance that the customer can keep at least most of the equipment he purchased? We can easily make the pedals, shifters and handbrake compatible and this is what we did but what about the base unit?

And how can we make a product multi-platform compatible if we can only get approval for a license if the product has only the symbols of either one console on it?

We came up with an idea which brings modularity to a whole new level and protects your investment. If you play on PC then just go ahead and purchase the wheel base as it is and you will not be bothered with symbols which might hurt your eye.

But if you want to enjoy the painless simplicity of a console with its great exclusive racing simulations then you will get the option to buy an optional steering wheel which will
add full console compatibility to this base.

We want to achieve compatibility to both Xbox One and PlayStation 4 and we are happy to announce that we already signed a contract with one of them. We will announce this product at the end of this year.

There will be multiple steering wheels available in different price ranges and they will compatible to several Fanatec base units from mid-range to direct drive.

1 By Invitation Only
The great response we get from our beta testers lead us to the conclusion that the demand for this product will be much bigger than the supply. Production output will be lower as before as we spend even more time on quality control and testing.

At the same time we want to honor the loyalty of our existing customers and want to offer a special pre-order discount for the owners of the current ClubSport and CSR Elite base so that they can enjoy a little upgrade advantage.

This is how it works:
• We will send an e-mail to our webshop customers with an invite code. There will be several waves of e-mails in the next months.
• Only after you entered the code to your profile page you will be able to purchase or pre-order this product
• After you purchased one V2 base you will receive a second code. You can give that to a friend or buy a second base.

Only one code will be given with a purchase as we want to avoid that people are selling their products or invites on eBay and make money with it.
• We will also give away invites in giveaway events so frequent followers of the blog or Facebook will also get a chance to get an invite

This is the priority we will use for the invites to make it as fair and transparent as possible.
1. Webshop customers of the CSW B V1 and CSR E (sorted by purchase date)
2. Webshop customers of other ClubSport products like CSP or CSS
3. All other Fanatec customers

Of course we will treat all territories with the same priority.

Not every customer will use his invite so go ahead and ask your friends if they use their invite of if they give it to you in case you are not on the list yet. It is possible and welcome to transfer invite codes.

Please do not ask our sales team for invites. They are not authorized to give out codes anyway. If it is your turn then you will get an e-mail. We will open a thread in our forum which explains more details and where you can also ask for invites from other members.

By the way, all lucky customers who placed a pre-order for the old V1 base just got a free upgrade to V2 and they are the first to receive the new product.

The Price

Pre-order price:
EU: 499,95
USA: 499,95
AUS: 655
J: 65.000

Regular price:
EU: 599,95
USA: 599,95
AUS: 785
J: 78.000

Prices are calculated different in the regions depending on taxes, laws, logistic costs and other local costs.

If you would like to have your products reviewed and featured here on RaceDepartment, please email us at ryan.ogurek[at]racedepartment.com
 
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I'm sure Fanatec's new wheel is going to feel great. Hell, they're simply doing what Thrustmaster has been doing already with the TX wheel. That being said, I don't think there's any question that a direct drive wheel like SimXperience or Leo Bodnar is going to have more force. It absolutely will. That's what you're paying for ultimately. Its simply a matter of how much force do you want or need? There's also zero chance of seeing a SimXperience or Bodnar wheel compatible with any game console, so that's something else to think about.
 
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I see Thomas's point regarding value per dollar as a strong argument for the CSW-V2 but, it doesn't address many of the real advantages of the Direct-drive design. Belt-drive systems will always have some loss of fidelity as the belt is a bit like a rubber-band and absorbs some of the detail and the motor cannot accelerate and change directions as quickly as DD. Overall durability is another area where the DD should easily win out in the long run and that is generally reflected in resale value.

Both the CSW-V2 and the AccuForce should be excellent products judging by what we know as of now. The CSW-V2 should be the king of the belt-drive's (at least with the mid-level offerings) and the AccuForce is said to compare well with the Leo Bodnar wheel (King of the Direct-drive's) in performance, features, and durability.

Now we wait to see the reviews to know more about how the two compare. If we want to have the best performing wheel, will the extra cost of the direct-drive be offset by the difference in the results?
 
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A directdrive servo steeringwheel with 20Nm force will never become mainstream.
It's to strong and fast for casual use.
First you probably need a much stronger chassis for mounting.
It could rip your desk apart.
A collision, or worse a FFB software glitch can instantly break your wrists or fingers.
Try explaining your boss or girlfriend you be out of service for 6 weeks because of a virtual accident.
 
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A directdrive servo steeringwheel with 20Nm force will never become mainstream.
It's to strong and fast for casual use.
First you probably need a much stronger chassis for mounting.
It could rip your desk apart.
A collision, or worse a FFB software glitch can instantly break your wrists or fingers.
Try explaining your boss or girlfriend you be out of service for 6 weeks because of a virtual accident.

Couldn't agree with you more. The very powerfull direct drive servo motors all come with an emergency stop button. That alone says enough. :)

If you want that ultra high end professional race rig, the one that real race drivers use.
Direct drive is a musthave. If you want a rig that comes pretty close too that , there are alternatives.

I have never driven a Direct drive wheel before and no doubt it will be awesome.

However i have experienced first hand how much 7Nm already is and i'm pretty sure it's more than enough for 95% of all simracers.

I will be posting my review of the CSWv2 soon .......:)
 
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I had my hand on some DD servo wheels, they felt good.. but not overly more detailed than a properly dialed in consumer wheel. What i felt most that it was heavier to turn.
Driving it for more than half an hour required some pretty well trained arms.
 
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I can't see how 20Nm (Edit: addressing previous posts) could be usefull or competitive in a home environment under normal circumstances.
I could see 10-13nm of this used in commercial cases for driver conditioning for cart and the like with collisions dialled out to avoid injury.
Max figure is potential (service strength) rather than anything close to recommended.

Some perspective.

Autokraft Midget = 6.0 Nm (55 in-lbs) No power steering, 380mm (15.0”) Ø steering wheel.
Lola T332 = 5.5-8.5 Nm (50-75 in-lbs) No power steering, 318mm (12.5") Ø steering wheel. Dodge Viper SRT-10 = 4.5 Nm (40 in-lbs) Power steering, 350mm (13.7" Ø steering wheel.
Lotus 20 = 4.0-4.5 Nm (35-40 in-lbs) No power steering, 330mm (13.0") Ø steering wheel. Lola T190 = 6.0-7.5 Nm (55-65 in-lbs) No power steering, 318mm (12.5") Ø steering wheel.

Direct drive as a technology, I can see the advantage to the home user.
7nm torque may be moot on the CSWB v2 applied to a belt system (orig?) when moving a heavy object such as the BMW rim (my favorite on v1).

Edit: CSWB v2 belt system has been improved.
 
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Its about having excess so you don't work the motor as hard. Just because a motor is capable of 20Nm doesn't mean you have to use that much force. If even at 50% of its max value of 20Nm, you have a wheel that will produce tons of force no matter how heavy the rim you're using, and will run quiet and cool.
 
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[QUOTE="It's to strong and fast for casual use.[/QUOTE]

I agree. Every year i experience it.

I am a tanker pilot and we use a real simulator (but static) that perfectly represents a canadair cl-415. This simulator also mimics the real strength felt on the yoke.
What I can say is that many drivers, including myself, find it difficult to fly. First because he is no acceleration felt on the body.
We also believe that if the force on the yoke would be less strong, it seems to us more natural.

I think the force exerted on the body helps to turn the steering wheel / yoke / pedals.

take an example of a brake pedal that requires 250 pounds of force. if a car is traveling at 200 km / hrs and suddenly brakes, part of the acceleration of the body is projected forward and thus help to press the brake.
a 175-pound person who decelerates at 1G will put a pressure of 175 pounds naturally on the brake. it remains for him to provide the additional 75 pounds. a pedal with 250 pounds of force in a statics simulators, you really be pushing 250 pounds.

Therefore, in a static simulator, I think it is not really necessary to use components representing the real forces.
 
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There are tests being conducted using the mainstream wheels to determine the point where heat fade occurs at high force settings. You may be surprised how limited most wheels are under those conditions. Having a good deal of "extra margin" can ensure consistent and accurate results as well as a longer service life. Having greater fidelity is just icing on the cake. There is no arguing that the value or worth in that to any one individual is a completely different matter. A G25 can easily provide a lifetime of service for most players.
 
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Well, we already know this for the CSW wheels when cold (V1 = ~5N•m, V2 = ~7N•m) and someone has previously posted a max torque for the T500 as ~6N•m. I previously tested the V1 and found that it lost about 40% of max when really hot, and I will shortly be posting the results I got from testing the V2 also (look for it on Wed after 12:00 P.M. CET). That's why I'm interested to see the reduction due to heat on all the others.
 
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Oooh Dean, where at? I would REALLY like to see those results and show them to some of the folks who insist their wheels don't lose ANY power when hot.

Never noticed my TX losing any power but it is a brushless design like the new Fanatec v2 which should run cooler. I've heard reports of T500's losing some power after getting hot but I can't say I've noticed that in mine. Could just be a case of me not pushing the FFB gain high enough I suppose.
 
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Well, we already know this for the CSW wheels when cold (V1 = ~5N•m, V2 = ~7N•m) and someone has previously posted a max torque for the T500 as ~6N•m. I previously tested the V1 and found that it lost about 40% of max when really hot, and I will shortly be posting the results I got from testing the V2 also (look for it on Wed after 12:00 P.M. CET). That's why I'm interested to see the reduction due to heat on all the others.

Sorry, to be clearer I would like to see power and torque output relating to temp, ambient temp, settings, time used, application, wheel weight etc. That's what I'm looking forward to reading in the results. Can you post a link to your V1 testing?

Never noticed my TX losing any power but it is a brushless design like the new Fanatec v2 which should run cooler. I've heard reports of T500's losing some power after getting hot but I can't say I've noticed that in mine. Could just be a case of me not pushing the FFB gain high enough I suppose.

Yeah it stands to reason, will be nice to see to see exactly how these wheels get hot.
The statement "40% power loss while hot" could mean anything from extreme use to normal to anything in between. The V1 testing will be a good read for me, thanks eKrets.
 
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eKretz knows more about these wheels than I do, he's certainly been at this longer than I have. I can only speak from personal experience on my own wheels, however, just based on what I've seen on many forums, some people can never have enough power and just push the Hell out of their wheels.
 
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