Fanatec Podium wheel - dated for 13th July 2018

[Mascot]

https://www.racedepartment.com/thre...dated-for-13th-july-2018.152102/#post-2759238

Now, 13th July for preorders... more info... prices..?
Who knows at this stage. But my interest is piqued!

 

[Steve D]

Does anyone know yet if the Podium wheels can be front mounted, and if the bolt pattern is the same standard as for OSW? I've got a Sim Lab P1 with front mount and wouldn't really welcome the expense of having to buy a wheel deck. Maybe flipping the front mount through 90 degrees would work..?

I'm in the same boat buddy.

Hopefully the hex bolt pattern in the pic below, (which appears to differ from the CSW 2.5), represents the OSW standard, which we know will work with our Sim Labs front mounts.

I would imagine the chaps at Sim Labs will be able to answer this in the not too distant future in order to be able to advise compatibility with their existing front mount bracket. If it's not, I'm sure they'll be developing a new supporting front mount.

In the meantime, I'm gonna fire off an email to Fanatec to see if they are able to advise.

Cheers.

 

[Mascot]

I'm in the same boat buddy.

Hopefully the hex bolt pattern in the pic below, (which appears to differ from the CSW 2.5), represents the OSW standard, which we know will work with our Sim Labs front mounts.

I would imagine the chaps at Sim Labs will be able to answer this in the not too distant future in order to be able to advise compatibility with their existing front mount bracket. If it's not, I'm sure they'll be developing a new supporting front mount.

In the meantime, I'm gonna fire off an email to Fanatec to see if they are able to advise.

Cheers.

It'll be interesting to see what they say. I originally thought the podium wheels didn't have a flat face, but I think it's just an optical illusion. From some angles it looks like the corners flare inwards, but I don't think that's actually the case.

Fanatec don't officially recommend that CSW bases are front-mounted to the P1, even though Sim Labs cite it as a fixing method (and have provided suitable holes) in the front mount. My CSWv2.5 (and CSR-E before it) is mounted this way and it seems absolutely fine.

If that Podium bolt pattern matches the OSW one, and Fanatec say they deliberately did that for front-mounting, then that's another obstacle out of the way for me. Getting very tempted..!

 

[cerebralvortex]

I had finally made up my mind and was about to order an OSW with Fanatec rims this weekend .. now I'm doubting again Still, don't think I can go wrong with an OSW.

 

[Mascot]

I had finally made up my mind and was about to order an OSW with Fanatec rims this weekend .. now I'm doubting again Still, don't think I can go wrong with an OSW.

You won't go wrong with an OSW but (other things being equal) the Fanatec route will probably require less faffing about. I do like the idea of my rims all working without having coily USB cables modded to them, and of the Podium wheels being officially supported in sims. The Podium will be more of a plug & play solution and I must admit that does appeal to me in my advancing years. Less faff = more time behind the wheel.

 

[cerebralvortex]

You won't go wrong with an OSW but (other things being equal) the Fanatec route will probably require less faffing about. I do like the idea of my rims all working without having coily USB cables modded to them, and of the Podium wheels being officially supported in sims. The Podium will be more of a plug & play solution and I must admit that does appeal to me in my advancing years. Less faff = more time behind the wheel.

I don't own a direct drive at the moment. So I don't know how much of this 'faffing' is required. About the USB cable, I was going to buy the wheel base mod, so the USB cable would not be attached to the steering wheel. (https://www.simracingmachines.com/WebShop/custom-made-fanatec-conversion-kit). December is still a long time to wait..

I also see OSW as a more flexible package.

 

[Furnace Inferno]

Does anyone know yet if the Podium wheels can be front mounted, and if the bolt pattern is the same standard as for OSW? I've got a Sim Lab P1 with front mount and wouldn't really welcome the expense of having to buy a wheel deck. Maybe flipping the front mount through 90 degrees would work..?

Difficult to say, try pinging Fanatec a message and Sim-Lab. It has a lot more mounting options so it depends if those mounting points on the front are load bearing or not.

I hope they come up with side mounts like they had in their original videos on the clubsport rig.

 

[RobertR1]

I had finally made up my mind and was about to order an OSW with Fanatec rims this weekend .. now I'm doubting again Still, don't think I can go wrong with an OSW.

You won't go wrong with an OSW but (other things being equal) the Fanatec route will probably require less faffing about. I do like the idea of my rims all working without having coily USB cables modded to them, and of the Podium wheels being officially supported in sims. The Podium will be more of a plug & play solution and I must admit that does appeal to me in my advancing years. Less faff = more time behind the wheel.

As someone who literally just setup their OSW this weekend, complexity is not an issue at all.

The P1 setup was the pain. I hope to not go through that again. The end product though exceeds expectations.

From the time you get the OSW out of the box to the time you're up and racing is maybe 30 mins. Process:
- unbox
- Mount to P1 front mount using 4 screws. Nothing else is needed. Brackets/plates/hinges/etc
- Attach wheel
- cables to the power unit and from PU to PC
- Install simucube and hit next to update firmware. pick SRB profile and you're done
- Due to the high fidelity of the unit, you basically need to adjust FFB to you liking and a coupe of other settings. That's really it
- Then adjust FFB in game based on what you want

For people with a set of Fanatec equipment, the Fanatec podium series will good sense. For those looking for a piece of mind of a large global entity supporting the product, the Fanatec will also fit the bill nicely. I expect there to be a bit more polish in the GUI and just overall appearance of the product. The OSW looks industrial but that's what it is.

The OSW will be more flexible simply because each component can be updated individually. This also means the failure risk is dispersed across components rather than the whole unit being dead. The open source nature means progress will come fast as you generally have smart dedicated enthusiasts in the open source market rather than voices being drowned out by "corporate strategy." A lot of the OSW info on the web is dated esp the high view count videos. The reality of where the software today is as plug and play as you can hope for.

As I mentioned earlier, I'm glad to see fanatec sort things out and that's good news for the community expanding along with high end sim racing becoming more popular. We shouldn't treat everything as a winner/loser scenario (not stating you guys are).

All said and done, I haven't seen anything that makes me want to have second thoughts about my OSW choice.

 

[Jacco van der Zaag]

There is a new clip op youtube. DD1 will be 999.

 

[cerebralvortex]

As someone who literally just setup their OSW this weekend, complexity is not an issue at all.

The P1 setup was the pain. I hope to not go through that again. The end product though exceeds expectations.

From the time you get the OSW out of the box to the time you're up and racing is maybe 30 mins. Process:
- unbox
- Mount to P1 front mount using 4 screws. Nothing else is needed. Brackets/plates/hinges/etc
- Attach wheel
- cables to the power unit and from PU to PC
- Install simucube and hit next to update firmware. pick SRB profile and you're done
- Due to the high fidelity of the unit, you basically need to adjust FFB to you liking and a coupe of other settings. That's really it
- Then adjust FFB in game based on what you want

For people with a set of Fanatec equipment, the Fanatec podium series will good sense. For those looking for a piece of mind of a large global entity supporting the product, the Fanatec will also fit the bill nicely. I expect there to be a bit more polish in the GUI and just overall appearance of the product. The OSW looks industrial but that's what it is.

The OSW will be more flexible simply because each component can be updated individually. This also means the failure risk is dispersed across components rather than the whole unit being dead. The open source nature means progress will come fast as you generally have smart dedicated enthusiasts in the open source market rather than voices being drowned out by "corporate strategy." A lot of the OSW info on the web is dated esp the high view count videos. The reality of where the software today is as plug and play as you can hope for.

As I mentioned earlier, I'm glad to see fanatec sort things out and that's good news for the community expanding along with high end sim racing becoming more popular. We shouldn't treat everything as a winner/loser scenario (not stating you guys are).

All said and done, I haven't seen anything that makes me want to have second thoughts about my OSW choice.

Thanks a lot for the reply ! Which steering wheel did you get ?

 

[RobertR1]

Thanks a lot for the reply ! Which steering wheel did you get ?

https://www.simracingcoach.com/en/contenido/volante-gt1/

Worked perfect right out the box. No drivers needed. AC picked it up and all the buttons work. I’m VR only so led’s and such mean nothing to me.

The magnetic shifters are so satisfying to use.

 

[RaceNut]

Good Move for Thomas and Fanatec, much needed after the initial reveal, imo.

I am interested to see the user feedback and of course, all systems come with their own Pro's & Con's and over time, some weaknesses are likely to be revealed. I'm happy to see further evolution within the Direct-drive wheel offerings and hope these products serve the Sim-community very well.

I love my Direct-drive wheel and hope others do theirs as well, whatever system they choose. For those wanting to take Sim-Racing to the "next level", DD-wheels are certainly one of the key ingredients imo.

 

[Raikku]

Well, it seems that I'm most interested about "PS4" DD1, 'cause with XOne wheels/hubs you can get it compatible on all platforms(I have PS4, XOne(X) and pc).

Of course it's kinda stupid(thanks to sony...) that they have to hassle like that, most logical solution would be "basic bases" which then would be compatible with anything with right steering wheels/hubs combination.

On the other hand, if Drivehub or similar third party companies could offer compability with Podium too like it's now possible with CSW etc, that would be one option too(like it's just now, I use Drive hub to get my CSW v2 to work on PS4 and also to use any rim/hub with One/PS4).

 

[Mascot]

I'm in the same boat buddy.

Hopefully the hex bolt pattern in the pic below, (which appears to differ from the CSW 2.5), represents the OSW standard, which we know will work with our Sim Labs front mounts.

I would imagine the chaps at Sim Labs will be able to answer this in the not too distant future in order to be able to advise compatibility with their existing front mount bracket. If it's not, I'm sure they'll be developing a new supporting front mount.

In the meantime, I'm gonna fire off an email to Fanatec to see if they are able to advise.

Cheers.

I had a reply from the Fanatec community manager on another forum. Looks like front mounting won't be an option without an adapter:

"The front bolts you see there are for the internals. The front screw holes are, much like the CSL and ClubSport wheel bases, designed for Fanatec accessories, namely the Static Shifters. I don't think either bolt layout has any relation to the OSW mounts, but I will check. We do not recommend front mounting. I have asked the chief engineer about this, as I know people are going to try it anyway, just like the CSW. He thinks that it may not hold without additional support. Bear in mind that this is not like a CSW. It's more than twice as heavy, potentially three or four times more powerful, and longer in the other axis compared to the CSW, meaning that the weight is further away from the bolts, putting even more strain on the front. We may end up offering some kind of side-to-front adapter if front mounting becomes hugely in demand".

 

[anton_Chez]

Exactly the reason I got the wheel deck as opposed to the front mount.

 

[Furnace Inferno]

Exactly the reason I got the wheel deck as opposed to the front mount.

The wheeldeck does have some vertical flex in it though, it’s not huge or happening whilst driving but I wouldn’t feel comfortable doing a pull up on the rim and everyone knows the true test of any equipment is whether it can hold all your body weight without flex .

 

[Steve D]

I had a reply from the Fanatec community manager on another forum. Looks like front mounting won't be an option without an adapter:

"The front bolts you see there are for the internals. The front screw holes are, much like the CSL and ClubSport wheel bases, designed for Fanatec accessories, namely the Static Shifters. I don't think either bolt layout has any relation to the OSW mounts, but I will check. We do not recommend front mounting. I have asked the chief engineer about this, as I know people are going to try it anyway, just like the CSW. He thinks that it may not hold without additional support. Bear in mind that this is not like a CSW. It's more than twice as heavy, potentially three or four times more powerful, and longer in the other axis compared to the CSW, meaning that the weight is further away from the bolts, putting even more strain on the front. We may end up offering some kind of side-to-front adapter if front mounting becomes hugely in demand".

Thanks for sharing that. Very useful info.

That might just push me back towards the OSW 130ST when I do decide to upgrade as we know it'll fit directly and securely to the Sim Labs front mounting bracket with its 102.5mm spacing. That would certainly be my preference rather than having to invest in a new Podium-compatible wheel deck.

 

[Deleted member 197115]

I had a reply from the Fanatec community manager on another forum. Looks like front mounting won't be an option without an adapter:

"The front bolts you see there are for the internals. The front screw holes are, much like the CSL and ClubSport wheel bases, designed for Fanatec accessories, namely the Static Shifters. I don't think either bolt layout has any relation to the OSW mounts, but I will check. We do not recommend front mounting. I have asked the chief engineer about this, as I know people are going to try it anyway, just like the CSW. He thinks that it may not hold without additional support. Bear in mind that this is not like a CSW. It's more than twice as heavy, potentially three or four times more powerful, and longer in the other axis compared to the CSW, meaning that the weight is further away from the bolts, putting even more strain on the front. We may end up offering some kind of side-to-front adapter if front mounting becomes hugely in demand".

Wondering why this is not the case with other DD solution motors?

 

[Mascot]

Wondering why this is not the case with other DD solution motors?

Simply because of the way they are constructed, I'd imagine.

 

[Furnace Inferno]

Wondering why this is not the case with other DD solution motors?

They bolt directly to the motor rather than the pretty metal motor housing as is the case with Fanatec and Accuforce bases.

So whilst you may be bolted securely to the case the motor is only attached by whatever bolts secure it which they all say are not designed or tested for the loads the motor can generate.

 

[RobertR1]

Thanks for sharing that. Very useful info.

That might just push me back towards the OSW 130ST when I do decide to upgrade as we know it'll fit directly and securely to the Sim Labs front mounting bracket with its 102.5mm spacing. That would certainly be my preference rather than having to invest in a new Podium-compatible wheel deck.

The front mount wheel deck with the Mige@20nm 100% ffb has absolutely no movement what so ever no matter how hard the wheel snaps.

Funny enough, I can get flex with the HE Ult brake pedal on the P1. I need to mount the front portion of the meatier section than the middle thin strip. Tha'ts without the maximum brake force bushing setup.

The HE ultimate pedals are can be used barefoot also for those wondering.