A Simracing Wheel That Works In A GT3?

[Paul Jeffrey]

Recently German sim racing hardware giants Fanatec announced an interesting new collaboration with BMW to develop a replica sim racing wheel... that isn't a replica, but actually works in the real car!

Yes you heard that right, the newly announced BMW Fanatec wheel has been created to work in both the real and virtual world, meaning that for the very first time sim racers will have the opportunity to use hardware on their rigs at home that is identical to the wheel attached to the latest GT3 specification race cars from the Bavarian marque.

The announcement piece from Fanatec got me thinking, with the worlds of real and virtual racing seemingly converging ever closer in recent months, how big is this announcement for our sport? To see a brand as prestigious as BMW engaging with the powerhouse that is Fanatec to produce a crossover piece of hardware like this is something rather incredible, and can only mean exciting things for the future of hardware development at the very highest end of the market.

Think back 10 or even 20 years ago, playing with a plastic wheel on the old Xbox with it tightly pinned onto the sofa by your knees, and how far hardware has travelled in such a short space of time is almost crazy to comprehend.

This announcement, aside from being very, very cool in its own right, is potentially massive for our hobby. BMW themselves consider esport to be a key pillar in their motorsport adventures going forward, both in terms of competitions and hardware, and that extra influx of prestige and obviously exposure can only be a great thing for our community going forward.

Real cars using sim racing wheels, at the top level of international GT racing. Yup. We live in strange but absolutely wonderful times.

Fanatec BMW announcement | Read more HERE.

What do you make of the new announcement? Interested to see how the wheel performs in the real and virtual world? Do you think this is the start of potentially a golden age for sim racing hardware? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[Michael Payne]

I bet that is going to cost a mega bucks!

 

[Elaphe]

If Fanatec releases a deluxe edition bathed in gold and full of diamond-encrusted decorations and asks 1 million dollars for it, you could also argue that it's not expensive for some people who can afford it and want to experience the exclusivity and the best of the best of sim-racing glamour, but that doesn't mean it would be stupid and pointless.

 

[Jason Mullin]

Limited production run or will it be available to the masses?

 

[Steve Bird]

#This is old news. Back in 2011 Fanatec did this.

 

[Kayumi]

#This is old news. Back in 2011 Fanatec did this.

lol you should have read the blog post, this video was fake and purely marketing. This time it's real.

 

[bozakn]

No need to worry about. We will make more announcements before the end of next month.

We will continue to serve three different target groups:

CSL: Advanced and ambitious simracers on a budget

ClubSport: Hardcore simracers which are looking for an unbeatable price performance on high-end gear

Podium: The best of the best. Leading technology and functionality.

"unbeatable price performance on high-end gear"
I've just calculated the cost of a CSW 2.5 base with the cheapest rim - 750 euros, plus shipping and customs.
Then I take a look at this - https://*******/WhY67un, and I'm wondering: I must be blind or stoned, but I just don't get it.

 

[bozakn]

No need for any of this when you drive in VR, you always drive the exact wheel of the car you are driving.
And they say VR is expensive! Amateur's!

I drive H pattern cars only and I have a big immersion problem with VR - I can't see my hand resting on the shifter, I have to put it in gear to activate the animation, if there is any at all.
For me, VR has to go all out Johnny Mnemonic style - where you can scan your equipment and incorporate it to the virtual dash, move your hands off the wheel and feel the touch feedback from the gauges, the wheel and the car interiror.
Until that happens, VR is just a high tech demo.

 

[The Flying Hun]

As VR-only driver, I could not care less for the looks of my (fanatec) wheel, but I must admit for something that no doubt will be quite expensive, this new wheel looks surpringly cheap to me. The black rim and surface I mean, it simply looks cheap, like toy-stuff, toy plastic. The buttons are okay. By looks they have had better designs in the past.

 

[Deleted member 197115]

The wheel is all right, the marketing is ridiculous.

I drive H pattern cars only and I have a big immersion problem with VR - I can't see my hand resting on the shifter, I have to put it in gear to activate the animation, if there is any at all.
For me, VR has to go all out Johnny Mnemonic style - where you can scan your equipment and incorporate it to the virtual dash, move your hands off the wheel and feel the touch feedback from the gauges, the wheel and the car interiror.
Until that happens, VR is just a high tech demo.

You should just let your muscle memory develop.
Have no problem with H-Shifter, Sequential, Handbrake, and 3 different wheel plates in VR.
"High tech demo"

 

[Deleted member 197115]

The price will be a huge surprice in the motorsport world. Similar steering wheels are typically 5000 € and that is the true value of this steering wheel.

Just like we did with our other products we came up with ways to bring down the price a lot and deliver unbeatable price performance which is good for motorsport and even competes with similar offerings ( but with less features and lower quality level) on the simracing market .

Isn't fully prepped GT3 car is around 700K Euro?
Just curios how many GT3 drivers would opt for cost optimized to target simracing market Fanatec model instead of no compromises 5K race spec.
Would be interesting to hear opinion from somebody like Niki Thiim who is also simracer.

 

[fatal4you]

Fanatec amateurs, doesn't even have cup holders.

 

[Steve Bird]

lol you should have read the blog post, this video was fake and purely marketing. This time it's real.

lol, could you link to the blog post as I can't see where it says it was fake, unless i'm looking at the wrong post.

Regardless, this will no doubt attract an additional cost. No brainer for people that have a GT3 car to get the dual use out of it

 

[homieffm]

It doesn't really look much different to the Porsche 911.2's wheel: https://d3lp4xedbqa8a5.cloudfront.n...072/2018-porsche-991-2-911-gt3-r-interior.jpg

Yeah a Fanatec Porsche GT3 Steering wheel would be also nice, but I like the BMW version also

 

[Deleted member 197115]

lol you should have read the blog post, this video was fake and purely marketing. This time it's real.

"Fake" like all marketing, art of consumer deception.

 

[bozakn]

The wheel is all right, the marketing is ridiculous.

You should just let your muscle memory develop.
Have no problem with H-Shifter, Sequential, Handbrake, and 3 different wheel plates in VR.
"High tech demo"

It's not about the muscle memory mate, I want to put on some haptic feedback gloves and see my real hands in the virtual environment.

 

[Evert Geurtsen]

It looks a very good wheel and look forward to see what the price will be. The collaboration with BMW will surely have helped to make the structure stronger and stiffer and the electronics and switches better. Fanatec does have a great range across the price categories and they did help bring the prices for DD equipment down (by a bit). So hoping for a good price but a little worried about the QR setup.

 

[Michel Forest]

Well, apart from the fact that it looks like crap, I wonder what's the point of this, except to charge a huge amount of money for a wheel? If you have the bank account to get this, fine, but let's not get carried away here. Sim racing is a hobby for most of us. If you have the bank account that can justify such a purchase, fine. But the majority of us have more pressing obligations such as a mortgage, car payments, etc.

 

[Kayumi]

lol, could you link to the blog post as I can't see where it says it was fake, unless i'm looking at the wrong post.

Regardless, this will no doubt attract an additional cost. No brainer for people that have a GT3 car to get the dual use out of it

Fanatec and BMW Motorsport bring virtual and real-world racing closer together than ever

https://youtu.be/gmOhShAjtsA?t=4881 This is a very special day for me and probably one of the most important milestones in my career.

forum.fanatec.com

 

[RasmusP]

The idea of laserscanning isn't really to get the bumps and cracks or whatever everyone claims, those are not even that accurate nor do any small cracks or crevices exist in the sim tracks. At least large bumps end up in the right spot, but I'm unsure if the magnitudes are correct at all, based on what I've heard.

The point however is to get the general elevations, camber, positioning of the road with only a meter or two of error in the end. As opposed to completely estimating it and being far off in the end. That's the big important part IMO.

Yeah, I know.. I kept my post a bit "provocative" so you're totally right to point that out!

I remember the rf2 Nordschleife mod which was well made but I couldn't drive it.
I kept switching between the r3e, ac and pcars Nordschleife which afaik all use the same scan files.
Then I signed up for a club race in rf2 and didn't prepare much.. Didn't think much of it not being laserscanned.
In practice I flew off multiple times and in qualy and the race I was slow and careful.

Didn't see corners that I'd normally see, bumps that were or weren't there in the scanned tracks. Kerbs in wrong spots.

All in all the mod was great but I had to basically relearn 50% of the track.

Then the official rf2 dlc came out and I could jump into the cars and push straight away!

 

[unpierrot]

And if the wheel is not enough, now you've got the full set :

sim racing furniture

Designed in California – engineered in Germany. The FUSION SL takes the design, versatility and practicality of sim racing hardware to a totally new level. BMW Motorsport, BMW Designworks and Sedus have worked closely together to create a multifunctional piece of furniture.

sim-racing-furniture.com