I read that differently, to me he was stating current units on the market were not designed specifically for Sim racing. Also the demands on them are different to that of a sim steering wheel. So their philosophy is to design a unit that is DD based but made specifically for a sim steering wheel purposes and one that can bring benefits of finesse or power deliver combined with integrated software, stronger developer involvement and unique collaborations with car manufacturers for new rims.
They have to be designing and investing heavily towards the longterm future of the company. So its a very big but important step the company is taking. I don't get it where you guys think it is beyond possible they can deliver a good product and bring something new or exciting to the community.
Part of me questions the name "Podium" yet only 2 products so far have been announced. They seem to be targeting professional users or those that demand the best and semi-pro consumers. So it seems apparent this technology can be scaled down in performance/power etc.
Maybe its just my own thinking here, but if they invest heavily into this new technology then its possible all their wheels in the future would use this. Or certainly, having 3 product ranges (Podium) and the 3rd potentially coming later replacing the Clubsport V2.5 when they have ceased production and cleared stocks of it.
Yet with the "Podium" series they will maintain cross-compatibility with all the rims/ accessories they develop.
You guys can get defensive all you want and play it down but for me, Im very eager and hopeful that what they bring is of a high quality, brings new features, benefits and turns out to be excellent product(s) to consider. Time will tell but each product has to be treated on its own merits, of features, price, reliability and performance.
Nothing any of you speculate or doubt will change the interest of those waiting to see or at least learn more about these new wheels. Even if you are correct on points you make, some will determine for themselves when more is known and based on the true facts or situation.
I personally would rather see Fanatec succeed than fail.
Why are you turning it into people wanting them to fail?!
That’s not what anyone is saying at all, the consensus is don’t buy into the hype because you’ll just end up disappointed and to be honest that is true of anything. These days I much prefer going in care free and then being blown away.
You are right, nobody has any info on it at all so we can only go off of what has been said/shown and past performance. None of their Clubsport line has been without issues and needed revisions so it is wise to be cautious and sceptical that V1 like previous will have some issues.
If you listen to what Thomas has said it was very clear he said they are overengineered beyond what sim racing needed. Which is true but trying to make that sound like a negative when actually for most it’s a major positive; knowing I’d have to really try to break it rather than wondering if it will break in normal use, I don’t mind paying a bit extra for that when it’s already a lot of money.
Honestly the **** that broke on mine was insulting considering the wheel + base cost the best part of £900 and being generous it would have cost them max £20 more if they weren’t cost cutting on parts that are already cheap!
Literally my only concern is reliability, actual performance, the simple fact is any of the DD wheels in this segment are good enough for it not to really matter, each will have a unique hook but generally speaking they can all be tuned to feel similar. Oh actually I’m intrigued to see if legacy support of old wheels compromises the sturdiness of the new QR system as the real world ones you can attach to DD wheels are a real class above the current system.
More DD wheels on the market benefits everyone though and maybe we will see devs go back to the the drawing board on game side FFB with wheels getting better and better as the current one is pretty primitive.
My issue with what you are saying is talking like other companies just sit around twiddling their thumbs not developing anything new, the difference is they just don’t really market it.
Take SimXperience for example, from private forum discussions Berney has said they have prototyped more powerful Accuforce wheels but are sticking with the current 13Nm as they feel it’s enough for now and have the GS-5 G-seat currently in beta among things we know about. It’s also the only DD wheel which works on Forza 7 because they worked with the T10 devs and now it’s supported by Windows 10. Really all the big players in PC sim racing have very good support of all DD wheels.
Now the way I see it there are two choices, get an OSW now if it already does everything you want and you won’t be disappointed or wait to see if the Fanatec is as good because you like the ecosystem and want to stick with it. The only known quantity is the OSW is nigh on bulletproof but the Fanatec will remain an unknown until it’s been out in the wild for a while.
I just think if it was that much better they would have released some more info on it or at least targeted performance, literally anything. I even asked if I should wait for the Fanatec DD or get the Accuforce V2 in the Black Friday sale as it was a great price but didn’t want to get it if the Fanatec was going to be incredible and it was ignored multiple times, which says it all, not even a “it will be worth the wait” when I already had the full suite of Fanatec gear, that’s my take away anyway.
Switching to other stuff though has been an eye opener in terms of how much better it’s built, the Accuforce was only a £100 more after shipping, tax etc. than the same V2.5/universal hub package which shows how much more this podium wheel will be and when I evaluated it, looked like the best choice.
A few questions for folks familiar with the Clubsport V3 as well as OSW wheels:
- How valuable is the vibration (rumble) in the Fanatec wheels? Does it add anything?
- Is it no longer needed in MiGE driven wheels because of higher resolution?
- Is it easy to incorporate in games, is it easy to tune, is it widely supported by games?
- Could you achieve the same effect by adding a small buttkicker to you wheel mount plate?
Off topic (sorry), but maybe slightly related:
- How valuable is the rumble in the Clubsport V3 pedals?
- I read it tells you when brakes lock or when ABS kicks in?
- Does anyone even use that, I mean it's actually cheating right?
- Can you achieve the same with buttkickers on the pedals?
Looking into getting an OSW small MiGE with the HE Ultimate pedals, but wondering if the Fanatec Podium series with haptic feedback is worth waiting for, solely due to this addition...
Cheers!
You want the ABS feel in the chassis not the wheel as far as I’m concerned since that’s where it is in a real car, my vote will always be for the Buttkicker.
A DD wheel can itself also do tactile vibration much better than the little rumble motors in the wheel. How useful it is also depends how strong your normal FFB is, the higher the less you’ll even notice it. As to the pedals vibration motors are only properly supported 100% in PCars and sort of in Raceroom, I pretty much only set it up to vibrate at 75% brake pressure so I knew how hard I was pressing though I didn’t feel it most of the time.
Which brings me to your next question get any version of the HE’s over the V3’s because they are just far superior and there is no guess work in how hard you are pressing. The V3 without the brake mod (even including damper) is just not even close.
we will have to wait and see..
