New GT3RS V2 wheel is now completely unusable

[David Mack]

I have a GT3RS V2 wheel that I started using about a week ago (including the Clubsport pedals). I updated the firmware a few days ago with the 681 revision and followed the installation instructions, and the installation was successful on the first try.

The first problem after the firmware update was the apparently very common problem of the wheel losing its centering very quickly. It got so bad that when I used the wheel in GTR Evolution and GTR2, it would lose its centering in less than a minute after getting on track. I followed all calibration instructions many times but this did not help.

And yesterday, another serious problem started. After it goes through its power-on self calibration, if you turn the wheel at all it physically pulls itself back to the center. This happens immediately after powering the wheel up, without even loading any racing sim software. If you turn the power off the wheel seems to turn as it should.

I've uploaded a video showing this problem, here:

* http://www.flickr.com/photos/24899245@N07/5232312452/

I'm posting this problem here because I'm not sure how to even proceed. The wheel is obviously malfunctioning and needs to be returned and replaced.

I'm hoping that Brian, who is very helpful with Fanatec issues, can contact me here or via email at david_mack@charter.net as quickly as possible, it will be appreciated (I have also posted about this problem on the Porsche 911 Wheel Fan Club forums to see if Fanatec support replies). The wheel is completely unusable at this point.

 

[David Mack]

Thanks for following up on this. To me it's clear that the wheel is broken, which means that either it should be repaired (I have a pretty good idea what's wrong with the wheel) or you need to get a new wheel. Unfortunately I am not in the position to be able to help you with either option right now, so please contact Fanatec Support (if you haven't already done so) through this page.

Hello, ReDi. Just following up on my problem situation with the GT3RS V2 wheel.

I sent a detailed email (it includes all the relevant information here, and a link to this thread) by using the Tech Support email form on the "Technical Support" page link that's in your reply, above. I submitted it on Wednesday, December 8 (four working days ago) and have not received any reply yet. So, I've sent the same information just now to the e-support@fanatec.com email address. I will keep you posted here on any progress.

Thanks again for your help and suggestions.

 

[ReDi]

I can tell you that you WILL get an answer. I also know that the pre-xmas rush at Fanatec is immense, so it may take longer than usual for you to get an answer. I will keep an eye on it, so you won't be forgotten but you may have to have a little patience

 

[David Mack]

(Please note that I've copied my last post, below, from the Fanatec | Official Support Thread to this thread. I didn't want to clog up the Official Support Thread too much with the details of the specific issues I'm having.)

I don't have any experience with wheels losing center position. What firmware version are you running?

ReDi, here is the bulk of the detailed information I've provided to Armin. His reply didn't address this issue, really, so I've sent him another message indicating that and asking what the next step should be to resolve the problem.

I started using the GT3RS V2 wheel in late November (including the Clubsport pedals). I updated the firmware in early December with the 681 revision and followed the installation instructions exactly, and the installation was successful on the first try.

The first problem after the firmware update was the apparently very common problem of the wheel losing its centering very quickly. It got so bad that when I used the wheel in GTR Evolution and GTR2, it would lose its centering in less than a minute after getting on track. I followed all calibration instructions many times but this did not help.

On December 8, I rolled back and installed the older firmware rev. 678. All installation instructions were followed exactly. I then uninstalled and reinstalled the latest drivers, ver. 104. The auto-centering spring feature is unchecked in the wheel's property page and the "SPr" setting on the wheel is set to the default of 0.

I loaded GTR Evolution and configured the wheel there. The GTR Evolution FFB settings were all set to very minimal values. The wheel's FFB and Shock settings were set down to 20, Drift was set to Off, Deadzone at 0%, Linear set to 000.

Within one minute after starting to drive in GTR Evolution, the wheel lost its centering by about 20 degrees to the left. Even after recalibrating/recentering the wheel using the base button and bottom buttons on the left spoke, this problem continued to happen.

I then successfully installed firmware version 681 again. All instructions were followed exactly. I once again uninstalled and reinstalled the latest drivers, ver. 104. The auto-centering spring feature is unchecked in the wheel's property page and the "SPr" setting on the wheel is set to the default of 0. All the wheel's settings are the same as above. I then tried a number of different settings in GTR Evolution, including FFB and wheel sensitivity. I also tried a number of different settings on the wheel itself.

None of this has made any difference in fixing the "loss of the centering" issue. I've repeatedly recalibrated the wheel as above, but the same centering loss problem persists.

I also installed the new beta v106 driver yesterday, but that did not make any difference in fixing the centering problem.

Also yesterday, I turned off Force Feedback completely in both GTR2 and GTR Evolution, and set the FF on the wheel to "000". All other wheel settings were set to Off or 000, and the Sensitivity was set to 270. The centering loss problem is still there, even without any force feedback being used.

 

[David Mack]

I decided to try and reinstall firmware using my laptop running Windows XP (as suggested in different forum posts by users and by Fanatec reps), instead of my main PC which runs Windows 7 64-bit. All drivers mentioned are the 64-bit versions, and all tests were run on multiple USB ports.

Firmware v.678 and driver v.104

• Installed firmware v.678 using Windows XP, following Fanatec install instructions. Installation was successful (I also disconnected the Clubsport Pedals from the wheel before the install, just to simplify the configuration).
• Installed driver v.104 on Windows 7 64-bit PC.
• Moved the wheel from Windows XP laptop to Windows 7 PC.
• Confirmed via the Porsche Wheel Properties page that the wheel was working correctly.
• Manually centered the wheel using the bottom two buttons on the left spoke and the base button.
• Turned all FF-related settings on the wheel to low values.
• Configured all FF-related settings in GTR Evolution and GTR2 to low values.

Results
After multiple runs, the wheel lost its centering each time within 30 seconds to about two minutes, in both simulations (also, at least once in both GTR2 and GTR Evolution, the sims lost all recognition of the wheel during a run on-track...the wheel completely stopped functioning, both its steering and buttons).


Firmware v.678 and driver v.106
Uninstalled driver v.104, installed driver v.106 and kept firmware v.678 installed.

Results
Ran the same tests on GTR Evolution and GTR2 as shown above. Loss of centering problem was not fixed.


Firmware v.681 and driver v.104
Successfully installed firmware v.681 following the same firmware installation steps as shown above. I uninstalled driver v.106 on the Windows 7 PC and installed driver v.104, and moved the wheel back to the Windows 7 PC.

Results
Ran the same tests on GTR Evolution and GTR2 as shown above. Loss of centering problem was not fixed.


Firmware v.681 and driver v.106
Uninstalled driver v.104, installed driver v.106 and kept firmware v.681 installed.

Results
Ran the same tests on GTR Evolution and GTR2 as shown above. Loss of centering problem was not fixed.


So, basically I'm done trying to get this wheel to work. I have spent many, many hours trying to troubleshoot this and can't imagine what else to try. I will be forwarding this latest information to e-support@fanatec.com / Armin as part of my continuing correspondence with Fanatec support.

I will be insisting on either a no-cost return with repair or replacement, or a full refund, from Fanatec...I don't really care which. I simply will not spend any more time trying to troubleshoot this wheel. At this point I am a very dissatisfied customer, to say the least.

 

[ReDi]

Sorry to hear about your troubles. If you would live near me (Holland), I think I would be able to fix your wheel pretty easily. I hope Fanatec will respond soon and solve the issue.

 

[David Mack]

Thanks, ReDi. btw, based on all this information, what do you think is wrong with it (what do you think you might do to fix it)? I'm not going to try anything else myself...I'm just curious.

 

[ReDi]

Thanks, ReDi. btw, based on all this information, what do you think is wrong with it (what do you think you might do to fix it)? I'm not going to try anything else myself...I'm just curious.

I'm guessing here since I haven't come across this problem personally, but since the wheel basically loses track of its position my guess is that the optical wheel position sensor is not functioning correctly. But then again, at Fanatec they should have a better understanding of what may be causing this. If it is the optical sensor, however, it's a 10-minute job to replace it.

 

[David Mack]

Well, sent another email to e-support@fanatec.com / Armin on Sunday afternoon with all the above testing details, so that they'd have it by first thing Monday morning. No response yet, by end of Tuesday in Boston...sigh. They seemed to have no problem in taking my money quickly, but they sure seem to have problems replying to customers who have defective products. I'm so happy that I have a $180 U.S. (plus shipping) piece of plastic and metal gathering dust in a corner.

 

[David Mack]

Just a quick update, Armin did reply today (Dec. 22) with a detailed email looking for a bit more information, which I've replied to. Hopefully we will get this resolved quickly.

 

[Brian Clancy]

Ok Dave, keep me up to date tho

 

[Evan Madore]

Good news for you. I contacted him 8 days ago now and no response. Both for the e-support email and Armin's email direct. Now that holidays are just a few days away, I imagine I won't be hearing from them until the new year.

 

[David Mack]

Another update; Armin has set up a return authorization for the defective wheel, and Fanatec will replace it with a new one.

Also, just a suggestion...one thing he has said is that the detailed testing information I provided made it much easier for him to diagnose that the wheel should be replaced. For anyone else who believes their wheel should also be replaced, it might help out and speed things up if you can provide some similar details of what steps you have tried to get the wheel working. I don't know if that will help, but it couldn't hurt.

 

[David Mack]

Update: I just now received an email from Fanatec, saying that they are shipping the new wheel today, which is great because Armin said they would try to ship it early this week. Armin also said he may ship a "spare part" for the malfunctioning wheel for me to use on it, to try and figure out what has been causing the problem. If so, I'll definitely report back any news.

 

[Brian Clancy]

Thx David, keep us all up to date and good news mate

 

[Greg Olsen]

USB failure AND Centering problem

http://blog.eches.net/windows-7/how-to-enable-windows-7-hidden-administrator-account/

So maybe I had two different problems but My Fanatec GT3 V1 was un-usable for the first year I had it...except the first few months on my old XP machine where it worked fine. Vista and Windows 7 were a nightmare. Wheel rotation locking causing uneven rotation on either side, and USB disconnecting as soon as I was out on track ...if I even made it out of the pits.

Then I was told to use the fix in the link above. I had tried everything else. This worked. I very ocassionaly still get the USB disconnection thing happening and very rarely the wheel rotation locking at weird angles. Turning it off and unplugging and recalibrating all seem to be required to get the Wheel angle locking problem solved. The USB failure ..which also causes no FF once the USB connection is remade ... is solved by going into the FF amount menu and just moving the slider (rFactor) a bit. In GTR2 I have to quit the game and restart to solve the FF issue. I wonder how many wheels hat have been sent out by Fanatec could have been soved by this fix above?

 

[David Mack]

New wheel is working, but steering is so heavy

OK, the good news is that my replacement GT3RS V2 wheel arrived yesterday. I updated the firmware before using it, and made sure I have the latest driver. The loss of centering problem is not happening on this wheel at all.

The bad news is that when the wheel is powered off it is very easy to turn, but if it's powered on, the wheel feels like I'm driving a truck with no power steering. I guess I didn't notice this with the defective wheel because I was so focused on the centering problem. But, my god, the steering feels so heavy / stiff / tight.

I've tried changing the wheel's Drift setting to make it easier to turn, but it seems like if you go above setting 1, the wheel feels much more like it's turning on its own (as seen in about the PWTS firmware starting at the 2 min 5 second mark)...and setting 1 isn't much better than drift set to Off. Also, at any drift setting, you can feel the wheel kind of "hanging up" at about 10 degrees from center, and then it gets easier to turn farther but it's a very sudden transition, and feels unrealistic. And, this heavy steering is there even with FF turned off both at the wheel and in a sim.

So, is there anything that can be done to ease up the steering effort, besides the Drift setting? I feel like my arms are going to fall off if I try to do any kind of endurance racing.

 

[ReDi]

OK, the good news is that my replacement GT3RS V2 wheel arrived yesterday. I updated the firmware before using it, and made sure I have the latest driver. The loss of centering problem is not happening on this wheel at all.

The bad news is that when the wheel is powered off it is very easy to turn, but if it's powered on, the wheel feels like I'm driving a truck with no power steering. I guess I didn't notice this with the defective wheel because I was so focused on the centering problem. But, my god, the steering feels so heavy / stiff / tight.

I've tried changing the wheel's Drift setting to make it easier to turn, but it seems like if you go above setting 1, the wheel feels much more like it's turning on its own (as seen in about the PWTS firmware starting at the 2 min 5 second mark)...and setting 1 isn't much better than drift set to Off. Also, at any drift setting, you can feel the wheel kind of "hanging up" at about 10 degrees from center, and then it gets easier to turn farther but it's a very sudden transition, and feels unrealistic. And, this heavy steering is there even with FF turned off both at the wheel and in a sim.

So, is there anything that can be done to ease up the steering effort, besides the Drift setting? I feel like my arms are going to fall off if I try to do any kind of endurance racing.

Are you using the wheel with a PC or console?

 

[David Mack]

Hi, ReDi. I'm using it with a PC running Windows 7 64-bit, and the Clubsport pedals are plugged into the wheel.

 

[ReDi]

Hi, ReDi. I'm using it with a PC running Windows 7 64-bit, and the Clubsport pedals are plugged into the wheel.

Okay, then what you're probably experiencing is improper settings.

First of all, make sure that all settings that you can set through the Porsche Wheel Properties in Windows are disabled or set to zero on the on-wheel display. Then only adjust the settings in the PW Properties and leave the on-wheel properties untouched. You'll need to find the proper combination of driver settings and in-game settings.

I saw a thread, I believe here in this section, about someone also finding this "hanging up" of the wheel at a certain position, and he was able to resolve it by a proper combination of in-game settings (and driver settings too I think).

 

[David Mack]

Thanks for the info, ReDi. I tried your suggestions and that made a big difference.

However, after some soul-searching I've decided that I'm going to sell the wheel and go back to my old Thomas Superwheel. I've tried both the Logitech G27 and now the GT3RS V2, and have pretty much decided that I prefer the TSW over an FFB wheel.

If anyone is interested, the info about selling the wheel is here in the "For Sale / swaps" thread.

Thanks to everyone who helped out with troubleshooting the first wheel, especially ReDi and Brian. Your assistance was greatly appreciated!