Newbie looking for new hardware/advice

[Wade]

Hi All,
Firstly thanks to the forum creators and members for such a knowledgable friendly board

Secondly I am currently trying to build a racing rig. I am in the process of buying a fanatic CSW v1 from @Paul Jeffrey who has been a massive help. The next step would be to buy pedals, wheel and shifter. I really like the look of the universal hub from Fanatec. As for pedals I was thinking maybe clubsport v2's and the fanatec SQ shifter thats released in March. As for screens I am fairly lost. Would triple screen setup at 24" per screen be adequate?

It would be brilliant to hear any of your thoughts and opinions

 

[Blkout]

Is this for PC only? If so, I would go with the CSR Elite pedals since they're far more reliable than the Clubsports and a Thrustmaster TH8RS or TH8A shifter since they can be had for just over $110 on sale compared to the CSS shifter which is $200 and has a few months wait time. I have the Fanatec universal hub for my CSW v2 and its nice if you want to be able to customize your rim or use multiple style rims. If you don't care about customizing your rim or using multiple rims, just go with the Formula Rim or the Porsche 918 rim. Both are nice and don't require any configuring or setup. Triple 24's or 27's would be great as long as you got the space for it.

If you want PS3 compatibility also, then I would change the shifter to the CSS because you have no other options.

 

[Mikko Lashay]

Hi Wade, also have a look at this thread in here by @carloscasas
http://www.racedepartment.com/threads/best-inmersion-in-our-cockpit.95401/

 

[HUM24H]

Hi All,
Firstly thanks to the forum creators and members for such a knowledgable friendly board

Secondly I am currently trying to build a racing rig. I am in the process of buying a fanatic CSW v1 from @Paul Jeffrey who has been a massive help. The next step would be to buy pedals, wheel and shifter. I really like the look of the universal hub from Fanatec. As for pedals I was thinking maybe clubsport v2's and the fanatec SQ shifter thats released in March. As for screens I am fairly lost. Would triple screen setup at 24" per screen be adequate?

It would be brilliant to hear any of your thoughts and opinions

Hi Wade,

In my opinion, I would go for the Clubsport Pedals as I have had them and to be honest never had any issue with them plus they are a good set of pedals but the CSR Elite are a good set of pedals if you want to avoid Clubsport Pedals. In terms of shifter, I have heard good things about the Fanatec Shifter but then I have heard great things about the Thrustmaster TH8A shifter, I would say you're probably better off getting the TH8A Shifter from Thrustmaster.

In regards to a triple screen setup, I would say it depends on how far you are sitting from the screens. If you are sitting where your monitors are close to your wheel then I would probably go for 24" monitors because 27's will most likely be the same resolution as the 24's unless you decide to go for 1440p monitors. There are people out there who have bigger screens, for example 32"+, in triple screen setup but I think 24's are a good size when placed in the right position.

Hope this helps a little

 

[Blkout]

Hi Wade,

In my opinion, I would go for the Clubsport Pedals as I have had them and to be honest never had any issue with them plus they are a good set of pedals but the CSR Elite are a good set of pedals if you want to avoid Clubsport Pedals. In terms of shifter, I have heard good things about the Fanatec Shifter but then I have heard great things about the Thrustmaster TH8A shifter, I would say you're probably better off getting the TH8A Shifter from Thrustmaster.

In regards to a triple screen setup, I would say it depends on how far you are sitting from the screens. If you are sitting where your monitors are close to your wheel then I would probably go for 24" monitors because 27's will most likely be the same resolution as the 24's unless you decide to go for 1440p monitors. There are people out there who have bigger screens, for example 32"+, in triple screen setup but I think 24's are a good size when placed in the right position.

Hope this helps a little

However, the problem with triple 1440p 27's is that the resolution is too high to get good performance from today's video cards if you like to play at high framerates with eye candy. Just worth mentioning as opposed to triple 1080p 27's.

 

[Kjell Eilertsen]

I'll chime in on the shifter part;
The CSS shifter is worth waiting a bit for and paying more for, it really is a piece of kit. The TH8 will get the job done just fine, and if you're starting out you might be better off saving a buck on that, but once you have tried a CSS I think you'll find that the TH8 feels like a toy in comparison, that's how I feel at least.

 

[Leemstradamus]

In no way do you want or need to invest in triple 1440p monitors. That high of a resolution requiers a hefty amount of gpu power and with the current cards on the market you would need to drop all of the eye candy to get decent frames.

 

[Moxley6969]

You're already Getting one of the best wheels on the market, I vote CSP V2's ALL the way,(Add a Mugen MBX7 shock if you want the best brake pedal feeling) Also CSS No question's asked

As Kjell stated, the CSS is just on a completely different level, 100% quick swap between shifting unlike the TH8, and it actually has a shifter feel, not just 6 little gate ways you move this Floating stick through. I Also waited the standard 1-2 month wait for my shifter like everyone else Worth EVERY SINGLE day of it.

Also Some like to take a few particular issues about our sim racing products and BLOW Them WAY out of proportion, ALL hardware has minor flaws, VERY few products these days are 100% perfect.

 

[Blkout]

You're already Getting one of the best wheels on the market, I vote CSP V2's ALL the way,(Add a Mugen MBX7 shock if you want the best brake pedal feeling) Also CSS No question's asked

As Kjell stated, the CSS is just on a completely different level, 100% quick swap between shifting unlike the TH8, and it actually has a shifter feel, not just 6 little gate ways you move this Floating stick through. I Also waited the standard 1-2 month wait for my shifter like everyone else Worth EVERY SINGLE day of it.

Also Some like to take a few particular issues about our sim racing products and BLOW Them WAY out of proportion, ALL hardware has minor flaws, VERY few products these days are 100% perfect.

Fanatec fanboy talking...grain of salt or a whole salt shaker applies here.

 

[Moxley6969]

From a fellow fanatec owner,

 

[Blkout]

From a fellow fanatec owner,

That's the difference between you and I though, I own products from Thrustmaster AND Fanatec and can talk about their pros and cons without bias. You are unable to do so.

I currently own the following products from Thrustmaster and Fanatec.

Thrustmaster T500RS, TX, TH8RS, TH8A.

Fanatec CSW v2 and CSR Elite pedals.

Fanatec is cable of making decent products but they've also had some turkeys that required later revisions to get right. The original CSR Elite and CSW wheels are both failure prone, but the CSW v2 seems to have finally gotten it right. The CSS shifter v1.0 was failure prone so v1.5 seems to have corrected the issues. The Clubsport v1 and v2 pedals still have issues, however the CSR Elites were always reliable. I expect Clubsport v3 pedals at some point to come along and fix the first two versions issues.

As for Thrustmaster, the T500RS had issues with the torsion springs in the pedal sets in the first models but were later corrected with compression springs. The TX had some early firmware or power supply issues but seems to have gotten it corrected with later firmware and/or external power supply changes. The T300 seems to have some early failure issues and I'm sure it will get corrected soon.

This is how you objectively look at products and decide what is worth buying and what isn't until the defects have been corrected. Fanatec has lots of QC issues and its been very well known for years. The consensus has always been that if you're lucky enough to get a working product, then you're good to go, otherwise you wait for a second revision of a Fanatec product or send back your defective product until Fanatec sends you one that works properly.

It is what it is. No one should buy Fanatec products without knowing the risks.

 

[Blkout]

And my CSW v2 is broken after 11 days of use. It started while hot lapping in iRacing. Everything had been fine until suddenly I noticed the FFB sort of gave out and even though the wheel would still turn it was extremely notchy and made a sort of grinding noise. I turned the wheel off and it would turn fine left and right, very smooth again, so I powered it back on and it wouldn't even calibrate, the wheel just sat there, so I gave it a slight push with my finger and it went through the calibration very slowly and sounded like it had some resistance. It finished the calibration process but when you turn the wheel left or right, it makes a grinding sound. I took two videos and sent them to Fanatec with a description of the problem. I guess I've got to get in line now for warranty support. It really sucks because I love this wheel but now I'm worried about reliability for the long term. Mine was only 11 days old. My Thrustmaster TX is 9 months old and I've put it through a lot more and its still working fine. Glad I have it as a back-up.

Fanatec was quick about issuing an RMA within a day and I sent the wheel back to them today for repair. I'm assuming I'll get it back in mid to late January. I'd be lying though if I said I wasn't a little disappointed by the reliability of this wheel.

 

[Kjell Eilertsen]

I'd be lying though if I said I wasn't a little disappointed by the reliability of this wheel.

I completely understand and share your view, this is very disappointing.