Who is still using a G25 these days?

Klaas de Haan · Mar 2, 2016

Hey guys,

We all know the G25, a wheel that is already almost 10 years old, it was a bit of a revolution when it came out, it had specs that where new to a wheel of that price (900 degrees, clutch pedal, H-shifter, 2 motor ffb) I think there where times that more then half of the sim racer used G25's.

Then the better fanatec wheels came in to play, they where better, but also more expensive, so I stayed with the G25. There was also a G27 at some point, which was a bit of a dissapointment for me, it was hardly better than the G25, at a much higher price, so again I stayed with the G25.

Now we have the new generation of wheels everybody knows, the new G29/G290 is still nothing more than a upgraded G25 at twice the price. It seems that there is a tendency in sim racing community towards the new thurstmaster wheels. They seems to better than the logitech stuff, but that price

they are more 2.5 the price my G25 was back in the day.

Im running my G25 for over 7 years and it wont break down, had some minor issues that I fixed, like cleaning the pots, and I had to keep the upper ring of the shifter in place with a tie-wrap, but no serious problems.

And I am still happy with my G25 every time I race with it and I wont part with it until it breaks down, and when it does break down I probably just get another one second hand. There seem to be more people who like the G25 as used onces still go over €100, while I paid €180 for mine 7! years ago brand new, thats like no devaluation compared to other computer hardware

So how many people around here still use and lover (or hate) their G25?

Erwin Greven · May 5, 2016

Still using it. It has a big dead spot but i have no money to buy a better one.

RichardHessels · May 10, 2016

Erwin Greven said:
Still using it. It has a big dead spot but i have no money to buy a better one.

Maybe you could clean the optical sensor and collectors with a can of compressed air.
My G25 is still as sharp as new.

Kaftan · May 31, 2016

I had a lovely G25 that I bought in 2008. But after a day of intense rallying, it finally broke and I had to get a G920. The new wheel seems alright but that new Logitech control panel is retarded. It looks nice, but all the settings are gone

menacegtr · Jun 11, 2016

Well what can i say about my G25, i have had it for 9 years and honestly i have had no problems up until 2015 when my pedals started bogging down, but after some searching on the net, i came across a thread about how to strip down the pots and clean and put back together, since then no issues. Also last year i took the g25 apart for inspection and to clean, and found no problems. I did however replace the plastic encoder for the brass encoder as a course of while its stripped out replace. However the plastic one is showing no signs of cracks so i was very surprised about that. I now have today an srw-s1 rim fitted via a quick release system from Simulaje. my g25 now feels even better now i have quick release system fitted with the g25 and the srw-s1 rims. i use my g25 almost every day, the leather on the g25 rim is getting smoother around the top half were you place your hands, that tells you how much i have used the wheel and still it performs like it did when i first bought it. Hang on to your g25 guy's they will become very hard to replace and i would think become very expensive to replace. my advise is if you can try and get yourself a backup g25 rim just in case any problems do occur. I my self have my eye on a few replacement g25 wheels just in case. A little tip, not that a serious g25 owner would not know is, if you see a g25 rim for sale with the (not had much use) scenario, just look at pics of the rim up close and look for heavy use around the top half. its leather so a smooth rim will tell you its been USED alot which is not a bad thing, its just what they will try and say just to get rid. Anyway i still use (thrash) and love my g25

Dennis Phelan · Jun 12, 2016

The only problem I've had with mine has been the breakage of the spring plates that hold the shift paddles. I've been able to fabricate new ones and they work great. I'd hate to lose it, new wheels are so expensive!

Dan Costa · Jul 17, 2016

So almost a decade later, my g25 started smelling burnt and is no longer "smooth"...

what you guys recomend as a replacement?

what about this one?

http://www.thrustmaster.com/en_US/products/t300-ferrari-integral-racing-wheel-alcantara-edition

Christian Moreau · Jul 18, 2016

Dan Costa said:
So almost a decade later, my g25 started smelling burnt and is no longer "smooth"...

what you guys recomend as a replacement?

what about this one?

http://www.thrustmaster.com/en_US/products/t300-ferrari-integral-racing-wheel-alcantara-edition

The T300 is a great wheel. I just recently upgraded to one with the GT leather rim The force feedback is a lot smoother and more detailed than my old G27. That 599 rim is larger than most wheels I've seen and the Alcantara gives you a comfortable grip. Definitely a high quality rim.

I would definitely recommend the T300 as an upgrade, it'll be a huge step up from your G25.

Dan Costa · Jul 18, 2016

thanks

but those pedals seem worse than G25 ones

The rim is nice though

Christian Moreau · Jul 18, 2016

Dan Costa said:
thanks

but those pedals seem worse than G25 ones

The rim is nice though

Yeah, the T3PA "Pro" pedals are much better than the non Pro ones. You can buy an
adapter from Ricmotech ($20) if you want to keep using your G25 pedals, you also gain the benefit of 10 bit pedal resolution from the Thrusmaster base. That's my current setup as I didn't want to buy a new set of pedals.

If you can find a good deal for a T300 or TX base with any rim, I would definitely say go for it, but you'd still have to get that adapter if you want to continue using your G25 pedals.

Emery · Jul 18, 2016

leobodnar.com has standalone G25 pedal & shifter adapters. Hmm, probably use the ricomotech pedal adapter for the T300 (to keep USB device count lower) and the bodnar shifter adapter.

Dan Costa · Jul 18, 2016

The tx base costs 229£ and the alcantara wheel 119£

The t300 + ferrari alcantara + tp3a bundle costs 320£. It seems a better deal.

But those adapters for the pedal + shifters will come in handy! thanks guys

Dan Costa · Jul 23, 2016

DShKM said:
The T300 is a great wheel. I just recently upgraded to one with the GT leather rim The force feedback is a lot smoother and more detailed than my old G27. That 599 rim is larger than most wheels I've seen and the Alcantara gives you a comfortable grip. Definitely a high quality rim.

I would definitely recommend the T300 as an upgrade, it'll be a huge step up from your G25.

You weren't kidding. The FFB is very very strong on this wheel. I love it

Emery · Jul 25, 2016

For those of you who have a G25 shifter, regardless of whether you are using the wheel/pedals, I can say that installing a spacer under the shifter detent spring is well worthwhile. Excellent instructions in Chilicoke's video:

I didn't bother with the o-ring, just did the spacer. I had a little trouble with the reassembly, took me 6 tries before I didn't slip up.

Symptoms I was having before the mod:
1) Fifth gear began slipping into neutral without ever touching the shifter. Gear indicator would sometimes show neutral even though shifter was clearly in fifth gear.
2) Re-calibration seemed to indicate dirty pots.
3) Started getting random shifts into neutral while using the paddle shifters on my CSWv2.
4) Very easy to knock the shifter into neutral by just brushing it with my fingers. The spacer definitely prevents this.

Took the shifter apart to try cleaning the pots and installed the spacer while I was in there. I'm pretty convinced the spacer fixed the ills rather than my meager attempt to clean those sealed pots. Re-calibration afterwards shows how tight the gates are and the apparent noise I was seeing is gone.

Feel is great now and it's working reliably!

Klaas de Haan · Aug 12, 2016

Based on the responses about the pedals/shifter adapters I started working on my own adapters, I am developing a 2 in 1 plug and play adapter for using both the shifter and the pedals of a g25/g27 standalone in 1 usb device. I think I am able to offer these for slighlty over €30 when they are finished (very soon)