Thrustmaster T300 or Fanatec CSL Elite?

You guys helped me a lot before, when choosing my simrig and also gave me good tips regarding pedals, so I hope you can share your insight with me on which whee to buy.

The original plan was to save up money to buy a DD wheel some time aorund next summer, but now my trusty G25 starts failing, so I need a replacement as an intermediate. I can't afford a DD wheel yet and also want to wait to see the newAccuforce and what TM's and Fanatec's DD wheels will be like.

So now I need an intermediate, and considering how long I plan to use it and the money I have available I narrowed it down to the two mentioned in the title. I watched some reviews (ISR, Simpit etc) but I'm still not sure. The T300 is cheaper, although the stock rim only has 28cm and the 30cm Alcantara costs only 50 Euros less then the Fanatec. Fanatec seems to have more functionality and judging by the data on their website, the stronger FFB.

The reviewers spoke favourably about both wheels, and of course both had their pros and cons. What are your experiences with those wheels, for those who have used them? I'm mostly interested in a wheel that gives good FFB feel and has a bit of strength to it.

 

T500RS?
What i heard is that the T500 last longer - the 300 has some issues with durability.
I have the 500 since ~8 weeks and played a lot - for me its worth every €.

 

I can hook you up with T300 settings that feel so good you will have second thoughts about needing a DD wheel.

 

I thought about the T500RS, but it's the same price as the T300 Alcantara, but it's quite old and I don't like the fixed paddles at all

Should I decide to buy the T300 I'll get back to you on that offer for sure. Do you use the Alcantara Rim or the standard 28cm (11 inch?) one?

 

Could you please share that info with me too, please?


T300rs , t3pa with Bodin load cell brake conversion, t8ha, pc, htc vive, gt omega rig, etc.

 

What do you need?
Wheel and pedals or do you already have a good pedalset?

Since I've gone to a loadcell brake pedal I wouldn't want anything else.
So if you go for a complete pack I'd say go with Fanatec. The new CSL PS4 Elite Racing Wheel comes in a bundle, base, rim and the CSL (non-LC) pedals for 520€, Loadcell brake kit costs another 140€ (well worth it), but those pedals need to be mounted since they are tilting freestanding with anything more than maybe the 2-3 lowest brake settings.

If you already have good pedals you could go with a T300 for under 300€ or the T300 Alcantara Edition for a bit over 350€.


I'd recommend though to invest in good pedals, which IMO has at least a loadcell brake, entry to those is the CSL LC pedals.

 

@Schnipp
I only need a wheel for now, pedals are modded G25 pedals and for now they are still good.
The question is if the CSL is worth investing +60€ over the T300 Alcantara, and also if the Alcantara is worth investing +100€ over the T300 GTE

 

For now I just have the standard playstation rim.

GAMMA (NOT LUT) FFB settings with GYRO enabled:
IMPORTANT: go to :\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\assettocorsa\system\cfg and open the Assetto Corsa INI using Notepad.
Go to the [FF_EXPERIMENTAL] section and set ENABLE_ GYRO=1 and set DAMPER_MIN_LEVEL=0.01 and save. Should look like this:
[FF_EXPERIMENTAL]
ENABLE_GYRO=1
DAMPER_MIN_LEVEL=0.01
DAMPER_GAIN=1.0

IMPORTANT: go to :\Documents\Assetto Corsa\cfg and open the ff_post_process INI using Notepad and make sure that it looks like this:
[HEADER]
VERSION=1
TYPE=LUT
ENABLED=0

[GAMMA]
VALUE=0.5

[LUT]
CURVE=doesn't_matter.lut
----------------------------
In the Thrustmaster control panel:
Overall Strength: 90%
Constant: 100%
Periodic: 100%
Spring: 0%
Damper: 100%
Auto-center: By the game
--------------------
In game:
Gain: 80%
Filter: 0%
Min force: 6%
Kerb: 0%
Road: 0%
Slip: 0%
Understeer: UNCHECKED
---------------------
If the wheel isn't 'active' enough you can always add in a bit of road and/or kerb effects.

 

Your settings look very interesting, just one question: Isn't the wheel very stiff to turn when the car is stationary? If I read that correctly you use 100% damper when that car is not moving.

 

The wheel has resistance while stationary, but I wouldn't say it is particularly stiff.

 

If you just need the wheel, I'd go with the T300.
Either take the cheap T300 RS as it is until you upgrade or directly the T300 Alcantara.
From what I've read the 599XX Alcantara rim is a great upgrade and much better than the Fanatec P1 rim.

In terms of the wheelbase the T300 and CSL aren't that different.


And since you are quoting +60€ (consider that Fanatec charges another ~32€ for delivery fees to Austria), the fair competitors would be T300 RS vs. Fanatec.
The TM with Alcantara rim IMO is a step above the P1 rim quality.

 

I have the Fanatec Elite PS4, and after a difficult start - firmware update apparently went wrong the first time - I now love it. It is very powerful, and can also rotate extremely fast. It has the motor of the v2.5 wheelbase, but uses different gears and control electronics. The quality of the wheel rim is simply above and beyond Thrustmaster, it is very light, complementing the less torque but higher speed of the wheelbase nicely, however, it has a very heavy, high quality feel to it, the stitching and the leather are pro quality. The paddels feel very robust and pro, too, not at all like just a toy. The buttons are not that special, but way better than toy buttons on most other wheels, consider them to be "very much okay". Thje wheel has some nice inbuild features to alter some base settings on the fly. You need to wait for Fanaleds to update so that the rev lights come to life. Currently, they seem to work only with iRacing (saw video) , Raceroom (own it), and Assetto corsa on consoles (saw video), to my knowledge.

I use it with CSP v3, and if you consider to upgrade your hardware, I would always recommend to upgrade pedals before wheel - the brake makes all the difference. (I had G27 before).

Cannot compare directly to the T300's feel, since I never ha done, but already by looks it beats Thrustmaster hands down. It feels like a wheel costing much more.

Just note that the CSL Elite and CSL Elite for PS4 are two very different things, the wheel rims anyway, but also the wheelbase.

In principle one can have full all around compatability with consoles if using the PS4 wheelbase with the rim from the standard Elite. However, the rim from the PS4 version is much better thna the old P1. The xbox chip is in the rim, the PS4 chip is in the base.

The front plate of the base is plastic. However, it needed me to have a third, fouzrth and fifthg lance to see that. The illusion of it being brushed metal, is perfect.

Different to the claim in the Simpit video, on my table clamp mount (cannot afford the space to build a permanent cockpit) I cannot distort the housing if trying to put pressure on the wheel different from the rotation axis. It is rocksolid. No distortions in the base as they show in that ivdeo. I think their problem is their light mount used in that video. Anythign else they say on the wheel I can confirm, however.

Other Fanatec rims can be used on the PS4 base, but consider that the PS4 wheel weighs 970 grams only, the other rims by Fanatec weigh more, sometimes MUCH more. This could maybe affect rotation speed and/or torque.

The CSPv3 btw must not be hard-mounted necessarily, have the brake at a setting of 3, not 5, and considering you do not place it on especially slippery ground, you are fine. At 3 I already must take care to not rock my chair when pushing all in. Cannot comment on the pedals in that PS4 combi pack, but the brak eon those should feel much lighter. If the design geometry is different, it nevertheless can be easier to move or flip over, I do not know. But with the CSPv3 it is not that much a problem. I have them on carpet.

If you an afford it, go with the Fanatec, I say.

P.S. Weight with mounted wheel is 5.5 kg.

 

Again the rim of the Elite PS4 is supoerior to the rim P1 on the old Elite CSL. It does not compare.

Also, if using Alcantara, use gloves if you have sweaty hands. Alcantaara gets ruined over time if you always give it a washing when driving.

The design problem I have with the T300/T500 is that they look like plastic toys. Its just visual, I know, and does not say anything on functionality. "Aber das Auge fährt mit."

The PS4 buttons on the rim for the Elite PS4, can be replaced with neutral (numbers) and technical (symbols) ones. It uses Alcantara, and normal leather, and a metal front plate.

 

I know, that's why I recommended that first, but Gevatter is talking about the CSL base with P1 rim.

 

Two choices for me. Logitech or Fanatec. Thrustmaster has unfortunatly a pretty high failure rate.

 

Yes, the old XB1/PC variant. The newer PS4 version is out of my current price range unfortunately.

I heard that a lot of times, but on the other hand there are lots of acounts around the net where people use their Thrustmaster wheels for years without problems. Depends on the production series I guess.

 

I almost bought the CSL stuff from fanatec but decided to go for the clubsport for longevity. As far as I know the performance of the CSL is fairly comparable to the clubsport and the differences are mostly in the construction. I had wanted to get a DD wheel but couldn't justify the cost, the clubsport wheel has more than satisfied me and I don't have any desire to go DD anymore, I'm very happy with the clubsport wheel. I don't think you'd be disappointed with the performance of the CSL, you might even find it's good enough and there's no need to go DD for another while yet.

 

Wow thanks , but it all looks a bit over my head unfortunately, I'll have to wait until somebody who knows a bit more about computers than me shows there face to be able to attempt this. But I've taken a pic of this page , so that I hope anybody I know can have a go for me . Thanks again


T300rs , t3pa with Bodin load cell brake conversion, t8ha, pc, htc vive, gt omega rig, etc.

 

Look at amazon usa. The user reviews and those with failurate within first 6 months are 3-4 times the Logitechs. My tx lasted 6 months. Their shifter TH8 is top notch thou.

 

Logitech products are almost bulletproof. Guess your memory is short since you seem to forget that just a couple years ago pretty much every single first gen Clubsport wheel burned out within it's first couple weeks of life. Fanatic does seem to have learned from their mistake though, but at their prices quality should be a given.