[PC] Wheels. used fanatec CSR vs. g29/t300 etc. - cannot decide

hey guys.

desperation mode has set in, because i cannot decide on a wheel, this drives me insane.... and i just want to relax and DRIVE my cars!

i just got AC last week in the steam sale, with all add-ons, impulse buy. i am big into flight-simming (dcs world, il-2, rof, fsx - with trackir, hotas, pedals...for years) and not really a race-fanatic, but i always enjoyed drifting and racing (mostly japanese street) cars on my xbox 360 (forza 3/4, tdu2, etc) (with a super old 180° driveFX logitech wheel that just mimics FFB ).

i had bad experience with thrustmaster quality - had to sent back my first (brand new!) thrustmaster warthog hotas (their pro flight stick model) - bad fabrication etc.... got a new one from amazon, which i do love to fly with, but it also gave me problems (super sensors, super metal outside hefty feel. but very cheap electronics, thin cables - which BROKE inside the stick - i had to fix that by myself etc)...

i am trying to get a used fanatec CSR wheel and pedals on ebay for around 200 USD (they tend to pop up occasionally on german ebay - around that price range) ... they usually look very good, functional, and well kept, but of course you never know how the electronics and mechanics held up... are the old fanatec CSR wheels still working well together with AC in terms of FFB/compatibility ?

sorry for the long story, i hope someone is still reading and can give me some suggestions, wether an old CSR wheel would still be worth the money. the advantage for me personally: i could use it for forza 4 too, which i still occasionally like to play (fujimi kaido!).

i actually already had the g29 ordered this morning from amazon, but after ordering i browsed sim racing forums and read horrorstories about how the FFB sucks and makes problems in AC, which might have been driver related. i wonder if the latest AC update or logitech driver udpates already adressed those problems.
the forum posts i found were 2-3 month old or older. but i instantly cancelled my order, before they shipped it and now i am super frustrated, confused and demotivated.. i just wanna put my AE86 sideways on yamanashi short!

the t300 seems to get recommended a lot, it seems to be working well specifically with ACs FFB etc? but i am really worried about thrustmasters build quality... the experience with my warthog from thrustmaster did not make me trust faster!... *cough*

i just want a solid 900° FFB wheel to race (not super competitive, i like the sim to be realistic as possible, but i am not very eager to compete with the fastest cars in leagues or anything) the AC career, hotlaps, events etc, relax with some (online) drifting around the brilliant mod-tracks of japan (love ebisu etc!) or even drive some trucks in some other games i have...
a wheel that won't stop working or start to act up after a week or so...

ugh. sorry for the long (first) post.. i don't have any sim-racing friends to talk about this stuff... so yeah... used CSR, overpriced G29 (that might or might not have good FFB in AC), possibly lemon T300 that leaves me worried that everytime i move it or press a button something might break... other options?

deci, thanks for reading! ha! :-/

 

my stomach says T300, solid wheel, brushless belt-driven motor, didn't hear anything good about g29, heard about Fanatec quality issues with the CSR wheel, so getting a used one is maybe not the best idea, maybe someone is selling it because of minor problems.

 

I would suggest the T300RS wheel. it´s a belt driven wheel and as far as i know, much better than the Logitech G29 for drifting and faster wheel turnings, because the G29 is gear driven.

I switched from a Logitech Drivingforce pro to the T30RS and it is a gian leap ahead from those gear driven wheels.

if u are looking on the used market, perhaps the Fanatec Porsche GT3 RS wheel and the Clubsport pedals are also a good choice. The wheel is on an equal level with the T300RS but the pedals offer much more feeling than the T300RS pedals. they can be grabbed at German ebay at arround 200-300€ for wheel end pedals...

The fanatec CSR offers lower quality and feel compared to T300RS and GT3 RS as far as i remember when i tested it.

 

thanks guys, i know that the topic of "what wheel?" comes up often, but it always helps to get some direct thoughts... still undecided, but i am getting there.

 

To add more confussion...
https://www.fanatec.com/eu-en/bundle/product;bundle_id;107

 

looks like a great package, but i am not sure i want to spend that much money... then i'd have to get a proper chair and mounting system etc... i use the same PC for flying, driving, everything basically... so its a normal desk...

the t300RS is not available on german amazon at the moment.. so i read all the 1-2 star reviews (of course... because i obsess over little details and focus on negativity. haha)...

so IF the t300RS works it seems like the go to wheel (with cheap pedals) in that price range, but i am afraid of thrustmaster low production quality (because i know i will be super anxious and always think "when will the gear shifters stop working, when will the wheel stop centering or whatever)...

there are some fanatec gt3 porsche wheels on ebay, but reading up on (very old - 2012-13 ish) sim racing forum posts, the opinions were split..

what makes it so hard for me to decide is the price range. i want a good, quality product and am willing to pay, so i can enjoy something i like (relaxing with sim-driving/racing/drifting with realistic controllers - and i love the realism of AC). but it will physically make me feel bad and endlessly frustrate, if i spent that kind of money (>200USD) and end up being disappointed by short product life, faulty stuff or just problems with FFB etc... :-/

hard for me to just settle... while all you guys are enjoying the experience!

 

[QUOTE="
I switched from a Logitech Drivingforce pro to the T30RS and it is a gian leap ahead from those gear driven wheels.[/QUOTE]

same with me, what a hell of a leap that was!!

My T300RS works like a charm for more then one year now

Pros:
belt driven
brushless motor
fast turning

Cons:
noisy cooling fan that comes on after like 10min of driving
Kit pedals are cheap plastic stuff

 

i just checked and it seems some local electronics stores have the t300RS in stock for the same price as amazon would have it (mostly cheap).

i think i will just try my luck and get one... so i can at least EXPERIENCE first hand and test it out... and if my bad thrustmaster luck strikes again (weak quality, lemon model) i should be able to return it anyway (thanks to german consumer laws!) without losing money.

already browsing the "whats the best FFB settings for t300!" sections of forums. hehe

thanks guys. really appreciate any input on this topic from people who actually have RL experience with the products (and with AC)..

 

Setting the forces is personal reference, but what you should do is to set the minimum force in the AC menu to like 5-8% for the T300RS
This setting sort of amplifies very weak forces like undulations of the road to a level that the wheel will start to pick up.

 

thanks!

also got some private messages with helpful setup tips, much appreciated.

i completely have to re-learn sim-driving and especially drifting... with 180° wheel it was super easy to drift - not very clean but you basically can hold a drift pretty well by going left right very fast.. not very elegant or realistic...
with 900° (or 1080°? 900 was default setting. but max is 1080 not sure which to use yet) i initiate and cant catch the tail at all, because the wheel just spins and spins. haha.. will take a lot of practice...

 

It might. But it's much more precise to steer like that. You will benefit much from the increase of angle, once you got used to it. Doesn't take long.

 

I don't/wouldn't buy used electronics, especially something that had probably been manhandled pretty well. So t300 would be my choice.

 

you're right, can never know how beat up the inner parts really are... especially when you are paranoid like me.. i even worry about new stuff. occasionally it might happen that they try to sell you repackaged units, that someone returned as brand new.... ...

so i have a bit of playing around with the t300rs now and like it so far... but i am already worrying that i got a faulty unit. haha... since this is my first FFB wheel i have no experience..

is it normal that it does not center 100% perfectly straight up after startup calibration, or after quitting AC etc. (i dont run it on 100% FFB strength. if that has anything to do with it)...

 

Do you mean that physical wheel is not in center position after calibration or is it off center in control panel? First one is not a problem but the latter one is in which case I would reinstall drivers and see if it fixes it.

 

the calibration itself is perfectly lined up. 50% displayed = physical wheel perfectly straight.

so its the first thing. i had the setting to "let game center". i tried with the other setting and set that to 100% (just to test) and that centered it much more precisly.. either way. i am just oversensitive really i guess
thanks jebus and all the others who contributed... helped me out a lot.

 

I actually sell my CSR, pm me if you´re interested.

 

thanks, but i just got the t300RS for now, couldnt wait any longer without a wheel to drive

could not find a way to edit the thread title, is that possible?

 

imo, get the T300rs with the cheapo pedals and upgrade to these as soon as they come out: https://www.fanatec.com/eu-en/pedals/csl-elite-pedals-lc-eu.html

 

Thread tools on the left of the rating stars -> edit thread

 

got the t300rs and been driving all day, feels really good. of course you are right about the pedals. but the elites are probably overkill for me... i really would then also need a proper chair at least... rocking the casual desktop computer desk setup here....

does not show for me, maybe my account is too young / not enough postings yet. some web forums only allow title editing after a certain time or something.

gotta be more active in the forum i guess!

thanks again guys. everyone has been super helpful and made my AC experience already better.