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Brand New Fanatec Wheel Spotted?

Posted on June 5th, 2011 in Hardware – 43 Comments

Each year, the Austrian Wörthersee lake is the site of a very large meeting of gearheads as over 140.000 VW and Audi fans head to the scenic site to celebrate their favorite makes.

This year’s meeting ended a few hours ago and the Audi booth had something very interesting in store for sim racers. The Ingolstadt-make did not just show off their new Audi A1 Clubsport Quattro but also gave visitors the chance to try a virtual version of the car in Need for Speed World, using a Fanatec simulator.

While all that isn’t very unusual, Fantec’s rig used a never before seen Audi wheel that is modelled after the real A1 Clubsport Quattro wheel. But not just the wheel itself is new, it also uses a completely new (and seemingly much bigger) base that looks very different to what has been used on their Porsche wheels.

It remains to be seen whether or not this wheel is intended to go into mass production, a extension of their Porsche-centered product portfolio to include Audi wheels would make a lot of sense as both makes are now owned by the same company.

Update: Fanatec’s Thomas Jackermeier confirms that the wheel rim has been specifically made for this simulator by Audi engineers, costing 17.000€ to produce. While this rim will most likely not make it to a mass market product, the new wheel base is the prototype of what will used for a yet-unannounced upcoming Fanatec high-end wheel.

Via GOAPR / Fourtitude

GTOmegaRacing.com

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  • Marcel Offermans

    Definitely looks promising. However, I would like to see Fanatec focus on making their existing wheels more reliable. I don’t own one myself, but so far I’ve seen many fellow drivers have issues with them.

  • ZombieJim

    My long serving, much loved G25 gave up for ghost recently and I replaced it with a GT3RS. So far it’s earned my unconditional love and I have no doubt this new one is of the same quality, but it does look a bit weird…

  • The Biff

    Looks awesome.  Since purchasing, and loving my clubsport pedals I’ve wanted to try a fanatec wheel.  This might just be the one. 

  • John

    I really want a new wheel.. I’ve owned a Logitech MOMO and G27, and haven’t been wowed by either of them, though they do work.. Maybe Fanatec has the build quality that I’m looking for.

  • Thomas

    Nice find! I was already wondering how long it will take until the first pictures appear :)

    The wheel is a prototype made by the engineers of Audi and they reproduced the steering wheel of the Audi A1 Clubsport Quattro. It cost 17.000€ to make this wheel and it is a very unique piece. But at the moment we do not have plans to produce a mass market version of this rim.

    The base is indeed a prototype of our new high-end wheel.

  • Todd Lai

    I don’t know why but I think the wheel is modified T500RS with fanatec pedals and cockpit~

  • Chris

    Please make a wheel with analouge paddles for disabled sim racers/ f1 racers , Ive looked at the rgt but without a easy supply here and with the paddles prone to breaking it dosent really make sence ,, Please consider this or my hobby is coming to an unwanted end , thanks

  • Jett

    17,000 Euro’s?  =-O  Interesting that it still has the same crappy shifter down to the right. My neighbor has the Fanatec GT2 wheel with that shifter set and it was broken from the day he got it. His wheel has a horrible bird chirping noise too. Hope the new quality of this so-called “high end wheel” is better than the regular stuff. The clubsport pedals are quality stuff though. 

  • f12bwth

    Nice to see a wheel pointed in the right direction instead of strait up. Also the Wheel look appropriately sized. Going to a 13.5″ on my G27 made a profound difference in my sim-racing.

    Still, everything else in that picture is wrong.

  • Hompe

    Audi………….

  • Big Ron

    I would pay 17000€ for the A1 Clubsport Quattro, but not for the wheel.

  • Ernie

    A 17.000€ wheel to drive that crappy Need for Speed World? >:o
    It’s ridiculous. Or like we say in german “Perlen vor die Säue werfen”.

    BTW i’m very happy with my GT3RSv2-wheel, but i would like to see a wheel by Fanatec, which is more like a real racing wheel, not these kind of street car wheels. That would be great.

  • Gulyo

    Ugly shit …

  • Marcel Penzkofer

    Well, not all of them. I unpacked my Clubsport pedals and they were already broken when I connected them the first time to the PC :/

  • GT3_RSR

    Haha, I love how such a hardcore equipment is used with one of the most arcadish games out there. On the other hand it’s equally hilarious how some realistic sims are presented with gamepads and similar controllers.

  • stabiz

    Porsche is fine, but there is no way in hell I am driving with an Audi wheel. :)

  • F1Racer

    Hmmm.   Audi ya like that then ?

  • Thomas

    The 17.000€ are just for the wheel rim itself. There is not even the base included.

    I agree that NFS World is a bit underwhelming for this setup as it does not even has FF but Audi needed a game which is for free and where they can give away the virtual Audi A1 Clubsport Quattro for free.

  • Daz

    Exterior chase-cam view with a 3 screen setup.

    FAIL!

    Obviously the guy driving must be a console racer, as it only seems to be console racers that prefer this view, in my experience.

  • mykem

    The wheel’s looking to industrial (read: German) to be China made.  As we know all Fanatec wheels are made in China and in order for that to take place it has to be mostly plastic (for cheap shipment).

  • The Biff

    Well after seeing the price probably not.   haha. 

  • Gaiajohan

    NFS World even doesn’t have interior cam. Only bumper and chase afaik..

  • SergeantBoner

    awh ffs man, why dont they get a lincense from MOMO to make some nice wheels, I dont want to drive wheels from boring german makes….

    Like someone mentioned earlier they should stop with this ‘street car’ nonsense and get on with a proper race-wheel!

  • Jos

    it would be nice to have a range of steering wheel looks to choose from, touring car, open wheel, maybe even a vintage version, would love to have a vintage F1 wheel…

  • The Biff

    omfg both of you guys sound like complete whiners!!!   It’s about the F*cking wheel morons!

  • The Biff

    WTF are you even talking about?! 

  • The Biff

    Here’s another one with a comment which has absolutely nothing to do with the story!! 

  • The Biff

    A racing wheel license would be cool but as far as “boring german makes”, well that’s just your opinion. 

  • Captain Underpants

    Hilarity. Perhaps you’ve heard of it.

  • Captain Underpants

    LOL. Irony.

  • Skara Koska

    Let them do more wheels, let them do more sims! That way we can choose what fits our needs best. More competition, more quality. But some guys just like to say “this is better that is worse”!

    Have fun with your choices kids, thats the most important thing.

    The wheel looks quite good but i have to agree with GT3_RSR:
    “how such a hardcore equipment is used with one of the most arcadish games out there” lol

  • Riches

    Hey Biff!!!!

    Stop calling people names, if you don’t like the subject find another.
    :-E

  • The Biff

    Thomas sounds like Arnold.

  • StarFoXySxv550

    Arnie isn’t German but whatever..

    Thomas for Governor/CEO of the world…. We don’t really need United Nations, so long as we have mulitplatform Sim racing wheels

    :-D
    Vote Fanatec

  • StarFoXySxv550

    Technology from higher end products are usual passed down through the product line in the long run.

  • StarFoXySxv550

    I think evey line in f12bwth was related to the story and product. Chill out biff. lmao

  • StarFoXySxv550

    I’d say there is some seriously heavy duty hardware inside that wheel base! Looks promising for sure.

  • Big Ron

    17000€ just for the wheel rim? You should change your designer and production company…..too expensive and waste of money.

  • Think Again

    @ Thomas,

    please give us a high end wheel that

    - has no plastic parts
    - features a full sized racing wheel (no streetcar wheel)
    - has one single powerful motor with very little lag
    - has paddles that move with the wheel
    - offers great build quality (maybe not only engineered in germany but also build in germany)

    I will gladly spend 1000 Euro or more for it. Call it “Clubsport something”.

    Noch ein Design-Tip am Rande: Wenn Ihr eine große Basis/Motorgehäuse für das Lenkrad nehmt, könnt Ihr zur Kühlung auch GROSSE Lüfter verwenden. Je größer die Lüfter, desto weniger Drehzahl wird für den gleichen Luftstrom benötigt. Folglich kann man gleichzeitig einen potenten Motor nehmen und dennoch ein leises Produkt haben.

    Der verwendete Motor muss besonders stark sein, wenn es ein echtes High End wheel werden soll.

  • SergeantBoner

    Nope, thats not my opinion only. There are others on this planet that feels the same way about german cars, I bet you own a Audi! cock….

  • svizzy

    the real a1 clubsport steeringwheel looks great.
    http://www.spiegel.de/images/image-220472-galleryV9-lmqw.jpg

  • phil23

    If I spend a fair chunk of my hard earned wages on a good steering wheel, I want it to look like it’s just been taken out of a Porsche/Audi GT car, not a road car!!! That’s what would put me off Fanatecs current line of wheels.

    Interesting to see what the wip tech is under the hood though ;) .

  • The Biff

    There are high end wheels that cost that much that you can customize.  You just have to look for them. ;)

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