1 thing though it says there are 5 settings available on the wheel can someone please explain how to set this up looked all over the internet cant find anything i have played with it but had no luck setting anything up can get the diffrent led things up likw ff or 5-1 but cant seem to change anything

Many thanks Will Fly

Your experience is a lot more in line with what I’ve seen on multiple forums. In fact it seems everyone has a problem, if not multiple ones. What I think is bogus is VirtualR’s review. No mention even of the brake pedal issues which Fanatec has admitted is a problem and will be fixed with a future driver.

My mileage is miles different having received my wheel and pedals the other day.. here’s my experience.

everything arrived securely packaged, great artwork on the box.. now in the recycle pile :)

you can judge for yourself on the aesthetics of the wheel you either like it or don’t.

main body is smaller than the G25, the wheel is bigger, diameter and thickness as I prefer more gt like sims this is good for me.(not much open wheel stuff for me).

Wheel ships with an instruction sheet, which says things like you can connect your G25 pedals to this wheel with the supplied adaptor. but there was no supplied adaptor!

no driver is supplied the instructions tell you to go to the fanatec web site and download the driver.. as has been said there are signed drivers available (more on that later) but you wont find them on the fanatec web site under support!

When you do find them (in the comments on the blog!!) you can install them.. they install fine as has been said.

Now heres the trick.. unless by some miracle you had downloaded an earlier version of the driver (beta tester) you will not have the rfactor plugin (this is not shipped even with the latest version91 of the driver) I know this since I uninstalled the driver and then emptied out the fanatec folder and reinstalled … no plugin.. it’s no wonder this works for some folks and not others!!

now there are NO instructions that ship with the wheel, so you wont know how to adjust the settings from the display and the buttons on the wheel ( and you should know the instructions at this time are not on the support forum, or the blog!) Also the display on my wheel was ok the other day and is now unreadable in normal daylight! perhaps I’ve pressed the wrong button and turned down the brightness who knows.. I cannot tell and have logged some questions already with fanatec support 3 days later I’m still awaiting an answer. as they build these in batches perhaps the email trail is just too long at present.

The silver wheel mounted shifters never materialised, you’ll need to dig deep in the myriad of responses to figure out what happened but my wheel shipped with some small black metal ones fitted they wobble a lot but are functional (this is way poorer than the G25 which I also own). Also there is NO way to get your fingers wrapped around the wheel where the shifters are because they are in fact mounted on the back of the wheel..so in a rapidly turning wheel manouver you might find the small black metal shift levers tearing at your fingers!

Can you feel the force!

I’m guessing that since this is belt driven that as you turn the wheel you feel the friction of the belt assembly. so you need more effort to turn this wheel than the G25. it is quieter than the g25 in operation and the feedback appears to be more subtle, there are no arm wrenching levels of feedback and as a result I can say that lap times increase because you dont wrestle with the controller. I do think the feedback is more subtle and better than the G25.

This is not the nirvana of wheels for me anyway.

buggy incomplete drivers, lack of documentation, components may be missing and not what you expected, location of the shifter paddles are a pain and inadequate support.
on the plus good force feedback, nice feel to the wheel and lots of buttons. now would be a good time for Logitech to respond if there listening. apologies if this sounds a little negative. but given the hype surrounding this and the costs. I felt that my experience may assist others, should fanatec get in touch and change this stuff I’ll update my response.

Oh and I am not associated with ANY manufacturer of gaming technology and I’m not affiliated to any of them ( I receive no kickback for selling there wheels :) )

edit: I’ve now removed the shift paddle levers from the wheel and can report that it feels better, is much easire to handle and the shift buttons are still usable.
edit 2: I’ve now had an email from fanatec “Did i get you right that you’ll need the G25 pedal adapter? If yes, I will send you one asap. Concerning the rFactor plugin, which driver and operation system are you using? And about the display I cannot say much right now, just that normally it is easy to read if the room is not directly flooded by sunlight.”..
more info as it breaks.. flooded by sunlight is hardly scientific :) but i’d expect to be able to read it in daylight , the fact is without a working plugin or an instruction manual the display is no use at all!

on a separate theme.. whilst it’s not supported I have found that the wheel can be used in GT5P on my PS3 with the pedals connected.. however for some reason the fan runs all the time.. it doesn work when I load gt4 on the ps3 though..

superapex:
Somebody shoot me a message if logitech needs a designer on their team.

The original designer of the G25 probably owns several supercars off that back of all that success, so maybe the new wheel will reflect their more racey experiences of real world equipment? ;)

To top it off, the fact that the delicious clubsport pedals can be bought seperately and used in conjuction with a G25 means that I’m going to get myself a G25.

This review sealed the deal for me in that respect, so thanks for not glossing over the downsides Montoya!

need to order it now!

However, the way I remember the G25, its FFB can’t compare to the GT3 RS in terms of smoothness and feel. The wheel doesn’t feel quite as nice either with the cheaper leather and everything.

As for the pedals, there simply is no comparison. As I said in the review, no other consumer wheel comes with pedals that can compare to the Clubsport set. Not in terms of features, build quality or feel. The pressure sensitive brake is what sets this set apart from everything else and it has to be tried to really appreciate it.

If you doubt my judgement due to my lack of experience with the G25, go ahead and browse some forums as many G25 come to the same conclusion – The GT3 RS is a tad better than the G25 due to the better materials used and the smoother FFB. And the pedal set is what really pushes this combo to be the new benchmark product…

mike:
great review now the burning question is if there is going to be logitech G27 or is Fantac the next step after G25.

I know! thats the bloody big question, the biggest question in simracing. Dissapointed by this review.

How does it compare to the G25????!!!!!! In terms of force feedback and stuff? How does it compare?!

mikem:

”The GT3 RS is an impressive wheel with build quality you can’t find anywhere else..”? My vote would be for the Frex Simwheel. The Fanatec wheel is still a mass production, Made in China product and next the Frex wheel, the plastic parts on it just can’t compare to the machined part, the carbon fibre and the impeccablee look of the more (much more) expensive wheel.

The second sentance of the conclusion paragraph starts with: “Professional-grade products for several thousand dollars aside..”

I think that explains that I´m not comparing this wheel with the Frex product. It would make no sense as I never had the chance to try it and it costs more than 10 GT3 RS wheels…it’s just a whole different league really.

in the last picture of the review, screws can be seen on the back of the paddle-shifters. can they be removed? because you mentioned they are misplaced – and i never use those shifters on my g25. if one could remove those shifter from the fanatec wheel – damn, im tempted to buy one A.S.A.P.

good review, thanks a lot!

edit:
sorry, i had not read all comments before posting; my question was already answered.

mikem:
”The GT3 RS is an impressive wheel with build quality you can’t find anywhere else..”? My vote would be for the Frex Simwheel.

I think it really means the best build quality for a comparable consumer product. The Frex Simwheel and the Fanatex wheels aren’t competing in the same market place. I doubt anyone will be weighing up between getting this or a getting a Frex, but they will be weighing up between this and a G25, or this and a Ferrari-branded wheel (hence the Porsche-ness, presumably).

Howie47:
I’d be waiting to see how that belt drive holds out.

If they put a metal band in it that won’t be a problem.

How strong is the brake pedal? 100, 200 lbs/in? Does the pressure mode have a slack distance or is it pressure instantly?

The review could have been more in-depth. There were a lot of spelling and grammatical errors, especially in the first third or so. I felt you really just glossed over most points.

Great wheel and thanks for a very cool review !

Both of these are just screwed onto what’s basicly a plastic button. The silver ones are causing the problems because they are both too big and too close to the wheel, it’s almost impossible to squeez the fingers between them to hold the wheel and press them the same time.

That’s why I ended up putting the black ones back on, even though they don’t feel quite as nice.

I haven’t messed with the pedals at all yet despite finding me a good setting on the potentiometer dial. I love the pedals as they are so there was no immediate reason to tweak them..I will get to that in a few days time