Great review thanks. Till Fanatec adopt a proper distributor in Australia I won't support them anymore. Been promising for years.
Not at the moment. With our new website it will be possible to order from Australia. The website will be online in a few weeks. Mit freundlichen Grüßen Best regards Fanatec_Gameshop Claudia Faltermeier i will as i have never had a prob with fanatec products. cant wait for new website to open to place order
Thank you, I'm quite fond of it myself. =) A more productive reply would be that you can always get the CSR Elite. The wheelbase is almost identical mechanically (though not electrically), having the same motors and belt drive system, but you don't have to buy a wheel separately, and it'll work with Xbox 360. You can get the Formula rim for the CSR-Elite too, and most likely a better looking/feeling full rim too at some point. If you'd like a CSW and Xbox 360 compatibility is in anyway an issue, get the CSR E.
Why don't you just use the xbox gamepad controller for forza? After all forza was made to be played that way. Arcade style.
From what I understand they coded two separate control methods that switch depending on input device. Personally I hate forza If I'm going to play something that's trying to be a simulator I might as well play a simulator, and if I'm going to play an arcade game then I will play something with nice crashes or very tight game design.
I am currently looking to buy the CSW and BMW wheel to go with it. However, I have heard that the BMW wheel is just a bit too heavy and will not give you a great FFB feel over the formula wheel. With that said, I have a question... In theory, couldn't you just turn the "drift mode" up just a tad to compensate? Basically "drift mode" allows you to increase or decrease the amount of resistance required to turn the wheel (or so I have been told). If that's the case, I suppose you could turn up this "drift mode" so that it's easier for you to turn the wheel and not have to work so hard. Am I incorrect in that assumption? It seems logical, but I do not have one here to test this, so I cannot prove or disprove this theory. This would not do anything in regards to the amount of FFB, or "snappy-ness" as some put it, that you get with the Formula wheel. I suppose the bigger issue is that the FFB feels a bit bogged down in comparison to the Formula wheel, which is a bit disappointing. I hope that turning this "drift mode" up a bit and perhaps turning up the FFB to compensate will work.
I'd stay away from drift mode. I thought it might work as a some kind of a power steering but it gives snappy/jerky response when you turn wheel back to center position. The higher DF mode, the more the effect is pronounced.
Do you mean to say that it has the wobble at center as if the FFB was set too high? If that's the case, then I'll just buy the Formula wheel instead. I really wish they had decided to go with a lighter weight wheel. It looks like it's almost worth it to use the CSR elite instead of the CSW with the BMW wheel. Kind of disappointing, really.
Not at center, but whenever you stop turning wheel and/or want to unwind it, like when at corner exit, lane change etc. In other words - whenever driftmode ends its job, you feel it wants your wheel to jerk once or twice (is that a proper word for it? ).
A bit of an explanation of the "drift mode" from an email from Fanatec (I asked them about it once): And the reason the BMW rim is slower is because it's HEAVY, the FFB motors aren't powerful enough to make it turns any faster. There are really only two ways to make it as fast as the F1 rim is now: Make it way way lighter (lighter than the F1 rim even, because it's also larger diameter) or make the motors stronger. The latter will naturally make the F1 rim faster too. EDIT: There's also this graph of the Drift Mode settings in action: What the drift mode does is it utilizes the FFB motors to keep the wheel turning which ever way it is turning at the moment, that's why it keeps on going faster longer the higher it's set. It doesn't affect the max speed nor acceleration of the wheel, it just helps it freewheel longer and faster. And since it tries to keep the wheel turning in whichever direction it's turning at the moment it's not really surprising it feels jerky when you try to stop it or change direction.
Very good explanation. Thanks! Since the product is now in stock, I ordered my CSW and BMW wheel. However, it looks as if I might have to find a way to take some weight out of it. I have seen some reviews that seem to suggest that even though the BMW wheel is very heavy, it does not really hinder the performance so much so that it's not worth purchasing. The only bad part is the fact that no one is able to test each wheel before purchasing. If I were able to test them first I could make a much more informed decision.
I'd like to see the reviews after 6 months when these wheels start doing what Fanatec garbage does- break. Then, I want to see reviews after these people try for Fanatec [lack of] support. Fanatec makes a good product when it works- but it usually doesn't work for long. Tick Tock... the sound of the clock counting down on these wheels.
Hey guys, I got my CSW BMW a couple of days ago.. And I don't agree with most reviews including the one started in this thread.. The FF is very strong and fast.. With RBR I have it on FOR 100 otherwise Im not able to steer with one hand and shift gears.. See video http://youtu.be/ltLKv86xlnU
Unfortunately, this was my experience. My CSW base went bad after 5 hours of use (FFB motors crapped out - became very choppy). Had to send it back to Fanatec and decided not to get another one. I bought the T500rs instead and I've been very happy with it. It's not as smooth as the fanatec because it as the old style belt drive (cogged teeth) so you can feel it when turning, but when driving in rFactor or rFactor2 you can barely feel it. I had heard that they used some cheap motors in the CSW. I don't know how accurate that claim is, but if it's true then it's very sad. The whole point of an FFB wheel is FFB. The one thing you don't skimp on is the motors! Anyhow, many other people seem to have better experiences than I did. As for their customer support... yeah. Nothing positive to say.
