Whats also interesting is that this shows how much of an impact the wheel size Wight has on thing ( obviously due to inertia and physics) and why we need somone to test the t500 with the F1 wheel attached which due to its smaller size and build looks as if its far lighter and will there for better compare.
Seems to me for the price the t500 might actually be better than the CSW when it comes to raw sim racing and putting lap times down. Sure the CSW looks nicer and might be a better wheel with nicer design and general function, but its almost twice the price of the t500 when you add peddles and table clamp to it.
Guess if Money was not an issue then I'd go for the CSW
I'm not so sure about that, because while the CSW with the BMW rim is slower to move, it still changes direction better and returns closer to it's starting point, as shown in the test. The T500 RS seems to have some troubles with rapid changes of direction.
I don't see any way the BMW rim is worth €250. Is that €150 product, €100 license fee to BMW? Knock 100 off that, and maybe.
A rim with a full MOTEC system built in should be in that price range. It has some LEDs and a THREE digit LCD display.
It's an expensive wheel because it's more or less made to racing spec. They've show footage of the wheel being used to drive a real BMW race car, taken out (the quick release is essentially the same as in racing cars) and attached to the CSW, continuing the racing in a sim. So it's a very decently built wheel altogether. For reference even a very simple MOMO steering wheel for your actual car costs about the same as the BMW wheel, and they have no buttons, displays or quick-releases.
It is however (imho) totally over engineered for the purpose. While racers might like it as an idea, there is no NEED for it to be that "good", in sim racing you could built it much lighter and simpler, and it'd be cheaper and most likely work better (FFB-wise). Hopefully they'll come out with a lower end wheel, something like a small step up from the CSR Elite wheel.
EDIT: Funny thing actually. Looking at
this test, which has the same data for the T500 RS as the test above, it looks like the CSW has more internal resistance than the CSR Elite. In the video chart the T500 RS is slower to accelerate than the CSW with the Formula rim, but it actually has a higher top speed, whereas in the CSR Elite test the CSR Elite has the same or slightly higher top speed. Also at the end of the test the CSW stops very soon, whereas the CSR Elite keeps on going and bounces off the limiter.
The CSR Elite rim still seems to require more grunt to get moving (most likely due to weight distribution, not actual weight), because the CSW F1 returns to the same level as the G25, whereas the CSR Elite can't quite manage that. It also travels further before the first change of direction, most likely due to the slightly higher speed and the full rim.
I wonder what they've changed to increase the internal resistance that much. In the video you mention how the CSW has quite a bit of internal friction, whereas in the CSR Elite test it's especially mentioned how little internal friction it has...
