Is the Clubsport Wheel Base & BMW rim worth €700?

Can anyone who's tried both compare the size of the formula rim between the t500rs and the csw? I'm assuming the t500's is modeled after the real size, does the csw's then still feel slightly video game/toy size-ish in comparison?

 

No it feels like a race care rim both the f1 and the BMW they In no way feel like a toy . Now the t 500 is plastic and in my opinion garbage you get what you pay for there's a reason there 700 dollars .that being said you ultimatly need to decide for yourself and you finances .

 

There are some 1:1 comparison shots in this review.

 

@Spinelli - I have the Fanatec F1 wheel, (no base yet, just wanted to check it out) and I use the T500 F1 for rF2.

The size is very similar between the two wheels however the Fanatec, I'm a T500 F1 fan btw, feels like something you might find in a real car. The T500 F1 looks great from a few feet away and you don't notice the paddles while driving, they do the job well, but it is somewhat cheap in execution. Lots of plastic and stickers for rotary dials doesn't help the T500 F1 much either.

If you took both wheels and put them on a desk and started to compare them the Fanatec would win every time. The paddles on the Fanatec F1 are in another league. Even the packaging was a step above, coming with a helmet like dust bag for the wheel. The back of the wheel, one is very much a toy, while the other still keeps you guessing. That all said I would highly recommend the T500 F1 setup, works extremely well in rF2.

 

My godness I watched all this video and it was very frustratingto see that he could be even faster through the corners just to be overtaken on the straight again by some 3km/h faster straight line cars!!

 

Agreed! It wasn't just his car that handled the corners better, I think he had a better line into the corners. That guy is good. I wanna do that in rF2!

 

I think that he has something wrong in his setup! too high downforce that gives him huge advantage in the corners, but penalizes him in the straight! good driving though!

 

Thanks panigale and matt. What about the size difference between the 2 wheels??

 

New ClubSport Shifter (CSS) is coming

https://www.facebook.com/Fanatec

 

Simply YES.

 

Short answer, YES, it can make bumps, curbs, and track imperfections more noticeable by either the vibration forces in the wheel or turning the "belts" themselves....sometimes even enough to shake my Obutto Revolution cockpit...... BUT that much force comes at a price (not just money).... It can certainly make the car much harder to control with the FFB turned up that much. I often turn the FOR setting down below the recommended 100% to 70% on high cornering circuits. The setting can go to 400%, but I find most cars & tracks undrive-able past 120% or so.... but that is my personal preference.

If feeling imperfections in the drive and track surface are what you are after, I strongly recommend looking into getting a cockpit with transducers and Simvibe:

http://simxperience.com/Products/SimVibe/SimVibeSoftware.aspx

It works very well with rFactor2 & many other titles. It's not quite motion simulation, but its probably the closest thing without spending a whole lot of money.

 

The T500RS is round, the Clubsport BMW rim is flat between 5 and 7 o'clock (if it were a time piece), but they are about the same size. The BMW rim is wrapped in alcantara like many genuine racing steering wheels. The T500 feels like a hard plastic/steel reinforced rim on most normal cars. The BMW rim weighs about twice as much as the F1 rim (which also has alcantera handles). The The Clubsport rims have many more controls including 2 styles of joysticks and rotary knobs, plus buttons, and LED lights/controls on the rim. The quick release mechanisms on the CSW are made of metal as is about most of the structural parts of the wheel.

Here's a picture comparison I found on another site:



Here another sites' the full comparison of both wheels

All that said, I have played Gran Turismo 5 with the T500 and it felt great. It has larger and slightly more accessible paddle shifters and it can be mounted on a desk or table out of the box.... the CSW should really be mounted/screwed into a dedicated cockpit (Fanatec sell an optional desk attachment.... but I have not tried it). I don't think you could go wrong with either system. The T500 cost less and the pedals do not come with a load cell.

 

Thank you adaptable1. 400%?! Wow. That sold me on the CSW. I'm going to check my pockets, the couch cushions, and my wife's purse to see if I can find enough quarters for $700. Wish me luck.

I'll do some research on the simvibe and transducers. Do you have one, and if so, can I PM you some questions so as not to hijack the thread?[/QUOTE]

 

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Yes...feel free to PM me. There is a Simvibe thread that you can search for here. Insidesimracing did an episode on it that you can stream on YouTube. I have a 2 zone Simvibe transducer system (front and rear of the car).

 

Here is the Simvibe thread:

http://isiforums.net/f/showthread.php/8702-SimVibe-anyone

Here is the insidesimracing video review:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zs1CslGfFCg

 

Don't go for numbers. Keep in mind that the motors of every wheel (CSRE, CSW, T500, ..) are getting hot and therefore lose alot of FFB when strained too much over some time.

 

How about the size itself of the f1 style wheels. I'm assuming the t500 one is modeled after the Ferrari so is very close to proper size, but the CSW one looks much smaller in comparison, does the much smaller size make it feel more video game/toyish than the t500 in terms of actual size (not things like fit and finish, materials, etc)?

 

The CSW F1 rim is definitely solid, and on open wheel/high down force cars & tracks I can drive smoother with it than the BMW rim. I have never used the Ferrari wheel, but I'm sure Thrustmaster paid a bit to get that logo and design on there (how many engineer/manufacturing dollars were diverted....who knows?) . The CSW F1 rim has a much smaller turn radius than the BMW rim, so drivers should be able to get a better/strong grip on it. The greatest advantage the Fanatec has is that it is a quick lock mechanism, so when racing, you can quickly change between the rims vs. having to screw/unscrew with the T500. The quick lock is also great because it can clear a lot of space taken up my the wheel when I just want to use my PC from the cockpit without unmounting the whole system. The paddle shifters on the F1 wheel are significantly smaller than the ones on the BMW rim, but with the grip you have on the wheel, it does not matter at all.

As far as heat is concerned, after long driving sessions with no breaks (30+ mins), my CSW sometimes gets slightly warm on the very large heat sinks that it has on the sides. The fan can get moderately loud (louder than a PC fan considering its less than a meter from your face), but it's not been a problem for me as far as distraction is concerned. A 1-3 minute break usually cools it back down. I'm not a fan of strong FFB, so I only turn it up past 100% to show friends how strong it can get. At 70% it is stronger than all of my previous wheels (G25, Fanatec CSR, DF Pro, etc.)

 

That sounds like sound advice. I probably wouldn't be able to tolerate 400% for long anyway. Neat that it can go that high though.

 

Great info thanks. Apart from which one feels more solid, or smooth, or better ffb or anything like that, does the actual size itself of the T500 F1 wheel feel more realistic due to it being much bigger and realistically sized compared to the much smaller un-realistic sized Clubsport F1 wheel? Asking purely based on the size itself, nothing else....