Trying to decide between the Thrustmaster T500RS and the Fanatec CSR Elite wheels
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buddhatree
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Tim W. just got a 500 in the mail the other day. Ask him what he thinks of it.
Haha you follow him on Twitter
His birthday today too 
buddhatree
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CdnRacer
Banned
lol it was in the same tweet
LOL. Selective reading! I only pay attention to the sim racing stuff.
FWIW I have a T500 F1 and it is a good leap over my previous G27. Works great with RF2. There is use for every button on it and if you enjoy open wheelers it adds to the fun. Thrustmaster is on version 5 now (look for a sticker on the bottom of the base showing v5) so most of the issues that plagued the first wheels and pedals have been addressed. Very solid wheel and looks good on the rig too.
I'd like to buy a CSR-E (as far as I know, it works on all plataforms - PC, PS3 and Xbox), but there's no a single unity available to sale here in Brazil. Yes, not even a single one. There're plenty of T500RS for sale, but I disliked the fixed paddles. You might say it's a get-used-to question, but the experience in F1 or openwheelers is already destroyed: the paddles should not move. And to buy a F1 add-on is not a option since is very weird to drive a GT car with that Ferrari's steering wheel. The non-included H-shifter is also a pain in ass.
For now, I'm with the old G25. If I lived in EU/USA I would bought a different wheel.
You can easily removed the Ferrari fake knobs at the centre of the wheel. Some people have gone beyond removing the knobs- here's a good example of some of the mod to the Thrustmaster F1 wheel:
This one still has the knob but added rotary dials/buttons along with the SLI-Pro LED with additional clutch pedals (using HALL sensors) and Quick-release connector:
I'm copying/pasting something I'd written earlier about the difference in feel/FFB between the default GT rim and the replica Ferrari F1 rim on the T500RS:
"Going from the GT rim to the F1 rim on the T500RS- I notice the FFB feels more direct. It could be from the hand placements on the rims and/or the weight distributions on the two different rims but there's no doubt that I'm getting two completely different FFB feel from the GT rim compared to the F1 rim.
I find the F1 rim useable and preferable in other cars besides open-wheel/formula race cars. It's good with LMPs, Super GT (GT500), DTM or basically any race cars with high grip/downforce."
Also if you look at the more recent GT/DTM and LMP race cars, almost everyone of them has moved to modern F1 type steering wheel. Here's, for example, one from McLaren MP14/12C GT3 and:
With older GT or Group C cars, I still prefer using the regular GT rim but if you get the TH8RS, there's no need to use the static paddle shifter. The fact that the TH8RS has both H-gated and sequential, gives you all the control to how realistic you want the experience to be. And if you must use a bigger diameter (aftermarket) wheel, as long as it has a 70mm mounting pattern, you can use Derek Speare's adapter for the T500RS: http://youtu.be/I7cKX6F1ah0
modmate
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Tim W. just got a 500 in the mail the other day. Ask him what he thinks of it.
Is that true?
If so i would love to hear about his experience. So mr. wheatley if you come by you may share your experience so far with the t500.
I do love it so far and have had no problems . Ive tried a csr elite one time and its also a real nice wheel. I like its buttons and build in sli, thats quality for sure. While racing i have to say the thrustmaster feels somewhat better, more FFB (tooo much
) and for me a more "real car driving" feeling. So the material used is better on the CSR and the drive feels better on the t500.GReets
MrPix
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During one of my many communications with TM due to poor quality components, I asked TM support about the 'version' and if there are any new 'versions' out there as I have a sticker with v.5 on the bottom. They advised me that they had not revised anything on the wheels since first starting production and the 'v' or 'version' was region specific rather than relating to any revision.
Can I ask where you found the info that "most of the issues that plagued the first wheels and pedals have been addressed" please?
Guy Moulton
Registered
I haven't heard about anyone with problems with T500's on a large scale, but of course, sometimes someone gets a bad unit. I had a minor double shifting issue with mine that TM fixed by sending me right out a new shifter unit for my wheel.
However, Fanatec is infamous for poor build quality and poor customer service. I raced with a guy today who's GT3 wheel over heated during a GSC race and he had to quit (wheel locked up or something). Everyday you can read something else about Fanatec's equipment. Where there's smoke there's fire. I got bit by Fanatec but never again. There really is no comparison between TM and Fanatec IMHO.
However, Fanatec is infamous for poor build quality and poor customer service. I raced with a guy today who's GT3 wheel over heated during a GSC race and he had to quit (wheel locked up or something). Everyday you can read something else about Fanatec's equipment. Where there's smoke there's fire. I got bit by Fanatec but never again. There really is no comparison between TM and Fanatec IMHO.
CdnRacer
Banned
Yeah it's true. It seems as though Tim hasn't been around lately to tell us what's up with his new wheel. Maybe I should be a jerk to someone to get him on the forums. hahaha.
This one still has the knob but added rotary dials/buttons along with the SLI-Pro LED with additional clutch pedals (using HALL sensors) and Quick-release connector:
Will you please link to this wheel?
The T500 was originally announced for GT5 and I had been playing that game (gateway drug to better things) so I loosely followed the updates on this wheel at gtplanet.net. They have a sim hardware section that tracked this wheel and pedal set since release. There is a lot of info there on the various updates, what they contained, and v.5 is the latest.
The region info isn't correct, and the reason I say that is because my F1 wheel shows v.1. And yes, there are cheap parts and I've heard complaints with buttons and shifters on the F1 wheel. I do wish they would have used better quality components but besides having to set center manually on my wheel, it has been great. I hope you get your issues resolved.
The region info isn't correct, and the reason I say that is because my F1 wheel shows v.1. And yes, there are cheap parts and I've heard complaints with buttons and shifters on the F1 wheel. I do wish they would have used better quality components but besides having to set center manually on my wheel, it has been great. I hope you get your issues resolved.
Cracheur
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read the review of the CSW: http://911wheel.de/?q=node/8633
I think it's pretty obvious: if you can afford and don't need XBOX > CSW. If you want XBOX support: CSR ELITE. (btw: F1 rim will come Q3 2012). If you can't afford these, the T500 seems to be a decent choice as well.
I think it's pretty obvious: if you can afford and don't need XBOX > CSW. If you want XBOX support: CSR ELITE. (btw: F1 rim will come Q3 2012). If you can't afford these, the T500 seems to be a decent choice as well.
I wouldn't be so sure it's that simple. I'd also add "If you don't want to use an F1 wheel > CSR Elite". The BMW wheel makes the wheel so much slower to respond (from an FFB point of view) it really isn't funny. They really need to come up with a lighter full rimmed steering wheel for the CSW, and fast. For some reason the CSW also seems to have a lot more internal resistance, which can be an issue at times.
Amazing... I'm going for it.
I've also got bitten by Fanatec. I have a GT3RS V2 and fisrt the stitching started coming off the rim , now the wheel base is making a squeeking noise when it heats up ant when that happens the wheel gets stiffer to steer. I should recieve a replace ment rim tomorrow after a 10 day wait from a response from Fanatec support , but they still arent giving me any response to my noisey wheel which Is taken 5 days so far. My GT3RS V2 is less than two months old so it shouldnt be making noises like it is.
