It’s amazing to realize that about two years ago Fanatec’s first Xbox 360 racing wheel, the Forza 3 Porsche 911 Turbo Wheel, hit the scene. Although it turned out to be a mixed bag, Fanatec pleasantly surprised us with its Porsche GT2 and Clubsport Pedals in January of this year — despite a roaring fan and shaky shifter mounts. Now, we’re saying hello to a new trio of racing sim-related goods intended for Forza Motorsport 4 on Xbox 360: the $249.95 Forza Motorsport CSR Wheel, $59.95 shifter set, and $149.95 CSR Elite Pedals.
If you’ll recall, it was back in March that we checked some of this kit out, and now with Forza 4 here, we hooked this mashup of gear up with our Playseat Evolution for a massive amount of virtual spins. So, did this combination help speed past the checkerboard with a respectable feel? Shift past the break find out in our full review.
Fanatec Forza Motosport CSR wheel
Pros
- Programmable presets and 900 degree rotation
- Ergonomic grips
- Good build quality and button layout
- Semi-wireless with Xbox 360
Cons
- Fans are noisy / unit is whiny with Xbox 360
- Engine and ABS force feedback is passable
The CSR wheel is worth a look if you skipped the GT2, but want something similar for Forza 4.
Fanatec CSR Elite pedals
Pros
- Load-cell brake adds realism
- Modular system that’s near-fully adjustable
- Smooth pedal throw
- Compatible with Logitech wheels
- Impressive build quality
Cons
- Fixed pedal angle
The CSR Elite pedals are an awesome compliment to any Fanatec or Logitech driving simulation rig.
Hardware
Admittedly, you may find yourself procuring only a portion of the items featured here — after all, Fanatec is stranger to catering to folks who love piecemeal. But for what’s at hand, all together it weighs it weighs in at over 30 pounds — we’d like to apologize to the UPS worker tasked with carrying it all to our door. Inside of each box we found a variety of cables, screws and each unit itself, but needed to supply our own hex wrenches (and a drill) for installation. Essentially, you should anticipate having at least a semi-permanent setup for this rig.
From the rear, the CSR wheel appears strikingly similar to Fanatec’s GT2, and that’s because they’re more or less built from the same foundation. The CSR wheel is said to have “updated internals,” but like its older brother, it’s packing a belt-driven Mabuchi 550 force feedback motor along with two other motors that handle vibration. What has definitely changed, however, is the overall theme — namely, all of the Forza inspired tweaks like its red and black color scheme. Along the right side, you’ll find a duo of PS/2 ports for connecting the shifter pedals, as well as a power jack and an on / off button. Meanwhile, on the left, there’s an Xbox Live headset jack, a USB standard-B port (for PC / PS3 hookup) and another shifter connector if you’d prefer it there or want to hookup a handbrake. Notably, you’ll be able to connect many of Fanatec’s other shifters / pedals, and with an optional adapter, even Logitech’s G25 / 27 gear. Lastly, positioned on the wheel’s dash is the familiar Xbox guide button.
The wheel’s inner rim is fashioned from a slab of brushed-aluminum and features the Forza logo dead center with Xbox buttons are laid out in a cluster on the right, a three-number presets LCD planted top-center (more on this later), four red buttons around it and a new 5-way d-pad on the left. All of the buttons are easily within thumbs’ reach, and best of all, on back you’ll find sizeable metal paddle shifters that move with the wheel. The most obvious change, though, is the racing-styled wheel grip.
At the CSR’s nine and three o’clock positions are comfortable contours fashioned with smooth rubber and Alcantara for extra tack, ensuring our sweaty hands never slipped or cramped. The rest of the wheel however (excluding the bit of rubber on its underside), is made of slick and glossy black plastic. Although we normally positioned our hands on two of the three aforementioned sections, full rotations had us yearning for an all around soft-touch feel. (Not to mention that the GT2 spoiled us with its full Alcantara covering.)
If you’re not fond of paddles, that’s where the optional shifter set comes in — and just like the GT2, you’ll get a rail-mountable sequential, and 6-1 H-pattern shifter. Both have a similar base with the same glossy plastic as the wheel, while the hand-grips are fashioned completely from metal. They’re noticeably larger than than those made for the GT2, and feel superb in palm. Oddly, though, the PS/2 port for hookup is loaded on the bottom of each unit, which caused them to sometimes become loose from hitting our knees.
Completing this trio are the CSR Elite pedals, which are a step up from the plasticky entry-level CSR pedals, but still a slightly cheaper answer to last to Fanatec’s Clubsports Like their CSR counterpart, the pedals come pre-assembled on a huge plastic and metal base with adjustable and removable aluminum pedals. This Elite version, however, opts for less plastic, using width- adjustable metal rails for each pedal assembly, pedals (with adjustable plates) and tension-adjustable pedal posts.
The whole system is certainly an option for custom setups, and once more, a pedal inversion kit is available for extra realism. Notably, the Elite Pedals feature an adjustable load cell (pressure sensitive) brake like the Clubsports, but forgo any built-in ABS vibration (good riddance), instead leaving it to the CSR wheel. The clutch and gas are also like the Clubsports, packing distance-sensing potentiometers.
Installation and setup
As you’d expect with a serious gear like this there are mounting options aplenty, and it’s laid out exactly like the GT2. For those not familiar, the underside of the CSR wheel is loaded with a removeable desk clamp, and smathering of rubber pads and screw-holes on its base for permanent placement.
To be blunt, the desk clamp is rather mediocre. We annoyingly needed a surface that was about an inch thick to start, and after twisting its hand screw to a secure fit we were still getting slight wheel wobble. While it’s not uncommon for many wheels — and mostly adequate for quick setup and teardown — we can’t help to note that our $150 Logitech Driving Force GT mounts better to a variety of surfaces. It’s not something of concern during races, but we’re surprised Fanatec hasn’t reworked this fitting. With that said, it’ll ideally be screwed into a racing rig like Fanatec’s $150 Rennsport wheel stand — as we’ve noted in the past, these racing setups can thin-wallets with a single card swipe depending on your wants.
Although the stand was sent to aid our testing, we opted to hook up to our Playseat Evolution sim-racing cockpit. As w mentioned in a recent IRL piece, this is an extremely solid offering that allows for a permanent yet movable setup, and a proper racing seat feel. To start, we used a downloadable drill template to create two new holes on our Playseat’s wheel bracket, and then bolted the CSR wheel in with its included hex screws. Interestingly, the wheel has a few more sections for screws, but just the two gave us a tight fit that was free of any give.
Next up, was mounting the shifter rails. They slide in through the side of the wheel’s base, and then get locked by twisting using two coin screws. Past that, any of the two shifters can be hooked into place — it does take a bit of force, however, and it’s hard to gauge when the screws are twisted tight. The trickiest part of setup was figuring out how to secure the CSR Elite pedals’ wide base onto the Playseat’s smaller pedal plate. The base (like the wheel) can also be bolted down, but for our needs a combination of Velcro loops and locking zip-ties kept it free from budging loose (sometimes, you gotta do, what you gotta do). It’s worth noting that its nearly 10-pound weight and size keeps it from shifting on hard floors.
The last step was wiring it all it all together… the shifter plugs into the wheel, which connects with the pedals and its power adapter. That’s it. Overall, the initial setup does take quite of bit time, but it’s no worse than what we’ve experienced with similar kits. The CSR is technically “wireless” like an Xbox controller, and getting it to sync with our Xbox was just as simple. Oddly though, it doesn’t function correctly unless the console is turned on first — at best it’s a minor announce. Upon powering up, the CSR wheel’s fans kick in, followed by the wheel itself doing some quick calibration spins. Notably, the wheel works for PS3 and PC as well, requiring all but a USB connection.
We can’t believe we’re saying this again, but its fan is annoyingly whizzy, similar to our experience with the GT2. Amazingly, it managed to worsen once synced with the Xbox, as a shrill eeeEeeeEeee sound got added in fray. Now, before you say, “but surely some moderate volume eases that pain away” — not a chance, even with a gaming headset on. Fanatec thankfully offers some consolation for the problem this time around with a button combo that’ll have the fans remain off until the wheel determines it needs cooling. Still, the high pitched whine always remains as an ever-present reminder that you’re behind the wheel of a virtual sports car.
In use
All of these options allowed us to quickly create a variety of helpful tunings, but it should be noted that it can also make the wheel act in a less than realistic manner — like how we set the drift mode to allow for super-human speed while turning through chicanes. Even so, with the right tweaks the CSR wheel has the potential to feel extremely personalized, offering a better feel for how your virtual car is reacting to your inputs. Of course, any decent steering rig will offer an advantage over your average controller, but having an array of constantly tweakable parameters on a smoothly performing wheel is really something of a joy.
Wrap-up
When it comes to the CSR Elite pedals, we’d easily recommend them at their $150 price point. You’re getting highly adjustable, fluid feeling pedals and an extra realistic movement on the brake itself — not to mention the build quality is top notch. Overall, we’d have no qualms using them in place of the slightly spendier Clubsports, whose built-in vibration was passble at best. It is worth noting that Fanatec does offer a non-Elite version of the pedals with less features priced at $80, if Elites are a bit to rich.
As a package, the CSR wheel, Elite pedals and shifter set are an amazing complement to Forza 4 and any titles that can benefit from what it has to offer. Furthermore, while the pieces are modular within Fanatec’s (and some of Logitech’s) other racing gear, it always leaves the option for changing out parts down the line or upgrading a section of your current setup. At $460 dollars combined, this setup is certainly reserved for only those ready to throw countless hours playing time in, but it certainly isn’t a compelling upgrade if you’re already rocking a GT2 with Clubsports. Overall, if you’re ready to pay the premium, Fanatec’s latest creations will do an admirable job of helping you out on the virtual track.
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Fanatec Forza Motorsport CSR wheel and Elite pedals review
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