timwheatley.org

Fanatec Porsche 911 Turbo Wheel, Pedals & H-pattern gear shifter.

I was sent the Fanatec Porsche 911 Turbo Wheel for review having not heard much about it, other than what I’d read on a few simracing Web sites, of course. I knew the build quality would be good and that I’d be overcome with new things to get used to, but really I had no idea what an ‘awakening’ I was set to experience with the first truly spectacular wheel I have ever owned.

I did have a lot of things to get used to with this wheel. Firstly, I had to adapt to 900° of rotation from the wheel. Both wheels I have owned recently hit a physical stopper at around 90° each side and totaled out at 180°. Second, I had to adapt myself to use a more realistically stiff ‘racing style’ brake pedal. Third, the big one, I had to adapt to use the clutch… I’ve never had a three pedal set before and have hardly ever driven on normal roads… Lastly, I haven’t used any force feedback since about 2000… I would have very many bad habits from years of simracing and this wheel was going to rip them right out of me…

Upon reading the wheel specifications, one thing stood out for me as an area of concern: Wireless. This steering wheel features no cable between wheel and PC and this worried me for a couple of reasons: Would the latency of the wheel be fast enough for my steering commands to be instantly delivered to the simulation on the screen? Would interference from the ‘wireless world’ be a problem?

For the PC I think that the wireless option isn’t really too much of a bonus, I have cables going from every device except my mouse to my PC. But, for the Playstation 2 and 3, wireless is an obvious requirement: You can be sat on your couch as far away from the TV and Playstation as you need to be and not worry about someone tripping over controller wires.

I was quite worried though that someone next door might turn on their microwave and cause me to crash in-sim when the wireless lost connection (yes I’m joking with the microwave, but this genuinely concerned me)…

My concerns turned out to be absolutely wrong as I found there to be no issues with the connection and absolutely no problem with controller lag.

INSTALLATION

Please note that I suffered problems during installation. I had read in other reviews that there are some problems on installation of the wheel… I wanted to prove that everything worked perfect when you followed instructions but I found that even following the instructions turned out to be difficult… I have since contacted Fanatec about it and they told me they have a totally different procedure for installation now which matches the conclusions I drew myself during my own struggles:

1. Fully build and mount wheel and pedals.
2. Do not use the automatic updater on the USB stick.
3. Download the latest driver manually on the Fanatec website.
4. Plug in the RF dongle before you install the driver.
5. Run Setup.exe from your manual download.
6. Calibrate the controller.

I spent nearly 1½ hours trying to figure things out the way the manual I received was telling me to. I eventually gave up and did it my own way (shown above).

FIRST USE

I went into the Control Panel > Game Controllers and calibrated the wheel next. This was a simple process, but I was concerned to see a lack of Force Feedback preferences available… I set the wheel to a 0% dampening strength, 900 degrees of rotation and loaded up iRacing to take the Skip Barber 2000 for a spin…

Unfortunately, spin was a bad choice of word: I have been so used to using a wheel with about 180° of rotation that I wasn’t moving the wheel nearly enough to catch the little slides and wobbles that the car does, especially at a track like Lime Rock Park… I asked on the iRacing member forum for help and someone thankfully told me they had experienced the same thing. I went back to the control panel and temporarily set the 911 Wheel to (it’s minimum) 200° of rotation, finding that I could then drive perfectly I knew it wasn’t a problem with the wheel, it was a problem with me.

Note: If you wind up purchasing this wheel, be aware how different it is to almost every other wheel on the market. If you haven’t experienced huge amount of wheel rotation or stiff brake pedal like this before you might find it quite hard to adapt at first - be patient. It’s taken me about four days to re-claim by pace and consistency.

BUILD FEATURES

The power supply for the wheel is nice and long. It’s the little things like this that make life easier and I was delighted to see that where this wheel needed cables, it provided cables long enough to not make life difficult.

The pedals for this wheel are one of the biggest features of it and actually a major step forward in terms of realism. I have driven the Skip Barber 2000 in real life and the brake pedal for the 911 Wheel is getting pretty close to reality in terms of stiffness. It isn’t quite as hard to push down the 911 Wheel’s brake as it is most race cars, but it’s close enough, for sure. The pedals can be either wireless (with the use of four batteries - supplied by Fanatec), or they can be wired. It would also be nice for the pedals to be made of metal… They are currently plastic and while they both look and feel solid, my clutch pedal has started making a noise when fully pushed after just a couple of weeks, though this has not affected performance.

The 911 Wheel's pedals. Solid, with a stiff and more realistic brake pedal.

The fixings and clamps for the 911 Wheel are strong and tight, I haven’t experienced any slippage. Like most wheels though the desk clamps don’t reach far enough under my desk to get past the ‘lip’ my desk has, but this doesn’t seem unusual. Like with other wheels I have had to clamp the wheel to the lip itself.

The wheel also comes with a set of ‘knee fixings’ which should allow you to use the wheel on your legs… I have not tested this as I can’t imagine being able to keep it on my legs while force feedback is active. This feature is undoubtedly useful for the Playstation 2 and 3 users.

The desk clamp and leg fixings for the under-side of the wheel.

Having a choice of gear selection sticks is a major reason to buy this wheel. Not only is there a set of buttons behind the wheel (which simulate the paddles most open-wheel race cars have), there is a sequential gearbox (forward and backwards to shift gear) and H-pattern shifter that will sit at the side of your wheel (on the end of poles clamped inside the wheel housing). The gear sticks are very strong and feel they’ll take a lot of racing, the method of housing them (on the poles) also feels strong and sturdy.

Dual metal poles go through the wheel body and the (changeable) gear stick.

The steering wheel itself is based upon the real Porsche 911 steering wheel. It feels so wonderful when driving! Being able to slip your fingers around a stitched leather steering wheel is an absolute privilege. It is perfect thickness, the construction feels solid and the amount of available buttons means you can control everything you need to control. I haven’t found anything to use the buttons on the front of the wheel for yet, but the ‘paddle’ buttons on the back of the wheel are in use whenever I drive the Formula Mazda! The front of the wheel also includes a very cool illuminated LED display that I assumed can be configured to work with software and display output of speed or shifting indications. I’ve personally turned it off (via the control panel shown above in this article) because, like I said, I don’t use any of the front buttons.

Note: Fanatec say that they are about to release a driver update that brings information from the game or sim out to the LED display.

The Fanatec Porsche 911 Turbo Wheel provides the perfect look and feel.

FORCE FEEDBACK CAPABILITY

Until very recently I used a Thrustmaster steering wheel, I also hadn’t bothered with Force Feedback since the year 2000. I got a Logitech Driving Force EX and tried it’s Force Feedback - I wasn’t impressed enough to continue using it.

The Fanatec Porsche 911 Turbo steering wheel is a totally different animal. I am now hooked on Force Feedback and can say with absolute joy that the experience this wheel is capable of delivering converted me to a fan of Force Feedback in general.

With a setting (within the iRacing simulation) of between 8 and 10 in strength, the feel this wheel gives is simply amazing. I can feel the changes in camber of the turn, levels of banking and occasionally can feel the tiny transition from one type of surface to another very, very well. That feel, combined with a higher degree of rotation in the wheel, is making me a much smoother driver and I’m finding myself able to tame circuits I have struggled at quite badly over the last couple of years.

To sum up: 911 Wheel Force Feedback = YES!!

NOISE

I actually don’t remember hearing the motor of the force feedback, ever. It is far quieter than any wheel I have ever owned, have seen on show displays or have seen in friend’s homes.

When you run a long session with Force Feedback the unit gets warm and there are fans that will run until the unit cools off. They’re not loud, but I did wonder what on earth the noise was the first time I heard them!

The body of the wheel has airflow grills above the fans.

PROS

Fantastic build quality. Feels solid.

Looks the part. Porsche-branded and cool looking. Nice leather finish.

Sequential and H-pattern gear shifters are provided and easily swapped.

900° of rotation, the same as many road cars (and the Pontiac Solstice featured in iRacing).

Wonderful Force Feedback capabilities that allow you to really feel things at a whole new level.

Stiff brake pedal that is much closer to the resistance of the real thing. It isn’t exact though, from my experience it feels about 50% as rigid as a real-life racing brake pedal (but that’s better than the 0% resistance most pedals offer).

Clutch pedal. Not every set of wheel and pedals has a clutch… Although it can be quite difficult to perfect, it might be worth it in the long run.

Non-slip pedals. When I say non-slip, I mean it. If you fix the metal plate to the bottom of the plastic pedals like you’re supposed to, these pedals aren’t slipping anywhere…

Haven’t had to recalibrate the wheel since I had it. Normally I had to recalibrate Thrustmaster and Logitech wheels before every running as they would both lose ‘center’ - I’d find myself having to turn the wheel to go straight. No sign of this issue with the 911 Wheel.

Wireless pedal to wheel communication. (Batteries in the wheels provide wireless communication, cable is provided if unwanted).

A choice to use a cable for pedal to wheel communication, rather than wireless (useful if those batteries die).

Wireless connection between wheel and PC/PS2/PS3.

Compatibility with PC, Playstation 2 and 3.

CONS

The installation from the USB stick of the USB wireless hub. Bad drivers/software… Fanatec are aware of this issue though and confirmed my installation method (above) works.

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT

Working instructions need to be shipped with these wheels.

The clamp could do with being a bit longer. It’s wide enough for any desk but doesn’t get over the ‘lip’ on the edge of mine so I’m attaching it to the edging, rather that the desk - it doesn’t feel safe like that. Fanatec do have a solution though, they have a different clamp you can buy…

Clutch pedal has started to make plastic ‘tapping’ noise (after two weeks) when pressed fully. Still works perfectly though, I guess a part is hitting the casing.

CONCLUSION

My concerns over the wireless being interfered with or laggy seems to be misplaced and although the installation was a bit of a pain, it hasn’t caused me any further stress. The lack of configuration options in the control panel was a concern, but after using the wheel for some time now - I haven’t needed to change anything outside the game or simulation’s own settings. Amazingly, I haven’t even needed to recalibrate the wheel at any time!

At the moment, all in all, the Fanatec Porsche 911 Turbo Wheel is probably one of the best pieces of equipment you can buy in terms of quality, feel and performance. It is genuinely making me a much better simracer and that’s only after weeks of usage… In terms of pricing, it is a lot of money, but I honestly think it’s worth every cent if you want one of the best wheels available today.

Buy from: fanatec.de. Wheel is for PC, PS2 and PS3 (untested by me).
Price: $350 (approx).

Note: The wheel comes with a 1GB memory stick (that looks the same as the USB hub). This stick contains the PC drivers but you can use it like any other memory stick. I’d advise against using the drivers on the stick and instead suggest downloading the latest ones from Fanatec manually.

After my earlier trip through hell I’d run a Mazda race (as I talk about in this post). After that I ran the 11:15pm race at Lime Rock Park in the Skip Barber 2000’s.

I started 2nd on the grid and led most of the race. I made a few errors and kept dropping into 2nd-place, but got it back again each time and won the race. It wasn’t an interesting race… But it was close. I was constantly only able to lead by under 5 seconds. Winning never seems as interesting as a really good fight for position with another clean racer!

The great thing about this race was that after that earlier race, where I felt ‘gotten at’ - this race, everybody was ultra clean and very polite. It really helped to bring me out of my bad mood.

This is the race I was talking about the other day.

Probably my worst race ever. With a huge amount of incidents and one incident in particular really getting to me quite a bit - it wasn’t fun at all. You don’t get these kind of races often with iRacing but this one most certainly was a challenge to finish when all I really wanted to do was quit and try again later. Saying that though, I really think this is only the second time I’ve ever felt ‘taken out’ in an avoidable accident.

I started from 5th on the grid and got a decent start. Because of slower cars around lap 1 I wound up losing a position down the start/finish straight on lap 2.

I only really feel it’s safe to overtake down the straight at Lime Rock Park, so quite often during the race I was lifting off heavily just staying clean and biding my time. Eventually moving into 3rd place I set myself up for a pass on a slower car down the straight when to my great surprise, he came over and ran me off the road, making me take to the pit entrance to avoid him. I lifted off and now knew that if I was to make a pass on this guy, I’d have to do it at my first opportunity, which I did, which is when he hit me in the back after the pass - and spun me around. I dropped from 2nd to 10th.

I carried on driving but was pretty upset at what had happened. Eventually working my way back up to 4th-place, I made three major mistakes during the rest of the race and wound up finishing 5th.

Still not happy and I’m writing this days after it happened.

Yesterday I had (what felt like, anyway) my worst ever race in iRacing (click here to view the race report). I got 15 incident points in a single event.

I don’t know why but it seemed like everyone was trying to block and as I’m someone who will only normally overtake on the main straight at Lime Rock Park, I found myself getting thoroughly involved in problems I felt were not of my own making. My Safety Rating after that race went down to Class C 2.21 - I think the lowest it has ever been. I’ll upload race reports from yesterday/today’s races tomorrow.

I felt like I learned a little bit yesterday because after the Skip Barber Race Series event at Lime Rock Park, I ran a Formula Mazda event at Infineon. I made quite a few mistakes (9 incidents), but to my great surprise I gained Safety Rating (up to Class C 2.31). I then realised that while it may be easier to lose safety rating in Class C - it also seems easier to gain it at times. I had a chat with Alison Hine after the race and she told me to cool down and said that she is driving well within her limits in order to preserve her safety rating… During the race I had been passing her then spinning and I kept repeating that pattern over and over while she consistently lapped away… I knew what I was doing, I felt I was pushing 101% and realised that by doing that, I’m making myself look a lot worse of a driver than I know I can be…

After the Mazda race (I was feeling pretty low), the iRating threw me a ‘pity win’. I ran a Skip Barber Race Series event at Lime Rock Park and found myself in quite a commanding position. I won by 10 seconds… (Read the race report). I went to bed with mixed feelings over my racing events that evening.

Today, I decided to run a Skip Barber Race Series event first. I had an awesome race and had some great battles. I’d also lapped fairly cleanly and my safety rating went up to Class C 2.46. I finished 7th while I was iRated (and predicted) to be able to run for about the 12th place!

After that race, I joined a Formula Mazda race and to my total shock and surprise I had fun - In the Mazda! I have quite clearly stunk in this car, absolutely stunk. I’d actually go far enough to say that I hated this car. Like I said to Alison after the race last night, it feels like it’s too fast for me (even though I know it’s relatively slow) and it feels too ‘big’ for the tracks. I described it in the chat as like ‘threading a needle’ trying to keep the car on the black stuff. Taking Alison’s advice I toned my driving down a bit and decided not to ‘experiment’ with lines and braking zones like I normally do during races. I convinced myself to be happy with my laptimes and to finish, where I finish.

The race went very well and apart from an off track -> loss of control on lap 7 I ran a perfect race! Did you hear that? I managed to run a Formula Mazda race with just a single error! Not only that, but I found myself in the most wonderful three-car battle for 5th-place… After the race, my safety rating was Class C 2.70, a gain of 0.49 in just four races (two good ones). Something that was really pleasing was that when I felt I was driving at 95% of my proper pace, I was lapping (at best) 1s per lap faster than I had when driving as fast as I felt I could… Weird, huh?

This video is well worth a watch as we battle hard for position:

I ran a qualifying session yesterday, setting a best time of 59.999. I felt way off the pace and knew I would be very lucky to have a competitive week.

I joined the 9:15am race session and was in an eighth-place starting position. I got a good start, being very careful into the first turn (like everyone else). I swapped position between eighth and ninth a few times as others spun or passed me until finally, on lap six of thirty-one, a huge wreck happened ahead of me.

I JUST managed to squeeze by on the grass and made five positions! I went right up to fourth! I stayed there until the end of the race too, so finished well above where I was otherwise capable of doing.

I had four incident points from the race, two off track incidents and one loss of control (a slide in turn one). My fastest lap was 59.722 and that was done on lap ten.

I did two Skip Barber Race Series events today and I’m really not happy with either of them. Why? Well, because I finished well below where I could have and I crashed in both.

The first one, I did not do what I could to avoid an incident. I saw him very late (his car is dark and I couldn’t see it until after he started moving infront of me - giving me just a single second to react), and he pulled onto the racetrack in a heavily damaged car.

The thing that annoyed me about the incident is that he had just crashed into the tyre barrier and torn apart the rear end of his car, he shouldn’t have been on the track. When he later blamed me for wrecking his car, something you can clearly see in the video below I didn’t do, it kind of irked me. While normally I would have accepted blame, I felt he didn’t deserve that apology. He was too busy trying to be condescending and typing during the race to even allow me to say sorry. Had he kept quiet and given me a chance, he’d have been reading my apology (which I had typed out - but deleted). He also said that he was too far ahead and couldn’t see me on the F3 screen (which was wrong - there was a car less than a second behind him, which passed him before he hit the wall - I was the very next car on the track after his contact with the barrier), so that kind of annoyed me too…

I did plenty of things wrong in the incident, but when someone comes at you like that? I’m sure as hell not going to be as sympathetic or sorry as normal!

So, later on I joined another race… Guess what happened? iRacing has Karma I tells ya! I know this guy didn’t do it on purpose (just like I didn’t). He was obviously upset at himself and left the server right away after saying “sorry”, but not before I had sent a quick “np” (no problem) over the chat to help him get over it. There’s really no point attacking verbally attacking someone!

I’ve had this happen twice now, where someone doesn’t even give me a chance to say sorry or even explain what I feel happened. I don’t know if people even understand that they actually get a worse reaction out of people by being accusatory rather than just letting them apologize. I’m always sorry for every screw-up I make on the race track, but if you are already verbally attacking me, it’s so much harder to say sorry! I made a thread at the member forums saying the same thing.

Qualifying yesterday, attempting to improve my time, I set a 2:14.331 for today’s race. That laptime put me fourth on the grid in car number three (meaning I was iRated as the third best driver).

Seeing everyone else’s qualifying times I knew that either I was going to finish in third or fourth - or - I’d have to find at least a second of extra pace during the race in order to compete for a win. Luckily for me, I absolutely love Virginia International Raceway… Finding a bit of extra time here is now an absolute joy!

I got a decent start but got very close to losing a position into turn one. Luckily for me though, the person on the inside spun onto the grass and I remained in fourth.

I battled hard, pushing the car as much as I could while remaining clean. I moved into third on lap four, second on lap six and then, finding myself a long way behind the leader, started to try to find some time at VIR.

Eventually setting a blisteringly fast (for me, anyway) time of 2:12.940 on lap twelve I found myself right behind the leader. I didn’t feel that I was any faster though, I actually felt that he had been holding back to try to stay on the circuit… I think that because once I was close, he obviously started to push harder and slipped onto the grass in turn one! This gave me the lead!

For the final two laps I just had to keep on the circuit… I was very lucky to win because the former leader was closing in rapidly and set his own fastest lap on the final lap of the race. The video shows you all the passes for position and a little bit of the nose to tail action seen throughout the race.

I had no incidents. Delighted with a win. I think I’ve really turned a corner on iRacing now… Relaxing and not worrying about winning, has me winning! This race was far more interesting to run than any of my other wins… It’s always nice to have to pass someone. A dominating win is just boring.

Getting a good start from my tenth place starting position, I managed to hold position around lap one. I lapped cleanly and had a good fight for sixth throughout the first nine laps.

So, after those nine incident free laps, the person I was battling with and I came upon a recovering car around the carousel and unfortunately, rather than waiting for us to pass, he decided to drive onto the circuit, lose control and crash into us.

It annoyed me at the time because I knew it was going to ruin my race and my safety rating, but like with everything, you just have to get over it. Being angry isn’t going to remove the incident from the record books and nothing I do will turn back time. It is, what it is. It was, what it was.

Our unfortunate incident at Infineon in the Skip Barber 2000's.

I gained a position through what happened and wound up finishing in sixth place.

With car number eleven and a sixth place starting position, I knew that this race would be one I’d likely be able to shoot well above my iRating and get a nice finish compared to where I’d been predicted.

I got a good start and held seventh-place after the first couple of turns. I was being careful, not wanting to get as many incidents in this race as I had the last one. The race was going very well and very clean throughout the first lap and I knew that I was in a field with guys who knew how to keep the car on the track… If I was going to get a good finish, I’d have to have minimal errors.

I did pull back to sixth just before the esses at the back of the circuit on the first lap, and all was going well, but I screwed up the secnd-to-last turn and suddenly dropped back to ninth! Out of the final turn on that first lap I managed to make a pass for eighth, but knew I’d now have to concentrate if I was to avoid losing further positions.

A few laps later I moved into seventh place when the man in sixth got loose coming out of turn one and two cars (including me) passed him for position. I then found myself in a fight with the man in sixth - and this battle went on for the entire race…

But on lap six, just after I had moved into sixth place, I spun! This put me back down to eighth and behind the men I’d been fighting with for the last six laps. I got one position back quite quickly when the man in seventh crashed, but the man in sixth, my nemesis, he was a tougher nut to crack…

I did eventually win out with a pass in the final turn, and I stayed in sixth place until the end of the race.

Far less incidents this time! I went off track three times and spun once, so still made gains on my Safety Rating. My fastest lap, set on the final lap of the race, was a 1:49.623.

I had an awesome battle in this race for fourth place. We were very evenly matched and it was pretty cool being nose to tail for most of the race. The video really tells the story of the race, but here it is in condensed form:

Got a decent start from fifth place and kept my position after turn one. For the whole race I battled for fourth place and (after he spun - after I had), I finished fourth. The video is more entertaining.

I got a few incidents in this race, but that’s what comes with a wheel to wheel battle when you’re slipping onto the grass at times… Out of the final turn on nearly every lap I was almost alongside and we did get a car contact when he slid in a turn when I was alongside, but it doesn’t matter - I don’t get car contact penalties every race. I also tapped the back of a backmarker in a turn too, but that was because he seemed to stop on the racing line for some reason… Anyway, very nice race for me, very enjoyable!