Stories tagged with "Pedals"

InsideSimRacing hosts had an opportunity at this years E3 to see all the products from Fanatec's new CSR line and tried everything besides the CSR pedals. You probably already watched their special E3 Fanatec show, but I would just like to sum up what they and Thomas had to say about CSR pedals and wheels. Not all the information is fresh, but here we go.

CSR pedals (UPDATE on 2. July 2011: these are CSR Elite pedals) are similar to Clubsport pedals, but have some heavy duty plastic components instead of being fully made out of metal. Brake pedal uses an adjustable load cell just like on Clubsports, but they went for regular potentiometers for the clutch and gas pedals. These two pedals use a very interesting mechanism, where a plastic "toothed tongue" is being pushed as you press the pedal, rotating the potentiometer inside the small plastic case. In the video we can see that pedals use metal springs and can be adjusted for stiffness by turning two metal nuts.

CSR wheel uses the same base as Fanatec Porsche 911 GT2 with some modifications, but it has a completely new, radically changed and Forza branded wheel rim with 8 buttons and a joystick on the front. After using it, ISR guys are saying it has much improved paddle shifters that remind them of G25/G27 shifters. The new wheel rim is made of plastic with patches of Alcantara where you would grip it and they said it is much lighter, which makes it more nimble. It has all the buttons necessary to control Xbox 360.

CSR Elite wheel uses a very similar rim and paddle shifters as the "regular" CSR wheel, but has a carbon fiber front plate. The base is metal only and all the mechanics are CNC machined. The sensor is positioned directly onto the steering axis (current wheels have it on the FFB motor), which completely eliminates any slack or interference from the belt drives. ISR told us that most noticeable improvement Fanatec achieved with the new design is elimination of "cogging", the notchiness introduced because of belt mechanism. They said this is one of the smoothest steering mechanisms and mentioned that the wheel is closer to Frex or ECCI products than to existing Fanatec, Logitech and Thrustmaster wheels.

CSR wheels will be compatible with all 3 gaming platforms (X360, PC, PS3) and in the second half of the show Thomas said they are very confident that they will be available by the end of this year. He again mentioned the pricing between 320$ for just a wheel and 700$ for the whole kit (wheel, pedals, shifter), but did not talk about prices for separate components. He did tell us the price for the CSR Elite wheel though: *caugh* 500$ *caugh* :)

UPDATE: We later got some information about the CSR shifter. LINK

Thomas just officially introduced official Forza wheels by Fanatec and announced a new "CSR" line of products that will be positioned between their existing Porsche and Clubsport lines. For now the CSR line includes the following products:

• Forza Motorsport CSR wheel
• Forza Motorsport CSR Elite wheel
• CSR shifter set
• CSR pedals
• CSR Elite pedals 

Both Elite and the non-elite CSR wheels will be multi-platform (X360, PS3 and PC compatibility) and will have improved force feedback technology, with the Elite version featuring full metal construction and DirectSensor technology, which translates into more precise and responsive steering as well as force feedback. Almost all wheels that are currently on the market, including all Logitechs, Fanatecs and Thrustmasters have a sensor mounted directly to the motor, which means they are not always 100% precise, because there is a slight difference between positions of motor and wheel rim due to gears and belts in between the two. DirectSensor technology probably means there is a hall-effect sensor mounted directly to wheel's column which should give absolute precision and completely eliminate any lag.

CSR shifter will have a metal knob, but unlike Clubsport shifter, it will not be fully made of metal.

Thomas' words on pricing:

We will keep our fully modular ordering system so the pricing depends on the options you take. It will range between 320 and 700 for a set with pedals.

Here are some additional specs about the wheels that can be found on Forza 4 news page:

CSR (photo above):

• Improved force feedback electronics and mechanics make the wheel stronger and faster
• Metal CSR shifter set and large metal paddle shifters make shifting gears easier than ever
• Lightweight aluminum wheel rim with Alcantara inserts allow faster, more responsive turns

 
CSR-Elite (photo below):

• Wheel base fully made of metal with carbon fiber and Alcantara wheel rim
• DirectSensor™ technology with sensor mounted directly on the steering axis. This avoids all the interference and performance loss you get from the belt/gear drive found on traditional motor-mounted sensor systems
• Dual force feedback motors with 120Watt (silent big fan cooling) and very low cogging force to avoid “notchy” feeling

For now there is some confusion, because it is written like the fan on elite wheel is 120 Watt, but since that is impossible, it either means that the two force feedback motors in the Elite version are 120W combined or maybe they meant to say it has a 120mm fan and forgot to write down the power of force feedback motors.

It will be interesting to see what DirectSensor technology will deliver. I was aware of the non-optimal sensor positioning on these wheels, but never felt like they are not precise or responsive enough.

Good news for everyone planning to buy Clubsport pedals or having them on order. As you may know, Clubsport pedals used to come equipped with plastic bushings but later Fanatec started to offer better bushings made of brass in their Clubsport pedals tuning kit. Well now all pedals ship with brass bushings as standard, so this product just got a bit better. If you want to know more about tuning Clubsport pedals, you should read Delphic Reason's tuning kit review in which he also mentions the two benefits of brass bearings over standard plastic bearings. They have longer life expectancy and also increase the smoothness of the actuation of the pedals (which is in my opinion already smooth with the previous plastic bearings).

I also want to mention that I just posted a video review of Clubsport pedals if you are interested.

Brian Clancy from RaceDepartment has written a nice review of the Clubsport pedals.  Overall he was very impressed with them, mainly because of the load cell brake, adjustability, high quality materials and solid construction. He also says, that these pedals made him faster, which is surprising. His final RaceDepartment rating is staggering 295/300. I encourage you to take a few minutes off and read it.

His driving impressions: Read more »