Fanatec Wheel has Arrived!

My CSR Wheel, CSR Pedals, Shifters and Rentec Stand came in yesterday and I have to say I LOVE IT!! (will post pics tonight).

Here is what I found so far....

1. Tune the wheel... Out of the box, Force Feedback is set to FULL (100). It's strong enough to yank the wheel out of your hands and give you forearms like Popeye. I dropped mine to 50, and it works very well. I also dropped the ABS rumble to 50. Since I don't use ABS, I wanted the braking vibrations without the a ABS snap/crack/pop. I also dropped the Spring tension and rebound down to one notch above minimum. I may tweak them a bit more for feel.
   
2. Change your steering in-game to Simulation. Joe, Low, Mopar and Eric will tell you that I was complaining about my really good tunes being horrible on the wheel. Well, once I changed the steering from normal to simulation, EVERYTHING changed... I was able to post a hot lap in my Stratos on Motegi East .200 seconds slower than my fastest controller time on the same tune. The best part is I was more consistent, smoother, and had WAY more control and feedback on what the car was doing. I could feel the front wheels lose grip in a turn and adjust so they fell back in...
   
3. Get the Rensport stand. It's well worth the money. It's heavy, solid and folds up (without removing anything) for storage. The wheel also mounts to it with 4 bolts.
   
4. The separate shifters are just so-so thus far. The gate on the 6-speed is unrealistic, but I'm still going to give it some more hot lapping time. I have not tried the bump shifter yet, but I think that is the way I will be going for racing w/clutch (especially drag racing). There are a few cars now with 7-speed trannys, so the gated shifter is not for all cars in the game. Not to mention, that the awkwardness of the gated shift is tough to deal with on downshifts. The rigid shift mount will be here today, and I will mount the bump shifter to it. The gated shifter seems to be more of a novelty for me.
   
5. The paddle shifters on the wheel are OUTSTANDING. It's hard to use the clutch pedal with them (at least for me), but I'm fine with strait manual on most of my tunes since I usually put in the best clutch and tranny.
   
6. The Standard CSR pedals are AWESOME! I thought I would regret not getting the CSR Elite pedals, but the adjustable tension allows you to tune the weight, Travel, position and feel. It didn't take me long at all to get the feel for braking with the pedals. I will be lightening up the clutch pedal to do better quick shifts...

Once I switch the in-game steering to Simulation, my world changed. It was AWESOME!!! If you are thinking about getting the CSR wheel and pedals, DO IT!! You will not be disappointed... I will snap some pics tonight (of the wheel... don't get excited) and post them in this thread....

Glad to hear you're enjoying it lou!

I definitely had some trouble with the whole simulation steering/normal steering thing when I first got mine. I currently have the steering "sen" setting to "off" and it seems to work fine. I'm wondering what "sen" you're using? I've tried all and I just feel like "off" is the best for me atm, on simulation steering at least. And I've also noticed my tunes for my cars felt weird on the wheel.

The feedback to tell you the front wheels are losing grip is seriously amazing...The old ms wheel had it too but its just better on the CSR. I can't explain it but it is. The 6+1 shifter does feel a little odd but it takes some while to get used to, I dont think it's really there to make you faster though, I can't count how many times I've missed a gear with that thing.

The paddle shifters are really amazing. Although I use them more for f1 2011. If you guys are on again tonight I'll join up with the wheel if I can.

I set it to SEN and Drift off as well... Since Forza is set up for 270 degrees of steering wheel rotation, I can go lock to lock without letting go of the wheel.... I don't care for progressive steering, so I like the consistent linear feeling. I should be on tonight as well... need to get some more hot lapping in on the East course....

Argghh...I'm hoping mine is here this week. I sold my G27 the other day since my CSR-E was on it's way. I'll be using your suggestions tho' to help me get mine 'tuned' a bit quicker.

Awesome swviper... I LOVE mine... I'm really getting the hang of it now... Will not be going back to the controller except to paint and maybe tune... Otherwise it's the wheel for me!!!

Here's a pic of the full set-up. The extra pedal stop and rigid shifter mount arrived yesterday, and I highly recommend them if you get the shifter and/or Rensport stand.

Congrats on finally getting the wheel Lou! We now have the same setup! (Minus the stand). I havn't really messed with the pedal feel yet and I still need to work on understanding what settings help on which cars. I also need to update my firmware lol.

Welcome to the family! lol

Why only 1 daughter on the end table there?

BiggLou55 wrote:Awesome swviper... I LOVE mine... I'm really getting the hang of it now... Will not be going back to the controller except to paint and maybe tune... Otherwise it's the wheel for me!!!

Here's a pic of the full set-up. The extra pedal stop and rigid shifter mount arrived yesterday, and I highly recommend them if you get the shifter and/or Rensport stand.

I didn't get stand, just the mount, but I'm already regretting that...maybe later this summer. Nice setup!!

marmuttlebow wrote:Why only 1 daughter on the end table there?

There are plenty of pictures of Jillian in other places around the house. That is a great pic of Evelyn (my oldest) that we had to display out there....

BiggLou55 wrote:
There are plenty of pictures of Jillian in other places around the house. That is a great pic of Evelyn (my oldest) that we had to display out there....

I detect a sibling rivalry brewing...

Funny, my kids love seeing pictures of the other one. Don't really care much for pics of themselves... and now I've officially tried to thread jack this topic.

If I catch them, I'll take a pic with them playing with it... They LOVE to push the pedals and turn the wheel... Play driving... I caught myself scolding them and asking them to not play with it because it's not a toy... Then I thought "wait a tic... it is a toy, but it's MY toy so HANDS OFF GIRLS!!!"...... This is my way of taking back the thread BTW...



Swviper... When you get your's in, let me know and I can walk you through some tuning on it. Also... Go ahead and download/print the PDF manula from the Fanatec web site. You'll need it to set it up...

BiggLou55 wrote:If I catch them, I'll take a pic with them playing with it... They LOVE to push the pedals and turn the wheel... Play driving... I caught myself scolding them and asking them to not play with it because it's not a toy... Then I thought "wait a tic... it is a toy, but it's MY toy so HANDS OFF GIRLS!!!"...... This is my way of taking back the thread BTW...



Swviper... When you get your's in, let me know and I can walk you through some tuning on it. Also... Go ahead and download/print the PDF manula from the Fanatec web site. You'll need it to set it up...

Off the top, anyone here can just call me Sean...no need for online 'monikers' at this point.

Speaking of 'toys' ...got back into another expensive hobby of Scalextric this year...kids love it (grown up ones especially) but I'm same, find myself 'checking self' every so often "...can't yell at them...it IS a toy"
/thread hijack complete

OK... Sean it is... You may call me Marcus if you wish... Lou works as well... Hell.... Call me asshole and I'll probably respond...

[digress]
The history around my GT BiggLou55... Lou comes from my middle name, and BiggLou was a nickname given to me by my best friend way back in high school (1986-90 for those trying to do the math).... 55 is the number I wore in HS playing Hockey, and still wear today when I am in shape enough (and not fat like I am now) to play in the adult leagues... I stopped playing 2 weeks before my youngest was born with a level 2 sprain of my MCL. I play D and caught an edge defending against a 3 on 2... I spent the next 4 weeks in a hinged brace, but still had to go up and gown 2 flights of stairs to take care of my oldest (17 months old at the time). I quickly realized that I was too fat and out of shape to play with my brain thinking like a teenager on the ice! LOL
[/digress]

Very nice lou! And nice story about your GT ...My GT isnt so special. But I did think I was the coolest kid in town by putting an "x" in front of my name for my GT cause I have no imagination whatsoever. Hopefully I can catch up to my controller times with my wheel soon..

Hahahahahaha you guys crack me up. BTW, glad to see another Sean who spells his name the correct way!! (my name as well for the slower folks). If not explained yet, Cash is a nickname for my last name and xrs is from my car, she's a Matrix XRS. And now you know. And I feel the same way about my wheel ahole (lol j/k). I have to remind myself that it IS a toy lol.

CASH XRS wrote:And I feel the same way about my wheel ahole (lol j/k).

Nice one... Now we just have to fix your Mic problem!

BiggLou55 wrote:

CASH XRS wrote:And I feel the same way about my wheel ahole (lol j/k).

Nice one... Now we just have to fix your Mic problem!

omg I know!! I have no idea why it does that at all!! I have a feeling if I can figure out how to update the firmware that problem will go away (crosses fingers).
All I do is switch out the cable ends and it works again, but it drives me nuts!

CASH XRS wrote:

BiggLou55 wrote:

CASH XRS wrote:And I feel the same way about my wheel ahole (lol j/k).

Nice one... Now we just have to fix your Mic problem!

omg I know!! I have no idea why it does that at all!! I have a feeling if I can figure out how to update the firmware that problem will go away (crosses fingers).
All I do is switch out the cable ends and it works again, but it drives me nuts!

I plug mine right into the port... No extension... But I'm NOT using the mic that came with the Xbox...

BiggLou55 wrote:

CASH XRS wrote:

BiggLou55 wrote:

CASH XRS wrote:And I feel the same way about my wheel ahole (lol j/k).

Nice one... Now we just have to fix your Mic problem!

omg I know!! I have no idea why it does that at all!! I have a feeling if I can figure out how to update the firmware that problem will go away (crosses fingers).
All I do is switch out the cable ends and it works again, but it drives me nuts!

I plug mine right into the port... No extension... But I'm NOT using the mic that came with the Xbox...

Yeah, I am using Turtle Beaches. The cable links from the wheel to the control switch on the cable. I have no idea why it does what it does.

I'd say it's the headset and not the wheel....

BiggLou55 wrote:I'd say it's the headset and not the wheel....

It does act weird with the wheel though. My headset is perfectly fine when I play COD. But when I am using the wheel, the mic becomes super sensitive and loud and then blanks out too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45xl-Eit7qw

^^^
If you guys need to update your firmware on the CSR...you'll know you have old csr firmware if the wheel sounds abnormally loud when you connect it to the xbox

Wheel showed up yesterday! Sorry for not jumping in last night gents, but was trying to work out the 'kinks'.

Turning down FFB so far only thing that have had to do, everything else I need more time with. The shifter, I can't tell if I don't like it, or I'm just used to the G27. Regret not buying a stand...have everything affixed to an old end table...which is working, albeit, a tad tight for big feet, and long legs to get to pedals.

Will be on tonight for the series race...I don't think I'll be a danger to anyone (other than my own laptimes, as I'm still 'relearning' how to game with wheel instead of controller)

[quote="swviper"]...have everything affixed to an old end table...which is working, albeit, a tad tight for big feet, and long legs to get to pedals.
[quote]

*Images of Hightower sitting in the backseat of a Civic when learning to drive[/Police Academy].

marmuttlebow wrote:

swviper wrote:...have everything affixed to an old end table...which is working, albeit, a tad tight for big feet, and long legs to get to pedals.

*Images of Hightower sitting in the backseat of a Civic when learning to drive[/Police Academy].

ROFLMAO..... I was picturing the same thing... I loved that movie.... That has inspired me to design a themed livery.... stay tuned....