Pros
Very highly effective drive suggestions
Extremely easy
Excellent pedal board
Versatile customisation
Cons
Plastic base housing
Non-luxury wheel building
Wheel upgrades are costly
Key Specifications
Review Price: £586.00
Force Feedback
Xbox One/PC assist
Variable resistance brake pedal
Three-pedal board
1,080-degree steering wheel
modular system
What is the Fanatec CSL Elite?
The CSL Elite is essentially the most accessible gaming wheel Fanatec has dropped at market because the 2009 Porsche 911 mannequin, made for the final era of consoles.
Fanatec doesn’t make low cost merchandise, nonetheless, and that is nonetheless the most costly racing wheel we’ve reviewed. Our bundle prices 689 euros, or £586 at December 2016 trade charges. This is costlier than an Xbox One; in actual fact, you can even make an honest entry-level gaming PC for that cash. However, the CSL Elite is reasonably particular.
Before you run away screaming, the value distinction between this and the comparable Thrustmaster setup may not be as nice as you suppose. Add a £329 Thrustmaster TX racing wheel to the T3PA-PRO pedals and also you’re £478, RRP.
Fanatec CSL Elite – Design and Setup
The Fanatec wheel system is extremely customisable. There are a few wheel bases, 4 units of pedals, greater than 10 wheels, and separate handbrakes and shifters.
All this isn’t equipped with the CSL Elite bundle, however you do get every little thing you want. It consists of the CSL Elite wheel base, the CSL Elite Pedals LC pedals and the Xbox One P1 Steering wheel. This wheel rim prices 150 euros by itself, and that it’s the most affordable Fanatec supplies some indication about how high-end the system goes.
There’s one wheel that prices 479 euros, with out base or pedals. Ouch.
Having used a lot of the fashionable racing wheels available on the market, the Fanatec CSL Elite’s fashion is obvious as quickly as you pull the merchandise out of the field. It’s a lot much less easy than a Thrustmaster TX or Logitech G920, however can also be much more customisable and versatile.
This doesn’t imply you want a pro-quality racing seat to purchase one in every of these, nonetheless. The Fanatec CSL Elite comes with a common clamp to allow you to connect it to a desk or stand. I’ve been utilizing an outdated Speedblack Evo wheelstand. There are exhausting mounting factors if in case you have a higher-end rig, nonetheless.
The extra superior, less-friendly fashion comes from the wheel’s UI. Unlike a Logitech or Thrustmaster, the Fanatec CSL Elite has an on-wheel menu system. This helps you to alter an array of settings on-the-fly that you simply’d usually have to go into menu techniques and even driver settings to tweak.
The draw back: it’s initially baffling. This isn’t a wheel you simply plug in and overlook about, particularly when fewer video games present devoted profiles for it than a Thrustmaster mannequin.
Here’s a fast abstract of what’s on provide within the menu system.
Sensitivity: alters the turning circle of the steering wheel. The wheel base has 1,080-degree rotation, however this isn’t appropriate for every type of automobiles. You have fine-grain management, or can let the motive force select the rotation by setting this to Auto.
Force Feedback: customise the power of the drive suggestions motors from 0-100%.
Shock: fiddle with the power of the rumble motors from 0-100%.
ABS: simulates the texture of ABS whenever you brake exhausting.
Linearity: alters how delicate the wheel flip is in direction of the centre. Increasing this (0-100) makes the centre a part of rotation much less delicate, providing you with extra management over very nice wheel actions.
Deadzone: change how a lot of a deadzone there may be on the centre of the wheel.
Drift: growing this allows you to cut back the wheel resistance to make drifting much less of an arm-tiring battle. Force/Spring/damper: (PC solely) helps you to fine-tune the texture of the varied elements of drive suggestions.Brake Force: change how a lot brake pedal stress is required to succeed in 100% braking drive.
These on-wheel controls allow you to fine-tune how the wheel operates, overriding what the sport “tells” the CSL Elite to do.
For the primary few days I discovered myself by accident getting into this menu on a regular basis, but it surely’s an amazing function for the hardcore crowd. And in the event you’re contemplating spending £600 on a wheel, it is best to at the least be a little bit of a racing recreation fanatic.
You enter this menu by urgent a button denoted by a spanner icon on the steering wheel, making the menu choices pop-up in an LED show on the high. The Xbox P1 wheel then has a bit joystick that allows you to flick by way of the varied parameters, and there are even 5 completely different profiles you can programme in for various video games/automobiles.
This isn’t your common console wheel. However, the remainder of the format is way much less intimidating, taking its buttons from a standard Xbox One pad, to allow you to flick by way of menus while not having to maintain a gamepad by your facet.
Using the P1 steering wheel the set boots as much as its Xbox One mode, however switching to the PC one is only a matter of urgent the Mode button on the bottom.
Like all the present racing wheels, there’s no assist for PS4. Plug it in and nothing occurs. Fanatec additionally says there’s no assist for any PlayStation console, however I had a go along with a PS3 simply to experiment.
The wheel is registered and the buttons do allow you to flick by way of the system’s menus, however as quickly as you press down on the joystick, the CSL Elite frequently scrolls downwards. Game over. Don’t purchase this for something however PC and Xbox One use.
Fanatec CSL Elite – P1 Xbox One Steering Wheel and Base
Let’s take a better take a look at a number of the {hardware}, beginning with the P1 wheel. Since this can be a pretty tech-heavy wheel, its construct is extra prosaic than what Thrustmaster sells at an analogous worth.
For £149 you may get an Alcantara or leather-based steering wheel from Thrustmaster, however the P1 has a rubbery coating. Similarly, the central plate is steel however the outer a part of the column that plugs into the bottom is plastic.
You may count on a extra luxurious really feel for £600, however bear in mind that is Fanatec’s entry-level setup.
It appears Fanatec has stripped down the gloss to get you high-end elements at a fairly sane worth. Take the bottom as an one other instance: its housing is plastic, and doesn’t really feel as heavy-duty because the wheel.
The base’s design can also be uncharacteristically showy, with a multi-shade sample of little gray tiles on its entrance. I fairly prefer it, however the chatter on-line is blended.
I discovered the Fanatec CSL Elite very simple to mount, and it feels very sturdy even connected to a primary wheel stand. It additionally has a multi-colour rev show on the bottom’s entrance, used with appropriate video games. I’d argue {that a} primary plastic housing shouldn’t matter an excessive amount of when it’s the inner skeleton that takes all of the drive of the wheel’s torque.
One half that does elevate an eyebrow, although, is the pair of gear-shifters on the P1 wheel. They’re stable aluminium spokes, however in contrast to virtually each different high-end wheel I’ve used, they don’t have clicky suggestions. A smoother really feel is a particular departure from the norm. Again, I reasonably prefer it, however some gained’t since gear modifications really feel much less pronounced.
Fanatec CSL Elite – Pedals
The customary Fanatec Elite base and wheel aren’t all that flashy in some respects, however the pedal set is much better than the one Logitech and Thrustmaster embody of their packages. Its board has the complete clutch/accelerator/brake trio and is immensely sturdy.
All steel other than the rubber tops used on the pedals, it has an industrial-grade really feel. The pedals are additionally massive, seeming rather more critical than usually toy-like, entry-level racing pedals.
Just just like the wheel base, it’s vastly customisable too. The brake’s progressive really feel will be tailor-made to your tastes. It can go firmer than every other set I’ve used; actually it’s far too stiff except you might have a rig that allows you to screw down the board.
Thankfully, altering the motion could be very easy. Behind the pedal you’ll see a set of rubbery buffers that depress as you push down on the brake. In the field you get three completely different units, every requiring a distinct degree of drive to depress. The hardest to depress require 90kg of drive, for a really stiff really feel. I ended up utilizing the lightest rings, which I’d suggest except you might have a super-sturdy setup and are actually after a real sim-like really feel.
You may transfer the pedals round, making the accelerator sit nearer to the brake for a better heel-toe motion. It’s a little bit of a ache to do, nonetheless.
Finally, you additionally get a set of various covers for the pedals. The rubbery tops are literally simply covers on high of stable steel bases, and will be changed with stick-on sandpaper-like grippy pads.
Fanatec CSL Elite – Performance and Force Feedback
Force suggestions is essentially the most thrilling a part of any racing wheel – with out it, you may as nicely simply use an inexpensive mannequin.
The Fanatec CSL Elite has by some margin essentially the most highly effective drive suggestions motor I’ve used, together with these of the Logitech G29 and Logitech TX. At 100% energy, with a recreation that basically makes use of drive suggestions – corresponding to Project Cars – the expertise will be borderline disagreeable.
Despite having used a lot of the racing wheels presently on sale, I nonetheless battle when issues get exhausting core. Trying to manage a Pagani across the Nurburgring whereas preventing with the drive suggestions engine looks like an actual battle. It’s a degree or two up from the brushless motor system that the most effective Thrustmasters use.
If you’re keen on a extremely intense expertise whereas gaming, you’ll love the Fanatec CSL Elite. I ended up setting the drive suggestions to round 55%, which will get you the additional immersion of suggestions with out performing as a continuing reminder {that a} sports activities automobile can be a carbon-fibre dying machine.
Looking a bit deeper into the suggestions, the Fanatec CSL Elite makes use of a single belt drive brushless motor. Thrustmaster’s present high fashions use two belts; Logitech’s newest nonetheless use a geared system.
The distinction this makes is that the Fanatec is considerably smoother than any Thrustmaster or Logitech wheel – radically extra so than the Logitech G29/G920. Thrustmaster fashions are nearer when it comes to smoothness, however nonetheless undergo from a higher “gnawing” whenever you’re pulling towards the suggestions motor on a flip. There’s none within the Fanatec; it’s the smoothest racing wheel I’ve used.
It’s additionally very quiet – the brushless system is nearly silent. However, after a brief session you’ll hear the followers begin up. These reside within the wheel base and maintain the motor cool sufficient to keep away from burning out.
From reminiscence, the followers at max spin appear a bit louder than the Thrustmaster RS300’s, roughly the identical quantity as a desktop PC’s case fan. It’s much less distracting than gear or belt noise, although, and more-or-less fixed as soon as they’ve fired up.
I’ve few complaints in regards to the CSL Elite’s drive suggestions. However, the one incongruity I did discover was that, in contrast to some fashions, there isn’t any “rumble” of the wheel itself, with all suggestions offered by the principle base motors.
Fanatec will get away with it as a result of the principle motor is so easy and efficient, but it surely does have an effect on the character of very small bits of suggestions – corresponding to driving over highway traces a bit. However, you do get in-wheel rumble with Fanatec’s costlier wheels utilizing this very base.
Should you purchase the Fanatec CSL Elite?
The Fanatec CSL Elite is the most effective racing wheel I’ve used. It’s smoother, extra highly effective and its pedal set is superb.
Would I purchase one? I’m not so positive. There’s an actual danger of upgrade-itis with the Fanatec, as you could find yourself wanting a brand new steering wheel after six months or so, and the most affordable Alcantara/leather-based mannequin prices 229 euros (round £200). I’m unsure my checking account can deal with Fanatec CSL Elite possession.
However, if digital racing is one in every of your predominant hobbies, the upgrades over the Thrustmaster TX and its brothers are actual. To get one thing higher, you’ll have to avoid wasting up much more for a direct drive wheel such because the $1,299 SimXperience AccuForce or Thrustmaster’s elusive, upcoming GT Sport. And who is aware of then which may arrive.
Verdict
The finest PC and Xbox One racing wheel you may get for beneath £1,000.