Fanatec’s F1-style wheel for Xbox and PC is made of carbon fibre and metal

While the wheel looks and no doubt feels like a realistic F1 wheel, with loads of knobs and dials, it’s perhaps the in-built multi-colour LED bars that represent your shift lights that excite me the most. RevLEDs with its nine multi-colour LEDs can show motor RPM and optimal shifting point, and the two flag LED bars (FlagLEDs) with three multi-colour LEDs can indicate tyre slip, fuel level, or incoming radio.

There’s a small OLED display in the center of the wheel that provides feedback on the input choices (read dial positions) which can be configured per game. The wheel features no less than 11 buttons, 12-way multi-position switches, thumb encoders, rocker switches; the list goes on. That means you have a massive 67 functions that can be configured to suit your driving style and give you the leg up on the competition. While that may seem complex, sim racing is all about replicating (as close as possible) the real thing and guess what, race car driving is complex. Adjusting the car on the fly, per corner (like brake bias) at different stages through the race (to cope with varying fuel loads) can make all the difference.

Check out the promotion clip for the wheel, then try not to hit pre-order, this thing looks amazing.

• Formula style steering wheel. The compact diameter of 27cm allows fast movements and reactions
• Officially licensed for Xbox One and Windows 10
• Durable construction made of metal and carbon fibre
• 5 mm solid carbon fibre front plate
• Grips made of genuine Italian made Alcantara®. This material is easy to clean and provides sensational grip
• Steering wheel weight without PODIUM Advanced Paddle Module approx. 1245 g (subject to production changes). With PODIUM Advanced Paddle Module: approx. 1375 g.
• 11 Buttons plus two paddle shifter buttons with ultra-reliable switches
• Two rocker switches
• Two 12-way multi-position switches which can also be used as rotary encoders
• Analog joystick to look around in the cockpit or to map with any other axis
• 7-way FunkySwitch™ to change settings: Turn left; turn right; move left, right, up and down; push (active in Tuning Menu and compatible with any PC game)
• Two thumb encoders easily reachable while driving without releasing the grips
• Two vibration motors integrated with the grips, controllable through wheel Tuning Menu (SHO) or by game through Fanatec SDK
• Revolution LED bar (RevLEDs) with nine multi-colour LEDs to show motor RPM and optimal shifting point as games program through the Fanatec SDK
• Two flag LED bars (FlagLEDs) with three multi-colour LEDs each to indicate tyre slip, fuel level, incoming radio as games program through the Fanatec SDK
• White Xbox One connection status LED
• 1″ 128×64 OLED display to show telemetry data like speed or gear as games program through the Fanatec SDK
• Tuning functions with OLED display to adjust settings independent from the game and during gameplay (see description of compatible wheel base/racing wheel for details)
• Adjustable and detachable paddle shifters completely made of metal. Adjust angle, distance to rim and travel of the paddles
• Shifter paddles are easily upgradable to PODIUM Advanced Paddle Module (optional)
• Detachable Xbox One button caps
• Racing style button caps included

Compatibility

• ClubSport Wheel Base V2
• ClubSport Wheel Base V2.5
• CSL Elite Wheel Base
• CSL Elite Wheel Base + – officially licensed for PS4™
• CSL Elite Racing Wheel – officially licensed for PS4™
• PODIUM Wheel Base DD1
• PODIUM Wheel Base DD2
• PODIUM Racing Wheel F1® PS4™
• This steering wheel is not compatible with the ClubSport Wheel bases V1 and V1.5 for electronic reasons.

Price & Availability

The wheel will be available from 28 February 2019 and is available for pre-order now. It’ll cost you A$519.90 for the wheel and the Clubsport V2.5 Base will cost you A$829.90 if you don’t already have one, bringing the total cost to $1,349.80. While that’s not cheap for regular racers, its worth remembering serious sim racers have also probably spent that on a Racing Sim setup, Display, Sound, Butt kickers and other accessories.