So I’ve been kind of obsessed with FH4 and FM7 over the last few weeks. I’ve always liked racing games, going all the way back to the original Indy 500 game on DOS. I’ve played everything from F-Zero to iRacing. Arcade and sims, I love it all. I wouldn’t say I’m an obsessive fan or anything, but out of the many genres of video games I keep coming back to, racing is up there. Racing and space flight sims.
As such, I’ve decided to build a rig for a homemade simulator setup, but I do want to stress that I don’t have a big budget. As much as I’d like to splurge $1500 on Fanatec gear, I just can’t. I’m pretty much limited to a hard budget of $500-$600 for the wheel, shifter, and pedals.
Naturally this kinda steered me towards the Fanatec starter kit, with the CSL Elite base and wheel. Sadly I can’t find this in stock anywhere, so I’m kinda relegated to getting a G29/920 and pedals with a Fanatec shifter. But what I’d like to know is if there’s a better wheel that people deep in the sim racing scene know about that isn’t prominent on Google.
Currently I’m looking at a G29 + Fanatec shifter for my first setup. Are there better options at roughly $500 total?
You can consider Thrustmaster in that price range as well, all will do you well in a game like this (and most other driving games) but know that the Fanatec gear is usually a step above.
I have never used Thrustmaster, so I cannot speak to that experience. However, having gone thru a few Fanatec set-ups (going back to the xBox 360 days), my advice is to get the best pedal set you can afford - specifically a load-cell brake pedal. For me, my lap times went down, and my enjoyment went up once I got past the basic pedal sets. There is an upgrade loead-cell brake module for the CSL Elite series and you definitely want the upgrade. Save money anywhere else you can.
The improved sensitivity, feel and feedback of a load-cell brake pedal makes at-the-limit application so much easier. Threshold braking, trail braking - Night and Day difference.
As much as I’d like to do that, getting the load cell pedals and the shifter puts me past my $500 limit all by themselves before I even look at the wheels. With the Fanatec starter kit out of the picture I think my best option is still going to be a G29/G920 with the Fanatec shifter, with a heavier spring mod for the G29 pedals.
I went ahead and pulled the trigger. I bought the G29 and a Fanatec SQ 1.5 shifter. I also bought aftermarket progressive springs to replace the ones in the G29’s pedals. I’ll more than likely upgrade to load cells later on, but for my first set, I think it’ll be good enough.
Hello i’ve been playing FH4 and was thinking about getting a racing wheel for PC but i’m not sure about which one should i get…
Actually i can’t afford a really pricey one so i’d say the budget i have is 180ish max, thinking about the Thrustmaster T150 RS, what do you guys think?
If some of you have a cheaper one that works perfectly fine with FH4 i could go for that, i just don’t want to buy something that i might regret later on
I’ve had the T150 for about a year and I’m pretty happy with it. When I compared all the various budget wheels, it seemed like the best option. My only real complaint, and it’s a minor one, is that you can feel the gear notches a bit when turning the wheel. I don’t notice when racing, though.
Turn down your damping in the wheel settings, the geary-feel goes away quite a bit, but it doesn’t feel smooth like more expensive wheels do (T150/TMX)
I’ll give that a try. Thanks! I haven’t played with the settings all that much.
A lot of people hate the default wheel settings in this game, I’ve found that you can basically go to default, reduce the damping down to 5 to 20 and suddenly the cars are much more controllable and you get a better feel for when things are about to go sideways, literally. If you find the cars don’t feel like they have power steering, reduce the FF to 40% and see how that feels.
And to the OP, any modern wheel is worth picking up. The Logitechs are more popular, but the Thrustmasters are generally considered to have stronger/better force feedback, but I can’t say since I’ve only ever owned TM products with modern consoles, pretty much all the youtube videos show people using Logitech, I honestly think you can’t go wrong with either.
Remember one thing: A wheel is only as good as the thing you mount it to. If you’re planning on using this with a folding table or TV tray, heh, forget it. You need something heavy, 40lbs, 50lbs+
I use a WheelStand Pro and its worth every penny. Some choose a solid table or their desk at the pc, that’ll work too…plan ahead for that.