R330 vs. BMW GT2

Andrew NagyAndrew Nagy Member
in Steering Wheels

Is there a major difference between the R330 and the BMW GT2 wheels that justifies the $100 price difference, other than the fact that the former is XBox compatible? Thanks.

Comments

  • Dominic BrennanDominic Brennan Member, Administrator

    Hi Andrew,

    The major difference is that the R330 is a Universal Hub-based steering wheel, meaning that it's actually a bundle of two packages: the R330 wheel rim, and the ClubSport Universal Hub for Xbox One. The BMW GT2 is a fully assembled steering wheel.

    The benefit of the Universal Hub is in its flexibility. It is designed to be compatible with many different wheel rims, including wheels from other manufacturers. The button clusters can be repositioned or removed, as can the shifters and FunkySwitch. You can also upgrade the shifters to the Podium Advanced Paddle Module, and also the upcoming ClubSport Magnetic Paddle Module (first shown on the F1 2020 Limited Edition wheel).

    But if you want to only compare an assembled ClubSport Steering Wheel R330 with the ClubSport Steering Wheel BMW GT2, then their performance and functionality are quite similar, aside from the Xbox compatibility.

    [Fanatec Community Manager]

  • Andrew NagyAndrew Nagy Member

    Ah, thanks, it's starting to make sense now (sorry, I'm still near the base of the learning curve on all things sim). So the BMW wheel has the paddle shifters and buttons built into the wheel itself, while the R330 Clubsport has the Universal Hub, and the R300 Podium has the Podium hub, and the shifters and buttons are attached to each of these hubs, with the wheel bolted on to the face of the hub as a separate piece.

    This leaves me with a dilemma - my rig will be PC based (not sure I even know how to turn on an XBox, lol), so the XBox campatability of the R330 is a waste in my case, so the BMW wheel makes more sense, but it's back-ordered till late August.

  • Andrew NagyAndrew Nagy Member
    edited July 2020

    Really? I wasn't aware of that - sounds really cool. The BMW would have been my wheel of choice, but it's backordered till late August, and the wheel base/wheel are the final components I'm waiting on, and I'm itching to get this thing built.

    Also, the diameter of the rim is important to me, because the cars I drive in real life, the KTM X-Bow Comp R, I believe have a smaller diameter rim than the BMW wheel's. I initially thought it was closer to 320 - 330 mm, but it may actually be smaller. I've contacted KTM and Sonoma Raceway to let me know the exact diameter. If it's 300 mm or less, I'm going to go with the Podium R300, because it's available for shipment, and is a very high quality set-up, based on the reviews I've read.

  • Gagaryn .Gagaryn . Member

    Also be aware that the universal hub does not work on the latest v365 firmware that was released 4 months ago. Fanatec know this but have yet to fix it. At the moment if you have a wheel using the universal hub you have to use older firmware and therefore don't benefit from any of the significant fixes that this firmware includes. So if you have more than one wheel you need to decide which one you want to use and leave the others gathering dust until Fanatec release stable firmware that works properly with all products. Don't hold your breath waiting for that.

  • Andrew NagyAndrew Nagy Member

    Thanks, but since my sim is PC based, I don't plan to get the universal hub. The Podium hub makes the most sense in my case.

  • tom de coomantom de cooman Member

    the only thing i would suggest the R330 over de BMW rim is that they support the advance shift module with magn. shifters.

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