It is an open secret that we are working on a Direct Drive wheel. I have posted in several forums and there are some bits of information here and there. It's time to open a single thread for this subject.
This post will be updated from time to time and the main purpose for us is to collect information of what you really want. Of course we already have nailed down several specs but there are still things we can change or add. So please tell us what your dream system looks like.
Models We are developing more than one base. The main difference will be the maximum torque. The torque range is starting at a competitive level far above the CS WB V2.5 and ranges up to a level most of you will not be able to use for a long time. It will not replace the CS WB V2.5 and we will keep this model as the best non-DD solution on the market.
The DD wheel bases are the first products of a complete series of hardcore products which are positioned above the ClubSport series. This series will include wheel bases, steering wheels, pedals, shifters and handbrakes in the (very) long run.
Plug&Play The DD will be a typical plug&play product like other Fanatec wheel bases. All in one housing and no cable mess.
Certification
Like any other Fanatec product, the DD will be fully certified and lab tested. This will avoid EMI issues and other interference with your other devices. The DD uses a lot of power and huge magnets are involved so this is a very important point which is often not considered until you get a lot of mysterious issues and damages to your whole system.
Compatibility PC for sure as this is the main market and there is no reason that it should not work on Xbox One. The first generation will not be compatible to PS4. We have a great relationship with all racing game developers and you can be sure that there will be broad support for this wheel base. Our target is to set a new standard in simracing.
Motors:
We looked at the current motors on the market and there was nothing which really fulfilled our requirements. Those industrial motors were not designed for simracing. Steppers and hybrid steppers deliver a way too notchy feeling for a hardcore product, no matter how good you tweak the software. Also other servo motors are always a compromise. Therefore we developed complete custom servo motors where we decided about what speed, torque, size, power consumption, pricing etc. we need.
Steering Wheels
All the current ClubSport steering wheels will be compatible. We developed a new QR system on the base to handle the extra power but it will stay a quick release. There will be no cable from the wheel to the base or to USB. The wheel will be able to rotate unlimited without the risk to snap off a cable or to disturb you while driving.
The CSL and CSL Elite steering wheels will be compatible as well but torque will be reduced if such a wheel is detected.
Software
Please let us know what kind of software your are expecting to get with the DD. What parameters do you want to adjust and how and where do you want to adjust these parameters. We are pretty flexible on this point.
Target Dates
Disclaimer
Dates are always a very sensitive subject. In principle you need to understand that the DD technology is not only new to us, our DD wheels are completely designed from scratch and a breakthrough for the whole industry. This involves some completely new technology which had to be invented and everything is customized. A lot of unknown factors are not good to give any solid time projections.
We simply cannot give you any guaranteed dates at this point. But at least you get some indication of our target dates.
Community event:
There will be a community event where we invite interested simracers to test and compare our new DD wheels directly to all other solutions on the market. Time and date is not defined yet but it will obviously be before the launch date. More news and how to apply for this test will be posted here.
Beta Test:
The external beta test will start after all internal tests are done. We will also make a separate announcement where you can apply to become a tester. We are interested in the opinion of current DD users and ultra hardcore users as well as people with analytic and structured thinking which are able to find remaining bugs and make suggestions for improvements. Please make sure you already filled out this form.
First public appearance:
We plan to show this product at the Simracing Expo this year.
Launch date:
Q4 2017
Pricing
There will be a significant difference to the current wheel bases we have so there will be different performance levels at different price points. As the current CS WB V2.5 is still priced significantly lower than any other DD wheel on the market (please compare it with a full system incl. steering wheel with buttons) there is still room for us to make a very competitive offer. Our new DD bases can compete in pricing as well as superior functionality and performance.
Oh and did I mention the beauty of them?
@Thomas Jackermeier: Do you have any update on production ? still q4 2017 ?
I know that the ps4 platform is not priority. Anyway I‘m playing GT Sport with a gaming pad right now and am waiting for the Podium series so bad.
The PS4 got a huge racing community, I guess a lot of future costumers are just waiting to spend some money on this new equipment
I don't want to adjust anything except strength. This should be adjustable in the driver control panel with a direct Nm adjustment. For example, I should be able to set it to 15 Nm if that is the strongest I want it to be. And then I can match the sim's output to the same 15 Nm ceiling. Or 25 Nm. Or any other value from max and below.
I would prefer to let the sim software decide what forces the wheel should be playing back. As far as I'm concerned, iRacing's steering shaft force should be how every single sim does it. If it isn't a force that the steering shaft is subjected to, it shouldn't be coming through the wheel. And the wheel shouldn't be altering that output. I want to feel exactly what the sim says the car's steering shaft is outputting, and nothing more.
Wheel strength output should be way more than the 8-bit values you currently use on your wheels. That may be fine for a 7 Nm wheel, but if you're building something much, much stronger than that then you really should be scaling its output from minimum to maximum by matching DirectInput's 0 to 10,000 scale in steps of 1. Yeah, DirectInput's arbitrary 10,000 scale is stupid, but it is what we have. So your wheel should be capable of using all the resolution it provides. No, we may not be able to feel the difference between 7000 and 7001, but are you actually constrained in any real way with the hardware/software chain that makes you not want to do so? Surely working with 15-bit values shouldn't make any of our hardware sweat compared to the current 8-bit values. And 15 bits is enough to cover DirectInput's range. Make it so.
Why do we have to set the center position on your wheels? You rotate it to both extremes at power-on, so you should already know where center is once that procedure is finished. Why aren't you calculating center instead of making us manually do it?
Personally I don't mind waiting until all the bugs are ironed out, better than getting defective gear full of problems, especially when dropping a load of cash for a product.. my opinion.
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