[Skybird]

Threadfin,

I indeed missed your posts with those questions. Sorry that you waited in vain, I try to answer it now in no specific order. It was no intention, I just had not visited this thread for some time. And when I came back to post Chris' video adventure, i again missed your posts from mid April. Sorry.

Fanatec is costly compared to the usual toy-like wheels. They recently raised some prices due to the recent crisis. But there are much more expensive producers out there - their gear however primarily is aimed at full simulatgor stands with installed seats and so forth. I depend on being able to mount the kit and dismount it from the table easily. Well, stuff is worth what peope are willing to pay for. Some years ago I could not imagine to go for Fanatec, I thought it would be crazy to pay these prices. But VR changed my preferences dramatically. And so I wokred my way up on the price ladder, from No Name and Logitech to now Fanatec. Which will be the end of the ladder for me.

Fanatec suffers from the supply lags in shipping, they referred some months ago directly to the lacking shipping containers and the hilarious costs, when they reported their problems they talked of a price rise of factor 16 or 18 per shipping container. Also, the supply chains are disrupted.

For pedals, you asked, I would point you to the important pedal: the brake. You want something with load cells, and good, metal furnishing. A good brake pedal can make you faster. Just a wheel and rim and base will not, its immersion mostly. But the brake, if good, makes you faster. Becasue you will not "mis-brake" so easily.

Belt wheel bases they do not offer anymore, but they came up with two affordable - by their standards - minor direct drive wheelbases recently. "Minor" is relative, they are still so much stronger than the belt drives they once offered - and these already were good. The bigger brothers of these new kits are also still available.

The wheelbase you saw on the picture is an Elite CSL, it is out of production, I got it with a PC-PS4 wheel which is now retired (pedals worn out). It even deals easily with the new wheel though the new wheel is almost twice as heavy than the GTR3. I will use it until it breaks, I am satisfied with it.

The nice thing is both wheels can be changed on the fly, with the sim running. You may need to switch to another keymap, however, but you must not leave the sim to change hardware.

I recommend the GTR3 wheel, and also the new one which I got at a sale. They do these sometimes, and then offer combinations of products. Sometimes they are good, sometimes not so much, the quality i mean, but you can usually save 50-150 coins, and I did. How it is in the difficult economic environment we now have - I dont know their plans.

The second set of pedals on the GTR3 actually are analogue, no gear pedals, and you can code them for launch control, for example. I haven't, and actually do not use them, but I know that those who use them, are die hard fans of them. You can also map throttle and brake to them. But the nmost used purose is for launch control, to avoid stalling, or spinning the tyres. Some sims allow that to be considered. But as I said, i personally do not care. I drive more relaxed these days, less competitive.

Both wheels imo are very good bang for the buck. Good quality, good feel. I am satisfied .

The round wheel is, as you mentioned, for Dirt Rally 2, ETS2, Wreckfest and some cars in Assetto Corsa, Competizione and Raceroom, though I usually play all cars in Competizione with the GTR3 wheel, but some cars in it get dispalyed with a roudn wheel, others with a GT wheel. The round wheel has a massive, solid feel, it feels like the real thing. The GT3 weighs much less, still is very robust and stiff, no distortions when beings under stress, no toyish feel on it, really.

Again, sorry for letting you wait. It was a mishap, no bad intention. Sometimes I just miss something when it happens.