Day 8: June 1st, 2013
It’s here.
The wait seemed long, but after a week traveling across the country, my racing wheel arrived in three large boxes.
Naturally, I took a bunch of pictures.
Here’s the pile FedEx brought to my house. That’s a wheel, pedals, and a shifter kit. Also pictured: An enthusiastic tubby cat.
I purchased the Fanatec GT3 RS, so it comes with a stylish Porsche emblem and casing similar to the car’s paintjob. I’m not a huge fan of the buttons, and the button at the bottom of the wheel that's supposed to act like a d-pad is pretty terrible, but the wheel itself is easy to grip and comfortable. The flappy paddles on the back are tinier buttons, unlike the more recent Forza wheels Fanatec's made, but at least they’re quiet. My dad has the lesser of the two Forza Fanatec wheels, and you can hear the clicks of his paddle shifting anywhere in the damn house. It’s borderline obnoxious.
Here’s the part I was really looking forward to: Fanatec's Elite pedals. They look solid, and feel the part as well. I’m usually a horrible brute with pedals – in fact, I've ruined no less than three wheels by destroying the potentiometers in their associated pedals -- but the gas has a definite stopping point and the brake becomes too stiff to push all the way in. It’s all really smooth, not to mention adjustable, so it’s likely I won’t bust these pedals up as quickly. Plus, if I do, at least it’s easier to order replacements from Fanatec, compared to the pedals for my old Sidewinders and Driving Force Pro.
Here’s the only downer from the bundle. The one on the left is sequential, so it’s push and pull for shifting (which is awesome). The one on the right is the h-pattern. Problem is, it’s difficult as hell to tell which gear it’s in. Toying around with it, I couldn't reliably shift between first gear and reverse. If there was some sort of visible shift path for the various gear notches, it might be usable, but for me, it’s going back in the box. Unfortunately, that also means I won’t be using the clutch pedal for a long while, since flappy paddles and clutch pedals mixing is a concept that breaks my mind.
Anyways. With everything plugged in, it fits nicely at my desk. Didn't have to finagle anything too much for comfort.
I did make a gigantic fucking mess of boxes, though.
Earlier today, I took this setup and streamed my first major practice on Twitch. The stream went well. The driving, not so much.
In the long term, a wheel might be the faster option. However, there’s a definite and noticeable adjustment curve to switch from a handheld controller to a wheel and pedals. Counter-steering takes more work. The car’s stability has to be taken into consideration more often. This is especially true with a Miata, which has a reliable and consistent habit of kicking its rear out through turns. With a wheel, I have to be more careful about my braking habits at first. If I begin to turn into a corner while braking, the car wants to come around and spin out, and this is way more noticeable than it would be on the 360 controller. The Miata’s personality is more noticeable, for better or worse.
I think that’s the thing with a wheel. It’s not crucial for immersion or performance, but it’s a far more reliable control method, and it does a better job of bringing out the nuances of a car. I just need to practice more, and seven years without a wheel of my own has left me a little rusty. Plus, I really don’t want to rip it apart in the first week with aggressive steering.
My best time for Summit Point on the stream was an abysmal 1:28.1. I've since improved to a 1:26.5 in testing. I’m almost ready for an actual race, once I build up some consistency in my safe laps.
Hopefully that’s soon. The first week of the Mazda Cup’s season is rapidly approaching its end.
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