Fanatec Mclaren GT3 Wheel Review

I have always liked it when real racing teams get together with commercial gaming peripheral companies to bring a product that is very close to the real part that is used in today’s racing cars to the market. And the GT3 is the latest example of this type of collaboration. Fanatec was able to use the actual CAD drawings that were used to produce the authentic GT3 wheel used in the MP4-12C car. Of course some things were lost in the translation, but the look of the wheel is very close to the real one. All the buttons and toggle switches are here with only the center rotory dial being left off to accommodate the mandatory Fanatec setting screen. The wheel feels quite good in hand and lends itself to a good driving experience. I like the molded rubber grips that seem to fit my hands rather well.  And allowed me to keep a tight grip on the wheel without any slipping. The shifter paddle assembly worked well with a nice tactile click when completing a shift. At first I had some issues trying to get the clutch bite point setup on the wheel. But with a beta release of driver pack 311. It became a much easier process to go through. Even though it’s not perfect yet. Still the fact that we can even get a dual clutch function on a wheel that cost 170.00 is a good indicator of how the trickle down effect is
bringing more cool features to the entry level market that before were only seen on the higher end wheels and button plates. Now I didn’t like the amount of flex I was getting with the stock wheel hub when attached to the wheel base. Even though it was less flex that the CSL Elite wheel that I had tested in an earlier review. Still a bit much for my liking. Of course there is the option of paying another 100.00 to get the add on all metal Fanatec quick release adapter. And from the wording on Fanatec’s website it seems that more of the new wheels being released in the future will have the same upgrade model. But not sure if that includes their future premium racing wheels. We’ll just have to wait and see. Now I have thought about converting this wheel to having a USB capacity, allowing it to be used on my DD wheel systems. But I not sure how well this wheel well be able to handle the extra forces. In the future I will probably do the conversion anyway just to see if it can. Over all, for the price point, I think Fanatec has done a good job on this wheel. You sure can’t complain about how it looks on your wheelbase. Very cool indeed.