A good set of pedals can make or break a sim racer’s experience, as they are one of the very few pieces of equipment that “connect” the racer to the virtual car, so the user wants the pedals to provide a great experience and level of immersion. In the past, pedal sets relied on potentiometers to translate the distance traveled on the pedals into input values in a simulator. That worked well for the accelerator and clutch pedals, however, it did not accurately simulate a brake pedal, where a real life car’s brake pedal worked by pressure displacement.
Fanatec was one of the pioneers in advancing sim brake technology, by bringing their ClubSport Pedals (also known as CSP) to the consumer market. The brake pedal utilized a load cell, which translates pressure into input values, to try to better simulate the pressure utilized in real life car brakes. I have personally owned my own set of Clubsport Pedals for nearly two and a half years now, so I just wanted to let you guys know about my experiences with the pedals, as well as provide a review being a long-term Fanatec owner.
My Clubsports mounted onto my Deathmobile
Since we reviewed this product initially in 2010, I won’t go into depth on the basics about the pedals. I will split this long term review into 3 sections, a brief initial review, what I did to get the most out of my pedals, and then a section on reliability.
[youtube]http://youtu.be/mYwS0l-VWHY?t=8m31s[/youtube]
If you have issues getting to the right point, the review starts at the 8:30 mark
Review
I purchased my set of ClubSport pedals back in November of 2011 to replace my Logitech G25 pedal set. Upon receiving the pedals, I could tell it was a beefy piece of equipment, weighing nearly 11 pounds, with an all metal construction. I initially used a Fanatec Rennsport stand with the pedals, which worked alright, but these definitely work best hard mounted via the 4 mounting points on the pedal’s feet.
Going from a potentiometer based brake to a load cell is a night and day difference! Being able to modulate a brake like in a real life car is a major plus, and gives you more confidence in your pedal work. However, the brake pedal could benefit with a little more in the way of customization. The load cell’s sensitivity can be tweaked with a potentiometer but it is notoriously touchy and feels almost too easy to turn to a level that may cause problems in a race. The load cell also is a little finicky at times, and is tougher to accurately modulate compared to a real car, due to no true recreation of hydraulic displacement, like in higher end sim pedals. Though, for the price, a load cell is a great asset to improve driving consistency.
Another minor gripe I have is that the gas and clutch pedals were a little too light for my personal taste. One great thing though is that you can change out springs for the pedals, which I will explain more in the next section.
Despite the minor gripes I have with the stock pedals, I would say that the ClubSports are one of the best pedal sets below $300. Based on just how they work, I would give them a 9 out of 10.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3Px5BXNbFk[/youtube]
Here is a video of the pedals in action, with a lap of Mosport in the Trucks on iRacing. You will notice that the pedal faces are black in the video. That is because I decided to try to spray paint the pedal faces. However, I didn’t like the feeling of the rubber sole of my shoe against the paint, so I took the paint off.
MODDING THE PEDALS
After owning the pedals for around six months, I got tired of the soft springs for the gas and clutch, so I replaced the springs on the pedals. Despite there being no documentation on how to disassemble the pedals, Thomas Jackermeier, CEO of Fanatec, provides a video tutorial on how to modify the pedals to your liking. Despite the video being fairly accessible, it is still a challenge disassembling and reassembling the pedals your first time, but once you learn how everything goes together, it’s bound to get easier.
Aftermarket Springs can make a HUGE difference!
Another thing I like about the pedals is that you can customize the placement of the pedal faces, to cater to different driving styles. I tend to right foot brake more, so I can separate the gas and brake further apart if I want. I wish you could remove the pedals from the base, like the CSR Elites, but the amount of customizability allowed while maintaining the solidity of the kit is quite remarkable.
I also adjusted the brake pedal’s throw, by moving the brake arm up one hole, to give it a feel more akin to a race car’s brake, with a shorter deadzone before the braking.
RELIABILITY
In the two and a half years I have owned my ClubSport Pedals, I have had four failures, all which required my contacting customer support:
1. When I replaced the springs on my pedals, I had followed Thomas’ instructional video, however, after reassembling my pedals, the brake pedal was no longer functional. I realized that the pedal that connects the brake PCB to the main PCB had somehow gotten crimped while I was tinkering with the pedals.
I contacted Fanatec’s customer support, and they responded within 24 hours, and asked me for a video. I provided a video, and they sent me a replacement wire and brake PCB to try to do a self-repair. However, I lack the tools and know how to solder wires onto PCBs, so I had to take another two days to communicate with them and get an RMA to send my pedals to their repair center in Arizona (I live in California). Shipping for the pedals was $45 for UPS ground, and Fanatec reimbursed me for the shipping. It took around two weeks from sending the pedals out to getting them back, which was alright, because I had my G25 pedals to fall back on at the time.
2. In around May of 2013, my gas pedal started behaving strangely, where sometimes it would not reach full throttle, and would also “stick”, where it wouldn’t go below 10% throttle. At first it could be fixed via replugging the pedals in, but eventually it got to a point where the gas pedal essentially failed to work effectively. I contacted Fanatec Support, and I received replacement sensors for the gas and clutch within 3 days. They were easy to replace, with the only tools needed being two hex wrenches. However, it’s slightly noteworthy that the contactless sensors, that Fanatec claimed would never wear out, wore out and failed.
3. Around October, my brake failed. I investigated the load cell, and found that it had actually cracked, causing the pedal to no longer work. I contacted Fanatec support again, and I had a new load cell by the end of the week. Apparently this is a common occurrence due to Fanatec using a relatively weak load cell in their pedals.
4. In November, a few weeks shy of my warranty’s expiration, all three of my pedals starting behaving strange. I contacted Fanatec support, and got nothing for three weeks that time. I was worried that my warranty would expire before they responded, but I got a response a few days before my warranty expired, and they sent me a new main circuit board, which alleviated my problems.
Since November, I have no longer had any problems with my pedals. However, I still have a lingering thought in the back of my mind that it is likely a matter of time before another issue arises.
REVS SCALE
Short Term Score: 9/10
Long Term Score: 7/10
CONCLUSION
If the ClubSport Pedals were reliable over a long term period of time, I would have no problem giving them a 9, just on the performance-to-price ratio. However, having the questionable track record in terms of reliability (not just for myself, but for other racers as well), as well as relatively spotty customer service as of late, I can’t with a good conscience give the pedals higher than a 7. I feel like when it comes to Fanatec products, until they improve the reliability, there will always be nagging thoughts in the back of racers minds, begging the question, “Will this fail?” With more pedal sets emerging and as technology advances, there are other companies developing higher quality pedal sets that are worth the higher price tag. If you are considering purchasing a Fanatec pedal set, I would recommend that you consider some of the higher quality offerings available, and see if they would be worth saving up for.
There is no such word as “alright.” You mean “all right.”
O RLY?
haha, its like grammar nazis never check the dictionary before piping up. Most grammar nazi’s fail to understand that language is not static and is constantly changing as people use it in knew ways. How do think new words, dialects, languages start anyways?
watch out it’s the grammar police (“,)
Yeah, I know. I just couldn’t bite my tongue any longer. 😛 Don’t get me started on “then” vs. “than” or “it’s” and “its.”
Surprising how hotly contested this is. Looking at a dictionary says that “alright” is an adverb of all right, but then some people deny the existence. Bottom line, no matter who says what, does it really matter? It’s a word!
Well alrighty then.Some say tomato and some say it’s a fruit.
I’ve had my CSP’s since the first batch shipped and they’re still going strong albeit with 5 replacement load cels along the way.
Good review William keep them coming.
Well written, balanced and objective review – keep up the good work.
Hi Darin, nice review – could you tell me the higher quality pedal sets you considering and if they work with Fanatec Wheels and the PS3? Thank you! Best regards Markus
I was actually the author this review and I’ll see if I can be of help to you. The dilemma of the situation, is that only Fanatec pedals work with Fanatec wheels. The Fanatec Clubsport Pedals V2 claim to have fixed some of the problems, but I’ve heard quite a few issues arising with the set, as well as Fanatec essentially relying on “gimmicks”. I’ve heard that the oil-dampened shock has issues with leaking, but the community has had success replacing them with RC Car shock absorbers. I also tried the degressive clutch on the CSPV2, and my concern is the “Drop off point” of the clutch does not correspond with the one in the virtual car.
HOWEVER, if you get a good set, with everything working as they should, either set of Clubsports are just fine for an average racer, looking for sim racing on the PS3 or PC. I also tried the CSR Elite pedals, and honestly preferred the feel of the brake in those, but the plastic construction is rather concerning in terms of durability.
I’d say that if you want to get serious and get the best experience for PC racing, maybe look at a set of HPP, H-Engineering, or anything in our “High End/Custom Pedal Sets” section in our forums. DSD’s pedal set looks pretty awesome, and is set to release in the near future future. I’d say that pedals are just as important, if not MORE, than a good steering wheel, so it’s worth it to not skimp out.
Hope this helps out!
Dear William, thank you for your reply, appreciate it!! I have the CSP V1 and they work well, but as you mentioned, there is always the feeling it can go bad (had to change load cell, and had also the issues with the throttle not going at full speed), so I thinking about an upgrade, but as I´m not into serious PC-racing I think I will stay with the fear :-)))).
Yeah, I don’t know what set I will upgrade to in the future, but it will definitely be interesting to check out how things pan out. Forget the Horse, 2014 is totally going to be the year of the sim!