Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “Ultimate Budget Sim Racing Wheel – Logitech G923 vsThrustmaster T3000rs GT vs Fanatec CSL Elite”.
What is that folks, how’s it going so watch hope you guys are all doing well and today we’re going to be doing a three-way comparison of what i consider to be the best kind of mid-range racing. Simulator wheels we’re going to be taking a look at the logitech g923 versus the thrustmaster t300 rs gt versus the csl elite from fan attack. Now, basically, we have two wheels. There are kind of all-in-one straight out-of-the-box solutions from thrustmaster and logitech that retail for around the same, around 400 versus a kind of entry level, racing, simulator kind of professional grade wheel that you would get from fan, attack the csl elite. We have the two pedal combination as well, which comes in kind of a bundle now we’re going to go through.
Basically, the designs, the force feedback systems, the kind of highlights that each wheel presents to determine which one is ultimately uh, the best starting point and the best overall for the money. And i also want to shout out thrustmaster as well as logitech, for supplying us review units for this video, as well as a gto mega for uh. Getting this. This awesome racing simulator rig that i’m in right now, as well as melon, which, if you want to know more information, is probably one of the easiest way to start live streaming.
Uh, your racing sim or really anything out there online without any fancy, computers or anything like that check out the description down below for more details, and let’s get right into this comparison. Now, from a compatibility standpoint, you are going to need to choose between a playstation and xbox version of both the logitech and thrustmaster wheels, but the cool thing about the officially licensed version of the csl elite wheelbase from fan attack is that’ll work with actually xbox and Pc in addition to the playstation, so you really don’t need to get a different version of the wheelbase, unlike the other two now in terms of the design, build quality, fit and finish, and overall modularity of each of these systems. Let’S first talk about the newest wheel. In the lineup the logitech g923 now some can argue that logitech has been pretty much making the same racing wheel since the g27 by just introducing some slight cosmetic changes and minor upgrades to the internal components and compared to the previous generation g29.
The 923 doesn’t really add too much from a cosmetic perspective. In fact, the wheelbase, and indeed the wheel, looks identical uh to that previous generation design. You have the same: anodized brushed aluminum finish on the wheel, spoke hand-stitched leather on the rim and the same 27 centimeter wheel, diameter.
Beyond that, the button control is mapped towards either the playstation or xbox scheme. You have the same 24 point: rotary, dial, dedicated rpm, led indicators as well as the same up down sequential shift paddles that we found on the previous generation now, certainly the most glaring issue on the logitech wheels for the past. Several generations is the lack of modular options and expandability. This is an area where both thrustmaster and more significantly fan attack take a big leap forward. The ability to swap out wheels, shifters handbrake as well as the pedals themselves, allows you to experience and experiment with different types of racing genres, in addition to the notion of making your sim racing experience more realistic, competitive and immersive.
Now it’s important note that the fan attack, wheels, accessories and attachments are definitely at a higher premium, but they provide a level of quality and realism that you would expect from competition grade equipment. Now the quality and fit and finish of some of the thrust master stuff can be a little bit suspect at times. But it’s important to know that they come at a much lower price point than the fan attack stuff and the fact that you can still swap out a different, a wheel combination, shifters handbrake controls and even the pedals makes the design a whole lot more modular, expandable And certainly gives you a lot more room to grow than what’s offered on the logitech side. Now the stock gt wheel that comes with the t300 rs isn’t too bad.
It’S actually larger than the logitech counterpart at 28. Centimeters, it has a metal spoke with this kind of faux leather rim around. It doesn’t feel quite as nice as the logitech wheel, but i do like the sequential up down shifters a little bit larger, more clickier and tactile, based on my experience. Swapping on wheels is actually relatively simple and straightforward. They all use this screw-on hub attachment, that’s secured by a phillips head screwdriver. We actually got to test out an officially licensed version of the sparco p310 wheel.
This is inspired by something you would actually see on a real race car. It’S wrapped in black suede. Has this kind of fake carbon fiber accents. You have a nine button configuration as well as a multi-directional d-pad control and two large up-down paddle shifters on the back that feel very mechanical and similar to what you would find on the stock gt wheel. The only real missing feature from this wheel is any kind of rev or rpm indicator lights, which is found on both the logitech and fan attack wheel now move forward. Let’S talk about the csl elite wheel that you get from fan attack.
This is basically the most basic of the basic wheel, but still has a ton of features. Firstly, it feels great it’s a 30 centimeter wheel, it’s the largest out of the three the wheel spoke is brushed aluminum and the rim is made out of a genuine leather cross stitch with black suede, and even this most basic version of the fan attack wheel actually Feels at a higher level in terms of build quality, fit and finish, then the other two. It utilizes snap down shifters on the paddles, which give you a nice kind of tactile, clicky sensation, but are nicely dampened. So you get a nice kind of satisfying feel when you engage with the shifters up and down.
Furthermore, at the top center of the wheel rim, there’s a rev indicator strip light, as well as a three-digit multi-color, led readout that you can custom configure to display things like telemetry data about the car. Beyond that, you can actually swap out the individual buttons themselves. In fact, it comes with a set of specialized buttons in the box, which is pretty cool, so therefore, you can have a completely custom configured button layout, that’s highly optimized to your personal needs now in terms of the mounting options. All three of these have some sort of table or desk clamp.
The g923 is essentially using the same clamp found on the previous generation super easy to engage and clamp down onto most desk surfaces, but due to the fact that you can’t really get it tight enough and given enough time and pressure. Eventually, it does like to come loose and it’s certainly not as secure as the more traditional floating style, clamp that you mount underneath the desk using this long bolt and give it enough leverage and due to the fact that the thrustmaster and fan attack wheelbase have a Decent amount of surface area allowing you to securely fasten the wheelbase to your desk surface without having to worry about it coming loose later down the road. Luckily, all three of these wheelbases do have a mounting options to mount directly onto your racing sim or a custom-made frame now moving literally forward, let’s go beyond the wheel and talk about the wheelbase itself. Now g923 is very similar to the previous generation, g27 and g29, where you have a dual motor configuration connected directly to the center hub via helical cut gears.
Now, in conjunction with a closed loop motor control and their true force feedback system, logitech has added some extra haptic feedback to the steering wheel. That’S supposed to add a greater level of haptic feedback to the wheel in order to introduce a greater sense of road feel and immersion. Personally, i didn’t encounter really any key differences between the force feedback system found on the g29 and on the 923.. Now the internal architecture of the thrustmaster and fan attack wheelbases are definitely more similar than what we encounter on the logitech side. They both utilize, a single motor with belt drive, specifically on the thrust master. We’Re using a single motor with a dual belt configuration out on the fan attack side, we’re using a more powerful brushless servo motor that can output up to six newton meters of torque, which is almost three to two times more powerful than the other two wheels. And it utilizes a single belt drive that’s connected directly onto the steering hub. Now i think, there’s definitely some advantages to using a single motor with a belt drive configuration, certainly from an audible perspective. The logitech is way louder.
It has this kind of clunkity clack sound. That’S uh caused by the dual motors and the helical cut gears. Now both fan, attack and thrust master wheelbases have a small fan inside that will turn on if the servos become too hot.
But overall the operational noises is definitely a lot quieter and less annoying compared to what we find on the logitech side. But more importantly, the feedback that you get from a belt driven system feels a lot more smoother realistic and combined with the greater torque output of the single motors on the fan, attack and thrust master side. The force feedback system is just simply better than what we find on the logitech and in terms of comparing the thrustmaster versus the fan attack, wheelbase uh. The key differences will be. The overall precise nature of the motor on the fan.
Attack is definitely faster in terms of response time and a little bit more accurate in terms of replicating road feel and traction loss and things like that. Furthermore, it’s a lot more powerful you’re, looking at almost double the torque figures at around six newton meters versus three newton meters on the t300 rs. Beyond that, the logitech also falls behind, in terms of degrees of wheel rotation, from lock to lock it’s rated up to 900 degrees versus 1080 degrees on both the fan, attack and thrustmaster. Now all three wheelbases are utilizing some sort of hall effect sensor to accurately track the wheel position and steering angle and based on my experience that i’m not a professional race car driver. They do a pretty good job of making sure you’re going in the right place and you can fine-tune the level of steering sensitivity, dead zone and things like that within the individual software or the sim that you’re using specifically now the steering wheel is only really half The battle we have to find out, which one has the best pedal combination and in terms of the bundled pedals on the t300 rs gt versus the g923, well they’re kind of similar.
In terms of the surface, you have a three pedal configuration clutch brake accelerator. Now, probably one of the biggest complaints about the previous generation logitech wheel was the actual brake pedal itself, where it felt way too linear it gave you pretty much, no feel it was not stiff enough and logitech has kind of addressed those issues by introducing a new Dampening spring on the brake pedal itself definitely feels a little bit more progressive than the previous generation brake pedal, but not by much now you can actually get a couple of different mods online and replace the spring to make it a little bit more dampened or harder. Whatever your specific preference is and in terms of the construction of the pedals themselves, it is utilizing a metal construction as well as the arms on the pedals are metal as well, but the base is still plasticky and it slides around very easily on slick laminate, slash Wooden surfaces works better on carpet, and ideally you probably want to mount it on some sort of frame or racing platform. Now the gt3 pedal set that comes with the t300 rs definitely feels a little bit more heftier, and since it has some rubber grippy pads the bottom of the base plate, you can use it better on uh kind of slick wooden like surfaces, and even though you Have more plastic components on the pedal set compared to the logitech side? It actually doesn’t feel any more cheaper or less sturdy compared to what we find on the g923.
Like the logitech board, you can change the lateral positioning of the accelerator and clutch by one notch. You can also change the height of the accelerator pedal by one screw mount, which is not an option available on the logitech board and furthermore, when it comes to the brake, the stock configuration isn’t great. But inside the box you do have a rubber dampener, which does make the brake feel a lot more progressive and more resistive. Now you can get the csl elite, bundled with a two pedal configuration and if you’re not going to be using an h pattern, shifter box, that’s perfectly fine, where you don’t need a clutch. The really great thing about the fan attack pedal platform is besides the indestructible. All metal build quality.
Each of the pedals are actually fully modular in terms of their design architecture. They’Re mounted individually, you have tons of horizontal positioning mounting options, you can add in a clutch later down the road. You can change the texture of the pedal surface and when it comes to the brake by default, you have a metal spring dampener and you can add in this polyurethane foam. That comes with the pedal set to add a little bit of progression stiffness to the brake, and if you want to increase the braking precision by a huge margin, you can get the optional load cell kit that will detect the actual brake pressure rather than the distance.
Traveled addition, when you get this pedal board, you’re pretty much getting the same, a level of quality found on the highest and fan attack racing sims. So you still get 12-bit resolution potentiometers. That, coupled with the optional club, support usb adapter, will give you a greater level of resolution and more data inputs to the racing sim. What your brake, clutch and pedal is doing at the time, and you can even go as far as individually mounting each pedal to a custom-made base plate or even directly bolting it onto your racing frame.
Now, in summary, to be perfectly honest with you, i’m kind of disappointed with the overall experience that i got with the logitech g923. It’S pretty much the same experience that we’ve been encountering from the logitech wheels since the g27 that was launched over 10 years ago. So logitech hasn’t made a tremendous level of progress or even change to the existing lineup. It’S still a solid wheel and it’s a great out-of-the-box solution perfectly accessible to everybody out there, but i think for the money with the base wheel configuration the t300 rs gt is probably the better uh wheel in terms of simulation and the feeling is definitely closer to What my experience was like with the csl elite from fan attack and the key differences, as we mentioned before, is mostly uh. The power of the motor on the fan attack side is definitely more powerful, more responsive and certainly more accurate, and given enough practice and training uh, you can definitely get a big competitive advantage. I think bang for the buck. The t300 rs gives you pretty much everything you would want in an entry level racing sim uh. You basically have the interchangeable options, as you mentioned, for tons of accessories and attachment that you can grow with the future.
But if you want to make the leap to something that feels a little bit more realistic and certainly a little bit more serious, uh, probably the best entry point in to the racing sim world is going to be the csl elite based on what i’ve encountered. Thus far, i’ve been pretty much blown away with the wheel and really really enjoying using this thing and look forward to adding some more attachments to make the experience more immersive and more realistic and hopefully i’ll be a little bit better. At the eye racing down the road as well, but besides that guys, that’s really. It definitely love to hear your thoughts on what you think is the best kind of entry level racing sim wheel and check out the description down below for more details about everything we talked about. Definitely want to thank logitech thrustmaster gt omega for supplying the products as well as melon, for helping us kind of support. This endeavor i’m going to be still working on this racing sim and hope you guys follow along to see where this journey takes me. Take care. .