Fanatec Porsche Vision GT
Fanatec finally releases something new that isnt a refresh of the clubsport formula wheel. Yay indeed. This is the Porsche Vision GT, a wheel that you probably have seen elsewhere. And believe it or not, its actually quite interesting.
The Porsche Vision GT Wheel was sent by Fanatec for review. I also have an affiliate link with them. As always all opinions my own.
This wheel is essential for Fanatec to come out of the dark ages as it is really the first new steering wheel they release. Well, besides the Bentley wheel that has been out since 2021 and took them 3 years to bring it to market. Can you see any wheel that also looks like this? It is also the first they launch in the Fanatec CSL Elite line. CSL wheels there are many, CSL Elite is a bit of a step above and you can see it in build quality.
Somewhere around 2021, Porsche brought the Vision GT concept for Gran Turismo 7 which then Fanatec picked up and adapted to simracing, keeping most, if not all of the design cues. Its a pretty wheel. Not as pretty as subscribing tho.
In terms of price this is 349 euro, 439 USdollars. The US dollar amount could change based on which part we are on the tariff roller coaster.
The wheel which is officially called CSL ELITE STEERING WHEEL PORSCHE VISION GTis an officially Porsche licensed 310mm wheel, with an automotive grade aluminum core, made out of hard plastic and aluminum, wrapped in tactaris, which fanatec says it is, and I quote : “our new, premium microfiber material.” Its alcantara.2.0, but alcantara.
It has 6 buttons, 4 rotary thumbswitches, 2 12 position switches, 1 7 way funkswitch, a small oled and 2 magnetic shifters. So, buttons galore.
Its also compatible with GT7.
On the back theres a QR2 lite with no power limits. Its also compatible with the older CSL EWlites and clubsport v2.5 with a QR1 mount.
This ticks almost every box for being a gimmick wheel, and somewhat it is, however, Fanatec made it work really well to make it functional and comfortable.
So lets look at the ergonomics. Size wise its the aforementioned 310mm. So essentially the same size as the 308mm BMW GT3 wheel, which I find it to be almost godlike. The hands positions are fantastic. For most functions. The middle and top half are 100% covered without any jiggling around. The access to those buttons is easy and well withing the arc of the thumb. The shifter position is comfortable. The access to the top rotaries is great and theres no function overlap or a way to the buttons getting caught. The 7 way funky isnt bad to access. Oh, and the Porsche shield is the options button for the wheel.
The bottom of the wheel is another matter though. The bottom 2 thumb rotaries are well out of reach. The 2 12 position rotaries are like most in most GT wheels. Then theres the OLED screen in the bottom right.
Because of the size, I wouldnt consider it as a F1 wheel.
As for the buttons I find everything to have just the right amount of force, or a use of force that makes sense. The top buttons have no give and then have a strong engagement. The middle buttons are softer engagement but really defined movement. All the rotaries have just amount of force. Almost no sidemovement in all of the buttons, and we can see the CSL Elite moniker working quite well as a step up in quality.
The shifters are absolutely fantastic. They have a high resistance and a snap movement. The weight for them is perfect. They are a little on the loud side though.
As for firmware, Im using a special version of the 465 that is not compatible with the new Fanatec software. When the wheel launches, it could have a different one, but expect to use the older Fanatec software until 466 is up, or theres a new revision to 465 that makes it compatible with the new software.
How about using it, because after all this is a more gimmicky wheel. Well, pretty much everything is top notch.
The construction is solid. When I grab it up its sturdiness was apparent. There is a difference when picking up something like a P1V2 like this one Ive bought and I should have done the review and then something like the Vision GT. Its not the weight, its how solid it feels. That is transferred to the QR2 lite. Its not the only wheel of the Fanatec line that has the QR2 working at full power, but theres a noticeable difference between the rigidity of the Vision and the Extreme GT DD wheel and build quality. Compared to it, the Extreme wheel feels many steps below. As for the tactaris, its alcantara. Maybe softer, but alcantara.
The ergonomics of the wheel are pretty good most of the times, since we are talking about the the Extreme wheel, the extreme has more useful ergonomics for all of the buttons, but the Vision is essentially a more GT type of wheel, and Ive used it as such. That way, the ergonomics make more sense and for most uses it will then be more than fine. This means, some of the secondary systems like KERS or power delivery could be left with the bottom rotaries and changed when in a straightline, while other more common systems, like Brake bias and TC1, left with the top ones or funky switch.
The wheel also works in gran turismo 7, but the buttons arent as practical as the regular Playstation compatible wheels. The rotaries work to change the settings, but im finding that the swap between systems and consequently change to the radar, isnt really available. So I would say this needs a firmware update.
The wheel is comfortable, ergonomic, well built and mostly practical, but there are a couple of things that could be better but are related with the original Porsche design. In this case, the lack of a LED strip or light, like the extreme wheel has or The P1 and the OLED screen is close to being useless. Its in the worst possible position, the viewing angle is atrocious. Good thing though, because the OLED didnt work outside of being a way to change setups on the fly. The LED ends up being a really annoying part on a classy and well built simracing wheel. Of course, it remains to be seen how the tactaris material degrades over time. Id expect it to be alcantara.
The Vision GT is an interesting wheel, and in my opinion, outside the BMW M4 and Bentley ends up being one of Fanatecs best, even if the OLED screen is kind of useless. Its well built, ergonomic, looks and feels pretty great. The price at least in euros is sort of OK considering the build quality. Other more orthodox option exist, like the CSL Mclaren or the Moza KS which are significantly lower in terms of build quality. Or the simagic neo that I dont have much experience with.
Pretty good wheel, hope that Fanatec replaces the Mclaren and the F1 esports with new versions and this type of thinking.
