Fanatec's Best and Worst Products - SQ Shifter and Handbrake Review

[@rusty4104]

Just ordered the shifter this morning on the black friday deal. Thought I was missing out by not grabbing the hand brake too. Glad I held off after watching this video.

[@raabana]

Haha want to do the same 😂

[@softaircz8331]

Did the same, but I bought the handbreak. Tbh I want same ecosystem, the handbreak is for ok price and the mounting to the side is actually quite nice (wich I guess you cant do with other handbreaks). I am glad for getting it even tho you can buy better handbreaks. Its just a handbreak, untill now I used button and the car slides 😂😂

[@EvanT333]

Same here hahaha

[@EPiQ_cR]

I’m hear on Black Friday where the handbrake is also like $20 off… I need a handbrake and just really don’t wanna miss out on compatibility with the rest of the system.

[@R4M_M]

I ordered the handbrake too since it is really the only option on playstation (or the thrustmaster one if you are in that ecosystem)

[@bosneb]

Flip that handbrake lever and you can mount it to the shifter without smacking your fingers while shifting. You can mount the handbrake case horizontally between the H/seq switch and tensioner adjuster, blocking none of the shifter functions, and the handbrake lever winds up vertical, about the same level as the shift knob but a bit forward, reachable but also out of the way. Couple M5 (iirc) bolts and nuts keep it in place, trouble is finding a tool small enough to fit within the case, and the bolts are tight enough they just chewed up the Allen keys that came with my wheelstand, but with a proper tool it was easy enough. SRG does a great tear down if you want to see the procedure in action.

[@constantinlegras769]

Just picked up the shifter for quite cheap at the black friday sale, thanks for the video!

[@diegocamarena2078]

How much did you buy it for?

[@-fatal-]

The handbrake should be CSL line or something like that. It uses a potentiometer and there better handbrakes for cheaper, like the moza. Fanatec really should release a new revision.

[@oldetymebiker2405]

Dude, spot on about the shifter. The only piece of sim gear that I feel was well worth the money.

[@alteredcarnate3445]

I suppose there might be a way to purchase some washers and longer length bolts to create a gap.

[@AeroVeloce]

That’s always an option 👍

[@mercenarysaw]

We need more!!!!

[@MarioRossi-zv1hj]

Hello, I noticed your channel and I must say that it is interesting and nice! A curiosity... but being that these tools are becoming so realistic that they can hardly be confused with reality, could they become the gateway for those who cannot afford to reach the top (F1, WEC etc ...)? That is, they are becoming so realistic and simulative that if one wants to get to Formula One one day he can do it starting from a driving station from home spending a few thousand euros?! Thanks in advance, you deserved the bell! 💪🏻😎

[@AeroVeloce]

Formula 1 might be a long shot but I think It’s been proven several times that sim drivers can be capable and make it into real racing. There’s a whole movie about it out right now haha

[@jaytoppo1670]

I've only one gripe with both products having used these peripherals for a number of years now, DD1 etc .. The shifter is a good shifter however in the earlier iterations the sequential spring would snap prematurely, just out of warranty meant it'd cost me twice that of the price of the replacement spring in postage alone from Germany to UK, later models seem to be less problematic. Handbrake, where to start, my purchase lasted less then 12 months, wasn't used excessively however I think the play in the handbrake itself on a violent motion rig doesn't do it's longevity any favors, I had to ditch the handbrake, strip it down and use an alternate axis from a Thrustmaster pedalset as it's potentiometer, basically creating my own with the only thing from the original unit being the lever itself lol.. ;)

[@JZStudiosonline]

I got a little part from a guy on reddit that added in a hall sensor at the end of the spring, so now the pot will never break and it's more accurate. The handbrake is a total ripoff for the price and always sucked. I'm not a fan of chinese companies, but even Moza's handbrake is a better design for cheaper.

[@jamiegraham1069]

Earlier iterations? The sequential spring in my shifter has just broken after 8 months of easy usage. This is the 6th fault with the shifter in that period, all the other faults were manufacturing QA issues e.g. metal filings in the magnets (x3), unseated magnet, reseat one of the PCB's containing the hall sensors on spacers for reliable operation. I have fixed the problems each time myself. The shifter is a good design that is just very poorly implemented. Fanatec clearly don't give a shit about product quality or improvement, how hard or expensive would it be to use an uprated sequential spring? 1 or 2 cents at most for scale manufacturing in China. To not resolve a common, known issue that has been around for nearly a decade like this is simply unacceptable.

[@usefulidiot21]

@@jamiegraham1069 One thing I've learned over the years is to never buy anything that has a torsion spring that will see a lot of use because that will surely fail. For that reason alone, I'll never buy the Fanatec shifter, even though I have one of their wheelbases and this handbrake (which I DIY'ed a solution to connect a hall effect sensor to replace the potentiometer). I'll only buy a shifter that uses compression springs, since those last much longer than torsion springs for shifting. I've also heard about the shifter issues with the magnets and cables. Personally, I'd say that's their worst product, not the handbrake.

[@wwjnz9263]

For the life of me, I have been trying to find a way to mount the Fanatec shifter lower on my GTOmega Apex wheel stand, and I just figured out a method. Its going to be ugly but it will work. I just need 8" of 4040 profile, a dremel, 2 90⁰ angle brackets, 2 M8 washers, 2 M6 washers, 2 M8 bolts, 2 M6 bolts. I have the old school Apex stand, and I need to cut into the profile... Or I might not have to... I may be able to make my own mount and lose GTOmega's arm all together... At any rate, I can't get the shifter until I can mount it properly. Oh well. Back to the drawing board.

[@AeroVeloce]

Might be easier to just drill into the upright and mount the shifter arm lower? Not sure if that’s possible as I’m not familiar with the wheel stand.

[@wwjnz9263]

@@AeroVeloce It could work... I'll have to see if there is room. It shouldn't weaken it too much.

[@GregoryShtevensh]

Ebay handbrake better. Ebay shifter good enough for now too. But this shifter I'd like to get eventually

[@untrainedprofessionals2374]

This the thread size and pitch. M12x1.5mm. That's right its metric. Hi USA from the rest of the world.

[@Jack96993]

Thanks, I was wondering the correct Hex HD bolt. Unfortunately, the US and Canada live in an imperial would, and to change all the manufacturing to metric would break both countries 😅

[@JZStudiosonline]

The handbrake sucks. It's a terrible design that uses the fragile potentiometer as part of the axle for the lever, mine literally never worked right until I modded it with a hall sensor bought from some guy on reddit for an extra like $40 or something. Even for attachment it sucks, if the original concept was to be put on the side of the shifter (Which I don't believe it was, I think they later found it it would fit because when I bought mine it wasn't advertised that way and I tried to find other ways to mount it, mostly because that's a terrible solution) they should've made the form factor fit the shifter more. With the handle offset putting it on the right side like you have makes you hit your hand when going for 6th gear (Luckily there's basically no 7-speed manuals) and even putting it on the left with the bigger spacing it interferes with reverse. Even in the promo shot you can see when the HB is mounted at a 90 degree angle it puts the handle too far forward to be useful. There's threaded mounting holes on the bottom of it, but not the sides, so you have to take the cover off and use bolts with nuts and wrenches, then put the cover back on. The handle is also super flimsy, so if your shifter is set square to you, like it should be, you're most likely pulling the handbrake at a diagonal which bends the handle. For more iffy complaints, the cable should be a right angle plug so it doesn't strain, hit your knees, and bend the pin which I also had to mod. The spring is so strong it's hard to mount to much other than a profile rig because it torques the hell out of whatever it's attached to, it's not USB, and they want to charge you an extra $20 for a converter box which costs $1 to make. That's on top of the ridiculous $130 price tag. I'm not a fan of supporting Chinese companies, but Moza's offering is a better design with a hall sensor, better handle, USB connection, smaller profile, more adjustability, and all for $30 less than Fanatecs total piece of garbage. The only downside to Moza's is it doesn't have side mounting as an option. Fanatec needs to throw that whole design in the garbage and stop nickel diming people. It *might* be worth it at like $80, but given it broke immediately and never quite worked right, I'm going to say no. The shifter is pretty good though, except it confuses 3rd gear for 1st and such sometimes, which is very annoying.

[@bosneb]

My shifter intermittently reads 3rd gear as 1st. It is so horribly annoying I've gone back to the toy-like TH8S, which also occasionally disconnects and ruins races, but less frequently. Can't find a shifter that actually works 100% of the time. Fanatec is sending me a new cable for the shifter that should supposedly fix the issue, will have to see when it shows up, still waiting.

[@JZStudiosonline]

@@bosneb Given it's a hall sensor, it seems most likely to be a ground issue. I'm not sure how much EMI effects hall sensors, but I know electrical tape certainly doesn't block EMI.

[@bosneb]

@@JZStudiosonline Yeah there's a lot of speculation online to that theory. Some say you can open the shifter and just airing it out dissipates static buildup and it should work, but after I did that, if anything it mis-shifted more often. The new cable Fanatec is sending has "ferrite cores" I'm told. In a quick google search that seems more related to line noise than grounding but I'm no electrician, dunno.

[@JZStudiosonline]

@@bosneb Ferrite helps reduce high frequency, yes. I'm not an expert either. Electronics do produce a magnetic field, but I don't know if high frequency noise should be enough to interrupt a hall sensor. But yeah, in the past I've taken it apart and sprayed it with electronics cleaner, which even at the time I doubted it's usefulness. It's pretty random as to whether or not it works. Well, my EE buddy just said Hall sensors are very susceptible to EMI, so the cable with rings could help. The housing being entirely aluminum is likely trapping most EMI inside. I don't have a definitive solution.

[@bosneb]

@@JZStudiosonline Well I hope it works, coz if it's static related, I'm screwed, I get a ton of that in my room. Thought about putting a grounding bracelet on my wheel rig lol

[@GermanGameAdviser]

this.