Fanatec Porsche 911 Turbo S (CE) Review - PAGE 2

Our first game was Forza 3 on the Xbox 360, designed as a simulation game able to take gamers to the limit with full clutch and gearbox support. Forza 3 features various super cars of the past decade and many standard consumer models as well, each able to put the 6+1 to the test. For testing purposes we tossed reason out of the window and ran with the Bugatti Veyron, a Porsche 914 with engine swap and 4WD as well as the Opel #5 OPC Team Phoenix Astra V8. Our courses spanned Laguna Seca, Amalfi Coast, Tsukuba Circuit and Sedona for the Drag Strip testing.

The tracks awaited our arrival, the AI begging us to jump in. The Opel was the flagship benchmark for us as it is a Touring model and has incredible grip and traction on any track. Taking to the track we pushed it onto the course at Laguna Seca for the benchmark known as the Corkscrew pass. From the start the Fanatec and Forza let us know the clutch handling is everything; our first bad start the car shook and the wheels spun wild on the pavement. Shift timing and clutch handling are everything on this wheel; the margin of error is so small slips or bad timings make themselves known as the tachometer bounces between gears. The wheel itself was responsive to our driving, letting us feel out the ground as we rode the rumble strip like a rail through fast corners helping us keep grip. As we came up on the monster we used engine braking to slow down, dumping the Opel into the corner with a hard turn in trying to keep to the center of the apex. The Fanatec kept us on target and we pulled through the Corkscrew with flying colors as we powered out of the bottom of the turn with the AI right on our tail.

We kept this pace up, tackling Amalfi Coast in the overpowered Veyron, testing how well we could handle the beast on the tight track. The Veyron was even less forgiving on our rough starts; trying to handle the 1001HP beast as we lay the throttle on, each launch as we repeated was just as unforgiving. The 911 Turbo S is a great wheel but it doesn’t make miracles; it took awhile before we could time the shifts and make the most of the power in the Veyron. For the short openings we could find on the track, we felt the car understeering as we carried too much speed into the corners leaving the car to plow under heavy braking. The Fanatec helped keep us in the loop, letting us feel the wheel resist our turn and our corrections with the pedals translating straight to the wheel as the car fought back. We thought it would be fun to take the Veyron to Sedona but we found it destroyed the competition on the track even with missed shifts.

The 914 was our car built on pure insanity; using lightweight and impressive power and a 4WD drivetrain, we found it to be a horrible car to abuse on tight tracks. The Fanatec helped guide us through Tsukuba at record pace, allowing us to set the back end free as we swung the car into low speed corners, feeling the traction break and feathering the pedals to get us back on course in the heat of the race. When we hit the 914, the timing for our shifting improved. We hit the power right on the spot when doing so and felt the sturdy build of the wheel; the shifter didn’t budge. For all the torture we put it through, the Fanatec held in and kept helping us improve our lap times and find new lines in each run.