One thing I really appreciate about Fanatec's sim racing equipment is how modular it is. You can buy a base, wheel, and basic pedal to start off, then upgrade each bit as and when you can afford to. Which might come sooner than you think with this Black Friday Fanatec deal.
That's part of the reason I really like the company's CSL DD base, as mentioned in my Gran Turismo DD Pro review. You can pick up the base for around $350, or bundle it with a wheel for $480, and pick up some basic pedals for as little as $80. That's $560 for the foundations of a high-end sim racing rig.
That'll do for plenty of racing sim hours. I would know, that's exactly what I have to hand. Admittedly I mostly spend my time in whichever F1 game is current at the time, and thus don't have much need for the clutch pedal.
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But to take that sim racing setup to the next level, you really want a clutch pedal. And a load-cell brake. And the full power of the CSL DD unlocked with the 8Nm upgrade. If you're not already familiar with why—the load-cell brake is a more accurate and realistic brake mechanism that can better portray a real race car's brake pedal, and the CSL DD is usually capped to 5Nm torque without the extra 3Nm provided by the boost kit.
You're looking at around $140 for the load-cell brake alone, though luckily this also sorts out the clutch pedal as you replace the current brake with the load-cell, which leaves you free to shift the leftover pedal to act as your clutch with a couple adjustments. The 8Nm boost kit is another $150 on top.
These might be more bite-size upgrades but that's still a lot of cash all-in. That is unless you take Fanatec up on its current combo deal I've just spotted over on its official website for Black Friday.
Here's the deal: you get the load-cell brake, the 8Nm boost kit, and the CSL pedals tuning kit (aluminium pedal plates) for the grand price of $170. It's pretty much all the upgrades you could want for not much over the price of one usually, plus some extra pedal plates that I'm looking at as essentially freebies.
I'm pretty tempted to just go for it with these upgrades right now, as who knows how long these kits and pedals will stick around for now that the newer, more powerful ClubSport DD and ClubSport DD+ are here. And if you think 8Nm sounds like a lot more power, the DD+ can throw 15Nm through the wheel.
Honestly, I also use Logitech's G Pro Racing Wheel frequently, and I may be calling myself out here, but its 11Nm is absolutely plenty for me. 15Nm seems like I might need some sort of Rocky-style montage to train my arms up to deal with all that powah.
Though back to the point, this is a seriously good bundle that could see you sitting pretty for years to come with a fully kitted out sim racing setup. It's not too much to ask for the whole setup, either, as going all-in on Logitech's admittedly excellent Logitech G Pro racing wheel and pedals will set you back around $1,349. Though that does come with all the trimmings out of the box.
There are a couple other standout deals worth mentioning over in the Fanatec Black Friday sale. The CSL Elite Pedals V2 are a decently affordable way into load-cell life at $200, and I'm personally extremely into this ClubSport F1 steering wheel for $400. Damn.
