Our Verdict
Pros
- Highly customisable.
- Stunning design.
- High-quality inputs.
- Large 4.3 inch touchscreen with 60Hz refresh rate.
- Third-party compatible.
- Lightweight.
- Fits, formula, GT or LMP driving.
Cons
- Only PC compatible.
- Rocker switches aren’t finished in black and appear unfinished.
- Push buttons have a lot of wobble.
Fanatec and Porsche have had a long partnership, and the new Vision GT wheel is the latest product that both German brands have collaborated on. This wheel is a replica of the steering wheel found in the Porsche Vision GT, a concept car designed for Gran Turismo 7.
It also marks the first complete steering wheel that Fanatec has launched since its acquisition by Corsair. No, I’m not counting the ClubSport GT3 Endurance as that was just a rim for the older Podium Button Module.
Does this wheel pave the way for a refreshed Fanatec in 2025? I’ve been racing with this wheel for a while now, thanks to Fanatec sending it over for review. So, I’m about to find out.
Watch our Fanatec Vision GT Wheel Review
Unboxing and what’s included
When you jump into the unboxing, you’re hit with the usual quotes that Fanatec ships with all of its products. You get a nice, Porsche branded slip, which contains the quick start guide and a few stickers, and then the wheel itself.
This is a simple, stripped back unboxing compared to many products that ship with sticker sheets and numerous mounting hardware. But it’s all you need. The wheel comes equipped with the QR2 Lite pre-installed.
This isn’t ideal, as at this price point, you’d have hoped for a full QR2. But being a CSL product, it only gets the plastic Lite version. Although there are no torque restrictions in place, meaning when using it with the Clubsport DD+ wheel base that I’m going to test it with, we can still dial the force feedback strength right up.
Price of the Fanatec Vision GT Steering Wheel
The cost of this Vision GT wheel is €349.95 or $439.99 in the United States. That positions it as the priciest CSL steering wheel that Fanatec offers, and I think a lot of this is due to the Porsche branding.
| Product | Price |
|---|---|
| Fanatec Porsche Vision GT wheel | UK: €349.95 EU: €349.95 US: $439.99 |
What is the competition?
The Vision GT wheel itself features a nice design, but is heavy on the plastic throughout. Compared to other wheels. You have the Clubsport Formula V2.5X wheel, which sits just €20 more expensive. However, that comes with a full metal QR2, carbon fibre across the front, and an overall more premium feel.
You could also pick up the Asetek La Prima formula wheel for a lower price, which features a carbon fibre composite build. Or the SIMAGIC GT Neo and FX Formula wheels, both of which are similarly priced or cheaper, and both feel a little more premium.
The design of the Fanatec Porsche Vision GT
And that brings me onto the overall design of this wheel. On first glance, I love the look of the wheel. It’s modern and futuristic, and other than the eerily similar MOZA Vision GS wheel, we haven’t seen many steering wheels like it.
This is a 310mm steering wheel that was designed really for the Porsche Vision GT concept car in GT7. The rectangular shape and 310mm diameter make it ideal for GT or prototype racing, and a little on the large side for a formula wheel.
Push buttons
Across the face of the wheel, you’ll find six push buttons on the main body and an additional two buttons built into the hand grips. The buttons on the wheel are incredibly small, at around 50% the size of a traditional push button.
Small grooves separate each button, but they’re not raised enough to act as a shroud or indicator showing which button you’re pressing. I have, on a few occasions, pressed the wrong button on the track as there really is no guide for your thumb to follow.
The buttons themselves have a small, and very acceptable, amount of wobble, and a nice, short throw with a good amount of resistance. The hand grip buttons also have a similar resistance and feel really nice to interact with. For a little bit of fun, Fanatec also turned the Porsche logo in the centre of the wheel into a push button which controls the tuning menu. Its quirky and I like it.
Encoders
Along with the buttons, you get a good number of encoders, in fact you get more encoders on this than any other Fanatec wheel to date. There are four thumb encoders, two right next to your thumb position, and two much lower down which actually require you to take your hand off the wheel to interact with. The positioning of these lower encoders isn’t ideal, and I’d have preferred them where the two push buttons are positioned. However, being a replica, Fanatec has stuck to Porsche’s vision.
These encoders are among the better ones Fanatec has integrated. They offer much more resistance than the encoders found on my Formula V2.5X wheel, which is good, and the textured grip make them incredibly comfy to use.
The lower two front-facing encoders feel excellent and function as encoders or twelve-position multi-position switches. Although the plastic construction is a bit of a downer. A flash of metal trim would have increased the premium look a lot.
Other inputs
There is also the usual 7-way FunkySwitch, which this time around features a large circular plate. This is Fanatec’s way to get their branding onto the wheel, however, it does introduce a lot of wiggle during use.
This switch can be rotated, clicked in or used as directional inputs. The rotation feature, in particular features very low resistance compared to Fanatec’s usual FunkySwitches. The resistance is so low that you can easily activate the rotation input by mistake when using the directional inputs.
On the right of the wheel, mirroring the FunkySwitch, is an OLED display. It’s crisp and sharp as you’d expect from an OLED, although its really not very bright. Its there to display live gear and speed telemetry, and is also used to change the wheel base settings.
Again, no fault of Fanatec, but its position is weirdly low to be that effective. It’s effectively out of your line of sight when looking at the track, and you have to make a conscious effort to look down and view your gear.
Shifters
On the reverse of the wheel, along with the plastic quick release, are two shifters that Fanatec states are custom designed for this wheel. They are one of the few metal parts on the wheel, and feel really nice to interact with.
There is no play in the shifters at all, and the throw is incredibly short. You’ll find a superb amount of resistance, so you won’t ever accidentally pull a shift you didn’t mean to. There is only one small downside to these shifters. That is that they are really quite loud. This is really apparent when comparing them to the Fanatec Formula V2.5X wheel, which, again, is only €20 more expensive.
Build quality
The Porsche Vision GT wheel sits within Fanatec’s CSL range of products, and upon inspection, you can tell. Plastic makes up almost every part of the wheel you interact with other than a few key areas.
Internally, there is a cast aluminium chassis which ensures this wheel remains rigid, even at higher torque levels. However, it is a shame that none of that aluminium is on show. The only full metal elements visible are the two shifters on the rear of the wheel, the centre line at the top, and the Porsche emblem on the front.
Tactaris hand grips
Wrapping the entire hand grip is a new material that Fanatec call Tactaris. This is a microfiber synthetic suede material that doesn’t feel too dissimilar to real Alcantara. Fanatec states that it is more durable than Alcantara, fixing one of the biggest issues of an Alcantara wheel, the wear.
It’s more resistant to sweat if you race without gloves, while keeping the same soft touch feel and motorsport-style appearance. Time will tell how durable these handgrips are, but having raced with it for around a week solid, I can see virtually zero wear.
I also love the inclusion of this Tactaris finish on the center element. Wrapping this otherwise big dome of plastic in Tactaris elevates the design and adds a small premium flair that much of the wheel is missing.
Quick release
Now I do have to mention the quick release. Fanatec has chosen the QR2 Lite for this wheel, I presume due to it being a CSL branded product. This is a plastic quick release, although Fanatec has removed all torque restrictions. You can use this with the more powerful Clubsport DD wheel bases at full torque levels.
I would much rather see Fanatec ship all wheels with the standard QR2 as standard. You should be able to spec the normal QR2 at the point of buying, much like you can with other Fanatec products, which will add some cost to the wheel.
Software
Fanatec runs all software adjustments through its Control Panel on PC. To use the Vision GT wheel, you’ll have to update the firmware, which is handled within the Control Panel itself. This step isn’t required when racing on PlayStation I believe, however, I’ve not tested this as I am using a PC.
There aren’t many adjustments available through the software for the wheel specifically. You can change all of your force feedback settings for your wheel base using the Control Panel, or the tuning menu on the wheel.
The only adjustments are for the wheel sensitivity, which is a wheel base setting, and the behaviour of the multi-position switches on the front of the wheel.
Performance review
On the track, the Vision GT wheel performs admirably. The whole wheel is incredibly lightweight and this allows it to dance around a lot, helping you feel every small bit of force feedback detail.
Using the inputs is actually a joy, with everything tuned pretty perfectly. Normally, a steering wheel always has one or two inputs that feel a little “off”. Not this wheel, everything is configured nicely. The only real issue is the tiny push buttons which just feel a little strange.
The lack of stickers for the inputs, or customisable LEDs is a shame, as you have to remember what you’ve configured every input to do in game. Over time this doesn’t matter hugely as muscle memory kicks in.
The hand grips are incredibly comfy when racing without gloves and the smooth circular shape is easy to hold. I did struggle a little with my thumb comfort for a while, as the position where the chassis meets the hand grips is a straight line. The side of my thumbs were positioned right on this plastic chassis, and I would have much preferred some contoured section right at this join for my thumbs to slot into.
Another small issue is with the overall design of the wheel. The squared off top where the hand grip wraps up and over does block a lot of the on screen dash. You can’t really see through it like you would with a circular wheel, meaning you have to look up and over it to see your dash. When racing GT cars for example, its important to see your dash so you can view tyre temperatures, and which TC and ABS configuration you’re currently in. Time after time I had to peer up and over to see certain key info.
Is the Fanatec Vision GT Wheel worth buying?
My first impressions of this Vision GT wheel were incredibly positive. I love the design with the futuristic concept car-style elements and the big and bold Porsche logo. The Tactaris hand grips feel really nice to race with, and have been pretty durable so far.
On the not so great side, there is a lot of plastic, including the quick release. Too much for my liking on a €350 or $440 sim racing steering wheel. The shifters are incredibly loud, and the design of the small push buttons and low down encoders isn’t inducive to an overly ergonomic wheel, despite feeling nice and tactile to use. However, this poor placement and design is not Fanatec’s fault, as they accurately reproduced these inputs from the real wheel.
Overall, this is a really pretty and fun to use budget licensed steering wheel. The appearance is great, and Fanatec has nailed it with the feel of all mechanical elements. But despite its good looks, I do believe the price is a little steep and the obvious budget control, has led to some limitations.
With a few very small improvements such as, better noise dampening on the shifters, a few premium flourishes throughout, a brighter OLED and other small refinements, this wheel could have been a must buy and a true return to form.
Despite this, the Vision GT wheel is a refreshing new product, and it’s also good to see Fanatec releasing new hardware and seemingly starting fresh in 2025.
Frequently asked questions
This Porsche Vision GT is a Fanatec-only compatible steering wheel. It could technically be mounted to a third-party wheel base, however, none of the inputs would work.
The Porsche Vision GT wheel is a PC and PlayStation compatible sim racing steering wheel from Fanatec. It isn’t compatible with Xbox consoles, but is compatible with all current PlayStation consoles.
Technical Specifications
Review written by Felix König
