TH8RS shifter on the Xbox... Can Haz!
TH8RS shifter on the Xbox... Can Haz!
I just released this yesterday and thought that maybe some of the Fanatec guys here might be interested. 13 of these sold the first day... Testing and packing them up in one evening was, umm... Interesting. ;)
[img]http://www.basherboards.com/media/SFA1/SFA1_sm.jpg[/img]
You can read more about it on my site: http://www.basherboards.com/SFA1
This device will allow you to use USB only shifters with your Fanatec wheel. Connect the adapter to the wheel, shiter to the adapter and you're off. :) This means anything you can use your Fanatec wheel with, you can now use a USB only shifter with. Most commonly people will be using the TH8RS shifter. If you don't know what that is, look here:
[img]http://www.thrustmaster.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/media/product...
It makes the Fanatec shifters look and feel like toys. I have one and love it.
![http://www.basherboards.com/media/SFA1/SFA1_sm.jpg[/img]](http://www.basherboards.com/media/SFA1/SFA1_sm.jpg[/img]){kind=link}
hello birthday present to me! Bash, you are incredible sir. beyond impressed.
awesome stuff now only if i could afford the shifter
This is a very good deal here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005LAL1PW/ref=asc_df_B005LAL1PW10052531/?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&tag=googlecouk06-21&linkCode=asn&creative=22206&creativeASIN=B005LAL1PW £59.79
did I miss something? cheapest I could find it in the US was more than that by 30 bucks or about $130 total.
Order it from the UK. :) Several people have done this now.
No idea why it's cheaper, but it is.
Also, I'm not out of stock on the adapters anyhow. ;) 20 in 3 days... YIKES More should be ready in about 1 week.
Think you mean "now".
that is a good deal, bookmarked and maybe in a few weeks if its still that price. that money is earmarked for horizon at the moment
Nice work bash :)
Already ordered and received my SFA-1 adapter. Now I'm just waiting for the TH8RS shifter which I ordered from Amazon UK. Tracking says it should be delivered October 22nd, which is perfect so I will have it for the release of Forza Horizon on the 23rd.
NICE! if you dont mind me asking what was the final price on the TH8RS?
I paid a total of $95.52 including shipping with the exchange rate the day I ordered.
Damn thats a bit cheaper than I was thinking after exchange rate. I am soooooooooo tempted haha. This shifter would be much more ergonomic and more realistically placed than my fanatec shifter on my rig.
It's night and day difference between the two. You can't even compare them aside from the fact that ultimately they both input the signal telling the sim/game to shift a gear.
oh I dont discount that at all sherb... I was merely thinking of reasons other than just the quality between the two haha. Hell my fanatec shifter is pretty new and already has a chip on the plastic where the two plastic halfs meet just above the 3rd gear position. its small but damn they could have thought it through a bit better considering this is the 3rd revision of the same design.
Quality is biggest difference between the 2. The ability to position it wherever you want is a plus from the ergonomic side of things (of course there is the issue of what to mount it too that comes with it). It's also easier to swap between sequential & manual (my Fanatecs are a pain to disassemble and switch out shifters), though they do require an allen wrench.
That's not to say the TH8RS isn't with out design flaws...KRGDark had his arrive broken, due to an inadequate designed pin (molded from plastic) that held the centering spring in position. Instead of returning it though, he went the extra step and modified it with a screw (IIRC), essentially providing a metal pin for the centering spring, instead of the little piece of plastic.
I have both the Fanatec CSR shifter set, and the THR8S. Helios is right, there is no comparison when it comes to quality. The THR8S is amazing, the CSR set feels cheaper. Also, the THR8S sequential is similarly awesome, perfect, smooth throw, but still very solid. The H shifters are not quite as far apart. Yes, the THR8S is more solidly constructed, but the throw is looser and longer than the CSR. I prefer the shorter, tighter throw of the CSR H shifter. So, I use my THR8S as a sequential with my T500RS, and I use my CSR H shifter with my Fanatec CSR Elite wheel.
both the shifter and the adapter ordered last night.. HAPPY BIRFDAY 2 MEEEEEEEEE! Large up ya chestplate Basherman.. the don dada of do it yaself. killing them big boy companies face first! brrrrap.
*translation
I'm very impressed by basherman's skills and talents and admire his hard work.
First off, sorry I did not respond to this earlier with a massive LOL. ;)
Secondly, your adapter will ship tomorrow. Everything but the cables came in tonight, cables come in tomorrow so I just have to grab one and pack it up. :D It should get there pretty fast given our proximity to each other.
Nice one bruva!! so stoked.. this shifter is so pukka!
Woohoo. Tracking says my TH8RS shifter was delivered today. The SFA-1 has been waiting patiently for it for over a week now. Can't wait to get home from work and try it out.
I've ordered the CSR Shifter as part of my package and I have to say, I was not 100% sure this was for me. The Elite wheel seems like quality, the CSP seem like quality and yet every video I have seen of the shifter seems like cheap plastic tat!
I have seen a few silent mods made for it, and guys who have filled it with cotton to silence it and give it weight. I don't see why, until the vapourware CSS arrives, that thy just don't replace the cheap plastic housing with metal and charge 99 for it? Same design, same everything, just take away that plastic feel and make it out of metal. I know they want to get the perfect design tc for the CSS but in the mean time, I'd rather have a CSR Shifter with a metal body rather than plastic. I'd happily pay 99euro for this.
Can any users of the CSR shifter feedback exactly if this is worth the buy, is it as bad as it looks on most videos, does that "click" get annoying, does it cheapen the look of your elite wheel etc when attached? It's literally the only part of my package I would question (quality wise).
The CSR is worth the money. I have two sets of CSR shifters and they work great. The sequential CSR shifter is not as good as the THR8S sequential. The quality gap matters. The THR8S just feels better and more solid. The H shifters are closer. Although the CSR does have the click, it doesn't bother me at all. It looks fine with the Elite wheel. The THR8S H shifter is higher quality, but the throw is longer.
I want to weigh in on this and it's not because I want people buying my adapter and I'm certainly not trying to sell TH8RS shifters...
Whether or not the CSR shifter is worth the money is pretty subjective. I'll give you my impressions after using both the TH8RS and Fanatec shifters for some time now. Realize that I have driven a manual my entire driving life in many different cars. While I am not a race car driver, I know what a stick shift should feel like and what it should not.
First, the Fanatec shifter:
With the exception of the body of the shifter being glossy and the knob being metalic, the CSR shifter is identical to the old Porsche shifters. The internals are the same, all materials used are the same.
The feel of the shifter is ok, but not realistic in my opinion. When using mine, I often worried that I was going to break it. As well, I often missed gears. There were two reasons I often missed gears: 1. I was thinking too much about the possibility of breaking it and was too careful. 2. The shifter is very stiff, especially at it's left/right extents. Real car shifters do not feel like this... If yours does, get ready to fork out some money to a mechanic soon.
With regard to quality. I have opened a few of these to fix them now and each time I saw the same thing. The wires are junk and the soldering was done by someone that barely knew what they were doing or didn't care. Because of the way the shifter is designed, if the soldering wasn't done properly, the connections will break off from use. When you hear about people not being able to keep their shifter calibrated or not at all, this is why.
With regard to noise. Yes, it clicks loudly, loud enough that if someone is in the next room, it will bug them. It's loud enough people you are racing with will often ask what the sound is.
To sum up... It will work and it's fun. You need to be careful with it and it might frustrate you. The quality is not there, despite how it may look on the outside. I cannot reiterate this enough to people so listen up. :) The sequential and gated shifter package is $60 plus $17 shipping, that's $77 total for some plastic that you may or may not like. If they were $30 or maybe $40, I'd say fine, try them out. However, in my opinion, they are overpriced for what they are based on quality of materials, workmanship and functionality.
Lastly, this can happen: (I've seen quite a few people post this, of course they are probably shifting too hard)
Next, the TH8RS:
I like the shifter a lot, it's undoubtedly better quality and feel than the Fanatec shifter. You CANNOT mount this shifter up next to the wheel and expect it to feel right. The throw is far too long for that, though similar to a real car. The Fanatec shifter throw is so short for a reason, it was meant to sit next to the wheel.
The feel of the shifter is pretty decent out of the box I think, though not extremely realistic. Gear changes are positive and feel nice. I don't have trouble getting it into the correct gear and I don't worry about breaking it. The left/right stiffness could be improved a bit, but during use it's not something you are really thinking about. (at least I don't)
Quality, well, it's mostly metal and it feels like it as well. Each gear change is a solid *THUNK* not a plastic *CLICK*
The shifter isn't perfect certainly... At least I should say, it doesn't emulate the real thing perfectly. In a real car you can feel the linkages moving and the gears engaging. That is not something you will get with this shifter and I do not know that you can get it with any shifter on the market today. Maybe the TSW...
The TH8RS is a USB device that can be tuned to your preferences in Windows, these settings are saved to the shifter itself and those setting carry over no matter where you have it connected. It uses hall sensors instead of pots, this means they won't be wearing out and are very precise. However, because the shifter is a USB device, you will need something like my adapter in order to use the shifter with your wheel on XBox or PS3. This brings me to price.
The shifter is about $100 now if you shop around. My SFA1 adapter is $89 if shipped in the US. (meaning it includes shipping). So the total would be $189.
Now, lets compare the price of the shifters alone, given the above thoughts and information:
TH8RS - $100 shipped
Fanatec CSR - $77 shipped
To conclude... If you set both shifters on a table and let people hold them and fiddle with them a bit, then asked the people what they thought of them, most would feel that the TH8RS was the better of the two by a large margin. They would also believe it to be much more expensive, probably twice the price, which... It used to be. Go figure.
Here is a pretty decent review of the Fanatec CSR shifter, comparing it to the old shifter mostly. He's very much a Fanatec guy and runs f-wheel.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Gv2Gfq_8g3E#!
I did find it interesting that he states the sound of the shifter is much less... It's less, but really not much. Take note of what his hand is doing at 3:20 as he takes the shifter out of 6th gear. This is the extra force I was talking about on the "outer" gears. Reverse is very much like this.
Reverse on the TH8RS is to the far right and back. It's not impossible to hit reverse, but it's pretty unlikely. I haven't yet.
I'm probably going to provide some firmwares for different patterns if people want to use them.
Thanks for all those reviews, it really confirms where I am in regards to that shifter right now.
Seems like it works, but it's quality is questionable and based on its quality (in comparison to others) it nsy not br worth the money fanatec ask.
I may cancel it from my order, but I feel the CSS will not be here for many years yet :( and as an Xbox user I no doubt will need the fanatec shifter set... Hmm... as its £50 delivered, where as the TH8, plus delivery, plus the adapter would set me over £100 so I suppose it does work out the cheapest potion until something better comes along....
thanks guys, that all helps make me make an informed decision.
In all honesty you would be better off saving a little extra to get the TH8RS. Im only having a hard time pulling the trigger now because I just spent the $77 on the fanatec shifter set. Had I not already done that I would be all over this like a fat kid on cake.