Fanatec just wrapped the announcement stream of the Podium series of direct drive wheels, here’s a summary in case you missed it.
They will be release 3 models in total, referred to as the DD 1, DD 2 and DD F1/PS4 wheel. The wheels will use Outrunner Turbo motors, which we’re told are a common choice in commercially available in e-bikes. For what that’s worth.
They will all use the same new quick release system for attaching wheels, which we are told is compatible with the current line of Fanatec wheels. This new system utilising a standard quick release clasp in conjunction with a screw down lock at the back of the mechanism. This lock uses an integrated rubber gasket that provides a tight fit when in place to eliminate any movement. The bases come with an OLED screen upfront that has several different modes including a ffb clipping monitor, a torque meter graph and a system values screen including temps, fan speed etc.
The DD2 is the high end model and is available for pre-order for 1499.95 euro, shipping December 10th. It boasts the following stat lines:
- 18 Nm of usable torque, with peaks of up to 24Nm.
- Included kill switch
- A saftey toggle installed it the rear of the wheel that has to be
removed to enable max torque delivery - 3 year warranty as standard with an option to upgrade to 5
The DD1 is the base model, if the stream is to be believed will be available by auction only starting at 1 euro. If 1 minute passes without a bid, the last bidder wins…. we’re not sure if they are serious about this or not but it’s certainly…uh…interesting? Anyway here’s the stats:
- 15 Nm of usable torque, with peaks of up to 18Nm.
- Optional kill switch
- 2 year warranty
Both the DD1 and DD2 will be PC and Xbox compatible out of the box and for PC a new suite of software will be available for the Podium series of wheels.
Not much was said about the PS4 wheel due to ongoing licencing and approval talks, but we did hear that it will be officially F1 and PS4 branded, on account of their partnership with F1 eSports.
That pretty much sums up what we got from the stream, which was a little all over the place to say the least so apologies if we’ve missed anything.
UPDATE:
Fanatec have released more details on the auction system for the DD1 wheel.
This is how it works:
The DD1 will be on pre-order before the first auction starts and will be available for regular pre-order the whole time. So you have the choice to place a regular pre-order or to take part in the auction system.
Every registered customer can place as many bids as he like per auction but is allowed to win only one auction. We want to avoid resellers.
The auction starts at 1 USD / Euro and every bid changes the auctionprice for a certain increment (e.g. +5,00)
With every bid a countdown is reset.
If nobody bids within the countdown, the auction is closed
After an auction is closed the next product will be put on auction automatically.
We will put as many products on auction until a certain amount (will be announced) of auctions reach a certain price of XXX (will be announced) which is below the regular pre-order price.
This will guarantee that a lot of customers will get the DD1 well below the pre-order price and it can go down as far as a couple of Dollars if there is no more demand. Naturally demand will go down the more we put on auction.
Auctions will be held in Europe, USA, Australia and Japan but not at the same time. Exact timing and dates will be announced here and on the auction page.
We currently plan only one event but if it is succesful then we might make more events in the pre-order phase.