Fanatec BMW M4 GT3: A Super Realistic Racing Wheel

What news! Fanatical simracers will no doubt have heard it already. In case they haven't, Fanatec Comes up with something really cool. A super realistic BMW M4 GT3 steering wheel. This wheel is so realistic, you can use Fanatec Podium Steering Wheel BMW M4 GT3 in a real BMW GT3 car. Wow! Looking for a realistic racing experience? Then this is really something for you. Because closer to the "real" racing world is hardly possible. A fusion between sim racing and real racing. The virtual and real world are another step closer together. Very cool!

Unique partnership with BMW Motorsport

Fanatec thus brings home a true-to-life GT3 experience. A unique partnership with BMW where together they have developed the wheel for both sim racers and the real 2022 BMW M4 GT3. The wheel is made entirely of (no less than 8 layers of thick) carbon and has RGB LEDs and illuminated dials on the front. Very cool, especially when racing at night in your sim! 

The wheel also features magnetic shifters and excellent clutch paddles equipped with dual hall sensors. The three dials on the wheel have no less than 12 different positions. The dials under your thumbs are fully adjustable. How convenient. 

The BMW Fanatec sim racing wheel not only works with a real car, but also works on a Windows PC and is compatible with the Playstation 4 and the Playstation 5. Of course, you can replace and customize all the buttons to your liking in both color and brightness. If you have a real GT3: the wheel can be programmed via the CAN bus. If you only have a virtual GT3, you can program the wheel via the Fanalab Software.

Features

For those real die-hards: here are all the features in a row ?

• Official BMW Motorsport product
• Multi-layer (8 layers) full carbon fiber body
• Meets rigorous environmental condition specifications for shock and vibration, IP65 rating (dust and water resistance)
• RGB LED-backlit front buttons (color-adjustable and dimmable, interchangeable caps)
• Customizable via FanaLab
• Two custom-designed, 12-step thumb encoders with Hall sensors
• Dual-action (push/pull) magnetic shifter paddles
• Fanatec QR2: all-new quick release allows operation in the 2022 BMW M4 GT3 race car
• Communicates with 2022 BMW M4 GT3 via CAN bus
• 310 mm diameter
• Designed and developed in Bavaria by Fanatec and BMW Motorsport
• Rubber hand grips molded over carbon fiber structure
• 14 push buttons (12 front-facing, 2 rear-facing) with 700 g activation force
• 1? OLED display
• Three backlit 12-position rotary switches with encoder functionality
• 4-way D-pad under the BMW logo
• Two dual-Hall sensor clutch paddles
• New-generation firmware, upgradeable via integrated USB-C port
• Compatible with Windows PC
• Compatible with all PS4 and PS5 systems when connected to a PlayStation-licensed wheel base
• 1400g

Fanatec BMW M4 GT3 price

Nice, but what will it cost? Unfortunately, it leaves Fanatec Nothing on that yet. Considering this is the most hardcore experience of a racing wheel, I expect you'll have to tick off at least 4 decimal places for this.

UPDATE: Fanatec has announced the price. For the new Fanatec Podium BMW M4 GT3 you may put down about ? 1,400 down.

Release date

However, there is still some time to wait before you can use this realistic wheel in your racing sim. The new wheel is expected to be released in Q2 of 2021 expected. That Fanatec is hard at work may be obvious. Indeed, later this year they will come out with the new and revolutionary CSL pedals!