Fanatec and Gran Turismo Partner Up

13/07/2021 Hardware Leave a comment

Back in the day, Logitech was the first brand to officially produce a licensed wheel for Polyphony Digital’s ever-popular Gran Turismo console racer. In 2013 Thrustmaster became the long term partner brand to supply their T-500 RS as an officially licenced wheel for Gran Turismo 6, followed by the Thrustmaster T-GT which became the official wheel for Gran Turismo Sport, and the recently announced Thrustmaster T-GT II.

Today, however, German sim racing peripheral manufacturer Fanatec and Gran Turismo (Polyphony Digital) announced a new partnership in which we will see the two companies work together to develop officially licensed PlayStation racing peripherals that will use advanced force-feedback (Direct Drive) technology.

Thomas Jackermeier, CEO of Endor AG said: For many years, Kazunori Yamauchi has pushed the limits on the software side and played a massive role in making sim racing popular. Now we have joined forces with the shared goal to continue to merge virtual and real-world racing together. We have several exciting projects in the pipeline and I can’t wait to see how they perform in Gran Turismo.
Kazunori Yamauchi, Gran Turismo Series Producer said: Fanatec has been at the leading edge of simulation hardware technology for many years. While the quality and performance of their products is impressive, it’s their desire to innovate in motorsports that resonates with us the most. Polyphony Digital and Fanatec share this same spirit and long-term ambition, and I’m really excited about what we can create together.

While the partnership is confirmed, no official GT licensed product announcement has been made. Fanatec stated that they will reveal the first product in a couple of weeks. The actual production is scheduled to start this year.

However…

A few days ago, some pictures surfaced on Reddit and Twitter showing us a Playstation branded Fanatec wheel based on a Fanatec DD Pro Direct Drive wheelbase. At the time of writing it is not yet clear if this is a legit Fanatec product or a hoax. I am sure we will find out soon enough.