Fanatec Podium Steering Wheel BMW M4 GT3 Revealed

German Sim Racing Peripheral manufacturer Fanatec and BMW Motorsport have officially announced the new Fanatec BMW M4 GT3 wheel. This new wheel represents the latest chapter in Fanatec’s long partnership with BMW, ones more raising the bar of realisme.

For the first time in sim racing history, a steering wheel has been developed simultaneously for both real and virtual racing. In collaboration with BMW Motorsport, Fanatec engineered the Podium Steering Wheel BMW M4 GT3 to be compatible with their Podium ecosystem, while meeting the requirements for the real world 2022 BMW M4 GT3 race car, resulting in a sim racing product that is not a replica, but in fact the real deal.

In order to make this possible, the Fanatec electronics are now compatible with CAN bus, which is the industry standard for automotive communication. Furthermore, Fanatec had to design a new quick release system that makes the wheel water resistant and shockproof.

The Podium Steering Wheel BMW M4 GT3 features a full carbon fibre construction, optimised with feedback from BMW Motorsport pro drivers. It features RGB LED-backlit front buttons, backlit 12-position rotary switches,  thumb-operated rotary encoders, dual-action magnetic shifters, dual-Hall sensor clutch paddles, and more.

A set of all-new push-pull magnetic shifter paddles allow the driver to upshift and downshift (or activate other functions) with either hand. All 12 front-facing buttons and multi-position switches are backlit with RGB LEDs, which are programmable via CAN bus in the real car, and via FanaLab on the PC.

The Podium Steering Wheel BMW M4 GT3 is scheduled to be released in the first half of 2021. At the time of writing, no official price setting is known.

Official Webpage –  www.fanatec.com

 

Features:

• Official BMW Motorsport product
• Multi-layer (8 layers) full carbon fibre body
• Meets rigorous environmental condition specifications for shock and vibration, IP65 rating (dust and water resistance)
• RGB LED-backlit front buttons (colour-adjustable and dimmable, interchangeable caps)
• Customisable 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
• 1400 g (approx)
• Designed and developed in Bavaria by Fanatec and BMW Motorsport
• Rubber hand grips molded over carbon fibre 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