Very disappointed with Podium button module Monte Carlo vs WRC23

Miguel PonsMiguel Pons Member
edited December 2023 in Steering Wheels

I am a happy owner of the Clubsport Formula wheel and a DD2 base, use it a lot with ACC. I love the interaction between the wheel and the game.

I wanted to swap styles a bit and I installed the WRC23 and purchased the Podium Wheel bundle with montecarlo buttons Sparco wheel and so on.

The surprise comes when 100% of the buttons are basically useless. That means I could have saved it. It looks cool, true. But that is it. Sparco wheel and the QR2 is more than enough. The game is not prepared for this at all. You can't even navigate in the menus with the two little joysticks. I haven't found information about any other rally game who is made to support this, so basically it is a useless product. I guess it might work nice with ACC, but not a wheel you would use in a GT3/4 I assume :(

May be it works better with Forza motorsport? I don't know, If Fanatec didn't do its homework with EA WRC I assume even less with Microsoft.

After waiting over 45 days for every Fanatec order after having payed and the known story... this big disappointment :(

My advice: don't buy it. Invest in something different, but not the podium button module monte carlo, unless you are a developer working on a Rally game that is supporting this fancy great looking module.

For my friends it looks great, they don't know that is useless, because they are hypnotize with the fancy RGB light buttons XDDD


Miguel

Comments

  • Why is it the fault of the wheel that the GAME does not properly support different hardware devices?

    If at all then you need to be disappointed with EA about the game, but you cant be disappointed about the wheel as that can only do what the game is supporting and it is widely known that EA WRC has big big issues supporting devices, especially menu navigation.

    So you should raise your concerns in the EA forums that they should fix their game by implementing the BMR into the game properly.

  • Hi Maurice,

    I think the wheel is nice and perfectly designed, it is perfectly recognised by all Fanatec softwares. I am not critisizing the wheel itself. However it is useless, and sorry, not the wheel, the button module. At least for WRC 23. Do you know any rally game that supports it functionabilities? Please tell me!

    If someone is considering to buy this module to use it with WRC 23 then sorry, but I have to say... buy something else! maybe a button module for ACC from Porsche, or a nicer wheel for wrc23 BUT without the button module.

    You are totally right, is not directly the problem of the Fanatec product, but can you buy a Lambo if you live in Nepal with not a single km to drive it?

    Of course, I have raised it also in WRC 23 community in Reddit.

    And please, do not missunderstand me. I am a happy customer of Fanatec (I am not a hater), I bought +5.000€ of Fanatec "toys" in the last months, including several orders during the delivery mess. But in this specific case, there could have been a better cooperation between both companies, if it is even possible.

    I want to take the opportunity to give you a BIG THANK YOU for your profiles in Fanalab, I have been using them all the time the last months, they are amazing and can't be more thankful to you for this!!

    Best regards,

    Miguel,

    Mallorca, Spain.

  • and @Maurice,

    You are right, I was a bit unfair also, I have corrected the head of the topic, it is about the interaction with the game what is disappointing not the module itself

  • I have just the BMR on a custom wheel I built. It is pretty cool, but it just started functioning properly yesterday. After I installed the 455 Beta Driver and Fanalabs. I've had mine for quite a while now, and it's so odd to me that the software was not ready for it.

    As far as WRC goes, I appreciate the heads up on this. I was going to get it eventually. But I'll wait until it gets some updates.

    I spent a few hours setting it up in AMS2 today. And it's working great in there. It did have some odd settings in Fanalabs I had to track down, but I got them sorted out. I personally think it's a really good option for building multiple wheels out of. But it still needs some love in the software maybe.

    Are you playing on Console? or does WRC just not support remapping?

    Anyways. I thought that game featured a Puma with that exact wheel in the game? So I just assumed it would work. :(

  • Nico KleinNico Klein Member
    edited December 2023

    On Playstation 5 I can use the rally module with EA WRC. It's detected as the "endurance" module but the buttons and the rotary encoders (except the middle one) can be used. Navigation in the menus also works.

    But here the sequential shifter currently doesn't work when the rally module is connected. This is a problem on PS5 and will be corrected with a new firmware.

  • Hi!

    i am playing in PC. WRC allow youto remap, but there are nothing to remap basically. All the functions that you would like to have in those buttons (similar to real life) they just don’t exist in WRC23. You cannot also remap for basic things like navigation commands, enter, back and so on.

    i expected that those functionalities would at least work with the Puma, but no..

    i assumed it also, but no.

    of course I have Fanalab running in the back and I tested the module with fanatec control panel and is working nice.

    wrc should just update to a version with more programable features for those kind of wheels. All is just “automatic”

  • Oh that does suck.

    I was hoping Forza Motorsport would add in a lot of mapable buttons for Endurance like GT7 (and other titles) has as well. :(

    Im sure you can find some great reasons to use the BMR on other games. Good Luck!

  • Rally module is not detected on Xbox series x driver 451,when I go to update driver it’s only offering 454,from what I’ve read this driver is causing trouble,so what can I do?,thanks for any advice

  • update to driver 455.

    However, you need a Xbox Hub to get the Module to work on Xbox.

  • I really think that you guys are letting fanatec off the hook to easy. Their name is peppered all over the WRC franchise, including EA rally. The fact is, that fanatec never seems to invest in making their relationship with different game developers benefit users. So there is no special reason to choose fanatec over other brands. They clearly have the ability to work with Codemasters directly if they wanted to invest the time. But they don’t. Look how long it takes post launch of a game to get support in fanalab. How is that even possible?

    Before anybody says that I am a troll, I have a DD2 and eight podium based wheels. For things like pedals and shifters, I started with fanatec, but moved onto better products.

    Unfortunately, in this case, the “real world rally module“ seems like nothing more than a marketing feature, instead of it being an opportunity to bring something unique to the rally gaming experience.

    I would be happy to prove and be proven wrong.

Sign In or Register to comment.