Looking at the BRAND NEW Asetek Simsports Forte 18nm Direct Drive Wheelbase 

Thank you Bret 😁

They bought a piece from Simucube and make their tweaks I own the la prima and it’s amazing

If you do go down the Asetek route, make sure you use the link in my latest videos. You'll get 5% discount 👍

Thank you! 😁

People don`t really get it ! Is not about using the max torque . If you have that much torque you just get rid of the clipping in any scenario !!!

But, people DO buy wheelbases because of the max torque number. I was saying you don't need to.

No, it's around the same size as the Simucube qr 👍

I thought I'd play it safe and go for the price from Asetek. Folks watch this from everywhere so If I put a UK supplier I'd get crucified 😁

You can get the Forte base, wheel and two pedal set bundle for £1650 delivered in the UK. While that sounds a lot of cash, its a lifetime commitment purchase. It will last you a lifetime of sim racing. I think its a great price.

I hope so 😁

I assume, if you get a 70mm adapter for the wheelbase and convert your fanatec wheel with a usb conversion you can make it work that way, pedals should work when using the usb cable adapted to usb-c plugged into the back since that is just a 5 port hub.

The new QR is imminent I believe. I am still using a pre release version which is fine 👍

@@davecamm Thanks for coming back to me. Much appreciated.

To front mount it you will need to buy the Asetek front mount. Any Alu profile rig should be fine 👍

It's definitely more responsive and better overalls so yes, if money was no issue I'd get that. But this one ticks every box for us normal guys 👍

@@davecamm amazing thank you, I'll be offsetting the costs with selling the fanatec set up so won't be such a sting.. Not till I add that mpx wheel you're running as well! Great videos you produce are costing a f🏃🎡King fortune! 😂👍

Just to add that one of the main reasons for swapping to Asetek equipment apart from the great reviews on performance is my absolute displeasure at owning fanatec equipment.. Its very poor build quality and the support from then is more or less non existent. Extremely disappointed by fanatec and would strongly advise anyone looking for sim racing bases to stay well clear of them.

Deffo!

i thought the same to be honest but i am warming to the asetek... probably because i just sold my simucube and bought an Asetek so my bias is swinging. But for sure the simucube is more industrial and professional looking... quality is debatable, the simucube had one issue in the 2 years i owned it from a build quality stand point, sometimes it seemed like the antenna on the back would become loose, probably because i keep adjusting its position now and then, not a problem right but over the 2 years i noticed my bluetooth was not working as it should (mis shifts) even though it read 100 percent in software, i took the rear off to check around the antenna connection and found there is a small wire connecting the antenna to the board and that had become extremely twisted, soo close to snapping off... it was still working and i dont know if me untwisting it ever did fix the issue because i still had mis shifts just occasionally but either way that was the one point of issue i had with the simucube's hardware, overall extremely well made, im not seeing anything stand out as bad with the Asetek to be honest, i guess when people hear plastic you cant help but groan, i felt the same way.

@@jinx20001 Same here...really found the Asetek looking more like a toy than a tool, but it's growing on me. In the end, I'm about the performance which is why I've pre-ordered an Invicta wheelbase. I'm waiting on the mechanical QR though so end of next month supposedly...fingers crossed.

I'm not sure tbh. Hopefully someone from Asetek will see this 😁

Hi! We aim to have the mechanical QR that Dave showcases shortly in the end of this video ready by the end of this month! :-)

Yes, every day 😁

If you compare technology to day with 10 year old technology. Your wheel will loose no matter how you feel about it, that’s just a fact.

We're getting more front mount options. We're still pretty new to the market, but yes the request is being noted! - Solveig, Asetek

@@solveigmalvik how about an option to replace the plastic front shroud for an aluminium one? Gotta be cheap though for something most would have liked to see be standard.

Totally agree. I am not buying Asetek because of this.

Just checked. In windows usb controllers it's 2 devices. The wheel base and the wheel 👍

@@davecamm awesome thank you. I appreciate it ...

As of right now, one. But with the QR you can use whichever one you like 👍

I tried irffb some time ago when i had a G29 and did not like it. Now i have a simucube 2 pro and decided to give irffb another try. Im glad i did because i like it more than the iracing original ffb .

No Ive tried it but not a fan 👍

Thanks for the feedback. It seems to be a bit of a marmite topic. All the best

@@davecamm I’ve gone and ordered the forte wheelbase and wheel today. Had the pedals a while and love them. 👍

If you can move on the VRS base without losing too much money then I'd say yes. But you have to factor in the Asetek mounting options and new qr 👍

@Dave Cam cheers Dave. Definitely worth considering. I do love my cube controls wheel. So if I can mount that I would be happy

When Asetek sell the mechanical QR youll have no worries. I have one with the cube formula wheel and all is good 👍

I had the SC Sport and Pro. I swapped them both for the Forte and Invicta 👍

@@davecamm during this period Asetek improve the base with new firmware and the software on pc? Have you noticed improvements? During long session the base remain cold or become overheated? Thank yo 😎

Yes there have been many software/firmware updates. I have had zero issues ever with either base 👌

If Asetek send me one yes 😁

@@davecamm Lovely. Another option, I'm glad to review it for a few years and will provide updates every 6 months or so. lol

@@elliott823 haha, I'll keep that in mind 😁

Not before 17 April 2023

@@quentinlebbe I reached out to them and asked, they say between 3-6 months

You can achieve that with above 15nm. 👍

@@davecamm Not really 🙂 . You can still experience clipping at 15 Nm on some track and car combinations like F1 at Spa . 👍

Nothing at all, I love the Invictas. I just chop and change a little. The Invictas will be going back on soon 😁

If you like rally and road car that’s not what the invictas are advertised for. They are purely GT race car feel pedals. So suit cars with big downforce.

@@barrymanon9459 They work great in Dirt Rally 2.0 and all the cars I've tried in AMS2, ACC and AC. I do like my open wheel cars though. You can adjust the pedals to be really soft in the first stage and change the travel of the first stage and change the pressure in the second stage. It takes a while to get used to the whole 2 stage thing. I need flat smooth pedal plates now as they are very grippy on rubber shoes.

I remember that too. And the configuration options in their settings application looks remarkably similar to Simucube's one, just with the names changed. I'm sure the guys at Simucube are elated by basically being called liars by Asetek after selling them their "secret sauce."

Asetek purchased IP, that would include schematics to the hardware, code for the software and the knowledge from the team. If you go and look at the sim racing garage tear down of a simucube 2 you will notice that the rear PCB looks very similar and yes the software is very very similar aswell, basically some of the same filters but renamed… which is great. The reason for the purchase was because granite devices have the experience with the hardware Asetek didn’t have, granite specialise in the motor controller hardware aswell as the motors themselves. Asetek would have made the wheelbase with or without the help of granite devices, they were looking at 100 plus hardware manufacturers at the time they wanted to make a purchase and I guess they got lucky when they wanted to do a deal with granite and granite said yes, couldn’t have a better spring board let’s be honest. Asetek also purchased in full ultimate game tech who specialise in inputs, displays and devices, this purchase will no doubt help when it comes to creating wheels with displays etc.

@@bigredracingteam9642 Asetek never called them liars, it seems they have tested them differently and came up with a different number, Asetek seem to have invested heavily into tooling and no doubt some of that was on jigs just for this kind of testing, fanatec did a similar kind of thing when testing their motors reliability, there are videos on RU-vid of that. Make no mistake, granite devices (simucube) will want asetek to succeed and do very well, part of the IP purchase was cash aswell as shares in the company, the better asetek do the more valuable those shares become.

@@jinx20001 Dave said in this video that Asetek told him (and from comments here, other RU-vid influencers as well) that the SC2's slew rate is lower than advertised. I.e. Asetek is accusing Granite Devices of false advertising and apparently using their influencers to spread the rumor. That amounts to Asetek calling Granite Devices liars in my book. And if what Asetek claims is true, I have no problem with them doing so (although I do think it's a strange way to treat your supposed business partner.)

@@bigredracingteam9642 firstly i apologize for my epic post lengths, i get a ramble on when you make me think, in order for them to accuse granite of lying they would need to test in exactly the same way which is why i gave the holding force example... a reviewer could accuse Asetek of lying by saying the motor does not hold its peak torque for 40 seconds continuous because they tested it.... but in order to make that statement the reviewer would need to be absolutely certain the testing conditions are the same, the reviewer may be testing in a much warmer environment for example and this could cause the motor to throttle earlier. There are simply too many variables. The only thing dave made a mistake on is stating that granite devices claim the simucube 2 pro is 6.3nm/ms. he said that on the invicta review and i called him out on it, you may spot my comment there if you wish to look. That really is the only mistake he made because ofcourse we know that granite has always stated the slew rate to be 8nm/ms. He has since confirmed that what he meant is Asetek told him that during their testing the simucube 2 pro achieved 6.3... the crucial part of that is ''during their testing''. We dont know the testing conditions but them pulling out the number 6.3 means it probably was under more strenuous conditions than what granite tested and i alluded to this with my previous comment here - where i said that granite have stated ''no person has ever made the motor throttle'', with that they then say the motor does not throttle but the reality is it will throttle under the right circumstances. Its an important distinction to make because it indicates they have tested differently, where granite likely were more hands on in testing and Asetek let the robots do all the work, this would save time and give them numbers. With all that said i do agree with you that Asetek are using it as a clear marketing ploy, but why not right, they are in the business of selling the product to you, if that means they share that information and it makes them look better then i cant argue with them doing that. Their direct competition is actually the simucube range so even though we may believe they have a friendly partnership they are ultimately competitors and the relationship may not be as friendly as we think. It was a business transaction and part of that transaction was the agreement that granite share information with them which would inevitably lead to them being strong competitors... Asetek knew the specs and probably had the target of beating them to what they believe would put them on top... the invicta is priced like a simucube 2 pro and every metric on the spec sheet seems to go one better, 27nm vs 25nm, 9.4nm/ms vs 8nm/ms (testing put to one side), then they gave the QR everything it really needed - power and there we go on paper you have a better product... on paper. It would be great if Asetek went into more detail on how they tested so we could understand more how they came to the numbers they did, they may have tested it exactly the same way but because the motors are different they reacted differently to the testing, i imagine they place it inside some kind of jig which would mimic a weight on the wheel/shaft and then accelerate the motor to get a torque and speed reading, perhaps the simucube motor just responds less quickly with a counter weight on it, maybe granite tested it without any resistance and the motor accelerated to 8nm/ms with no weight... perhaps Asetek tested without a wheel/weight and the simucube did which would make the Asetek motor seem faster... we just dont know dude and im rambling while thinking about it so sorry haha. i think its a stretch to say they are just lying though, we cant say that.

But, people DO buy wheelbases because of the output numbers, which I'm saying isn't necessary 👍

@Dave Cam yeh there is for sure and those people obviously don't understand the real benefit of having the extra power. Even though inadvertently they are doing the right thing but not understanding/realising that they are.

Like the great Clarkson once said..... POWERRR! 😂

cheater...LOL

@@secularist1969 That's a scandalous thing to say.

You mean like every other wheelbase is manufactured in China?

@@EricW6800 Simucube is made in Estonia…

Every bit? And about 95% of your household and certainly your PC is made there. It's just not a argument these days imo.

@@EricW6800 so is it made in China or not… Asatec has there a factory or not?

Asetek is a Danish company. Danish Design and engineering, assembled, QC checked in Denmark. The motor intelligence or servo driver software is bought at Simucube and fine tuned in house to this particular configuration. Are the parts from China? The motor is Mige, so that's Chinese, high quality though. And the other parts, I don't know... But I really don't care tbh. If you just take the time to read and look up some stuff, like I did, you wouldn't be asking these obvious questions? Have a nice weekend.

Do you have a link to this? I’m not familiar with Granite Devices, but I’m very interested in reading what they say in the forums. Thanks in advance!

@@jasonzbell Granite Devices is the company making the Simucube products. The exact quote is "We have measured the slew rate and stand by the numbers." Because RU-vid doesn't allow links to outside websites in the comments, the best I can do is provide you with a search engine query text string: "granite devices forum simucube 2 pro slew rate"

I wasn't there when the Asetek bases were tested. But, I wasn't there when Simucube tested theirs either so I've no idea if their claims are correct. What I can say though, is that I've used both and the Asetek bases (both) feel much more responsive and detailed than the SC2 Pro and Sport. I'd rather use the Forte day to day than the SC2 Pro.

@@davecamm But if the people at Asetek are so brilliant, why did they have to purchase the motor controller firmware IP and software interface from Granite Devices in the first place (and then throw GD under the bus afterwards with these underhanded tactics)? What Asetek is selling looks very much like a repackaged Simucube with a couple of LED strips. And please understand that your objectiveness on this matter can rightfully be questioned because of your financial interest in these products as an affiliate of Asetek.

I hear what you saying and I've said that I wasn't present when any were tested. I also said that in my videos. If I thought the SC2 was better it would still be on my rig, trust me. People will always question whether there is bias, and that's fine. All I can say is that if you get the chance, try one 👍

One has Dave Cam on the end. One doesn't 👍 If you don't trust what I say don't click any. Just Google it

Not a cheap shot if it isn't as advertised by Simucube though. 🫤

I questioned the simucube guys about it on the forums and they said they stand by the numbers they advertise… so it likely just comes down to the method of testing. They clearly have different ways of testing things like holding torque aswell, it’s likely asetek uses a machine for testing and simucube do not, the reason for that is because asetek have very clear numbers for when throttling will occur and by how much, at simucube they do not advertise throttling numbers but instead just state that no person has ever made it throttle, kind of smart advertising because a machine would absolutely discover the point of throttling but if no human will ever be able to make it throttle then why bother right?? Asetek should have just used that method of advertisement because no human will hold that wheel at 27nm peaking for 40 seconds continuously, it just won’t happen so I mean why advertise it lol they are being almost too transparent and in the end it makes the hardware look worse.

If the slew rate was marketing BS then the user wouldn't be able to feel a difference between low slew rate and high slew rate would they? but the user can feel a difference, its easy enough to test, you have a simucube 2 pro right... turn down the slew rate and test it then turn it off and test it again, you will see there is a difference and if there is not then get on the simucube forums and complain about it and they will also explain to you that there is a difference. I cant help but laugh when in one sentence you say its marketing BS but then in another sentence you say that they must have reduced the responsiveness on the simucube because it feels better for you... i thought you cant feel the difference in responsiveness? You are confusing slew rate with latency, they are two completely different metrics, slew rate has nothing to do with latency so quoting 16.67ms FFB from iracing means nothing. Slew rate is the motors ability to accelerate to a certain strength quicker, if one motor can hit 9nm in a ms and one can hit 6nm in a ms then the 9nm/ms motor will feel snappier, its not just how fast they can accelerate but how fast they can decelerate aswell which is precisely what FFB does. so you see its not about detecting 1ms here or 1ms there.... you can absolutely feel in your hands if one motor gets to 9nm in the same time it takes another motor to get to 6nm. you are completely missing the point of what slew rate is, you dont need arm ripping forces for the motor to feel fast, you can be playing with 5nm and a higher slew rate motor will feel more responsive than a lower slew rate motor because the higher slew rate motor will reach 5nm faster and you can feel that, if you say you cant feel that then a direct drive is completely wasted on you. saying asetek is using chinese motors in an attempt to discredit them is ridiculous, everybody knows mige is a reputable top tier brand lol, Stop acting so butt hurt bro its embarrassing, ive owned a simucube 2 pro for 2 years and its amazing but Asetek used the simucube as a starting point and made improvements where it needed improvements, get over it man.

@@jinx20001 I've tested the slew rate in True Drive and can't feel 3 Nm difference because humans can't. 9 Nm in one or 1.5 ms is the same and just very low values can feel different. It's still the software not the game that's telling the base what to output if for example you hit a curb, a car or a wall and True Drive reduced some forces significantly that were basically trying to rip your hands off the wheel what the VRS never did. The VRS never tried to hurt me what the SC2 Pro tried a lot and it was oscillating far more as well. It might be that the Azetek feels better in iRacing and I don't give a damn about this game with it's worst FFB in business. Even my 6 DOF setup can't tell me the grip in iRacing and no FFB will do that anyway. With the VRS versus SC2 Pro I was measuring lap times and I was significantly faster with the VRS 10 months ago, but equally fast 2 months ago. Feeling is subjective, lap times not really. What differs between wheels are the FFB signals when driving the same car on the same track with the same line and more FFB cues is not automatically better, but could be the opposite even if it provokes over correcting what my SC2 Pro did. That doesn't mean it's perfect now, but a slew rate number won't tell you anything about the FFB character.

This comment is pretty much spot on👍 only point where I would disagree is that you can’t feel the difference. A high slewrate feels much sharper, but you aren’t really getting any more information, or less lag. The information is the same, it’s just much sharper feeling. High slew rates mainly just have downsides like unrealistic behavior, wheels ripping out of hands on curbs, and jumps from one position to the next one. Those reviewers should try that high slewrate with minimal damping and max force, it’s a stupid idea. I got a sc2 again after being off of simracing for 2 years, and I also had the feeling that the torque delivery is smoother than it was. But maybe that’s because of iracings tire and physics update

@@jinx20001 sorry but mige isn’t a top tier brand. It’s just a brand that makes reliable motors for a low price. Kollmorgen or Lenze is what you can call top tier.

@@Leynad778 you do not seem to understand the difference between software and hardware, the software tells the hardware what to do yes… but the hardware has its own limitations, if the hardware did not have limitations then why are you using a simucube 2 instead of a Logitech g29?? The software decides how fast the motor responds right so the g29 should be just as fast as the simucube 2… are you going to put the difference down to just software? So it’s just true drive that is better than Logitech software and that’s what makes the difference? No ofcourse not, it does not matter what the software tells the hardware to do the hardware will always have inherent restrictions and limitations, a g29 can only respond so fast due to the hardware limitations, most would agree a direct drive is faster and more responsive than a g29 right and most would agree the hardware is the reason why. The slew rate does indeed tell part of the story when it comes to motor characteristics, most sim racers understand when they are feeling a more responsive motor… you keep going off on a tangent about the simucube 2 and the VRS talking about stuff that makes no difference to this conversation, oscillations have nothing to do with the slew rate, the simucube 2 has settings that deal with oscillation and the slew rate is not one of them, that would be damping and ultra low latency settings, in fact the ultra low latency setting is specifically designed to be used if you have oscillation issues, don’t ask me ask the hardware engineers who work for granite devices on the simucube forum. You see what you are doing is trying desperately hard to make the slew rate not relevant by trying to explain why one would not want a fast motor but you are failing because everything you are talking about has nothing to do with the slew rate… and just so you know, oscillations are a common occurrence on ALL direct drive motors due to the friction free nature of the design, belts and cogs naturally combat oscillation as they are natural dampers, why do you think adding damping to a DD helps with oscillation.

Have you tried both?