It’s 1998, a year after Fanatec gaming products hit stores, and the company produces the Le Mans – the template for premium sim racing peripherals.
German manufacturer of peripherals for sim racing Fanatec will be 25 years old in 2022 and has already blossomed in 1997.
Although it has licensing agreements with the likes of BMW, Porsche, the World Rally Championship, NASCAR, Formula 1 and Gran Turismo, it has taken a quarter of a century to reach the peak of its powers.
The very first gaming wheel was the Le Mans in 1998, a year after the company first produced gaming accessories.
Fanatec’s nascent stages had nothing to do with driving, it turns out. During that first year, it instead produced two joysticks – the HELLFIRE and the F-22 TWISTER – in addition to a Gamecommander Multiport, which allowed you to connect multiple PC game items at once, and the AGGRESSOR Profi Gameboard.
It wasn’t until a year later when Thomas Jackermeier, CEO of Endor AG, decided to chase Mad Catz into the steering wheel market.
“The steering wheels were with the rubber tire then and the feel was not good at all,” explains Jackermeier during a Fanatec anniversary presentation held at the 24 Hours of Spa – the sound of GT3 cars reverberated around the sim racing arena with the event.
“So we said, ‘Okay, let’s try a spring, the metal spring.’
“When you invent a new technology, even if it’s something mechanically basic, like a spring replacing a rubber band, it’s always a new challenge to overcome.
“There were a lot of cheap plastic toys back then. I totally missed any sense of luxury, like leather or metal. The high-end segment actually didn’t exist at all.”
Le Mans appeared at a time when technology made it possible to make racing games more realistic, and was launched in the same year as Colin McRae Rally, Gran Turismo (Europe and North America) and Grand Prix Legends.
The PC-only device is designed to be a level above existing wheels on the market, thanks to avoiding the ‘bungee-style’ tires used by contemporaries, and delivering its force feedback via the aforementioned array of metal springs in combination with a steel shaft.
It wasn’t just the inside that was of a higher quality than most competitors, even now it feels like a premium item.
Okay, there’s no known car brand stamped on the hub, there’s a lack of satisfying tactile paddles, and rotary switches are nowhere to be found. The plastic sheath covering the inside is, well, a plastic sheath. Understandably, the pedals aren’t a load cell either – Fanatec has the honor of creating the first mass-market set with the ClubSports 10 years later.
But the faux-Alcantara rim material, metal-tipped gear lever and perfectly straight stitching belie its 24 years of age.
“When I started this business 25 years ago, I had absolutely no idea where this would end,” says Jackermeier.
“I think we’re just in the middle now or maybe just at the beginning because sim racing – yes, it’s getting the attention it deserves – I think we’re going to get off the ground in the next 25 years.”
In the same year after the first wheel and pedal set, a variant for the original PlayStation, the Speedster, was launched. This device would get two console-focused sequels over the next seven years. There was also a ‘Le Mans Special Edition’ with a leather-wrapped rim and the groundbreaking technology of USB support.
Despite the company being so successful these days and the very first steering feel originated from unadulterated sim racing passion, success was far from guaranteed.
Despite the apparent turbulence at first, Jackermeier and the team managed to overcome the struggles of visiting China in the 1990s to close manufacturing deals, design genre-leading sim racing products, and build his reputation to the point where it is considered one of the best in the business.
The Le Mans may seem primitive by today’s standards, but in its day this device was at the forefront, helping to define what we call sim racing today. Without it, there would be no Podium DD2 wheelbases or Formula 1 brand product lines.
It sought to bring groundbreaking feedback to a wider market, in turn pushing the genre forward, and in many ways the same is true today with the company’s CSL DD and Gran Turismo DD products – giving more people the enlightening sense of virtual racing through direct drive technology.
Fun fact: how the name of Fanatec’s parent company, Endor AG, came about
The name of Fanatec’s parent company, Endor AG, is a reference to the Forest Moon of Endor from the 1983 Star Wars film Return of the Jedi.
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