Asetek SimSports Forte Load Cell Sim Racing Pedals - DETAILED FIRST LOOK
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- Äas pĆidĂĄn 4. 06. 2024
- A few months ago now we took a look at Asetek Simsports first product, their Hydraulic Invicta sim racing pedals.
We were very impressed with them and are still running them on the Boosted Media daily driver rig at the time this is being published. Now it's time to take a look at a prototype of their latest product, the Forte Load Cell pedals, which employ many of the same design principles and philosophy found in the Invicta design but come in at a much cheaper price point.
These pedals are available for pre-order now, so let's take a detailed look and see if they are the right pedals for you based on our experience with the prototype unit we've been sent. We will follow up with a review of the full retail model ASAP.
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TIME STAMPS:
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Intro: 0:00
Important Information: 1:20
Comparison to Invicta & Upgrade Path: 2:16
Throttle Overview: 4:17
Load Cell Brake Overview: 12:42
Mechanical Comparison with other pedals: 24:48
Software Overview: 29:49
First Impressions: 35:28
Driving Tests: 42:42
Discussion & Conclusions: 47:42
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#pedals #forte #simracing - Hry
Just a quick note regarding final production. We have since received a full production set of Forte pedals and are happy that all the points covered in this video remain true.
@@amigoz3201 you need to add some deadzone. This adjustment is shown in the video youâre commenting on.
Sounds like your calibration is way off
These reviews are huge value. The little details, validate the big spend, and it is a big spend.
Great pedals, will be interesting to how they break into this market. I am sure post-purchase support is just as good.
Thanks for such a detailed look at these pedals and it was just the review I was looking for and as such just ordered a 3 pedal setup and canât wait to racing with them, thank you Will and Tom.
Another outstanding video! Incredible detail. Well done.
I already have what I think are my forever pedals( heusinkveld ultimates), and i still watch these videos because your videos are always great đđŸ
Great info! Canât wait to see their ecosystem
Great review Will, defo got me tempted to get my pre-order in!
Theyâre definitely very good value, but Iâm also keen to see how the Sprints do by comparison.
It went live 3 weeks ago - czcams.com/video/4iCRbGDdSts/video.html
I pre-ordered under your link. It takes me to the global store so I hope you still get credit. Great review as always.
Plus I love how Asetek does their pre-orders. Will pay when order has shipped.
Thanks a lot for the support. Should have worked.
@@boostedmedia hope so. I'm in the US, maybe check because without your review I wouldn't have known.
Great review. These look absolutely mega for the price point.
Solid review
Very useful and great review guys. Thanks. Here's probably the piece of hardware I was looking for.
Pre-ordered đ
Sitting here watching your review, waiting for DHL to arrive with my Invicta pedals.... Come on DHL!!!
O canal que é minha inspiração! Um dia teremos esse set up!
Great pedal review, after watching many reviews on other higher end pedal sets, went with these as an upgrade from Moza SRP. I definitely like a stiffer brake pedal.
Extended travel kit makes a lot of sense from a sales point of view, so many comments saying the lack of travel and rock hard pedal was a deal breaker (along with the metal to metal noise) so that now covers everyone's needs! :)
Yep. Iâd still encourage everyone to get used to the shorter throw though.
@@boostedmedia I absolutely agree. I have a TLCM (I hope to upgrade one day for one of these), and put an elastomer in that shorten the travel by a lot. Now I really understand how the load cell works. Before that I was kinda braking like having potentiometer pedals.
can not wait to see what they come up with next, maybe they can do a bundle deal with wheel,pedals and shifter.
Looks like you want to mount the pedals inward a row on your extrusion for more support under the rear so they don't flex like you see at 37:18 interesting to see the Invicta's don't seem to flex as much. Good review as always though!
As usual a excellent, honest review. Thanks guys. If they are planning to sell the Forte clutch pedal for the same price as the Invicta (eg USD$349) i will seriously look at the Sprints as a preferred option.
Itâs the same clutch pedal.
@@boostedmedia Thanks Will. So the clutch on its own will cost 70% of the throttle and brake unit. Kinda takes the shine off things.
@@kevinblythe2192, spot on. Having a clutch is as essential as the throttle or brake (for me), so price gouging on the clutch definitely rubs me the wrong way. đ
@@boostedmedia it doesnât matter some of as needing a clutch with those pedals are not as cheap as make it seem in the video ⊠next time do better.the price with the clutch is 1030eu thats not a deal is on par with the loadcell market ..and i can argue that the best deal is the sprints the vrs psdals
If you test the Sprints Will I was able to create quite a bit different feel by only using one single hard elastomer for the brake setup with some preload. End up w about 1cm of travel and then âbrick wallâ type feel to simulate disc contact. Love the sprints still but these look great too.
Are you going to be trying the VRS pedals sometime soon? Thanks for these detailed videos, loving the content.
Not sure. We had planned to but they went dark on us. It's on my to-do list to get back in touch with them.
Pretty timely release, only just getting back into sim racing after a couple years off, my old CS v2s are a bit of a struggle.... these might be the ticket!
The one thing you touched on was an upgrade path from the Forte and up. I like this concept as means to at least get a consumer into the ecosystem at a lower price point and make there way around without the need to shell out a lot of money up front. You can argue it might be expensive doing upgrade paths, but like many hobbies you're already going down a rabbit hole in sim racing. I just hope upgrades are reasonably priced. Thank you for the review on the pre-production pedals, definitely on my radar after I've "outgrown" my Fanatec V3s.
If you want the clutch to go with that, it will cost you 349 bucks. Yes, you're paying almost the entire price of the pedal module for a single pedal.
@@BrunodeSouzaLino It seems crazy but has an explanation you are seeing It as you only get one more pedal but that pedal needs its own baseplate alone instead of sharing It also the production batch of clutches is going to be lower also, low volume higher price, for me its a bit overpriced of course but its understandable.
@@3ller When your update costs more than 50% of the price of the product it's supposed to make better, it's not just "a bit overpriced."
Nice review, I much prefer the way the hydraulics pedal works then the load cell design, were only the internal spring is pressing against the load cell. Likely both work OK.
Asetek comes out day 1 with pretty much the highest praised hydraulic pedals on their first effort, and now backing it up with load cell brake pedal that's comparable to their hydraulics? Crazy. From a company that specializes in water cooling for computers breaking into a completely different industry at this high a level is super impressive. Especially their pricing, their hydraulic pedals for pretty much the same price as the heusinkveld ultimates, and these almost the same price as the sprints... come on.
Can't wait to see what they come out with for a wheelbase and rim. I have a VRS DFP with a GSI GXL rim and LOVE it, so it's compelling to see what Asetek releases since their pricing so far has been, what I believe, a market changer. If they can release a 20nm+ wheelbase for the same price as VRS will be a huge shake up in the market. Unless you're buying the Simucube Ultimate, I really don't see why anyone buys anything other than the VRS for how cheap it is and how good it is. You're just throwing away your money, in my completely unprofessional opinion. If Asetek with their integrated software/system comes out with a high quality wheel base, I don't see a single reason to buy anything Fanatec at this point (I already don't with the VRS being available).
I think maybe the only negative here is that the sim industry relies in a HUGE way on these small one man shops, where even a company like heusinkveld isn't a huge company, and now you have a new company coming in doing really high quality products, but they have big manufacturing behind them from day 1 where they can produce at a lower cost. Cutting out the long time people that have built the industry, it's a hard one. The sim racing industry is really interesting since it's not necessarily a small industry, but there aren't really any big manufacturers for high quality products. So these small shops might get pushed out, who are the ones that have built this industry for us.
FYI the upgrade kits for the throttle/brake are already available. You buy them separately. I initially purchased the La Prima bundle. UNFORTUNATELY they don't yet have the DD upgrade available.
It would be nice if Fanatec offered the CSL pedals as a two pedal set with the load cell brake as an option. I know it's possible to buy the load cell brake as an option for Fanatec but if they offered a two pedal CET and the brake pedal would be the load cell brake pedal.
Also it would be nice if Thrustmaster made a T-LCM pedal set without the clutch. I had my FANATEC CSR Elite pedal set since they were released and never used the clutch.
Thanks Will, nice review. 2 questions: will you review the Venym Atrax pedals any time soon? i have csl elite LC with 95 and 85 rubbers, without the foam piece, so very hard and short travel. Can i expect a much better experience from those more high end type of pedals? thanks
Yep Venym planned soon.
2nd question, these are totally different as the review explains. Not in the same league.
My CSR Elite pedals has some good adjustments too
Nice review, do you have plans to review the SimWorx pedals ?
Havenât spoken with them as weâre booked out for pedals reviews for a while, but theyâre on my radar.
I was going to get some Heuskin Sprints this week...... These might win my money.
Sprint review is coming ASAP
@boosted media
Hi will, Iâve just got these pedals and really happy.
Although after watching some other reviews saying that theyâre not loadcell pedals and although it has a loadcell, it works on pedal travel.
I dont buy this however.
Am I right in thinking that the weak loadcell is pressed by the spring (which is also weak) and the resistance is created by the elastomer.
So it is a loadcell, just a different design which allows for a weaker loadcell pushed by that spring.
They look great for the price, may go for them instead of the Heusinkveld Sprint pedals!
We will have a review of the sprints up ASAP. They arrived the day after we finished filming this. Sorry we couldnât include the comparison for this video.
@@boostedmedia The video was very informative and enjoyable to watch, didn't realize it was an hour long!!! i will wait for thr Comparison before making any decisions will be a nice upgrade from my csl pedals.
@@boostedmedia eyy youâve got some some HE Sprints finally
And you call yourself a sim racing reviewer without testing them after all this time đ /s
I would put a little grease on the elastomer spring.đ
It loosened up and that slight gripping disappeared after 50 or so cycles. But yeah you could do if needed. Would just need to be careful not to use anything that might weaken the elastomer.
@38:50 If you can hear the hydraulic fluid under these kinds of low loads then there is probably a good amount of air trapped in there.
Hi @boosted media, I noticed that you didnât compare these against the Simtags. How do you think they fare?
If the clutch kit wasn't so damn expensive this would be an instant buy for me, I'm still on my Fanatec Clubsport V1, and DIYing them to get better feel and such, but god are they annoying to take apart and reassemble anytime I want to adjust anything.
hah same i have clubsport V2s
@11:30 what is the max distance in cm that can be achieved from pedal plate to pedal plate? the lack of lateral adjustment concerns me and i wouldn't really want to use the pedals with a bad angle on my (already worn out) knees
Seeing as these have a load cell, how do these compare to the Fanatec Clubsport V3 pedals?
21:37 I tested the Thrustmaster T-LCM a few days ago for a few days. They only had the black springs attached but what I noticed is that it felt more like the brake pedal was detecting how far I pushed the pedal instead of how hard I pressed the pedal.
I thought a load cell brake was supposed to work on pressure instead of distance pushed. That's why I ordered the Thrustmaster pedals. It's what I'm used to with my FANATEC pedals.
I'm looking at elastomer mods for the brake pedal though.
LC does measure pressure (via deflection, like bathroom scales), if you swapped your elastomer for a steel sleeve it would work just the same but with almost no travel.
Gotta mod the T-LCM to make them feel like a brake, TM came so close but shipped them with god awful soft springs, even the reds. I chucked a skateboard bushing in mine to replace the bottom spring. They are good value but have way way too much travel with any combo of stock springs.
I put an elastomer on my TLCM and now I am really breaking how you are supposed to do with a load cell. I suggest you to find one mod (or do one by yourself, nowadays it is quite easy to know someone with a 3dprinter, or buy some skate bushings).
@@andreaiachini7517 maybe where you are it's quite easy to know somebody with a 2D printer but not here in this town in Ireland also it would be expensive to buy all the mods just to find one that works for me.
@@KarlGosling there's no elastomer in my T-LCM pedals
Could you please help me with two questions?
1 - are they very strong to push?
2 - can I put them on the floor, on some piece of carpet or something?
So with Asetek gear, as far as the hardware is concerned I defintelly think it is one of the best for value, however how is the compatibility with other eco systesms like Fanatec, Moza etc. What are the limitations from that perspective. Additonally do they havd SDKs for the way Fanatec does for small developers? would love to hear your thoughts and recomendations
They operate as standalone devices and plug in via USB. So you can run them with any other hardware on PC
Hey Will, if you get a chance, could you please review Simtrecs ProPedal GT. Would really love your thoughts about it.
@11:45 Will what are those bolts that are used to hold the pedal plate on, are they M4 countersunk?
I was about to buy these pedals but then I saw that these guys want $132 for shipping! That's an insane price for shipping. It kills me cause I do want these pedals.
I just got around installing these pedals and have no where near that amount of travel. Also having this issue where inside the manager it says I have 10-20% brake pressure applied when my foot is off. They're proving to be a pain to setup.
Hi Will thank you for the (p)review. What i'm still confused about after watching this and the invicta reviews, do you actually use a lot of the second brake stage on the invicta's if not then I understand its pretty much similar to the Forte, only using the pushing against the rubber. What kind of force do you need to press to get on the second stage on the Invicta's and is that still withing a comfortable pressure? Thanks!
It depends on the elastomer insert you use. I run the hardest now and just barely touch the 2nd stage for n the invictas. With the softest elastomer that comes with the invictas you hit 2nd stage at about 70kg from memory.
â@@boostedmedia Thank you! So basically you pay a lot more for the invicta's for a system you hardly use then :-) I pre-ordered the invicta's for 700 euro's luckily so the price difference is not so massive, you would the advise to keep the invicta order over the Forte?
The invicta is still the nicer pedal to use as we discussed at length in the conclusions
@@boostedmedia Check, thanks for all the reviews and video's!
Hey, nice review, do you guys know when will asetek release a direct drive wheel?
Not sure yet
On Asetek's own youtube video for these pedals someone asked the same question in the comment section.
The reply was "It will be later this year. We look forward to revealing more at a later time :)"
Our plan is later this year. We're excited to reveal more :)
@@AsetekSimSports i hope not too late đ
You CAN definitely off-set the pedal plates enough left and right, to make them a nice straight line to your legs using the 'regular' pedal plates :^)
Eh, I don't think many adults have such narrow waist that you can have a straight line to both the throttle and brake.
Temping. It's difficult to keep up with all of the latest products.
Any thoughts on what the best bang for your buck is currently on the newest pedal sets?
Keen to have a look at the Sprints yet, but these would have to be the best value Iâve tried so far. Iâd rather run them than some of the âŹ1500+ pedals I have in the studio.
@@boostedmedia I have the Huesinkveld Ultimate set. I've owned them for about 3 years. The brake pedal is too firm, with no room to adjust them further. Also, the brake is too inconsistent to be fast with them at this point. I have put them through hell as I run them at full strength, so I don't think they're holding up like they should. Just looking at alternatives now
If I can't get them for console đ I'm only on PS5 at the moment. Bought the DD Pro with the boost kit but no pedals at the moment. I don't know if I will be happy with V3 or so. Any recommendations guys? Wanna translate too PC in future but not now.. Thx guys
Hi now you use soft medium or hard elastomer ?
would you prefer these over sprints
Should I pre order the forte or the Invicta?
Question how do you ship things from fanatec to Australia because when I went buy something it does not work
You need to select the AU region.
What customer bracket would purchase $500 pedals without the clutch? The true cost is around $900 with tax.
Can these pedals be good for drifting?
Very nice, detailed review, Will!! Kinda considering this over the Invicta as I think it's kinda better value. Do you think the Invicta is still worth the investment over the Forte? It's just a few more months of saving for me, would love to know your opinion between them.
Just a heads up, the pre-order link still says Invicta :D
This is covered in the discussion at the end of the video.
@@boostedmedia Whoops! I must have missed that, I'm watching the video while I work haha. Just rewatched the discussion section again.
I think I'll be saving up for the Invicta since there's upgrades planned, as you've mentioned. Either way, it's really hard to look at other pedals now with the Forte here. Wonder how it stacks up against Simtrecs ProPedal GT..
Im not a hardcore racer but I like good products. Shall I go for these or invicta? Are the Invicta worth it for someone that are not a hardcore racer?
I reckon go for these then upgrade if you feel the need. Theyâre almost as good anyway.
@@boostedmedia Thanks. Such a hard choice I got the email about paying for the invicta now. Due to building a new house I dont get much time to play anyway now so I might just go for the Forte. I don't have shoes either, would need a new pair :O
Are these compatible with fanatec csl dd? I'm assuming yes, through pc.
Correct. They plug in via USB so they work with anything on PC
Great review. To me it seems that the force is measured on the rod, while most pedals would measure the force on the elastomers, is this correct? That would mean that all the force that the elastomer takes up is ignored.
No, the rod moves in unison with the deflection of the elastomer.
@@boostedmedia yes, but what I mean is that if it's the movement of the rod that's measured via the load cell, the output is not linear with the force applied because the deflection of the elastomer is nonlinear with the force. So in the end they might as well just use a hall effect sensor and measure the travel of the pedal. If that's the case it seems like a weird design choice, but I might be wrong.
My interpretation of the design is that the movement of the rod is stipulated entirely by the deflection of the elastomers but I could also be wrong.
@@peterjrgensen7394 Looks like Dan Suzuki confirmed this. Feeling a little annoyed I ordered these now
@@LJMRACING Damn, I really hoped I was wrong. Seems like a bad design then.
Very nice Review (as always) but I think it's a bit unfair to compair the value of the Asetek SimSports Forte versus the Fanatec V3. The V3 has the clutch pedal, the motors and offers more adjustability for 420⏠(pedals + brake kit) when the combo Forte + the clutch pedal climb up to 700⏠(and 750⏠without the preorder discount). So yeah, I have no doubt these pedals are better, but it's not that cheap when you think about it, especialy if later on you want to buy the Extended travel kit.
Two items donât have to cost the same to compare the value proposition and what youâre getting for the money between them.
The V3s also use the load cell for measuring the actual pressure while the Forte seems to use the load cell just for measuring the distance, separate to the actual pressure. This means there could also be a hall sensor or potentiometer instead with the same result.
Can I use it on ps5 with DD pro on Gran turismo 7?
Will you be reviewing the new NLR GTelite soon??
Its on its way to us now. Basically the same as the F-GT Elite which we already reviewed though.
@@boostedmedia Nice! How about the ERS1 Elite Seat? I'd love to hear your input on that!
35:20 this is particularly interesting for the console where all the calibration isn't possible
so you could calibrate them on the PC and then hook them up to the console
if they were at all supported somehow
They are not native for consoles
Console really supports pretty much nothing aside from the all-in-one base/pedal/wheel setups from Fanatec, Logitech or Thrustmaster.
You could use drivehub, but realistically I'd expect people dropping 500+$ on just some simracing pedals to not be playing on a very limiting console.
Is it possible to add clutch to these ?
Yes
Canada not listed in the country dropdown selection. Can't pre-order. Sad
Speak to Advanced Sim Racing :)
Like Will says, talk to Advanced Sim Racing, or chose the global shop, not the EU shop, on the globe icon in the upper corner. We'll check the geoIP locator tomorrow to see what's going on.
My bad. Now I can select global and Canada is listed now. Pre-order done. Thanks will
Had these pedals for over a year now and love them but am noticing a lot of wear on the Finnish coating of throttle pedal and wheel plate. Is anybody else finding a lot of wear in these areas ?
Did mean to say heal plate
Maaan these Asetek pedals make it hard to work out what to get...so hard to break away from the Fanatec Ecosystem purely for the plug and play, surely Fanatec got new pedals in the pipeline by now it's been a few years...HE Ultimates/Sprints or Asetek Invicta/Fortes đ€·ââïžđ it's too bloody hard lolđ€Ł
For what itâs worth, Iâve owned fanatec CSL elite (the old one), Fanatec V3, heusinkveld sprints, heusinkveld ultimate+ and now the invicta, and my vote goes to the invicta. The brake is just incredible, and while the throttle is noticeably worse compared to the ultimate+ (at least if you prefer a harder throttle as I do) itâs not worth the extra cost and the worse brake from the ultimate+
@@TheW8liftr woah that's good to know, they do look bloody good. Just in the back of my head is the hydraulic leaking thing I'm sure it never will though. I've got V3s now how would you compared the brake to that ?
Are the Forte better than the Fanatec V3 Pedals?
In my opinion, yes
@@boostedmedia I have the oppertunity to to Upgrade my V3 and buy the forte Pedals for 400âŹ. I think that is a good price but many people say that they hate the break pedal. Do you recommend to Drive the forte with shoes?
Yeah youâll probably want shoes or boots as itâs pretty stiff.
@@boostedmedia Okay thank you for the fast awnser.
First!
Not really a well thought out product imo, especially considering it doesn't have a clutch module that you can use with it. And before you tell you could use the Invicta clutch...Just that pedal alone is almost the price of the whole pedal kit. Where's the affordable clutch module option?
I don't buy this set for a minute. Too close together for a set of two. Plus, I find it real hard to believe you when you say these are reliable but no other set has ever been reliable. B.S.
Huh? We said no other set of hydraulic pedals weâve tested have been 100% reliable aside from the invicta pedals. These pedals are load cell pedals.
I love your vids, but an hour for a pedal set review is extreme overkill.
Youâre lucky then. Theyâre usually longer. đ
If you want less detail feel free to watch someone elseâs videos or just skip to the conclusions. Weâre not here to spoon feed our subjective opinions without any objective basis. Itâs important people have the option to see how we reached our conclusions and draw their own should they wish to do so.
What an absolutely moronic thing to say. Ignore this đ€Ą.