Fanatec has recently announced that they are working with Ford to produce the steering wheels for their new 2022 Ford Puma Hybrid Rally1 car. Here are all the details.
Earlier this year we received news that Fanatec has become the technical partner for World Rally Championship (WRC) team M-Sport Ford. These are the guys that have entered the 2022 Ford Puma Hybrid Rally1 car into the WRC for 2022.
Fanatec hasn’t officially released any imagery of their new Ford Puma steering wheel. But thanks to the first round of the WRC taking place, we have seen how the new Fanatec steering wheel looks in the 2022 Ford Puma rally car.
If this new partnership between Fanatec and M-Sport is similar to the BMW partnership that Fanatec announced last year, this exact wheel could be being released for sim racers to purchase.
The new Fanatec racing wheel looks to feature 11 push buttons on the front of the wheel itself, with three rotary encoders. Then there is a chunky grip, similar to the current CSL Elite Steering Wheel WRC. Although this steering wheel looks much more premium.
It will be interesting to see when Fanatec does release their own product shots, whether the sim racing steering wheel closely matches the real wheel used by Loeb.
No pricing details have been released regarding the price of the new Fanatec Ford Puma wheel. If this wheel follows the BMW Fanatec wheel, and the same wheel that is in the current Ford Puma rally car is going to be used for sim racing, then the price could be over £1,000 / $1,000.
Although the price could be as low as just a few hundred £/$ if the wheel is different to the one used in the current Ford Puma rally car. We will update this article once we have new information.
This partnership states that Fanatec will be supplying the steering wheel hardware for the new 2022 Ford Puma.
Rich Millener, the team principal at M-Sport Ford said;
“To now have the same steering wheel that is used in a real-life Rally1 car also on your home gaming setup is really quite incredible.”
“I truly feel that there are genuine benefits that can be transferred from the sim world to the real world.”
“I am really excited to be working with Fanatec and see how we can both continue to improve our products from both real life and sim development work, which will end up in better products and better results for both companies.
Fanatec CEO, Thomas Jackermeier said the following about the technical partnership;
“Working with M-Sport to include Fanatec made parts in the Ford Puma Hybrid Rally1 for the upcoming WRC season is another example where the line between motorsport and sim racing is becoming harder to define.”
The Best F1 23 Racing Wheels“If a nine-time World Champion like Sébastien Loeb thinks our product is a vital part of the car, then we know we are on the right path.”
The first round of the 2022 WRC season has come and gone, and M-Sport has picked up their first win since partnering with Fanatec. Nice time WRC world champion Sébastien Loeb and co-driver Isabelle Galmiche picked up the win using the new Fanatec steering wheel.
This puts Loeb and M-Sport Ford at the top of WRC standings after the first round with 27 points.
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Currently Fanatec haven't revealed when the new wheel will be announced or launched. But the wheel is in use currently in the WRC so an announcement shouldn't be too far away.
We have very few details about the new Fanatec wheel other than knowing that it exists. We don't currently know how much it will be.
The new Fanatec wheel could be the exact same wheel as used in the Ford Puma rally car, or it could be a wheel that is simply based on that real-world steering wheel. We don't currently know.
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