Playseat Limited Edition Forza Motorsport 4 Racing Seat

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $599.99
Sale Price: $488.22
Today's Bonus: 19% Off

I just received the Forza 4 Playseat and a Forza 4 Fanatec wheel and the CSR Elite pedals. I was very disappointed to find that neither the steering wheel or the pedals fit the playseat. Given that the description clearly states that they are compatible and that the Fanatec and the seat are Forza 4 special edition, they should work together, right? Even more disappointing is that I tried to get customer service from playseat.com and they told me that they are only resellers. They would not tell me how to contact the actual playseat people to get this fixed. All they would really need to make it work is a plate with holes at the right place for the steering wheel. It is possible to drill holes yourself to make it work but with the seat selling for $500 and the wheel for $250, I don't expect to have to drill holes to make it fit. Worse is the pedals. The plate for the pedals is to short by several inches. There is no way with the current plate to attach the CSR pedals securely to the the seat. I guess I could buy a piece of metal myself, cut it and drill all the wholes. Again, unexpected for that kind of price. Another thing I didn't like is that the playseat.com people told me that they know about the problem and are planning to sell a plate for the pedals that will work sometimes in mid-2012 (6+ months after it came out). I don't think I should have to buy an extra plate and I don't think they should advertise this playseat is compatible with the Fanatec wheel or pedal. I wonder what Microsoft thinks of this; they licensed this playseat and the Fanatec wheels and pedals, they should work together out of the box. Unless you are pretty handy at fabricating plates and drilling holes in metal, you probably should not buy this product.

As far as the solidity of the product, it also was not up to expectations. The post that holds the steering wheel doesn't feel very solid and the parts don't fit well together. The adjustments for the steering wheel are very limited. The post is angled up at a sharp angle so if you need the steering wheel farther from you, it also goes up a lot. I'm not sure I'll be able to make this work without having the steering wheel right at eye level. Also, the piece that holds the pedals feels very loose and unstable. I'm not sure how it will hold up whenever I get the pedals installed with a custom-made plate.

On the positive side, the seat itself has a nice feel to it.

Edited on 01/11/2012: I received the updated plates for the wheel with two points to mount to the column (steering mounts to the plate, plate mounts to the column). Mounting with the bolts is more solid than the table mounts that I originally had to use. There are three points to mount the plate to the seat column. When using the Fanatec mount points, you can only use the closest and middle mount points. Should be good for most people unless you are very tall. I'm 6' and it's an OK fit (would be nice if I could have the wheel lower and further). Because the wheel is too high, I can't use my Kinect (not sure how good that really is). You will need to buy two 30mm M6 screws to install the wheel, the 20mm screws provided are not long enough.

I also wanted to confirm that the seat itself feels very solid. The pedal mounts feel more solid than I originally thought they would, even with two mount points instead of four. The only weak point is the steering column, it could use some reinforcement. Despite my initial disappointments, I have to admit that playing Forza 4 with this seat, the wheel and pedals is a lot of fun and I would buy this setup again. I just wish it would have worked out of the box or that getting support would have been easier. Speaking of that, if you are in the US, make sure you get in touch with people at playseatamerica.com; that made all the difference. I wonder why the playseat.com people didn't redirect me to the American branch. Bumping my review from a 2 to a 4.

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Fanatec CSR Elite Steering Wheel:

Initially when I received this product the steering wheel plate was not pre-drilled for Fanatec steering wheels. However, after some research on this, I found out that Playseat were working on getting the correct wheel plates and are sending it out to any customers that require it so that the customer does not have to drill the holes themselves. This is at no charge to the customer. You can find out more from Playseats web site or their Facebook page.

I received the new pre-drilled plate and it lined up perfectly to my CSR Elite wheel (using the angle brackets included with the wheel). The only thing is that they only pre-drilled two holes (one for each side) instead of four holes. They told me this is by design and it is sufficient. Upon my testing, the two holes was indeed sufficient to hold down the CSR Elite wheel without any issues.

The only gripe is I wish the position of the wheel was a bit more adjustable as I would prefer it a little futher outward without having to raise it up the post as high. Also once the CSR Elite wheel is mounted, the bolts under it will prevent you from mounting the plate to the 3rd furthest point. So you only have the first two distance points to mount the plate down. Other than the distance of the wheel, the angle is just right for my particular wheel and has a fairly stable feel.

Fanatec CSR Elite Pedals:

The CSR Elite pedals mounted up fine as well. Note that you are supposed to use either the two top holes or the two bottom holes for the pedal mounts. I built my own bracket so that I can utilize all four mounts on the pedals however, before that I had just the two top mounts and it was fairly sufficient. I wanted it wobble free so I built my own brackets to mount behind the Playseat plate giving me mounts for all four holes.

Seat:

The seat is very comfortable however the synthentic leather on the cushion does make a rubbing noise. It's nice they added a spring bottom for added comfort.

Putting it together:

I found the instructions sufficient to put the seat together. It's no harder than following instructions for furniture, etc. Just follow the pictures and assemble it with the tools included.

Adjustability:

Steering wheel: I already mentioned above that I there was better ability to adjust the plate forward.

Pedals: The adjustable angle of the pedal plate is a great addition to position the pedals at the perfect angle.

Pedal distance: The quick release latch works great to move the pedals further or closer to the seat. No more knobs to turn.

Seats: You can't adjust the seats, they are stationary and does not move, similiar to real racing buckets. For home use, having the ability to adjust the backrest would have been great however for me the seats are fairly comfortable in it's current position.

Build quality:

From what I can see, everything is fairly well built from what looks to be powder coated steel parts. There's no rough edges in the metal work.

Customer Service:

Customer service was very responsive and quickly addressed my concerns with the pre-drilled mounting plate for Fanatec wheels.

Overall:

The seat is fairly well built and comfortable however the price is a bit expensive when compared to other options out there. At this price range, the shifter mount should be included instead of being optional. However, warning they do not have a Fanatec compatible shifter mount yet. I hear it should be coming soon though.

Overall I'm giving this 5 stars because the seat is comfortable, "now" compatible with all my gear, fairly adjustable, and excellent customer service support.

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I ordered this playset as slighlty used, but it came as new and I absolutely love it.

If you have a steering wheel for gaming and you don't have a chair to mount it to, your wasting your time. Just stop and go back to drawing pictures of race cars with crayons. Get a Logitech G27, this chair, gear-holder, PS3 and GT5 and you have an amazing home arcade set-up.

The Playseat is like sliding into your favorite carthe chair is comforatable, adjustable and sturdy enough to drive like you how you'd like to drive if their were no speed limits.

Thanks Playseat! You have a great product here.

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Confortable, adjustable, lateral stability not terrific. Do not forget to save the extra screws to hold the steering wheel when you get it.

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I purchased this seat to use with a Fanatec CSR elite wheel and pedal set. I was initially disappointed by the lack of proper wheel mount plate but a quick email to customer support and the update plate was in the mail. The seat setup was easy using the supplied instructions. Was up and running in no time. The seat is comfortable and I find the wheel hight adjustments perfect.

The look and feel of the seat is quality and with the addition of the CSR Elite wheel and pedals looks ready to race!