Update: The Fanatec Black Friday Sale Is Here
Fanatec has officially announced its Black Friday sale along with all of the deals that we will see across the next week.
Navigating Black Friday sales can seem daunting, especially when it comes to brands such as Fanatec. There are so many sim racing brands with deals and discounts available, plus there is the FOMO (fear of missing out), worrying that the one product you wish to buy will go out of stock.
To alleviate any worries you may have about missing out on an incredible Fanatec discount throughout November, I’ve created this Fanatec Black Friday deals guide to answer all the essential questions ahead of this year’s sale event.
The Fanatec Black Friday sale has started, with discounts of up to 54% available across wheel bases, bundles, steering wheels and pedals.
I’ll show you which products are included in the Fanatec Black Friday sale, and how best to navigate the usual website downtime and stock levels.
Watch a complete roundup of all Fanatec Black Friday deals in the video below.
When is Black Friday 2024, and when will Fanatec start its sale?
This year’s Black Friday is Friday, November 29th, 2024. The Fanatec Black Friday sale starts on Tuesday 26th November and ends on 2nd December.
Do Fanatec do Black Friday?
Fanatec has historically always had a Black Friday sale of some form on its website. Some years are better than others, while last year’s sale saw some pretty large discounts on products including the DD2 racing wheel, all pedal sets and a range of steering wheels.
This could mean we see the first Fanatec Black Friday deals around November 25th or the week before. Many sim racing brands, such as GT Omega, Trak Racer, and Logitech, often release or announce their Black Friday deals even earlier than this, closer to the start of November. However, Fanatec typically leaves its announcements a little later.
During last year’s 2023 sale, Fanatec announced their deals on November 17th, a whole week before Black Friday started, which was on the 24th of last year. During the sale, Fanatec announced a new deal each day, with new discounts and bundle deals going live every day from the run-up to the 24th.
What Fanatec Black Friday deals will we see in 2024?
Now is the time to have fun by predicting upcoming deals and discounts. We can base our predictions on the deals that Fanatec has offered in the past and our knowledge of the current ecosystem.
The first point of reference is to look at the deals from last year to establish a baseline of how Fanatec navigate Black Friday. During the event last year, we saw some significant discounts with up to 80% discount on some products.
The incredibly high-performance DD2 wheelbase was one of the biggest discounts from the 2023 Fanatec Black Friday sale, with 47% off its price, costing just €799.95. A range of bundles then included the slightly less powerful DD1 wheelbase, which came with a steering wheel for under €999.95.
The most popular deals from the Fanatec Black Friday sale last year
Below are some of the most popular Fanatec Black Friday deals from last year’s sale event. These can be used to indicate which products will be in this year’s sale.
| Product | Price | Discount |
|---|---|---|
| Podium Wheel Base DD2 | €799.95 | 47% discount |
| Podium Racing Wheel RS | €999.95 | 31% discount |
| CSL Elite Pedals V2 | €199.95 | 33% discount |
| ClubSport Shifter | €159.95 | 43% discount |
| ClubSport Steering Wheel F1® 2023 | €399.95 | |
| ClubSport Pedals V3 | €299.95 | 40% discount |
| CSL DD Upgrade Kit | €169.95 | 49% discount |
| QR2 Base-side adapter | From €19.95 | 80% discount |
With these discounts, we saw various popular sim racing products discounted, including wheelbases, bundles, steering wheels, pedals and accessories. This is a wide range of products, giving us hope to see something similar from the Fanatec 2024 Black Friday deals.
Which Fanatec racing wheels will be discounted on Black Friday 2024?
Will the Fanatec ClubSport DD be on sale during Black Friday?
- Our prediction: No
- Reason: The ClubSport DD is Fanatec’s most recent wheel base, and their latest releases rarely get discounted during Black Friday.
With the ClubSport DD and ClubSport DD+ currently being Fanatec’s flagship racing wheels, it is highly unlikely they will be discounted in this year’s sale. We could be wrong, but with it being such a popular sim racing wheel, there is almost no need for them to discount it for it to continue to sell.
So if the most popular Fanatec racing wheel won’t be included, will there be any racing wheel deals in the sale? I would make a strong case for the CSL DD and GT DD Pro featuring in this year’s deals.
Will the Fanatec CSL DD be on sale during Black Friday?
- Our prediction: Yes
- Reason: The Fanatec CSL DD and GT DD Pro are both much older racing wheels compared to the ClubSport DD. They released with the older QR1, and it is likely that Fanatec will have a good amount of stock of both these wheel bases.
Both of these racing wheels have been around for a long time now, and Fanatec probably have a fair few sitting on the shelves in its warehouse. They may even still have some equipped with the old QR1 quick-release.
Because both of these wheels are on the older side, especially because the CSL DD has been heavily discounted before. I imagine we will see a discounted price for the wheel bases, or a discounted bundle deal featuring a steering wheel.
Watch our Fanatec CSL DD review below.
My prediction is that the CSL DD and GT DD Pro will be included in the Black Friday 2024 sale. Since the ClubSport DD and DD+ are not included, that only leaves the DD1 and DD2.
Will the Fanatec DD1 and DD2 be on sale during Black Friday?
- Our prediction: Yes
- Reason: Both the DD1 and DD2 are the oldest wheel bases Fanatec currently sell. These have been superseeded by the Clubsport DD+, meaning Fanatec could be likely to try and sell the final units and discontinue both racing wheels.
These two wheel bases were long seen as the very best direct drive wheels that Fanatec produced. However, since the arrival of the ClubSport DD+, these two wheels are certainly on their way out. The DD2 is not available in some regions, and it won’t be long before both the DD1 and DD2 become discontinued.
This Fanatec Black Friday sale may be the last one where the DD1 and DD2 are still available. Fanatec may use this opportunity to offer an excellent price to shift the last remaining wheels.
Which other Fanatec products will go on sale?
In addition to the older wheelbase, I’d place a pretty big bet on a selection of steering wheels and pedals also being on sale. Previous Fanatec Black Friday sales have included steering wheels such as the popular Porsche 911 GT3 wheels and paddle modules, and we have often seen limited edition F1 steering wheels.
Which Fanatec steering wheels will go on sale during Black Friday?
- Our prediction: Older steering wheels such as the McLaren GT3 V2, Formula V2.5X and other wheels will go on sale
- Reason: Fanatec has a huge variety of steering wheels from budget wheels through to more premium options. It is unlikely that the most premium wheel rims such as the BMW M4 GT3 or Bentley GT3 wheel will be discounted. However, cheaper CSL steering wheels and older wheels may be discounted.
I predict that this trend will continue, with some unique steering wheel and accessory bundles available during Black Friday week.
The paddle modules and universal hubs with steering wheels, or even some button caps and stickers, are commonly paired items.
Will there be any Fanatec pedals included in the sale?
Will any Fanatec pedals be discounted?
- Our prediction: Either a CSL Elite or CSL pedal deal plus a ClubSport V3 deal.
- Reason: Fanatec’s pedal lineup is fairly old meaning discounts could be applied to their entire range of pedals, or they could be included in bundles to make them more attractive.
While Fanatec’s wheelbase range is pretty self-explanatory, with the CSL DD being a budget wheel, the ClubSport DD being a mid-range wheel, and the DD+ being Fanatec’s new premium wheel, their pedal lineup is currently more confusing.
Fanatec offers two budget pedal sets, the CSL Pedals and the CSL Elite Pedals V2. Both of these pedals offer very similar levels of quality and performance, although the brake pedal does feel remarkably different across both pedal sets. When I reviewed the CSL Pedals, I thought they were an excellent set of budget sim racing pedals.
Fanatec could discount one of these pedal sets to clear some stock and make their pedal lineup a little easier to understand.
There is also the more premium ClubSport V3 pedals that have been around for a long time. These pedals were discounted during the 2023 sale, and I’d strongly predict that they will be included again during the 2024 Fanatec Black Friday sale.
How will the CORSAIR takeover affect the Fanatec Black Friday?
If you’ve been sim racing for a while or have kept one eye on the news, you may have heard about Fanatec’s struggles over the past year. Their parent company Endor AG filed for insolvency midway through the year after failing to secure an investor.
This issue started last year but was made worse by overselling during the 2023 Black Friday event. Hopefully, this year’s sale will be set up differently from an admin perspective to avoid similar problems.
Since the insolvency filing, CORSAIR has acquired the Fanatec brand and all assets, essentially taking over from Endor AG as the new parent company for Fanatec. This is a positive step for customers and sim racers as it means Fanatec is still operating normally.
As CORSAIR has invested heavily in Fanatec as a brand, we imagine they would treat this year’s Black Friday as the perfect opportunity to continue as usual. I predict that we will see similar Fanatec Black Friday deals to previous years, and these will be helped due to the improved deliver times and customer support that has come into place since their acquisition.
Will there be Fanatec discount codes?
Fanatec has never used discount codes. They don’t offer price reductions or ways to lower the price outside of their own sale events. This means that during the Fanatec Black Friday 2024 sale, there won’t be any discount codes available.
Instead, the best way to secure the best price on any sim racing hardware that you have an eye on, would be to use a Fanatec Black Friday deal tracker such as this one, where the latest deals are added as soon as they go live.
Will Fanatec’s website go down during Black Friday?
If you’ve been a long-time sim racer or shopped the Black Friday sale during previous years, you may be aware of the Fanatec website going down during sale events. This has happened most years during the Black Friday week and weekend, with the sheer volume of traffic overloading the servers.
If you are planning on buying anything during the Fanatec 2024 Black Friday sale, I would prepare you for website technical issues. Downtime generally occurs as new deals are announced and towards the start of the sale.
If you are shopping later through the weekend, the website should be more stable, although if Fanatec runs a limited amount of stock during the sale, leaving your shopping until later during the sale may mean you miss out on the product you are looking for.
Will there be downtime during the 2024 sale?
We don’t currently know which deals Fanatec will run during this year’s sale, meaning we can’t judge how popular the discounts will be or how busy the website will become.
However, since CORSAIR purchased Fanatec, the operations and technical side of the website have been running smoothly. This could lead us to believe that there may not be as much downtime, or any downtime at all, this year if CORSAIR had put the correct measures in place.
Should you wait until Black Friday or are there currently any Fanatec deals?
Due to factors such as website downtime and limited stock, shopping for Fanatec sim racing products during the Black Friday sale can be stressful. The big question is, should you wait, or can you get a better discount already?
Fanatec isn’t known for running discounts throughout the year. However, some products are already discounted or cheaper to buy as part of a bundle.
Ready2Race discounts
These include the Ready2Race bundles, which include the CSL DD wheelbase along with a steering wheel and pedal set, creating an entirely (yes, you guessed it) ready-to-race sim racing bundle.
Buying one of these bundles doesn’t just ensure you have everything you need to start sim racing right away. It also lets you buy the products at a slightly discounted price compared to buying each item individually.
Read our complete Fanatec CSL DD McLaren Ready2Race bundle review here.
Fanatec discounts
As well as the Ready2Race bundles, there are some discounts already available on individual products. The CSL DD wheel base is the perfect example. The updated QR2 CSL DD (the one with the QR2 quick release) is available at a cheaper price than RRP.
You can grab the CSL DD QR2 (8Nm) for €449.95 / $449.95, rather than €499.95. This is already a €50 or $50 saving over the standard price.
Fanatec isn’t known for discounting its sim racing products outside of Black Friday. Historically deals and discounts are only available during big sale events.
Fanatec has always had a Black Friday sale each year. They normally start their sale the week before Black Friday itself, with last year’s sale starting the week leading up to Black Friday weekend.
Black Friday encompasses Friday through the weekend until Cyber Monday, and Fanatec normally extends its sale until then.
