Have you been eyeing up that big new order from Fanatec to upgrade your sim rig, but steep shipping costs have you second-guessing your hobby choices? Good news for you, the brand has now permanently introduced free shipping. Albeit not without a catch.
As of 6 February, free shipping has become the default option for the vast majority of markets in which Fanatec sells hardware through its own website. Those include the EU, the US and, handily for us post-Brexit, the UK too.
It follows a brief promotion before Christmas 2024 with free shipping, which clearly had enough interest for the now Corsair-owned brand to make the move a permanent one.
Fanatec Clubsport GT Cockpit, single screen
That isn’t without a quite punchy catch though. Although Fanatec has made a big song and dance about moving to free shipping as standard, it’s also increased the prices of many of its existing products.
Most of those are steering wheels, although those can be attributed to the standard inclusion of the upgraded QR2 system, which is now a default option rather than a costly extra.
It varies from wheel to wheel, but increases seem to hover around €40 (about £33) for those in Europe. Fanatec did communicate this plan before the New Year, so it doesn’t come as a surprise.
Fanatec GT DD Extreme
It’s not just wheels that have increased, though. As pointed out by commenters in the r/Fanatec subreddit, there have been a few other surprise changes. For example, a GT DD Extrem bundle in the US has increased by $100 (despite remaining at €1,299.95 through the European store) while its universal button cap and sticker set has more than doubled in price.
Granted, for those of us in the UK at least, free shipping alone is generally going to be worth the tradeoff. For context, shipping a set of CSL Elite V2 pedals cost me £20 just a couple of months ago, with the set itself remaining the same price since then.
