Sim Controls The cheap but good way in...with pressure based braking

Hi all,

New person here again spending lots of time googling sim racing stuff, doing this instead of working and being overenthusiastic about posting on the forums.

Question that surfaces here often I am sure: what is the cheapest way to get the best result when starting out in sim racing?

I understand you can get into it with a basic wheel and pedals but I think I want to go one step beyond the basic set-ups (like a DFGT, G29 or T150/T300), as I feel like it will be more enjoyable for me (and therefore more chance I will keep at it) if I start out with something that feels really good.

I have been doing a fair bit of research and have narrowed down options to the following three, and thought I'd share some of my thinking just in case any one else is looking also:

1. G29 + Fanatec CSL Elite pedals (inc. LC kit)
2. T300RS GT + loadcell mod (https://www.loadcellmod.com/)
3. Fanatec CSL Elite bundle inc. pedals and LC kit

The logic in my narrowing down has been based on the importance of brake pedals. From what I gather, once you have some kind of reasonable quality force feedback wheel, the next biggest difference your gear will make to your actual driving experience and ability to drive consistently would be from a pressure-based brake of some sort (hydraulic or loadcell) as opposed to a potentiometer based brake like a T3PA or the G29 ones. The reason for this is that the human brain can more accurately remember the amount of pressure applied to an object, rather than the amount of distance to move an object.

(A pressure based brake (for those who don't know, I assume most of you already do!) measures the amount of pressure your foot applies to the brake pedal and converts this into the braking value used in your sim. A potentiometer based brake pedal measures the amount of distance the brake pedal moves (actually I think rotation angle maybe) and converts this into the braking value used in your sim.

So pressure based braking should make your braking more accurate and consistent - or so the theory follows.)

Both the G29 + Fanatec CSL Elite pedals solution and the T300RS GT + loadcell mod solution will end up costing around $710 AUD as far as I can tell (I am on PC so can use USB to connect the fanatec pedals). The all Fanatec bundle would cost just over $1,000 AUD.

Wheel-wise, I believe this is how they rank:

Fanatec CSL Elite > Thrustmaster > G29

Pedal-wise, I think this is how it stacks up:

Fanatec CSL Elite > T3PA with loadcell mod

So G29 would be compromising on wheel with best pedals. The Thrustmaster would be middle option for wheel from these choices with probably decent pedals once loadcell mod has been applied - may require fiddling about.
Fanatec would be best wheel, best pedals.

Anyone find any problems with my thinking here? Have I got the right end of the stick?

After all this, the question I am still left with as I have no experience using any of these systems is: which option is best bang for buck? Should I just stop messing around and go for the Fanatec? Once I'm up to the $700 mark it almost seems like I should just bite the bullet. But $300 is a fair amount of beer money...

Yikes yes I think you may be right. In for a penny...