Fanatec zone

The fanatec CSL is fanatec's budget seat. The CSL used to be known as the rinoseat GTR until fanatec struck up a partnership with rinoseat for the seat to be sold under the fanatec brand.

The packaging the box came in was nice and protected the frame well with all the parts being well rapped in plastic and the Foam seat cushion giving additional protection. 

The instructions for assembly were relatively basic with pictures showing you what to do. All of the parts are labelled making it easy to see which parts go where although I found that a couple of the stickers had fell off. That wasn't a real issue as it was obvious which part was which on the parts with no stickers as they were very different parts ( one was a tube the other was a bag of screws).

Assembling the seat took around 4 hours including the time it took to adjust it which added a good 1 hour I'd say. The frame is a tubular design which means everything slots into place and then you inset screws through the tubing to lock it into place. The tubing doesn't always easily fit into place and some force is necessary to fit certain parts in properly. I don't see the time taken to assemble as a big issue as once its done there isn't really any need to do it again!

The frame is highly adjustable although adjusting it can take some time. For example to move the wheel further away from the seat you need to unscrew 6 screws then of course put the screws back in once you've moved it. I can take a while getting the tubes to all fit back into a position to allow the screws to tighten properly hence the time taken. 

The angle the wheel is at can also be adjusted on the frame by simply screwing and unscrewing and moving the wheel holder around. The pedal angle is also adjustable again by screwing and moving certain parts. 

I would say that people shouldn't be put off it just because it takes time to adjust as unless you are going to have many people using it there is only really a need to adjust it to your own liking, once you've done that you shouldn't have to adjust it again.

The seat i would say can be adjusted to a size appropriate for children of 10 and above and can accommodate people of many sizes. 

The seat itself is also made from a frame of 5 parts. This helps towards keeping the size and weight of the box down. You assemble the tubing then add a sponge cushion then the black cover goes over the tubing and cushion to make it look like a bucket seat.

The seat feels pretty comfortable with there being lots of support for the shoulder areas in particular. The seat is also adjustable simply on a rail so that takes a lot less time than moving the other parts.

Strength

The frame is nice and strong and I noticed no flex whilst using it with the Fanatec CSR Elite and CSR pedals. I did have to regularly tighten the screws though around once a week to keep this rigidity.

The seat looks great and I would guess many people would be proud to have it as there rig. The black and grey seat with the all black frame does give a nice racer feel to it and the seating position and the seat itself looks like one you'd find in a touring car.

The seat is compatible with all fanatec wheels and pedal sets as well as the Thrustmaster T500 and the Logitech g27. The Logitech DFGT however sadly isn't compatible which is a shame for a lot of people.

At £300 the seat is neither cheap or expensive and represents reasonable value for money. With it you get the Shifter holder which for a lot of mid range rigs is an optional extra. The seat does have a premium feel to it once assembled and I would speculate most people wouldn't be able to tell the difference between this and a £500 rig on initial inspection.

Overall I feel this rig is a great purchase for people getting onto the sim racing ladder. It offers good adjustability and also good comfort at the same time not effecting the looks of the seat.