Answer...sort of but not really...
I've had the Fanatec DD1 for a couple weeks now and decided to share my thoughts on it. Before I get into it though I'll talk about how I got to this point.
Starting off a few years ago, getting back into sim racing and signing up here I bought the Logitech G920 and shifter and mounted it to my old wobbly fanatec wheel stand (the folding one) it did the job and I was having fun racing online with all you cool guys. Looking to get faster (my original wheel that I didn't use much was fanatec porsche with load cell and crap plastic shifter) I wanted to get a load cell pedal again. I bought the fanatec v2.5 kit with v3 pedals and shifter, all mounted to my wobbly wheel stand. The load cell pedals made the biggest difference for my lap times, mostly for my consistency which overall still needed a lot of work. The high quality metal sequential/H-pattern shifter was a bonus for atleast the feel and not having to modify my logitech one with rubberbands to turn it into sequential mode lol. There was also slightly more precision with the v2.5 not that noticable but helped to catch or moreso recover from a slide. The extra power from the wheel meant i had to add some home made brackets to stiffen the wheel stand (but it still moved occassionally). Opportunity to move my PC to another room and set a up a permanent rig I purchased a Next Level Racing GT-Track at about $800 (christmas discounts, 8020's were well over a grand). This was another slight improvement to consistancy since everything is set up in the exact same place and has no movment.
Soooo now..... questioning all the reviews on direct drive wheels and are they that much better? I had to see for myself lol. Budget allowed the unthinkable for me... I put the order in and had to wait almost a month. Chris Hayes youtube covers direct drive wheels quite accurately imo, check out his vids on the subject.
THE DD1, Bolting it up to the chassis I updated my driver/firmware to the latest beta (better sensor resolution for DD and some added tuning features) I quickly realised I needed the Fanalab software just to have the rev/flag lights on my F1 wheel working again. I tried the software with my v2.5 but uninstalled it straight away, it seemed to induce performance issues, a newer version and with DD wheelbase seems ok now. With the DD at 45% power it felt stronger than the v2.5 at 100% (in-game gain 70 for AC/ACC), it was quite the workout for the 2hr Kyalami race at ROOZ. A definate, but minor again, upgrade to the precision allowed for slightly better reaction and instead of catching a slide, helped to avoid them. Drivers and sofware haven't been an issue for me so far, however there is this ever so slight feeling of power going to motor when turned on but can't be felt other than sitting idle with no game going. Seems to be a fixable thing as apparently wasn't there in previous drivers. SRG youtube reviews on the DD1/DD2 are good for more info on the wheelbase, software and features, I don't have any of the flex in the wheel/shaft that SRG sees. The NLR GT-Track holds up just fine with DD1, if I grab the wheel with both hands, push up & down, the deck flexes and the wheel moves about a millimetre or two, it can't be felt while driving.
TL:DR Budget allowed upgrades over the years, calculated decisions on what to purchase as I go and not specifically chasing faster lap times with hardware. Minor improvements to the gear but moreso time in seat and focus on consistancy (still a WIP lol) has helped me get faster over the years. Just to add, I'm pretty shit at set-ups and just use Bacchulum's (thank you) with sometimes a tweak or two in AC and default aggressive (sometimes a tweak or two) in ACC. A good set-up and/or better gear can help eek out a tiny bit but imo it's not much at all.