The T500 RS from Thrustmaster has been a hot topic many racing sim forums for the last couple of months. Released earlier this year this high end wheel sets out to give the sim enthusiast the most realistic force feedback wheel for PS3 and PCs, without spending thousands of dollars.

 

 

Make no mistake though, the T500 is not a bargain bin product, priced between $500-600 this product should only be on the shopping list of the most dedicated of PC and PS3 gamers. If you only play racing games occasionally this wheel is too big of an investment, if you’re into arcade racers, you’re better off with a gamepad. The Thrustmaster T500 is all about precision and immersion, something which you get when you use the wheel with the appropriate software titles.

We got a chance to test the T500 for a few weeks and tried it out on PC and PS3. On PS3 the only title currently supporting this wheel is Gran Turismo 5, while on PC the wheel can be used for almost any game title that has wheel controller support.

After flashing the latest firmware (done on the PC) we connected the T500 to a PS3 and tried out a series of cars and tracks in GT5. Previously experienced through a Logitech Driving Force Pro the new wheel was quite a step up. The T500 has no gears and is belt driven, combine this with a very strong force feedback engine and you’re near to “real car” wheel behavior. The software is where it is at, GT5 delivers with some very subtle effects as well as strong FFB when you screw up on the track.

 

 

 
The T500 is a step up from all the mainstream steering wheels in more than one way, it’s physically bigger than the competition (wheel diameter is 30cm, same as Fanatec, but the base is huge!) comes with the largest turning circle yet (1080°) and has the strongest FFB motor running the effects. When connected to a desk you can easily let the wheel tremble the whole desk, monitors and printers inclusive when you hold on to it through rough corners and terrain.

 

 

 

The wheel’s large diameter is a perfect match for the large collection of road cars available in PS3’s GT5 racing title, the turning circle is not adjustable in-game but does change when choosing different vehicles. You don’t get this limitation on the PC though, where you can set the lock from anywhere between 40° and 1080°.

GT5 is a “light-weight” racing sim, you can play it with a gamepad, but you need a steering wheel to get the most out of it, and while it doesn’t feature a highly advanced physics model, GT5 does a good job of striking a balance between “simulation” and “game”, allowing a bit of leeway here and there to allow you to have fun without resorting to arcade “sticking to the track” tactics. Moreover you can enable driving assists if you’re starting out with sim racing.

Overall it’s safe to say there’s no better wheel for GT5 than the Thrustmaster T500, this doesn’t mean it’s the only wheel, but if you want the best, this is it.

 

Connecting the T500 to the PC opens up a whole new level of immersion, with plenty of software titles to experiment and play around with. We started out with www.liveforspeed.net which might be getting old (latest release dates back from November 2009) but still offers a high quality racing experience at a very affordable price (~€30). The game features a majority of fantasy tracks and cars (yes some are based on real cars), with a variety of BHP and RWD/FWD/AWD options; after setting the steering lock to 720° in the T500 control panel and matching this setting in the LFS settings we set to the track.

 

If GT5 was impressive on the PS3, LFS on PC was definitely an improvement, you feel every little track alleviation and pothole, driving on the limit through corners, feeling through the wheel when the car is about the spin. LFS features a few real cars, one of them a F1 car with some serious power, the steering lock was reduced to 250° and we took the car for a spin, with the reduced steering action it has to be said that the forces were less pronounced, still very exhilarating but a bit muted compared the "normal" cars and how they felt on the road.

 

 

Set Spring to 10-15% and Damper to 0% for the best experience. Leave Auto-Center Settings on "By the game"

From this tab you can change rotation lock, test buttons as well as check for any software and/or firmware upgrades!

 

 

 

Next on PC we tried a golden oldie, Richard Burns Rally, yes it’s 7 years old, but still features one the best rally physics engines and is unplayable without a wheel, with a wheel it is still a huge challenge to successfully drive a rally car fast over tight winding roads, as it should be. It’s definitely the most challenging game of the lot, there’s almost no room for error and the faster you drive, the harder it gets. The T500 FFB engine has a ball with the game, violent trembles, shakes and it tries to rip the wheel from your grip as you speed around gravel tracks and through snow banks. Trying this same game with the Logitech DFP the game was less trilling and you were fighting the gears in the wheel more than playing the game, with the T500 the game hardly becomes a walk in the park, but you don’t get the sensation you are fighting the wheel, rather the car and the harsh road conditions in the game.

Richard Burns Rally may not look very nice 7 years since release, but still offers hundreds of hours of true rally sim racing. The in-game rally driving school is definitely a required for beginners.

 

 

The last game we tried with the T500 is without a doubt the most expensive one of the bunch and is only for the die-hard PC sim racing fan. www.iracing.com charges you a monthly fee to be able to play, there is no “off-line” mode, so if you stop paying you also stop playing. For $12 you get play 1 month with 9 tracks and 5 cars. If you want to be able to drive all cars on all available tracks, be ready to pony up $720! Before launching the game make sure the wheel is connected, this game doesn’t work without a steering wheel (or gamepad) installed on your PC. Once in the game you are guided through steering wheel calibration, than you can set keys and buttons, calculate the best field-of-view and then you are ready to take your car for a test-ride on the track.

Is this game worth $720 + $12/month? If you spend hours a week playing the game, we’re sure you can find a way to justify the cost. You’re also not obliged to buy all the tracks and cars to get started, when you progress and open up more events you are eligible for you’ll need to spend $15 here and $12 there to get the required car and track. With thousands of players financially contributing to the dev team behind iRacing you’ll see regular updates, new tracks and cars. They provide laser scanned real world tracks to discover with a real cars, using one of the most advanced commercially available driving simulations;

 

The immersion and feel on the track is a definite step forward from LFS, and it’s a whole difference experience compared to GT5. Even if you’re good in GT5, you might need to relearn a lot when going to iRacing, as more information is fed from the game to the steering wheel you really appreciate the fine control the T500 offers.

When you open the box of the T500 you also find something else next to the imposing steering wheel: a full metal construction with accelerator, brake and clutch pedal. If there’s one thing that makes a difference between an entry level wheel and higher-end kit, it’s the pedals included. The Logitech DFP comes with plastic accelerator and brake, with little to no resistance on the brake pedal. This translates into your virtual wheels locking up sooner rather than later when playing racing games; in GT5 you can get around this problem “a bit” by enabling ABS; but it doesn’t resolve the source of the problem, of course.

 

Luckily the people of Thrustmaster did not neglect this aspect and they included a quality pedal construction which allows you to install them in two positions, pivoting from the bottom (F1 style) like you see with most kits, or pivoting from the top (Rally style) as you see in most real street cars. We tested the pedals in their F1 style setup and came away very impressed; while the brake doesn’t feature a load cell like the $250 Fanatec ClubSport set, it does come with an extra spring and rubber block to further increase the resistance on the brake pedal, coming from a cheap DFP pedal set the default brake strength is more than sufficient, once you bolted the steering wheel and pedals in your virtual cockpit you might want to experiment with different pedal locations and brake strength.

Thrustmaster put a high price tag on the T500, looking at the features and overall build quality and expected sales numbers, we don’t think they could make it cheaper without reducing the quality of some of the components; we did read reports of people having issues with the screws that hold down the pedals when you start moving them around, some wheels had “noise” issues with the installed fan becoming too noisy. In all cases we’ve seen Thrustmaster was quick to follow-up and offer product swaps and solutions to the end-users. So far their support track record is off to an excellent start.

 

Integration and installation is one of the strong suites of the T500, at the bottom of the wheel you have two mounting holes to bolster it to your cockpit, or you can use the included clamp system which is pretty solid and makes installation/uninstallation possible in less than 5 minutes. We mounted the T500 on a desk as well as a Wheel Stand Pro, while the wheel and strong FFB can make the whole desk tremble, the clamp didn’t budge.  Coming to the installation of the pedals, they can be bolted down, but their weight is sufficient to hold them into place. Customization has been taken into account for the T500, you can swap out the pedals with any aftermarket ones, and even change the steering wheel with another model!

Source Left - Right

 

Something we haven’t mentioned yet is gear shifter, not much to say here since there isn’t one. Thrusmaster is saying they will release one separate “later this year”.

In the meantime you’ll have to make do with the two shifter pedals on the wheel, which don’t turn around with wheel, a first for a commercial product like this, and if you come from another wheel which did feature shifter pedals that turned with the wheel, it will take some time getting used to. The first few hours you’ll be accidentally upshifting when you want to downshift and vice versa. But after a while you get used to it, and they are big enough to be accessible from almost any position.

No matter how many pages we fill with paragraphs about how a $500-600 steering wheel feels we can only tell you so much, so below you’ll find some shots of the wheel in action…

 

 

And now we say, no matter how many minutes we fill with action shots of this wheel, they can only tell you so much, as you have to feel it to believe it. If you get a chance to test this wheel at a friend’s house, exhibition hall, local shop, please do.

If it doesn’t convince you to spend that much money on a PC/PS3 wheel, it should convince you that sim driving with a force feedback wheel is as close as you get to driving some exotic cars at ridiculous speeds without the risk and costs. Thrustmaster is making a great showing with their latest product and we can’t wait to find out how the H-shifter they plan to release later this year will change/increase the immersion.

 

We can safely recommend this steering wheel for any PC racing sim enthusiast who has the required funds, if you’re a console gamer, the limited single-title appeal (GT5) with a “maybe” for future support on newer titles and none for older titles makes it a harder case; you will get more out of a Fanatec of Logitech wheel on the PS3 if you want to play more games than just GT5.

 

 

Thrustmaster T500 RS Force Feedback Wheel with Pedals Recommended For

 

+ 1080° rotation
+ on PC infinity adjustable
+ very solid pedal set, brake in default config good, with extra strength bit, even better
+ pedals can be installed in F1 and in rally style!
+ little to no gear/belt noise when turning the wheel;
+ very strong FFB, excellent PC drivers, works with all titles
+ on PS3 is very good match to GT5, if not the best.

- wheel rotation not adjustable on PS3
- noisy cooling fan
- steep price for package that's missing a shift-stick

We like to thank Elke from Global Image and Thrustmaster for allowing us to test-drive (literally! :-) ) this awesome product.