Thrustmaster T500 RS Review

For an awful long time – a long, long time in actual fact – Logitech and Gran Turismo have been joined at the hip like rubber and asphalt, like carbon fibre and fender flares, like driver's privates and their Nomex underpants. But enough of these comparisons. The two were tight except with GT5 there came a changing of the guard. And with a company world-renowned for its high-end flight controls, its giggle-inducing name, Thrustmaster, well, they stepped in and purchased the license. And the purpose? Well, it was to release the decidedly high-end T500 RS wheel, the controller designed to abolish memories of all the plastic-like racing controllers which we have had before from the company. So the question is: does it succeed? Is it worth the pucker-inducing price of £460? These questions and more are answered below.

Well, firstly, you're dealing with a serious piece of kit, and you don't even have to take the T500 RS wheel or pedal set out of the box to know what you're dealing with. In fact, the weight stamped on the side, 18kg or 40lbs should be required by law to be issued with a warning regarding lifting with your knees. So those with weak lower backs stand advised!

On the PC you'll need drivers as well and, thankfully, compatibility is more or less assured with everything from there on out.

Indeed, this is a wheel that's better held in place with bolts and for this purpose, there are threaded holds in the bottom. It comes so huge, in fact, that it's hard to fit on your average computer desk without shifting some monitors and sufficiently unwieldy to render mounting and dismounting something of a chore. Not a wheel for sometimes simmers. Once it's plugged in and connected you'll find it sweeps through its full range of motion to self-calibrate, 1,080 degrees. That's 180 more than most other wheels on the market and, to be honest, 180 more than are seemingly needed. It's rare in fact that racing games even make proper use of 900 degrees at this point – the polygonal hands on the wheel in GT5 can't even shuffle-steer.

GT5 quite naturally operates well with the wheel. It offers you a picture to help you assign controls to the buttons that are scattered throughout the wheel stalks and base. You'll discover every button on a PS3 controller present and correct, except you'll have to go on a veritable hunt to seek them. You'll need to take a hand off the wheel too because almost all are well out of thumb reach. And yes, we would agree, taking your hands off the wheel whilst driving does not come as a good idea.

But the feel is fantastic and, coupled with a 16-bit resolution, responsiveness is high as well. The wheel utilizes a hall-effect sensor to detect position magnetically, and this should mean that precision will be maintained through the life of the wheel. As far as the pedals are concerned, however, well, they use rather more traditional potentiometers. They do pale by comparison to the Fanatec Clubsport pedals although they offer a good feel. It must be admitted that Thrustmaster's floor jewelry is bigger, heavier, and more customizable too, but in fact all that weight just feels excessive. There's not really a great deal of difference as far as experience is concerned although you can flip 'em upside down to replicate the layout of a formula or GT car. And also, given the length of time it takes to unscrew the base plate and move everything about, it's certainly not worth it if you'll be frequently jumping from one type of car to another.

Finally, it must be stated, that the brake pedal here is not a load cell. It really is just a potentiometer with a bunch of adjustable springs. It offers a better feel than that in the middle stomper on the Logitech G27, but again doesn't compare to Clubsports.

And then come the fixed shift paddles on the wheel that some of you will deal with and others will simply hate. Up and downshifting can be a bit interesting while tuning because they don't rotate as you turn the wheel plus the fact that their static position means they need to be very large that renders it even more difficult to get your fingers behind. Their chrome finish looks and feels nice yet it's more sticky than the matte paddles on most other wheels, grabbing your fingers a bit every time that you shift, and so thus creating a non-conducive environment for shifting while counter-steering. However, it must be said, that the paddles' feel is quite good as far as the actual rite of shifting is concerned. There's a surprisingly long throw here yet a very positive clicky engagement which means that accidental shifting would remain unlikely.

It's awfully difficult to recommend this wheel and pedal combination coming in at £460. Although the wheel itself has a magnificent feel which is beginning to knock on the door of much more expensive offerings like a Frex or ECCI, with the number of inputs making the management of button-happy cars that much easier, those buttons are hard to find when driving, plus the fact that the rubber coating feels unfortunately low-rent. And there's the massive size of the thing too which makes it best suited for semi-permanent installations and the limited PS3 compatibility is, for the moment at least, something of a disappointment.

In the interim the pedals are overkill yet underwhelming. They're adorned with rubber feet which kept falling off, and they're heavy too, which means they won't go anywhere, quite apart from the fact all that weight feels excessive and unnecessary. It's not exactly what you'd come to expect for £460. Ultimately either the Logitech G27 or the Fanatec line of wheels offer nearly as good a performance at a much more palatable cost – and with designs less likely to give you a hernia when hauling about the house.

And combined with OpenWheeler's single seater racing simulator you'll gain maximum driving satisfaction from your racing games whilst providing you with optimal body comfort with rail sliding and a reclining racing seat which offers the best driving position!

OpenWheeler is a desirable and reasonably priced driving simulator and works with all kinds of steering wheels. Its chassis is made of the strongest materials any racing simulator will ever need, offering great stability and comfort for persons of any size.

In fact, OpenWheeler will help you get the most out of your daily racing car game experiences in its definition of a dedicated racing game simulator – suitable for all PlayStation/Xbox car driving game enthusiasts!