Thrustmaster T500 RS preview

lunarwolf · 20 Jan 2011 at 17:50

whoohoo. got it this morning.

here my noob impressions

excellent, makes my life a lot easier compared to controller. easy for throttle control, braking and smoother steering.

overall very happy. i set the ffb to 1, default 5 was way too violent for my liking. wheel literally snaps back to center when i restart a race. i can feel the car now, when it has traction or the rears are starting to lose grip.

- construction is very good, metals and plastics are solid. the wheel been on all day and not even that warm, so cooling must be pretty good. if you turn the sound off you can hear the fan(s), but when you play i don't even notice it

- ease of use - well it's just plug and play. i did remap a couple of the buttons to suit me better (ie windshield wipers etc...) i wish i could remap clutch pedal to be reverse, using the triangle button is far from ideal, either that or downshift from 1st to R

- clamp - very good, stable and doesn't move. i don't think i need to bother drilling holes in the gamepod.

- pedals - very happy and using the inverted set up. i tried the brake mod at first, but thought it was too heavy/stiff for my liking - am happy with the default brake feeling - that said if i could be swayed by a perfect pedal type mod, as long as price is not ridiculous. also i may use the included brake mod for the clutch when the shifter becomes available later this summer. also they are very stable and i haven't even hard mounted them on the gamepod.

- steering wheel is solid and i love the paddles. no prob for me, i like that they are fixed. wheel dimensions are good and i like how they feel when holding it. rubber grip is better than expected, but still i would have prefered real leather like the G27

. it is detacheable, so i hope thrustamster make add-on wheels as options - i would love a ferrari wheel in leather

i haven't found a way to reduce the 1080 rotation, bit too much if you ask me, esp with some really fast cars on tight cornered street races. i guess good for drifters, but i am dreadful at that

havent tried with any other game than GT5 or on PC. drivers for PC should be out by end of jan. hopefully will be same for EA and codemaster games

overall am very pleased with it so far (except for lack of leather on steering wheel), definetly helped me be better at Gt5 in short time i have used (not surprising really after ps3 controllers) - I can't compare it to g27 or fanatec since i don't have those, but i can tell you it's miles better than the MS wheel in Forza

just my 2cents

JoeBoi · 20 Jan 2011 at 18:11

Lunar when you have some spare time, and of course if you don't mind could you take a photo or two of your whole set up please?

I also own a GT2 so I wanna see how the pedals are and the size of the wheel ect...

I may still wait for the GT2 as it's what I've wanted the fact that I can play 360 & PS3, the thing that puts me off the T500 RS is the shifter not being available at the moment the real reason I started looking into upgrading from my Microsoft wheel was because I wanted a shifter. I've not been into this whole simracing stuff long and it was Mr Latte's review that got me intrigued.

I'm sure GamePOD will come up with something when the T500 shifter finally arrives, however at the moment I get the feeling that if it's anything like the new side shifter holders being released at the end of this month, it's gonna add £100 onto the rig...

Been let down by Fanatec big time for delaying the GT2 for silly reasons, I'm dying to play GT5! (It's just not the same with the controller).

lunarwolf · 20 Jan 2011 at 21:50

DAIR · 20 Jan 2011 at 21:51

Hott!!!1

J1nxy · 20 Jan 2011 at 22:16

How are you getting on with the pedals in that orientation as they look like they're at quite a steep angle from the picture.

lunarwolf · 20 Jan 2011 at 22:24

J1nxy said:
How are you getting on with the pedals in that orientation as they look like they're at quite a steep angle from the picture.

they are fine, probably not as good a clubsports i guess. but what you don't know doesn't hurt you. anyway if a perfect pedal mod (ie hydraulic) comes then i think that would rock

as for angle, you can adjust angle to make them flater if you want, i went for steepest angle though. in all there are 3 possible angles you can choose

J1nxy · 20 Jan 2011 at 22:25

lunarwolf said:
they are fine, probably not as good a clubsports i reckon. but what you don't know doesn't hurt you.

as for angle, you can adjust angle to make them flater if you want, i went for steeper angle though. in all there are 3 possible angles you can choose

Ah, didn't realise they were adjustable to that degree, Have you tried them in the other orientation?

lunarwolf · 20 Jan 2011 at 22:32

J1nxy said:
Ah, didn't realise they were adjustable to that degree, Have you tried them in the other orientation?

in F1 position you mean? that is how i started, but i prefer the inverted position

you can adjust about 25-30 degrees, although i don't have an angle measure so just my best guess

J1nxy · 20 Jan 2011 at 22:34

yeah thats what I meant so floor hinged.

Mr Latte · 23 Jan 2011 at 14:43

JoeBoi said:
I've not been into this whole simracing stuff long and it was Mr Latte's review that got me intrigued.

I'm sure GamePOD will come up with something when the T500 shifter finally arrives, however at the moment I get the feeling that if it's anything like the new side shifter holders being released at the end of this month, it's gonna add £100 onto the rig...

Been let down by Fanatec big time for delaying the GT2 for silly reasons, I'm dying to play GT5! (It's just not the same with the controller).

As you know I no longer pay much attention to these forums but have this wheel ordered from OcUK since available for pre order. I will do my own review/pictorial when it arrives comparing to other wheels etc. In no real rush but will ensure the review/pictorial is done well. Will also look into trying to get the T500 pedals working with the Fanatec wheels. People like yourself are torn in which wheel to get but it would be good if T500 could be purchased and then a GT2 wheel only was needed for X360 and adapted to work with the T500 pedals.

Gamepod seem to be using the new "Buttkicker Seat Mount" as the main platform for attaching new shifters, keyboard mounts etc. Ash has already confirmed that they will support the T500 which is excellent so it seems a great cockpit for upcoming options. I actually have one of these seat mounts ordered myself to attach my "Sebring Pro" seat for my d.i.y cockpit. Its ideal for me as the metal base of the seat will be good for upcoming shifter etc and its sturdiness. Being the nutter I am my own seat will incorporte 4x seperate Tactile/Buttkicker units so I needed a really good seat base solution. These units will be working in conjunction with seperate audio channels offering surround tactile effects in realtime with the surround sound, it's brill in racing games.

LFE / Seat base (BKA 300)
Left & Right / Seat sides (2x BK Mini LFE)
Surround / Seat Back (Clarke Tactile T209)

Shimmyhill · 23 Jan 2011 at 16:31

Looking forward to the review and pics Mr Latte!

Lunar, looks gook - i have just ordered a WSP as there is no way the wife would let a playseat into the living room, i'm very jealous! Do you have access to any other wheel or someone with one, i would be really interested in the FF on the Thrustmaster as lots of people are saying that PD have knobled it in game for other wheels - a comparison would be good if possible!

Mr Latte · 23 Jan 2011 at 16:48

Shimmy I wouldnt be confident a WSP will support the FFB of one of these wheels.
WSP is good but has little weight. Maybe somebody has said they are okay when hard mounted but Id be dubious having owned the G25 version in the past.

I do have a Fanatec wheelstand still which I can see how/if it attaches to the T500 during the review.
It has a much heavier constuction and might just be okay with the T500. Will of course need drilled for it or a plate added to support the wider hard mount holes.

Shimmyhill · 23 Jan 2011 at 17:41

I did a fair bit of research and lots of people use teh WSP with fanatec and there is a G27 version that has a wider plate and apparently the GT2 bolts straight onto it - i will be bolting it on even if i need to drill new holes. I also have see a couple of mods for the older WSP to add some weight so am prepared to do this if needed.

I was looking at the Rennsport but they suddenly put the date back to April and i cant wait that long, i may order one anyway and sell on the WSP if the Rennsport is significantly better.

If i went down the T500 route then i would be looking at something different as the FFB is probably too much for the folding stands so look forward to your review!

lunarwolf · 25 Jan 2011 at 09:31

they said before end jand and bingo, PC drivers are out

i don't play iracing, but guys that do have said 10/10 for FFB

bigjimmyauk · 25 Jan 2011 at 10:35

Keep seeing people banging on about how strong the FFB is. I really can't see anyone using the strongest FFB setting on this wheel even on the DFGT which i own after half hour on iracing or gt5 and my hands and wrists are killing it's not enjoyable having the wheel wrenched from your hands.

worst car for this in any game for me at the minute is the X2010 in gt5 FFB 10 and 20 laps of laguna seca and your gonna be hurting bad.

I would love to try one and see how smooth it is, as it obviously don't suffer from centre/straight line wobble like nearly all the other wheels out there.

I'm gonna wait for the inside sim racing and user reviews before making my mind up about it,

lunarwolf · 25 Jan 2011 at 11:00

totally agree with setting FFB too strong, why i have reduced mine. what is nice is that you feel what the car is doing with ffb most importantly, not to rip your arms off

i think SRT are doing the GT2 review first, then they will do the T500RS, so probably not before feb. if you are in no hurry, then it can't hurt to wait since you will have better info

Mr Latte · 6 Feb 2011 at 23:50

ANY CHANCE someone from Overclockers UK can update the situatioin regards when stock of these are due?

Darn Thrustmaster, grrrrr as I have had a pre-order since December.

lunarwolf · 9 Feb 2011 at 02:13

Mr Latte said:
ANY CHANCE someone from Overclockers UK can update the situatioin regards when stock of these are due?

Darn Thrustmaster, grrrrr as I have had a pre-order since December.

could be a while, think they wre all sold fairly quick - one of the big online retailers is getting new batch March 4th, maybe that gives you some indication of when OCUK will get theirs

lunarwolf · 3 Mar 2011 at 13:43

Inside Sim review finally

PS Mr. Latte did you get yours finally? if so how do you like it?

Mr Latte · 9 Mar 2011 at 17:57

lunarwolf said:
Inside Sim review finally

PS Mr. Latte did you get yours finally? if so how do you like it?

Yes I got it over a week ago and its working a treat.
V2 version.

Havnt posted much comments about it yet.
It is easily a good upgrade over Fanatec and Logitec products even just with GT5. The sheer smoothness and precision yet weighty solid feeling it has is fantastic. Their is a great response from the wheel and the rubber is much better than I thought it would be.

FFB is the way I like it with GT5 set to 10 so far.
This wheel changes the game, great product and to think a few years ago I had a MS Wheel, lol.
It is a lot of money for a peripheral, no question about that however it is worth the money.

I upgraded mine though....