Thrustmaster TS-PC review (some sort of)

[Boby Kim]

In front of me: the Thustmaster TS-PC wheel. Regarding photo's and videos, please check the World Wide Web as there are enough material on these matters.

History:

My first racing wheel was the Thrustmaster Force feedback Racing wheel. After getting sucked into racing i decided to switch to the Logitech G27 with those hefty looking pedals and the fancy H Shifter. Throughout the years it served me well. The problem: the helical gear noises during kerb riding. So i switched over to the T500.
Using the T500 for a year, during a race suddenly i saw smoke coming out of the base. In-mediately i ripped all cables and had my fire extinguisher ready. I sent the T500 to TM and received a completely new base. I used this new base for about two years and now its falling apart in two categories:
First: during races there a sudden complete power loss
Second (which has nothing to do with the first one), during a close inside inspection i saw hefty cracks on the belt...)

Time for a new wheel and here it is...the TS-PC

Okay, lets get the most obvious question out of the way: "How is it?"
The answer: "I think its great".

Base:

The base is cable free. At the back there are several input connections:
- power
- USB Cable
- a TM shifter
- pedals input (Only TM based pedals with that telephony thingy at the end)

Next i noticed the outside build quality: the bottom and top are made out of metal. The side and front out of plastic.
At the back there is a tiny fan. When the wheel is plugged in and i just make a small steer input the fan starts blowing. It is not quiet, neither loud. There is a pretty air flow at the back when i put my hand in front of the fan. It seems there is enough airflow being sucked through the base sides (which are covered with metal mesh) through the internals and out to the back.

**EDIT**
Just finished an hour race with AMS. The TM FFB setting was at 80%.
The fan blew for about five minutes after the race. Which is a massive improvement over the T500 which cooled for nearly twenty minutes. The air itself never went warm during the race. To me that is a very good sign. Seems that TM did a good job concerning the cooling of the parts.

Wheel:

Its an open steering wheel. The grip is made out of alcantara (or at least some sort of) and is thicker the TM 28 leather wheel i used previously. But....some hippie at TM decided to overload it with terrible play mobile colours
**EDIT** around the buttons are stickers placed. Those stickers have the fancy colours, which you can remove by simply pull the stickers from the wheel. What is left are the coloured numbers on the buttons.

Talking about wheels and their weight:
Standard TM T500 wheel: 1010 grams
The TM 28 leather wheel: 1051 grams
The open TS-PC wheel: 884 grams
(all weighted by a Tefal kitchen thingy which can be off a few grams. Please do not kill me for that)

Power supply:

Next there is a heavy power supply in the shape of...a turbo. Maybe the round model has some advantage in delivering power but in short: its ugly as hell. Luckily its stuffed away behind my seat. Its quit heavy and it will do the job i guess
There is a downside on the power supply: it comes with a very short power cable (the cable that you stick into the power supply and the wall power outlet). It only reaches half a meter. I used the power cable from my T500 (got dozens of them). I guess that will not have a negative influence but then again...im just a PC user, not a technical hardcore nerd (wel...a bit)

Pedals:

Well...there are none! Im still using the T500 pedals, stick the telephone thingy into the back of the base and they work.

FFB:

Okay, you managed to struggle through my bad grammar text and finally you arrived the the hardcore subject: HOW IS THE FFB?
To answer that, let go back to the history: I noticed a huge step going from the G27 to the T500. I dare to say that i feel the same step going up from the T500 to the TS-PC.
I tested the wheel with:
- AMS: Porsche - Ftruck - Super V8 - Mini
- AC: GT3 cars
- rF2: Endurance mod
- R3E: Well...i skipped as i had to retune the FFB which i didn't like to do.

I used all T500 settings to have the best comparison.
It feels more direct...say what?. Well, now you come across the language barrier. I cant explain in english the difference in FFB feeling as FFB is all emotion
The FFB is more present. There is more feedback regarding FFB...thingies like kerbs, track bumps, slipangle. BUT(!) this is HIGHLY subjective! It depends on too many factors to be objective. Things like: the game itself, ingame FFB settings, TM FFB settings and your own personal FFB feel.

Price:

I bought the wheel for 550 euros. No pedals, just a base and a wheel. So i guess TM redesigned the internals to higher quality. The wheel comes with two years of manufacturer warranty which is very nice!

To buy or not to buy...

For me this is a nice upgrade from the T500. However, i had some nasty issues with the T500. The text above is all based on a few hours of testing. I cant say anything about on how the wheel will behave on long term. But i have the two years warranty so at least im safe the coming two years. Check the warranty in your country as it may be different than in the Netherlands.

Bee out.

 

[maxipolo]

thanks for the post

my next will be this one (but only the base if its possible) or the csl - I'm not sure yet

 

[Boby Kim]

thanks for the post

my next will be this one (but only the base if its possible) or the csl - I'm not sure yet

Normally i would have waited say half a year or so to see how the base would stand during time before buying it. But as my T500 crippled and i needed my racing fix, i jumped onto it.
I will update this thread as time passes. And i wont spare the wheel at all during my races.

 

[Rodent]

Cheers Boby, should my t300 die on me again I might just invest in a TS-PC rim, the rim doesn't look like it offers much in the way of features over the old F1 rim so I'd probably give that one a miss. Though great to hear you can remove those horrible stickers.

 

[cr4wl3r0]

Owner of a brand new TS-PC Racer here
Regarding the TS-PC open rim I can say that - if you drive lms/f1/gt3 cars - it is as functional as the alcantara 599xx one, and much less toysh than the honest old (and glorious) thrustmaster f1 rim,
I am not too worried about the coloured labels (something similar exists irl).

 

[Rodent]

Colors are terrible, but the F1 rim offers alot more functionality than the 599xx wheel, the TS-PC wheel doesn't seem to offer the advantage of the F1 rim, nor the looks of the 599xx.

 

[Pär Öqvist]

Just get a vr headset. Always get the correct look then its all about the grip. One thing that is better with the old rim is the rotaries is on the side rather then in front.

 

[cr4wl3r0]

Colors are terrible, but the F1 rim offers alot more functionality than the 599xx wheel, the TS-PC wheel doesn't seem to offer the advantage of the F1 rim, nor the looks of the 599xx.

I have operated the 599xx for quite a year and, especially for its slightly larger size compared to standard gte t300 wheel, it is effective and quite beautiful
Now I operate the Ts-Pc racer open rim and IMHO (apart from subjective aestethic aspects) there is no reason to re-attach my 599xx
In case of drif/rally stages both above rims are not the perfect solution....

about f1 rim, IMHO, no time to push such big number of keys during race :-D

 

[Boby Kim]

I did a two hour race with rF2 @ Sebring with the Corvette GT3. TM setting was at 80% force. During the whole two hours i felt no loss of FFB. I can assure you that after about one and a half hour i wasn't sharp any more and my shoulder started to ache again but still, i did not feel any loss. After the two hour race (in which i really gave everything i had including hefty oversteer corrections) the air being blowed out of the back never went warm. Directly after the race the fan blew for another five minutes and it stopped.
So far im very happy with this new wheel.

 

[Mick Aspinall]

Hi Boby, I am thinking of upgrading from a T500 to the Ts-Pc and was wondering if when mounted the wheel center is the same height as the T500. I currently use a Obutto R3volution and find the height of the wheel is correct for me if set just over its minimum level so I have very little scope to lower the base.

 

[Boby Kim]

Hi Boby, I am thinking of upgrading from a T500 to the Ts-Pc and was wondering if when mounted the wheel center is the same height as the T500. I currently use a Obutto R3volution and find the height of the wheel is correct for me if set just over its minimum level so I have very little scope to lower the base.

I would not dare to say if it matches the exact position. After the swap my guess is that its close together. I recommend downloading the PDF's from TM support site so u can compare both wheels.

 

[mBardos76]

Excellent review, I just bought one myself, upgrading from a TM TX Leather Edition. I have 2 additional things to mention:
1. The metal sides of my wheel were a bit sharp, I managed to cut my finger in a counter steer situation. Removed the button box and used my gf's nail file to smooth the edges a bit, seems better now.
2. Compared to the TX base, the FFB details make the difference: there seem to be effects I haven't felt with the TX, the common ones I feel much clearer. The one effect that made it worth buying it (for me) is the force felt in the wheel when you loose the grip: with the TX I could feel a slight decrease in power, but usually it was not enough to trigger my reaction. Then I reacted to the visual of the car sliding, which of course was too late and also couldn't feel regaining the grip either. As a result, I usually spun. With the TS-PC Racer I get almost a jolt when loosing/regaining grip which is much more helpful, so now I can keep the car more of the time close to the limit of grip, without spinning out (that often) => better lap times.

 

[testdriver77]

So then i will also add my impressions

Ive got my TS-PC on saturday and had before the Fanatec Porsche Gt2 V2.
Since one year i am using the Fanatec Clubsport V3 pedals so the main reason was to buy only a rim combo. The TS-XW is my favourite but imo too expensive. And then it has pedals which i dont need.

The Fanatec was not bad with its FFB but the Ts-Pc is several times better!
We dont need to talk about its strength...driving it at the moment at 75% in Assetto and its just powerful.

Also i notice much more details from tracks where i didnt experienced it on the Fanatec.
Crazy! Just tested the F1 cars and the wheel is submitting very detailed, smooth and also direct FFB.
Yesterday i drove approx 2h with the RSS formula 4 and with every round i was better and better.
Even my racing club collegue was wondering that i was faster then him...
Now its very funny to drive a car.....doesnt matter which kind of car!

The quality of the hardware (first look and touch) is very high for a "customer ready product".
Meanwhile ~12h driving behind me and i am very happy about it.

One thing is worth to mention... dont know what TM thought as they thought about length of the cable from and to the power supply... It must lie on my desk because the cables are too short to place the power supply on the floor etc....
The desk clamp is very stiff and i hadnt problems during driving.
THe shifter paddle sound is little bit "clicky" but its not a big deal because i always driving with a 5.1/7.1 headset so at the end i dont hear it.
The base itself is very quiet and the small fan at the back its noticable but in my opinion a quite one.

Imo a very good wheel and base combo!
Yesterday also tested Dirt Rally and its little bit tricky because at the moment there is no special profile implemented in this game.
But changed few options and got recommendation from a collegue how to set it so i was able to drive some kilometers....
First i thought a rally game will be a problem with such rim shape like the TS-PC but dont worry.... it works fine. Of coure depending which steering degrees you are using. I am driving rally games almost with 260 deg.

 

[Eddie Ellis]

Is there any way to adjust the steering ratio in small steps on the TM wheels? As a current Fanatec driver, I find that I use the "Sens" option in the Fanatec wheel menu much more than I expected. Sometimes it's just to cheat a little with karts, but I even use it to tone down the steering of the Zonda R in RRE a small amount.

 

[Pär Öqvist]

Got mine today and got some time with it. This is my "arcade wheel". I have an OSW which I use whenever supported. So I tested it with Forza 7 to begin with and compared to my TX.

Very good results it actually made the TX feel broken. So maybe my unreliable memory of the T500RS is more valid. I don´t recall T500RS being this strong. As for my TX it feel less then half as strong but the casing jumps up and down a lot on my playseat challenge which don´t appear normal whereas on my TS-PC it´s mostly directed to the steering column as you expect. Or it´s just the vibration motors on the TX?

Using the F458 Italia rim it really squeeks and squeels for mercy on the TS-PC due to the impressive torque.

TS-PC rim is really rigid while maintaining low weight. Just hope the 599xx 300mm rim don´t dull it to much. f1 rims is cool but not always that practical when you need the grip the most you are grasping thin air.

There is some resistance on the TS-PC which results in some damping but ffb is very distinct. TX operates smoother I can´t really feel the internals most of the time when turning the wheel. I do believe the TS-PC is a bit better then the T500RS in that regard though.

 

[Pär Öqvist]

Reducing the vibration effects in Forza 7 make my TX operate normal again. However it seem to need those effects to get any kind of resistance in the wheel whereas on the TS-PC which don´t have vibration motors it don´t make any difference. Still in F6 and F7 its a lot weaker feels more like 200 % weaker then just a mer 40 % tbh and at those settings the motor run a bit rampant and it clips a lot which hurts control.

Getting the 300mm alcantara is really to much 280 mm seem to be the max for Tx and get some kind of torque but the TS-PC still goes strong with my 300 mm 599xx alcantara rim. It can actually go to the point maybe I should reduce ffb some. Still 320 mm I think would stretch it for me.

Still TX is noticable smoother. But when not A-B I easilly forget the TS-PC is not smooth so the lack of torque is a much bigger deal.