Thrustmaster TX Racing Wheel Ferrari 458 Italia Edition review

[Jari Vinnari]

Thrustmaster TX Racing Wheel Ferrari 458 Italia Edition
Background:
Well...im old...ancient someone would say. My first contact with simracing was Geoff Crammond´s excellent Formula One Grand Prix in 1990´s and since then I have driven numerous driving games with Assetto Corsa being the latest one. I have owned and destroyed several wheels from manufacturer´s like Microsoft, Logitech and Fanatec so I would call myself as a experienced driver with average driving skills.
I have been relatively happy with my Fanatec CSR wheel and Clubsport V1 setup but sometimes you just want to try something new and hopefully better. Fanatec Clubsport Wheel would have been one good choice but it was just too pricey and possible future warranty issues made me look elsewhere. Thrustmaster T500 RS is nice but the newer design, brushless motor and better belt system convinced me to buy 458 Italia wheel. Having owned and destroyed a Logitech G25 in my previous life the newly released Thrustmaster TX 458 for 300 Euro´s was the only real choice for me. Luckily it was Christmas so Santa Claus helped me get this wheel. Thanks Santa, I owe you one...or two.

First impression & some numbers:
"What the .... Why in earth did I buy this piece of toy wheel" was my first thought after opening the box and lifting the unattached wheel. The two things that really striked out badly was the yellow Ferrari logo and the 2-way Manettino switch which really makes the wheel look cheap. The wheel rim building material looks and feels almost the same as found in early 90´s Nissan dashboard´s. Luckily appearances can sometimes be deceptive as the wheel "quality" will grow on you.
The wheel rim weight is approximately 730 gramms and its 28 cm in diameter. The power supply is inside of the base unit which weight is about 3,9 kg compared to Fanatec´s 2,9kg including the wheel but without the external power supply. In PC-mode you have total 13 buttons and a D-pad in your disposal.

Gas and brake pedals are made of metal,base from light plastic and the total weight is approximately 1,36kg. Brake has progressive resistance and the gas pedal feels quite stiff. Pedals connects directly to wheel base and they are not USB compatible.

Wheel can be attached to table/cockpit with good clamping system or more permanently with built-in screw threads. After attaching the steering wheel and making the required firmware update for PC I was ready to Rock´n Roll.

Driving impression´s:
I could feel big difference between the CSR and Thrustmaster TX as soon as I accelerated out of the pits with my rFactor 2 Corvette.In straight line the 458 Italia will give you much more information about the car suspension movement and the bumps on the road. In corners I could feel the change in grip much more clearly and earlier stage than I did with Fanatec CSR. Steering response feels faster, more direct and FFB in whole felt much better. CSR has small FFB deadzone where you dont feel any feedback but with TX you feel the FFB almost whole range of wheels turning range.

With Assetto Corsa the difference between the wheels was smaller but Thrustmaster still feels superior of these two. Again the Thrusmaster feels so accurate,direct and fast to react drivers every steering input. Driving BMW Z4 GT3 with CSR feel´s just little bit boring but the TX wheel made the car more enjoyable and exciting to drive.
Gear leavers are made of strong metal and have nice solid feel to them. They are quite short to allow easy access to back buttons so I needed some time finding right position for my hands and fingers. That ugly Manettino switch works but they really shoud have used better quality switch in that one. Other buttons feel OK but for me the Fanatec has better buttons and the wheel rim in whole feels better. Pedals look and feel quite cheap but surprisingly they work much better than their appearance might suggest.

Conclusion: Connect the dots
FFB quality and the base unit are definitely the best part of this wheel . Driving with this wheel is true pleasure because FFB is strong, detailed and fast. Thrustmaster really should have used better quality materials with the rim and the pedals. Luckily you can always use Thrustmaster T500 RS add-on wheels and pedals or use USB pedals from another manufacturer. Thrustmaster plans to release improved T3PA pedals which includes a clutch pedal. I think this package is OK starting point for newcomer but I would definitely buy new pedals if I was serious about simracing. Im relatively happy with the rim so currently I have no plans to buy the 100€ Ferrari 458 GTE wheel add-on which should be much better in quality wise.

The GOOD:
+ FFB is very good
+ Base is made of strong, good quality plastic
+ Many buttons, even behind the wheel
+ Accurate and reacts fast to drivers input
+ Good clamp that will stop the base from moving.
+ Gear leavers are made of thick metal and changing gear feels quite good
+ Ability to use add-on wheels and pedals

The BAD:
- Pedals are light weight,looks and feels cheap. Surprisingly they do work moderately well
- Wheel rim looks cheap and the build quality should have been better. It does work & feels better than first impression might suggest
- Loud fan under stress
- No power switch
- USB cable can't be removed
- No clutch pedal

05.02.2014 UPDATE:

My Thrustmaster TX is dead so rest in peace my friend...you will be sorely missed.
But luckily his twin brother has arrived.

One morning about 10 days ago my wheel went completely dead, no lights or any wheel movement at all so the electronics must have failed.
I contacted my local dealer and they replaced my wheel in 10 days . Whole process could have been 2-3 days shorter but they didnt have the wheel on stock so Im very happy how fast they replaced my wheel. I also e-mailed Thustmaster twice and both time they replied in 24 hours so no complaints about their reply speed.
According to my local dealer over 10% TX wheels have been returned back for warranty repairs. Other users have also experienced wheel failures so there seems to be slight quality problem with first batch of the TX Wheel.

I still like the wheel very much.

 

[NeverKrash]

Hi all,

I haven't kept up to date with the thread, but after my faulty wheel a few months back, the fault was in the red circle highlighted here:

It is held by plastic and screwed down. This had snapped apart likely due to manufacturing detail (screw was too tight on the plastic) and/or steering wheel forces.

First and foremost, my replacement wheel does not have an issue whatsoever, and the suggestions below do not apply to my batch of base unit (Mar 2014-) i.e. they seemed to have improved the issue. My stance is clear on this, the TX wheel is one of the best wheels I have tried and I recommend it highly.

To minimise likelihood of this issue, when you start your base unit and it calibrates left and right, please do not attach the wheel rim until it is finished and fully centered. The forces as it hits full lock in either direction are very hard (for my unit; the replacement base unit I received was softer during calibration).

 

[Blkout]

I agree that the TX wheel calibration is very rough for some reason, I do wish TM would fix that in a firmware update. The T500 doesn't do that when calibrating. I almost feel like they are using the same 1080 degrees of calibration that the T500 uses but since the stops are set at 900 degrees in the TX, it hits them very hard.

 

[Blkout]

Anyone looking for CPX adapters, better hurry.

 

[Terry Rock]

That overly aggressive calibration by some wheel manufacturers is finally starting to cause fatigue.
It really doesn't need to be that hard or fast against the internal stops.
The additional weight of add-on wheel rims will only make it worst.
I've helped two friends open their G25 recently and both had hairline cracks in the black plastic cover enclosing the gear assembly.
I've also had a failure of my own wheel as a result of it.
The shaft simply snapped during the calibration.

 

[Terry Rock]

Anybody know if the TX and T500 were assembled by the same manufacturer?
What was the overall cause of most of your TX issues to date?

 

[Blkout]

No one really knows the cause of the TX failures yet. It seems like about 10% die though within the first week or two. If you get one that doesn't though, its a fantastic wheel. I recommend anyone considering one buy from Amazon since they have the best return/replacement policy.

 

[Kjell Eilertsen]

The bad: I'm so on the fence what wheel to get, TX or go all out CSW
The good: I can't afford either right now so I've got plenty time to decide xD

 

[Blkout]

The bad: I'm so on the fence what wheel to get, TX or go all out CSW
The good: I can't afford either right now so I've got plenty time to decide xD

Both good wheels, however it seems that Fanatec may be getting close to announcing some new wheels soon so I would maybe wait and see. The CSW has been out for a while now so its due for an update or replacement soon.

 

[Kjell Eilertsen]

I suspect that the next wheel from Fanatec will be something above the CSW in price, not a replacement. This is ofc based purely on speculation, partly because of how they have worded themselves saying that the current (new) offering of rims will be compatible with the coming wheelbase.

 

[Tim Meuris]

I suspect that the next wheel from Fanatec will be something above the CSW in price, not a replacement. This is ofc based purely on speculation, partly because of how they have worded themselves saying that the current (new) offering of rims will be compatible with the coming wheelbase.

that would be really cool and welcome but it's of no use if it suffers from breakdowns as much as the csw does

 

[Blkout]

that would be really cool and welcome but it's of no use if it suffers from breakdowns as much as the csw does

That's why I'm thinking maybe we're due for a CSW update or replacement.

 

[Tim Meuris]

I once read a statement of Thomas where he mentioned that a CSWupdate was not in the make so I really think it's about a brand new wheel

 

[Terry Rock]

I went with a good used T500RS because of the high failure rate of the TX.
I didn't want to chance that. Ten percent plus failure rate is way too high in my opinion.
I changed the rim to the 458 for movable paddles and can't be happier.
What a huge difference. I kept losing orientation on turns with the static paddles.
I run the v1 Clubsports so I haven't touch the TM pedals.
It's like everything in simracing is reset.
I see guys running the T500 at 100% and suffering clipping etc...
I run at 45% and can feel every single bump, slide, undulation in the track's surface.
It feel really good.
If you've got one, try these settings and tell me what you think of them.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/a9h2hjk32nh9n45/AADNnritbq7uBgwnisQeiE8Fa?n=588472

 

[Ben Eastman]

To give Thrustmaster credit, my first wheel died within 4 days and they replaced it at no cost(although they took about 4 weeks to start an RMA procedure which was annoying, making me update firmware and email back results when I had done these procedures to effect previously). However my new wheel has yet to deviate or show any problems after hours and hours of play(5hr of nurburgring/le mans and a bunch of online forza, about 500-600 laps in rfactor2).

I did read somewhere as well that possible cause of this issue could be how you secure your wheel. Apparently it's healthier on the wheel to be tightly secured, otherwise the force feedback resonates through the support structure, and can cause you to place stress on the structure that could assist in a failure...

 

[Luke1974]

Based on these reviews I bought this wheel as well. It failed in 21 days and I have a refund luckily. It was my replacement for a failed CSW.

For anyone else thinking of purchasing I'd like to add my thoughts on the wheel.

The wheel itself plastic, nothing compared to the CSW, however I did get the GTE rim and was very happy with that for the few days I had it and with the Ferrari 312 on AC it felt right.

The only bad thing I would say is the calibration is very disturbing as it smashed to each side.

In use, the wheel itself was much more precise than the CSW, I was able to brake on 50m boards at Crema and turn in with no problem, I was never able to do this with CSW, it felt really good and very precise. It actually shocked me the first time I did this and I was able to shave off time everywhere. It really outperformed the CSW in this respect.

Something that I don't think anyone has mentioned is the motor, I don't know if this is a Thrustmaster thing or just my particular one, however there was a very strong feeling of the motor working against the wheel when going around corners, this was an imersion killer as it felt very robotic and not natural at all. The CSW was much smoother and felt like a real car in that respect.

The forcefeed back is just strong enough, I would say 80%-90% of the CSW just based on personal feeling.

I am a little disapointed that it failed, I like my GTE rim and for the money I paid I got what I expected in terms of quality.(except for the failure)

Would I buy this again? Yes if the reliabilty was garanteed but unfortunatley its not. Would I buy a CSW again no. I wont detail my experiences with that wheel as its an experience I want to forget and I'll leave it there and move on.

If you are a casual gamer its probably a good buy but if your a serious sim racer its not going to be able to stand up to the use. A shame really. I hope they sort out the reliability for the t300 release.

 

[Blkout]

If you are a casual gamer its probably a good buy but if your a serious sim racer its not going to be able to stand up to the use. A shame really. I hope they sort out the reliability for the t300 release.

Going on 4 months for my TX and its still working great. I use it 1-2 hours every day so this statement clearly doesn't apply in every case.

I realize you feel dissapointed but making blanket statements about a product because yours was defective isn't really accurate.

 

[PaulH]

After reading this thread(good read btw) I just ordered a TX from Dabs, was a decent price too at £219.99, my Fanatec wheel is faulty and has to go back again, so I'll use the TX wheel with my Elite pedals.
Will be good to have a backup wheel, it might be better than my Fanatec GT3 wheel too
I'm thinking of getting a Xbox one in the future too as Forza 5 is looking very tempting

 

[Jari Vinnari]

New driver/firmware released for Thrustmaster wheels.

http://ts.thrustmaster.com/eng/index.php?pg=view_files&gid=1&fid=2&pid=367&cid=15

 

[Dennis]

Wow thanks for pointing that new driver out - this was now the first time I could use the wheel without having to run the CalibrationTool (which would sometimes run up to 15min)

Hope the new driver also provides constant FFB for me - I would normally use loose it after 15-20min of driving or it wouldn't even be there to begin with - we'll see

 

[Blkout]

@Dennis Coufal

What games were you losing FFB?