Thrustmaster Direct Drive confirmed for 2022

ApexVGear said:

Just wait. I expect Thrustmaster's direct drive to be really good. There will likely be availability issues at first, and maybe even some initial problems, but these will be resolved within a few months. At that time, my multiple steering wheels will be ready for it.

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I've been admiring Thrustmaster for years.

My first 'real' sim wheel was the Thrustmaster Guillemotte Ferrari FFB in 1999, which earned me for 12 fine years . This model had two sets of paddles, the one set with variable output, meaning that e,g, disabled persons in wheelchair could use the one set as variable gas/brake pedals, an option of which I in fact used when my (foot-)pedals broke down. Genious solution of which I wondered why was not followed up by the other big players by the marked that time and again when looking for a new wheel a decade later.

Today I'm using my T300RS-GT as my primary wheel and in general I'm really satisfied, experiencing a detailed FFB, splendid for the entry level price, moreover the theoretical max torque of 3.9Nm is way exceeded in some mods of older sims. Though a little annoyance regarding the wheel mounting (the screw hole required alternative DIY solution due to the original caused suddenly loose wheel and the Thrustmaster firmware of which I had to downgrade to ver. 32.00 in order to have functional FFB in older sims (reminds me that have to address this issue to Thrustmaster).
And the included GT pedals in the package I was not happy with, it helped a bit to add a brake load cell, but now I have switched 100% to my G27 pedals.

However, overall I'm still very happy with my T300RS-GT wheel hoping it will endure for same timeframe as my G27 wheel did (almost 10 years it did a splendid job), though I've a read few users reporting about vulnerability, so really carefull about maxing FFB values out for certain sims.

I'm just really worried about Thrustmaster's approach of current series of vague announcements, IMO humiliating themselves, which could be interpreted as a sign of weakness, maybe even expert abandoning from their development department. I hope this is not the case.

BillyBobSenna said:

Weird. I assume we will see a Logitech DD before TM?

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I think a Logitech DD is even further away than TM, they dont even sell wheel-addons at this point nor LC brakes. Jumping straight into DD wheels without a supporting eco system around it wouldnt make for a good product lmao

ApexVGear said:

After too many problems with Fanatec products, only ONE didn't fail or need repairs, I switched to Thrustmaster about five years ago. I bought a used TX, then a TS300RS, which both still work great. Then I bought a new TS-PC Racer in January 2021, and I'm very impressed with its performance. I plan to use it for the next year or two, then upgrade to Thrustmaster's direct drive. By then, it will be released, it will be available, and any post-release issues should be corrected.

I see a lot of complaints, speculation, and misunderstandings about Thrustmaster's PR/advertising and their "teaser" posts. I would like to know everything right now, but at least we know something is in the works. Fanatec has used some of the same campaigns in the past which were also surrounded by speculation... however, what many do know for a fact, though something was "released," you couldn't actually get it for several months.

Just wait. I expect Thrustmaster's direct drive to be really good. There will likely be availability issues at first, and maybe even some initial problems, but these will be resolved within a few months. At that time, my multiple steering wheels will be ready for it.

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may i know good sir, how you went about setting up a 5.1 audio setup for Sim racing?

Please share steps to setup it up in windows and in the Sims itself.

Is it via an AVR/passive speakers or those inbuilt 5.1 ones made by logitech etc.?

Also which Sim titles support 5.1? Do you actually get real discrete sounds of cars around you depending on speed and distance from you or is it a 5.1 up conversion of a stereo signal?

I aim to do this kind of a setup as audio I believe is atleast 50% of the experience.

Thanks.

Vaporware. They are just teasing something they don't have in order to stop the people that already are cautive in their ecosystem from being tempted from jumping the ship, it let's them gain time until they really have something other than engineering prototypes to release.

At the end of the day it is Thrustmaster, you know that it is going to be a plastic wheelbase and that as usual it is going to have quality control issues for a while. They are cheapstakes in the engineering side like logitech, but at least logitech products have bullet proof reliability. Also, it doesn't inspire confidence that this hardware it's being developed in a rush and to a budget to not loose their client base to fanatec.

I have just watched the flash video again and noted something that I hadn’t taken on board before…

The ‘Final Reveal’ fourth light set and the ‘and Launch’ fifth light set are actually separate still/ lit separately (I originally thought that they flashed together but that is the end of the video only)

So that possibly mean 2 more ‘teases/ pr opportunities’ including launch… and also buys more time for them to spread out/ delay the eventual launch…

It’s telling that we have had dates given in the past for each upcoming tease… but not on this one?

There are 2 possible answers as to why they have done this… either they don’t know… or it maybe to stop some form of ‘scalping set up’ in advance by those that do this sort of thing…

Hopefully it’s another possible reason that it means they can bring this forward based on when the kit turns up from China…

I still do get the feeling of ‘down, their, caught, pants, with’ here (rearrange words to form a well used phrase)

Reactive reactions are never better than proactive actions…

budlix said:

I hope in the final release they will change wheel shape from that glowy hexagon to something more… roundy?

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that's the wheelbase, not the rim. And the T248 also has a hexagonal wheelbase
T-GT has a round wheelbase and personally I'm not a fan of how it looks

rana_kirti said:

may i know good sir, how you went about setting up a 5.1 audio setup for Sim racing?

Please share steps to setup it up in windows and in the Sims itself.

Is it via an AVR/passive speakers or those inbuilt 5.1 ones made by logitech etc.?

Also which Sim titles support 5.1? Do you actually get real discrete sounds of cars around you depending on speed and distance from you or is it a 5.1 up conversion of a stereo signal?

I aim to do this kind of a setup as audio I believe is atleast 50% of the experience.

Thanks.

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It's impossible to write a guide about setting it up since it completely depends on your 5.1 system, your sound card / chip and your audio drivers.

Basically all racing games support 5.1 audio out of the box nowadays.

I guess this is going to be cheaper than Fanatec CSL DD.

If it's cheaper than the CSL DD, but packs more NM than the 8Nm version, that would be impressive. But I don't think it'll cost less than the 8Nm wheelbase.

What part of this confirms 2022?

AJ Clarke said:

What part of this confirms 2022?

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The very last flashy bit says “and launch 2022” but it could be 31st December at 11.59pm knowing Thrustmaster….

MarkModdy said:

The very last flashy bit says “and launch 2022” but it could be 31st December at 11.59pm knowing Thrustmaster….

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Ah thanks, my bad, I didn't even realise that was a video.

AJ Clarke said:

Ah thanks, my bad, I didn't even realise that was a video.

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Yes easily missed… blink and it’s done

Wilko Jones said:

If it's cheaper than the CSL DD, but packs more NM than the 8Nm version, that would be impressive. But I don't think it'll cost less than the 8Nm wheelbase.

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Very impressive... and sadly very unlikely... but who knows...

Maybe we see a competitor to the Podium Series?
I doubt it, but Thrustmaster would do well to gain a foothold in the high-end market.

I guess the new base is around 8nm as well and around 400-450€/$ (table clamp inc.!)
I hope this is successful for TM and I have no doubt that it won't be like this...

I can wait. Due to life getting in the way recently (and just having taken a long break), my sim driving time has been substantially reduced. I'm still using my T300 with Ferrari 599XX wheel (I think that's the one? It's slightly larger, metal rim with alcantara - fairly nice), shifter (which I quite like), and a set of Fanatec Clubsport CSL pedals. So, I'm not fully committed to either ecosystem right now, though the CSL DD really had me thinking about upgrading from the T300. I can't justify spending thousands on a high-end rig, and to be honest I'm probably more likely to get some kind of cockpit before I upgrade the wheelbase or pedals (unless something fails). But, competition is good and I'll be interested in seeing what Thrustmaster comes out with - if nothing else my TM equipment has been reliable.

The Ts Pc Racer is 1300 in Oz so I expect this to be in the 1800 dollar range lol.

smasha said:

The Ts Pc Racer is 1300 in Oz so I expect this to be in the 1800 dollar range lol.

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Going by how they priced their T GT-2 they aren't undercutting anyone in price.

I don't think the criticisms of Thrustmaster are fair. This was a tiny niche market before 2020, and they had to respond while dealing with pandemic problems. No doubt they are struggling to secure supply chains because they need to guarantee delivery to retailers at the scale retailers expect, and can't just promise a future delivery date on a website.
I had some conversations about direct drive designs with some electrical engineering colleagues and they were universally suprised at how much people are overpaying for these designs.

rana_kirti said:

may i know good sir, how you went about setting up a 5.1 audio setup for Sim racing?

Please share steps to setup it up in windows and in the Sims itself.

Is it via an AVR/passive speakers or those inbuilt 5.1 ones made by logitech etc.?

Also which Sim titles support 5.1? Do you actually get real discrete sounds of cars around you depending on speed and distance from you or is it a 5.1 up conversion of a stereo signal?

I aim to do this kind of a setup as audio I believe is atleast 50% of the experience.

Thanks.

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Cheap pioneer 5.1 Home cinema Amp (£30 ebay) and a set of KEF 1001's and Subwoofer... optical cable PC to amplifier... instant 5.1

Cherry2Blost said:

optical cable PC to amplifier... instant 5.1

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Except that, after Windows 7, M$ did not license surround codecs,
so 5.1 is NOT available by S/PDIF unless your soundcard driver is one of the few which include it.
HDMI or discrete analog channels are other options.