Thrustmaster T818 Direct Drive Wheelbase Revealed

Thrustmaster T818 Revealed 01.jpg
Thrustmaster’s first direct drive wheelbase has been revealed on a Twitch stream after a long marketing campaign.

After a long marketing campaign which gave sim racers only a trickle of teaser images, Thrustmaster’s first direct drive wheelbase, the T818, has now been revealed.

Thrustmaster’s Twitch channel was host to a reveal showcase hosted by marketing manager Tim Gorham. Viewers got their first look at the hexagonal wheelbase, which houses a motor rated for 10Nm of constant torque.

The T818 has a new quick release, which allows fast and easy switching between various wheels in the Thrustmaster’s ecosystem. The wheelbase is designed for PC only at this time, but future editions are planned for console. Thrustmaster also teased future products by mentioning an RJ45 port on the base which will not be used yet, but gives connectivity options for upcoming products.

And speaking of upcoming products, there are four new wheel rims expected from Thrustmaster in 2023. These wheels may be included with the T818 in future bundles.

The wheelbase includes a customizable light strip at the front of the base, which can be customized or disabled depending on user preference. Another customization option offered by the T818 are exchangeable metal plates for the side.

For pricing, the T818 wheelbase alone will cost $649.99/€649.99, and pre-orders are now open on the Thrustmaster EU e-shop. If and when the T818 sells out, a second wave will be available at the end of December. The first wave of orders for the US market should be ready for order in March of 2023.

What are your thoughts on this wheelbase? Would you order one for yourself? Why or why not? Let us know in the comments below.
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Mike Smith
Mike Smith
I have been obsessed with sim racing and racing games since the 1980's. My first taste of live auto racing was in 1988, and I couldn't get enough ever since. Lead writer for RaceDepartment, and owner of SimRacing604 and its YouTube channel. Favourite sims include Assetto Corsa Competizione, Assetto Corsa, rFactor 2, Automobilista 2, DiRT Rally 2 - On Twitter as @simracing604

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Comments

azaralamouri
roadyroad said:
My mistake, 260€ / 280€ the cheapest wheels on fanatec's website. They are the last ones listed... others are at least 380€ on sale, 480€ without sales.

The brand new TM at 30€ was just the plastic ferrari 458 rim, not fancy at all, I needed a 28 cm full circle rim for classic open wheelers. Some TM rims are really old models and some resellers may propose very good deals, which won't happen with Fanatec's one. It's pretty logic.

You should check your facts about the G29. Previous G25 and G27 wheels had the exact same reliablility issue but could be fixed, whereas the G29 can't be. Gear stick of the G29 is a piece of crap (potentiometers issues), although I like its small size. Opening this little plastic thing just gives an idea of the quality of the manufacturing : awful. I had new pedals (same than pevious wheels) and experienced an issue when starting an online race. By chance, a WD40 spray solved the problem (a player told me it was a well known issue and a well known solution). These are common and well known problems with the G29. There's a bunch of litterature about them all over the Internet, the "everything" you heard must be one or two positive experiences (and after how much time and at which intensity?).
And let's speak about the drivers issue, I still can read people struggling to make this wheel (and the G920) working on recent games, same issues I had few years ago when I had this wheel. I don't know how reliable are Logitech's latest wheels but i hope they have raised the bar.
Click to expand...
I agree with the first part you said but I totally DISAGREE about every letter you said about Logitech.

You're assuming that I only heard two experiences, matter of fact that your experience is the first I hear about a Logitech wheel getting broken.

I have heard tens or hundreds of people saying they have a G25 or a G27 and are still sunning strong after 10-11 years of use. Some said it's more solid than a Nokia 3310.

I don't know a lot about this hobby, but I wish people who are so much into sim racing and for a long time and have so many friends can tell us: Isn't Logitech the most reliable gear in sim racing (regardless of old technology and low quality)?
 
R
Wilko Jones said:
You're going to have to name, names on this one because; Fanatec's lowest priced wheelrim is the P1 for 120 Euros. It works on PC. In fact, it works with all of Fanatec's current wheelbases. I have no idea of where you are getting Fanatec's lowest priced wheel being 260 Euros on sale.

So what wheel are you talking about, and why do you think it is their lowest cost wheel?
Click to expand...
FAnatec's website, just check the list of available rims for PC
 
A
Slapped said:
I’m actually quite interested in this. I bought into Simucube earlier this year but honestly I’ve been disappointed with it - It works great in ACC and, surprisingly, F1 22, but in everything else it just feels like an over tensioned bungie cord. My TS-PC, however, felt good in everything.

So I’m thinking of “downgrading” again
Click to expand...
SC2 is highly customizable so you can make it feel like virtually any wheel on the market, from belt driven wheels to SimSteering 2.
 
A
GP20 said:
10Nm constant is huuuuuuuuuuuuuge the T818 could be as strong as the Fanatec DD2 or the Simucube Pro and for sure it will be stronger than the Moza R16 or the SIMAGIC Alpha.
Click to expand...
SC2 Pro has 25Nm of constant and at the same time peak force. IIRC DD2 has 20 constant/holding force
 
B
azaralamouri said:
I agree with the first part you said but I totally DISAGREE about every letter you said about Logitech.

You're assuming that I only heard two experiences, matter of fact that your experience is the first I hear about a Logitech wheel getting broken.

I have heard tens or hundreds of people saying they have a G25 or a G27 and are still sunning strong after 10-11 years of use. Some said it's more solid than a Nokia 3310.

I don't know a lot about this hobby, but I wish people who are so much into sim racing and for a long time and have so many friends can tell us: Isn't Logitech the most reliable gear in sim racing (regardless of old technology and low quality)?
Click to expand...
Yes, Logitech is the king of reliability when it comes to simracing gear.
Way back I was making some solid cash from buying used Logitech wheels and reselling them at a higher price. People didn't know what they were selling, they thought it was just a childish toy.
DFP, DFGT, G25 - here and there I had to grease something up or tighten up a loose encoder, but that was it. Those things were indestructible.
I have never ever encountered a set of malfunctioning G25/G27 pedals. Although potentiometer based, they just refuse to die. Spiky pots - that's the only flaw, and it can easily be fixed with a contact spray. These pedals are the best simracing equipment Logitech has ever produced. Dirt cheap, you can modify them with load cells, hall-sensors, you name it. I still use a G27 set, and I will probably mod the hell out of it instead of buying some overpriced new ones.
And look at what Logi is selling these days - a DD wheel for a hilarious price. Simracing has become a hobby of the elite.

As for the T818, I don't know... plastic QR on 10NM, bad idea.
Yes, they tested it thoroughly, but I highly doubt that it will withstand my kind of fetish - rF2's FFB on the Nords in a Group C car. Every single day. For years.

I'd go with Simplicity SW20 Esport all day long.
 
Last edited:
L
Where are the reviews? Without a review, all this is useless.
When I hear that a few guys have ordered the base without any review, that drives me crazy. How can you put that money not having any feedback?
 
Last edited:
GP20
avenger82 said:
SC2 Pro has 25Nm of constant and at the same time peak force. IIRC DD2 has 20 constant/holding force
Click to expand...
Bullshit, you just have to watch the DD2 OLED screen that display the torque to check that you say BS.
Constant torque is always much lower than the peak.
 
GP20
avenger82 said:
SC2 is highly customizable so you can make it feel like virtually any wheel on the market, from belt driven wheels to SimSteering 2.
Click to expand...
Another bullshit you can't change the engine caracteristics and the electronic driver.
By the way playing with filters is a nonsense because you just change the source ffb and build a new one.

TM has the right approach.
 
A
GP20 said:
Another bullshit you can't change the engine caracteristics and the electronic driver.
By the way playing with filters is a nonsense because you just change the source ffb and build a new one.

TM has the right approach.
Click to expand...
SimSteering 2 owner said you can make SC2 feel like it. The key is to lower slew rate way down in TD.
 
A
GP20 said:
Bullshit, you just have to watch the DD2 OLED screen that display the torque to check that you say BS.
Constant torque is always much lower than the peak.
Click to expand...
No SC2 constant and peak is 25Nm. I think DD2 is 20 constant and 25 peak.
 
P
GP20 said:
Bullshit, you just have to watch the DD2 OLED screen that display the torque to check that you say BS.
Constant torque is always much lower than the peak.
Click to expand...

You need to separate stuff and not mix electromechanical specs meant for industrial activity, with simracing.

One thing is the ability of a servo to hold torque at max value for a determined amount of time. It's cool for knowing the capabilities of it at extreme testing environments and bragging rights. Not much else.

On a well setup rig with a wheelbase that has been finetuned to a determined sim, you will never see constant torque values. It typically rises up as you turn into the apex, then comes down. It does not stay at max torque for even a second (unless you are maybe doing something like Indycar at Texas, and I wouldn't be so sure of it either), and if it does, there is signal clipping, something you never want.

The fact that a servo has a nominal torque value and a peak value, it does not mean (like I said to you in an earlier post) that it cannot sustain the force for several seconds, even minutes. These kind of ratings are more important when you are using an industrial servo at an industrial, heavy-duty application. On a simrig, the servo is dealing with minimal forces most of the time with sporadic spikes and for most of users it stays more time shut down than running in any given day.

This is why peak torque is much more important that constant torque, no matter how much you try to spin this backwards. And depending how much the facts can be twisted under marketing speech, I could say that a VRS DFP wheelbase has a constant 20 Nm torque capacity, simply because a Small Mige can hold that torque for more than a minute with minimal rippling and without causing damage to its windings. Who cares? All I care about is peak torque, and if a wheelbase can hold it for some seconds at a constant value, that's all you will need in a practical environment.

Of course, the more overhead, the better, because you have more guarantees that your product will last a lifetime. Something that was a given with the former SimuCUBE systems (most of them with the legendary Small Mige), the SC2 (based on an industrial servo of higher quality, and coupled with a drive has a wattage rate that is double of what it consumes at maximum torque), the VRS DFP (AFAIK it has enough overhead on its design) the venerable Simsteering and...not much else? The oversize of both the Logitech and the TM tells me that they are using lower quality engines and resorting to forced induction to keep the windings from breaking down, something that the best quality wheelbases don't need. Not that I have a problem with that, the market needs more accesible DD systems at lower prices (real low dear Thrustmaster, not 650 for this bloated thing). But it makes me trust even less this "constant torque" speech that does not even matter that much.
 
RayTruant
Premium
Tormentor said:
I don't blame Thrustmaster, all i say is you have 2 options here if you have multiple TM wheels.
1. Buy a new TM QR adapter for every wheel you have and use the new "QR" on the 818 or
2. put the new QR on your 818 base and use the big plastic nut everytime you have to change your wheel.
And if you have to use a plastik adapter for the new QR, they simply could had keep the old system. The new QR makes absolutly no sense to me, especially since it is also not compatible with anything else in this world.
Click to expand...
The old system was not designed for twice the forces.
 
R
azaralamouri said:
I agree with the first part you said but I totally DISAGREE about every letter you said about Logitech.

You're assuming that I only heard two experiences, matter of fact that your experience is the first I hear about a Logitech wheel getting broken.

I have heard tens or hundreds of people saying they have a G25 or a G27 and are still sunning strong after 10-11 years of use. Some said it's more solid than a Nokia 3310.

I don't know a lot about this hobby, but I wish people who are so much into sim racing and for a long time and have so many friends can tell us: Isn't Logitech the most reliable gear in sim racing (regardless of old technology and low quality)?
Click to expand...
Don't know what's your obsession with Logitech but these are easy information to find. There's many complains, videos of broken G29, tutorials to fix the G25 and G27, always with the same issue :
That's a well known issue since the G25 and it's worse on the G29 and G920 because it is not fixable anymore (as the encoder is magnetic, more precise but not replaceable).
The G29 / G920 detection issue in recent games
Do your homework and then give your opinion.
bozakn said:
Yes, Logitech is the king of reliability when it comes to simracing gear.
Way back I was making some solid cash from buying used Logitech wheels and reselling them at a higher price. People didn't know what they were selling, they thought it was just a childish toy.
DFP, DFGT, G25 - here and there I had to grease something up or tighten up a loose encoder, but that was it. Those things were indestructible.
I have never ever encountered a set of malfunctioning G25/G27 pedals. Although potentiometer based, they just refuse to die. Spiky pots - that's the only flaw, and it can easily be fixed with a contact spray. These pedals are the best simracing equipment Logitech has ever produced. Dirt cheap, you can modify them with load cells, hall-sensors, you name it. I still use a G27 set, and I will probably mod the hell out of it instead of buying some overpriced new ones.
And look at what Logi is selling these days - a DD wheel for a hilarious price. Simracing has become a hobby of the elite.

As for the T818, I don't know... plastic QR on 10NM, bad idea.
Yes, they tested it thoroughly, but I highly doubt that it will withstand my kind of fetish - rF2's FFB on the Nords in a Group C car. Every single day. For years.

I'd go with Simplicity SW20 Esport all day long.
Click to expand...
As I've stated, this came to an end with the G29, although this G25/27 had that reliabality issue. You missendertand, logitech made this things so unreliable that, when you have an issue under warranty (less than a year), they just send you the whole brand new package, proof that these are cheap pieces of garbage. Kudos to them to be so reactive. Before, logitech's products were solid (my df pro still works as new), but they cut costs everywhere. I replaced my hero 502 mouse, after many years, by a new one, what a shame, it is not the same product, just a shameful more expensive low quality one. This is the state of logitech's products
 
Metla
Premium
I'm personally responsible for breaking three logitech wheels. Well, I blame the quality of the components as its cheap nasty rubbish but they did die horrible deaths while under my ownership.
 
B
Yeah, people, where did you get data about Logitech being reliable?

I do not know a single person with a G29 that has not had issues with the pedals or the cogs, when they are not already having troubles with firmware updates and G Hub rendering the wheel a useless block of cheap plastic.
Thrustmaster has its own issues and Fanatec has mediocre assistance support in Europe (I'm scared to think what their assistance will be in North America or other continents), but Logitech sim gears since after the G27 has been pretty much unreliable.

I'm debating about either just staying on TG-T2+Open Wheel and TLC-M or selling base and rim, getting a Simagic Alpha Mini with FX Formula and use the TLC-M alongside (waiting for more money to buy DC2, NGASA or similar pedals later on).
T-818 does not convince me totally (mostly the new QR mechanicsm) and I do not like to buy something without a range of reliable reviews to watch before.
 

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