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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About author
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

P
I guess that Logitech G2x bases are like some old cars. Reliability is not perfect, but in most cases they are easy and cheap to repair.

Pots? Spray WD40 and contact cleaner. Want a permanent fix? Hall mod. Gearbox? Same solution to dirty pots (I only did it once on the G25 and never troubled me again in the 7 years that followed). Encoder plate? Not hard to replace, and an old credit card is the base for a good DIY solution. Cogs? Well that's a tougher one, but it's not a common issue from what I saw.

The less moving parts, the more reliable. Another reason to aim for a good DD wheelbase at some point in your simracing career if possible.
 
R
pai said:
I guess that Logitech G2x bases are like some old cars. Reliability is not perfect, but in most cases they are easy and cheap to repair.

Pots? Spray WD40 and contact cleaner. Want a permanent fix? Hall mod. Gearbox? Same solution to dirty pots (I only did it once on the G25 and never troubled me again in the 7 years that followed). Encoder plate? Not hard to replace, and an old credit card is the base for a good DIY solution. Cogs? Well that's a tougher one, but it's not a common issue from what I saw.

The less moving parts, the more reliable. Another reason to aim for a good DD wheelbase at some point in your simracing career if possible.
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This is what I've explained : the G29/920 encoder is not the same than the G25/27 encoder which is replaceable. That's why it is the worst choice. I assume the next Logitech wheel, the G923, is the same.
 
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R
Metla said:
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.
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I stopped Logitech after the first death of a G29 under my hands, did not want to kill the other new one, I sold it.

Logitech customer services are really good indeed, they sent me a whole new set (warranty). I can't imagine how much margin Logitech does with these pieces of crap, so that they could send entire free sets of wheel on pedals. I hope.with their new wheel Logitech has decided to lower its margin and make a reliable product, in order to avoid so much products returns. Considering the price of the Logitech DD wheel, it seems the quality is higher but the % margin is not adjusted.
 
P
roadyroad said:
This is what I've explained : the G29/920 encoder is not the same than the G25/27 encoder which is replaceable. That's why it is the worst choice. I assume the next Logitech wheel, the G923, is the same.
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Yes, the G29 replaced the optical encoder with a hall sensor mounted to the motor. It's actually a more reliable solution...until the support of the sensor breaks, which seems to be the issue. To be honest, and I'm not trying to take anything away from your experience, this is the first I read about somebody having such issues. I googled around and found one case in Reddit. Which would explain to me why there isn't a support replacement readily available, because it's not the sensor itself failing, and that could be solved with a 3d printed part.
 
Flual
When I heard that Thrustmaster and Logitech will release an Direct Drive wheel I thought they will be in the 350-450€ pricerange. This would be a huge market but nearly 700 and over 900€ for the Logitech are still not very affordable. And why the over the Top torque?
I hope they will release a lower torque version which is cheaper in the future.
 
B
Flual said:
When I heard that Thrustmaster and Logitech will release an Direct Drive wheel I thought they will be in the 350-450€ pricerange. This would be a huge market but nearly 700 and over 900€ for the Logitech are still not very affordable. And why the over the Top torque?
I hope they will release a lower torque version which is cheaper in the future.
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I'm with you on the price range, but regarding the torque, I don't think it's over the top.
If you want a real simulation, a 10NM is the very minimum, this is where it starts to get real steering wise. Just look at this - a modern, lightweight racing car with traction control, ABS and power steering, but he is still wrestling the wheel:

But I guess most people these days don't want a proper simulation, it's all about having some fun in the comfort of you home.
I dig that, but it just doesn't do it for me if it isn't physically engaging .
 
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D
Mm... dunno - I thought a typical power assisted steering GT3 car was around 12-13nm - surely 10nm is good enough unless you drive historic non PAS cars from the past. Could be wrong though on the NM - something I read a while back.
 
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GP20
pai said:
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?
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The small MIGE has 10Nm constant torque and 20 NM peak that's what is advertise on the VRS website.

I have a MIGE that has a 3.5 constant torque and 10 Nm peak so according to what you said it should be stronger than the MOZA R9 but that's the opposite and the MIGE clipps sooner.
It does not work as you say that's my experience.
 
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GP20 said:
The small MIGE has 10Nm constant torque and 20 NM peak that's what is advertise on the VRS website.

I have a MIGE that has a 3.5 constant torque and 10 Nm peak so according to what you said it should be stronger than the MOZA R9 but that's the opposite and the MIGE clipps sooner.
It does not work as you say that's my experience.
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VRS leaves out marketing speech and posts electromechanical specs that will withstand any extreme test because they are serious about what they advertise. On practical terms for our application, you can still take the peak value as constant.

Before I try to dissect what you said on the second paragraph, I will ask: did you build your own Direct Drive system or you bought an assembled Mini OSW from some builder back when the original SimuCUBE was a big thing?
 
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GP20 said:
I bought a MIGE from an assembler.
What is the point?
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Trying to understand. If 10 Nm feel weaker than 9Nm (because that's what you are saying, which is a contradiction), there is a number of possibilities that could be taking place. One or several (and could be forgetting about some atm):

Mige Servo is not capable of sustaining the peak. Doubt it given that Mige has same insulation for all servos, so it should not overheat in a peak torque situation.

Mige system has suboptimal power supply, and cannot sustain the energy towards the motor on peak torque (has happened more than once with assemblers cutting corners to lower the price).

SimuCUBE is improperly configured (has happened before).

Wrong IONI board installed (has happened before).

Rim diameter on the Moza is smaller compared to the Mige system, therefor giving you less leverage and making the force feel stronger.

Rim quality on the Mige is lower and there is flexing, dampening the effects.

Moza R9 has more torque than what is advertised. I severely doubt this. No brand will ever hide its maximum capabilities from the userbase.
 
GP20
Diameter is the same.
It's not about effects but torque while cornering.
I'm quite sure that Moza R9 has more constant torque than the MIGE and that's why it is stronger without clipping.
It's a SIMPLICITY wheel base not a IONY.

At the end it is not a contradiction and that's the constant torque which matter the most, that why Thrustmaster is right.
 
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P
GP20 said:
Diameter is the same.
It's not about effects but torque while cornering.
I'm quite sure that Moza R9 has more constant torque than the MIGE and that's why it is stronger without clipping.
It's a SIMPLICITY wheel base not a IONY.

At the end it is not a contradiction and that's the constant torque which matter the most, that why Thrustmaster is right.
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100% sure that the system is not supplying the needed current for the servo to reach its stated peak torque.

What model of SW do you have?
 
P
Saw the former, at some points he's blatantly lying, making it beyond obvious that he got paid for that vid. Will watch the latter and see if there is some truth to be found.
 
R
It seems something amazing. But stronger than IRL. So I don't need more than my current TS-PC but the day I'll switch to DD, i'll have already the rims. Global review is very good, I wasn't expecting that much. But let's wait a few other ones....
 
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