T500rs. What can I say but wow!

[Andy_J]

Managed to grab a bit of spare time this afternoon and unpack my new T500RS. I am moving up from a Logitech Momo, then a DFGT and then for a short while, the G27. Out of those I really liked the FFB on the DFGT the most, but I liked the pedals of the G27 too.

So last week I sold my G27 ( on the bay for more than I paid for it new just before xmas)

Then after doing loads of reading and research both here and many other race sim forums, I decided on a new wheel. My shortlist consisted of the TX, the T300 GTE or the T500RS. After weighing up many things, cost, value, performance and quality, I finally went for a new T500RS. It turned up the other day but I have only just found the time to play. (family had to come first)

I un-installed all my previous Logitech software and installed the latest Thrustmaster software before I unpacked the new wheel.

Now the box, it's quite heavy. Heavier than I expected. I love the size of the wheel with it being closer to normal full size and it does feel quality and reasonable heavy too.

But by far the best part of the package for me are the pedals. Boy are they heavy. Solid and very well made. All metal too. I have the latest revision pedals and wheel and the springs feel great as standard. I fitted the included stiff brake mod and that transformed the feel so much again.

I decided to change the F1 setup to my preferred GT style. It tool me about 20 minutes to swap around and adjust the pedal angles and positions to my liking. I love it that they are so adjustable. The brake, as standard with the stiff brake mod is quite stiff and felt very good. But next I fitted the Basher mod that I had previously ordered and what can I say. WOW! On first test the braking is transformed. It feels so real now and very progressive.
Not had much time to test yet except for some aggressive laps around the Top Gear track in the Porsche EGT version in Assetto Corsa. Jeez, this FFB is strong now and I have it at 60%.

It feels so smooth and strong and quick reacting. I am gobsmacked in the difference between this wheel and pedals set compared to my G27 and DFGT. It really is night and day difference for the better.
I'm just gobsmacked at the pedals though. They are superb and better than I expected with the basher brake mod.
I am so glad I payed about £25 more for this than the GTE I was going to get.

Tomorrow hopefully some more time to play.

Edit: take no notice of the dates on the pics, my camera's date is wrong.

 

[Kjell Eilertsen]

Not sure if 60% is the actual "linear max" setting on these wheels, so if you go above it will boost the lower end forces more than the top end, think I've read something about that, might be worth chekcing out. Maybe @Pär Öqvist can answer that?
Seems a great wheel.

 

[Pär Öqvist]

From the benchmarks I seen it´s the most linear yes.

Fully agree about the excellence of the T500RS pedals and the basher mod

 

[Andy_J]

I find it good enough for now at 60. But I will experiment with various settings.
Thanks Par/Kjell.

 

[Skazz]

I'm running the following with my T500 and AC:
- In drivers: 60% gain, 100% constant and periodic, 0% spring and damper, autocenter by game.
- In game: 65% gain, no filter or damping, no fake effects, 7% minimum force, brake gamma 1.0.

The key thing for the T500 is to not set forces too low. It's a lot more powerful than a Logitech wheel but giving in to the tendency to reduce the power of the wheel makes forces feel a bit squishy and inprecise. Let the wheel use that lovely dynamic range properly (for spin speed and impact of heavy forces but also to let smaller forces feel crisper).

This is my wheelcheck overview/comparison graph for the T300 and T500. I didn't list 100% on the T500 because I was getting anomalous results, but you get the general idea. Default 60% gain in drivers allows you to get very linear response when you allow the game to use the first 65-70% of the curve for the T500, avoiding the rounded off top section. In comparison, I only use 55% gain in game for my T300 (which is at default 75% gain in drivers) since that's the useable linear part of the T300's curve.

Note: 60% gain in drivers is default on the T500, 75% on the T300 (which is clearly less linear):

 

[Andy_J]

Thanks
Now running settings at:
70
100
100
20
0
Can I ask why most have spring and damper at 0?

 

[Skazz]

Spring is not needed in modern sims, it's a blanket centering force which is not relative to what the car is doing, and is usually avoided for any sim which generates centering forces dynamically (which is basically every sim these days).

Damper is personal preference, it just makes the wheel harder to turn. The T500 is naturally quite damped so I wouldn't want to add more damping.

 

[Andy_J]

Thanks Skazz

 

[Andy_J]

Just tried the wheel with RRE and I am blown away. It's fantastic. The braking is 1000 times better and the strength and detail of the feedback is immense.
Loved throwing the Chevrolet prototypes around the red bull ring. Total quality.

Now to do some testing with GSCE.

 

[Michael Dao]

David Tucker said a while ago that the FF is linear at around 57%, but at this pointy it's all personal preference. When I have this wheel I think I set at 60% also

 

[Blkout]

Thanks
Now running settings at:
70
100
100
20
0
Can I ask why most have spring and damper at 0?

Most games don't use the spring and damper setting, in fact the only two games that I can recall that actually use the spring setting is Test Drive Ferrari Racing Legends and Project CARS. You would not want to use a spring setting of 20 in Project CARS because it would apply a lot of artificial centering force. I recommend leaving your spring setting at 0 and no more than 10 if you just like a slight amount of centering force in those games that use it.

I would also recommend leaving your overall FFB at 60% and adjust in game as needed.

 

[Andy_J]

Thanks again all.

Got it sorted quite good now with settings advised above.

I am still blown away by the power of this wheel, but mostly by the pedals. I love it.

Time to buy the F1 wheel add on now.

 

[Blkout]

Just tried the wheel with RRE and I am blown away. It's fantastic. The braking is 1000 times better and the strength and detail of the feedback is immense.
Loved throwing the Chevrolet prototypes around the red bull ring. Total quality.

Now to do some testing with GSCE.

These are the settings I use in R3E with the T500RS:

TM Control Panel:

Rotation: 900 degrees
Overall Strength: 60%
Constant: 100%
Periodic: 100%
Spring: 0%
Damper: 0%

R3E FFB:

All settings at default except:

FFB Intensity: 70%
Smoothing: 0%
Steering Force Intensity: 100%
Understeer: 100%
Vertical Load: 350%
Lateral Force: 50%
Engine Vibration: 30%
Brake Vibration: 10%
Kerb Vibration: 50%
Shift Effect: 100%

When you start a race, go into car settings and use 900 degrees rotation and 32 degree steering lock.

 

[Andy_J]

I could never get on with non-progressive type pedals after this. It is so much better. For £14, the basher brake mod has completely changed my sim racing enjoyment.

 

[Blkout]

I could never get on with non-progressive type pedals after this. It is so much better. For £14, the basher brake mod has completely changed my sim racing enjoyment.

Agreed, it works every bit as well as a load cell and its more reliable. However, I do like the pedal travel more on the Fanatec CSR Elites compared to the T500 pedals which is a bit short. The basher brake mod is a MUST for anyone with T500 pedals.

 

[Msportdan]

personally u cant beat the good ol pedals on the t300 gte lol...!!!]

that includes the pieces of eraser i have stuck in the front to rid the huge deadzone on them!!

joking of course

 

[Andy_J]

personally u cant beat the good ol pedals on the t300 gte lol...!!!]

that includes the pieces of eraser i have stuck in the front to rid the huge deadzone on them!!

Hey Dan, I feel for ya. Now I have experienced the T500RS pedals with the mod, I could never go to cheap plastic pedals again. They work so well and feel like a real car brake.

 

[Msportdan]

i can imagine they are awesome...

but i have other things to pay for this year, trip to NewYork, sons university fees.

so dont feel so sorry for me lol

the t300 was the last PC luxury for a while.

 

[Pär Öqvist]

I'm running the following with my T500 and AC:
- In drivers: 60% gain, 100% constant and periodic, 0% spring and damper, autocenter by game.
- In game: 65% gain, no filter or damping, no fake effects, 7% minimum force, brake gamma 1.0.

The key thing for the T500 is to not set forces too low. It's a lot more powerful than a Logitech wheel but giving in to the tendency to reduce the power of the wheel makes forces feel a bit squishy and inprecise. Let the wheel use that lovely dynamic range properly (for spin speed and impact of heavy forces but also to let smaller forces feel crisper).

This is my wheelcheck overview/comparison graph for the T300 and T500. I didn't list 100% on the T500 because I was getting anomalous results, but you get the general idea. Default 60% gain in drivers allows you to get very linear response when you allow the game to use the first 65-70% of the curve for the T500, avoiding the rounded off top section. In comparison, I only use 55% gain in game for my T300 (which is at default 75% gain in drivers) since that's the useable linear part of the T300's curve.

Note: 60% gain in drivers is default on the T500, 75% on the T300 (which is clearly less linear):

hmm going by that should run about 60 % on the TX also for more linear ffb. I can try it with the TX can add to the chart perhaps if you have a link to the software

 

[Blkout]

hmm going by that should run about 60 % on the TX also for more linear ffb. I can try it with the TX can add to the chart perhaps if you have a link to the software

I understand linear is what wheel design should strive for but if it sacrifices FFB strength to the point that you lose detail due to weak forces, is it really worth it? I find that the TX/T300 feels best for me at 80-85% overall FFB strength, regardless of what any linearity graph shows. To each their own. I like tests and data but they don't always tell the tale about how a wheel feels. A good case in point is that the Fanatec CSR Elite was often compared to the T500RS when they were both available and new and while the CSR Elite appeared to have a much better linearity curve, almost everyone preferred the feel of the T500RS due to its FFB strength advantage.