The Thrustmaster T500RS Thread

[VWMasteR]

I had the same calibration problem as Paskowitz and after about 2 weeks of back and forth with tech support they just replaced the whole unit, pedals and all for a brand new one in the box from the Aussie distributor. I had to get the old wheel and pedals back to them but they covered the return shipping. It turns out it had a faulty PCB,

Wow... now that is awesome!

 

[sandboxgod]

@Wildrun, you have a gift for finding all these awesome cockpits & vids. 👍

I really dig the seatbelts lol

 

[diptob79]

Another report through my journey using T500RS

Last time I was reporting my wheel was off centered after calibration, and given advice to manually adjust centering. I didn't do it (yet) at that time due to late night and sleepy zzz
Well, interestingly, the next day I fired up my cockpit (expecting the wheel to be off centered), but it was calibrated perfectly ... wow.. just woww.. (glitch?)

At the same day, it was weekend. My friend came along and we play it hard (using R.Soft, drifting, etc).. real hard.. after 4hrs and quit the game, guess what?? it was off centered again !!
The normal thing I did was turn off-on the whole system but it stays the same. So, we headed for diner and came back, haha it was normal again. I got some hints maybe because of the heat.

The following days, I can conclude more that it was related to the heat. After long run (3-4hrs) sometimes it off centered, sometimes don't. I played in daily basis, by the way.. and during weekend the whole system always run straight 60hrs from friday evening until monday morning, well the actual me driving is still 3-4 hrs straight in average (the other was b-spec /remote /standby)
Now I'm considering to mod my wheel with additional fan to the PCB and/or the motor.

Another glitch, similar as I saw here, was the paddle. It often double click when i paddle. For instance, downshift once from 4th gear, and the game showed me downshifting direct to the 2nd gear. It was like 50-50 chance to get downshifting right. This happened for the last 3-4 weeks only with the downshifting.
But lately (this week) up shifting started to behave the same, but less likely to occur (around 10% chance).

I'm eager to dismantle the wheel but every weekend I was so busy racing with my friend, LOL..

Maybe I'll do it once the shifter arrives

Thanks for reading my post

 

[Hwangm]

is there any version i should look out for when/if I buy this soon?
what's the latest bug free that you guys have?

 

[starbutt033]

Off Topic...MOUNTING YOUR WHEEL...the best way to mount these wheels besides an awkward coffe table...is solved..use your COMPUTOR CHAIR..TAKE OFF THE BACK SUPPORT ..chairs are hieght adjustable and fit in between your legs for stability so you could put a pillow or two as a back support on a lazy boy..sit back and drive well relaxed instead of leaning upward and forward, or even vs. using a hard kitchen chair to sit in and drive....

 

[paskowitz]

Another report through my journey using T500RS

Last time I was reporting my wheel was off centered after calibration, and given advice to manually adjust centering. I didn't do it (yet) at that time due to late night and sleepy zzz
Well, interestingly, the next day I fired up my cockpit (expecting the wheel to be off centered), but it was calibrated perfectly ... wow.. just woww.. (glitch?)

At the same day, it was weekend. My friend came along and we play it hard (using R.Soft, drifting, etc).. real hard.. after 4hrs and quit the game, guess what?? it was off centered again !!
The normal thing I did was turn off-on the whole system but it stays the same. So, we headed for diner and came back, haha it was normal again. I got some hints maybe because of the heat.

The following days, I can conclude more that it was related to the heat. After long run (3-4hrs) sometimes it off centered, sometimes don't. I played in daily basis, by the way.. and during weekend the whole system always run straight 60hrs from friday evening until monday morning, well the actual me driving is still 3-4 hrs straight in average (the other was b-spec /remote /standby)
Now I'm considering to mod my wheel with additional fan to the PCB and/or the motor.

Another glitch, similar as I saw here, was the paddle. It often double click when i paddle. For instance, downshift once from 4th gear, and the game showed me downshifting direct to the 2nd gear. It was like 50-50 chance to get downshifting right. This happened for the last 3-4 weeks only with the downshifting.
But lately (this week) up shifting started to behave the same, but less likely to occur (around 10% chance).

I'm eager to dismantle the wheel but every weekend I was so busy racing with my friend, LOL..

Maybe I'll do it once the shifter arrives

Thanks for reading my post

Hmmm this sounds familiar... lol. I have not had any over heating problems, but I will say the fan is quite loud. It also stays on for a long time (like 20 min) in the menus after a race. This tells me that when I am actually using the wheel, they are not working all that well. I do not think TM left enough open on the top of the wheel for the heat to escape. I also think they should have made some bigger inlet slats on the button to rush cool air in.

 

[lunarwolf]

is there any version i should look out for when/if I buy this soon?
what's the latest bug free that you guys have?

i have version 1 since launch and haven't had any issues - done well over 100k km on GT5 with it and it hasn't missed a beat I guess YMMV.

 

[OwensRacing]

i have version 1 since launch and haven't had any issues - done well over 100k km on GT5 with it and it hasn't missed a beat I guess YMMV.

Are you running FFB 10?

Do you league race? Or race in a lil more serious manner then maybe a person should in a video game?

Curious about your habits.

I use my stuff but don't beat in it. Left paddle is funky. Pedals been replaced. Fan noisy.

But I keep using it.

 

[chamade]

If you have paddle issues apparently there is a do it yourself fix that Thrustmaster can mail to you if you're not willing to send the wheel in. Someone on the iRacing forums did that. TSB.

 

[OwensRacing]

If you have paddle issues apparently there is a do it yourself fix that Thrustmaster can mail to you if you're not willing to send the wheel in. Someone on the iRacing forums did that. TSB.

I plan to opt for that and the fan. Need to get the ball rolling. Be a good project while home with kids during Christmas break.

 

[lunarwolf]

Are you running FFB 10?

yes, although at first i had FFb set at 3, because FFB was so strong at beginning and i wasn't used to it. after a month of getting used to it i gradually increased it to 10.

now I only turn down FFB exceptionally;
- when using f1 cars or Redbull car since FFB is way too strong for my liking - admitedly i very rarely use those cars
- or when i did some endurance races otherwise it can get tiring esp on Nurb 4hr race

fan is noisy, but IMO many people are completely paranoid as i have seen on some youtube videos. it is normal for fan to make noise when at full throttle due to heat when racing for a long time. comparatively my graphics card makes a lot more noise when playing some PC games. i would actually be worried if my fan wasn't making any noise as that would mean that the unit could develop a fault from overheating. anyway fan kicks in when it gets hot and then throttles down to near silent when unit is cooled down. if you want fan to make less noise then you will need to put in a larger fan that has higher CFM and a lower RPM - but that will require some serious modding, ie making a larger hole at top of base unit. personally I am not bothered by noise as i have a 7.1 sound system and fan noise doesn't stop me from hearing game sounds

sry to hear about your funky paddle and pedals. i can be quite forceful on pedals (i race with shoes) and they are fine, as for paddles i usually use the middle finger to shift up/down - also what do you mean about funky paddle?

PS my gear is hard mounted on a Gamepod and pedals are mounted inverted GT style - using latest firmware v38

 

[OwensRacing]

Funky down shift. I lost the click and now getting double shifts.


Very odd how some are fine and some are not. Mine was perfect till about two months ago. Fan started getting loud. I mean like it had a bad bearing/bushing loud. It's actually gotten quieter but still noisy. Not the freakishly loud noise it ha before. Now more of a wire touching the fan blade sound.

Pedal was my gas. They are sprung via a torsion spring. It had broke mid coil and went limp.

All this happened in succession.


Now for a lil conspiracy theory:

Seems they made these just good enough to get out the warranty zone. Those of us using them a lot are seeing said issues before warranty is out. So will we see these problems arise more and more as we approach the year mark. Be interesting to chart the trends. But getting the info would be hard. Only thing we have to work from is Internet.

/\ I'd like to think its just a bit of bad luck on a new product.

 

[lunarwolf]

if i were you i would open the base unit, get rid of dust and make sure no wire is in contact with fan blades 💡

i think i have put this wheel through its paces. I have well over 100,000km on GT5 which is a little more than occasional racing

i don't know what you did to break pedal, but as i said i am forceful on pedals enough to have ever so slightly bent the steel pedal stopper on my Gamepod

re conspiracy theory -> FYI the warranty is 2 years, which is pretty good for electronics

 

[OwensRacing]

if i were you i would open the base unit, get rid of dust and make sure no wire is in contact with fan blades 💡

i think i have put this wheel through its paces. I have well over 100,000km on GT5 which is a little more than occasional racing

i don't know what you did to break pedal, but as i said i am forceful on pedals enough to have ever so slightly bent the pedal stopper on my Gamepod

FYI the warranty is 2 years, which is pretty good for electronics

2yr!!! Good to know.

Nothing I did to it caused these issues. That's for sure. I don't have people using it. My kids have their own wheel. I've owned a G27 with zero issues. I use a specific set of shoes. Hard mounted on a custom cockpit.

Most my racing is on Hard Racing or harder tires. I league race and take it serious. So smooth inputs are key. Not into beating things up.

Yea nothing. Absolutely nothing I have done would cause it to break.

As for taking it apart. I will when the parts from Thrustmaster come. At which point I have their full permission and will not void the warranty. Usually I don't head to these "warranty" breaking terms. But with the issues these are having. I plan to watch my P's and Q's as to not void my warranty. Honestly afraid I may need it a few more times.

The pedal was odd!!! Do note I have 20+yrs experience with metal fab. The spring broke. It appears to me it was faulty material. Aka cheap spring.

Worst thing it happened 2 hours before I needed to qualify. Was pretty gutted then remembered I could swap clutch and gas hit button on wheel and be qualifying. One hour later I was up and running. Gas felt soooo good. I think the other spring was weak for a while. The gas felt so soft and was hard to get a out turns smoothly. After the fix I did. Much better.

Anyway. That's my story.

 

[lunarwolf]

Anyway. That's my story.

not saying it's your fault, sorry if i gave you the wrong impression i am lucky and you are unlucky is all i am trying to say

hopefully thrustmaster parts will resolve your issues. personally if i had so many issues i would have sent the whole thing back and asked for a replacement

anyway i hope it all gets sorted in the end for you because at the end of the day it is more fun to race than to have to deal with hardware faults

 

[OwensRacing]

not saying it's your fault, sorry if i gave you the wrong impression i am lucky and you are unlucky is all i am trying to say

hopefully thrustmaster parts will resolve your issues. personally if i had so many issues i would have sent the whole thing back and asked for a replacement

anyway i hope it all gets sorted in the end for you because at the end of the day it is more fun to race than to have to deal with hardware faults

Replacement was considered. However had trouble finding the off time from racing. invest so much time in a series to let it go by sending in wheel.

Come tax season prob replace it and have a spare.

 

[diptob79]

So, did anyone started a list of known issue with T500 RS, so we can make a checklist whether anyone experience it or not as time goes by

 

[lunarwolf]

known issues AFAIK

1. wheel not centered correctly -> fix procedure http://ts.thrustmaster.com/download/accessories/Manuals/T500RS/T500RS_Manual_centering_ALL.pdf

2. weird rubbing fan noise (not sure of reason - possibly cheap OEM fan?) -> fix: TH will send you replacement fan to mount yourself

3. pedal not responsive - Owensracing said his spring broke -> fix: TH will send you replacement pedal set

4. paddle double shift (not sure of reason) -> fix: TBC

not sure if i missed any, but that is all i can remember reading about

maybe Owensracing should do this list since he is the one that was unlucky enough to have most of these issues and has dealt with TH to diagnose/fix the issues

 

[mykem]

yes, although at first i had FFb set at 3, because FFB was so strong at beginning and i wasn't used to it. after a month of getting used to it i gradually increased it to 10.
........

May I ask the wheel you were using prior to switching to the T500RS. That is if you were using a FFB wheel.

I'll be upgrading from a G25- I love the wheel although I find the FFB to be rather weak especially after about 20-30 minutes of play.

 

[paskowitz]

known issues AFAIK

1. wheel not centered correctly -> fix procedure http://ts.thrustmaster.com/download/accessories/Manuals/T500RS/T500RS_Manual_centering_ALL.pdf

2. weird rubbing fan noise (not sure of reason - possibly cheap OEM fan?) -> fix: TH will send you replacement fan to mount yourself

3. pedal not responsive - Owensracing said his spring broke -> fix: TH will send you replacement pedal set

4. paddle double shift (not sure of reason) -> fix: TBC

not sure if i missed any, but that is all i can remember reading about

maybe Owensracing should do this list since he is the one that was unlucky enough to have most of these issues and has dealt with TH to diagnose/fix the issues

You can add paddle simply not responding or responding intermittently.

 

[fedexpress]

anyone using this wheel and shifter with the visionracer?

did you have to drill some new holes to get it hard mounted?

thanks

 

[lunarwolf]

anyone using this wheel and shifter with the visionracer?

did you have to drill some new holes to get it hard mounted?

thanks

ask Mayaman - he has or is getting a TH8RS and has a Visionracer https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=229676

i don't have a Visionracer, but i'll guess the answer is yes you need to drill. if you don't want to you can always use the clamp - it is quite good. i know because i haven't hard mounted mine yet and am using the clamp on my rig

my 2 cents

 

[WildRun]

@Wildrun, you have a gift for finding all these awesome cockpits & vids. 👍

Google is your best friend .
In addition this wheel is the "Must-have" in lot of "PC Hardcore Gamers Forum" (as it's always the fastest and most powerful wheel on PC market)

Another one:

 

[Leemon]

Google is your best friend .
In addition this wheel is the "Must-have" in lot of "PC Hardcore Gamers Forum" (as it's always the fastest and most powerful wheel on PC market)

Another one:

Great setup, have similar but without 3 screen (just one, 40 inch lcd).

Seat is incredible, very comfort, you dont have shaking, great adjustability.👍

 

[lunarwolf]

just dawned on me that cockpit is a rinoseat. so some were actually delivered

 

[Mr. S]

Right, so I'll order mine tomorrow, finally.

400€ for the wheel + GT rim (GT5 is included, so I might be able to sell it for 20€ or so)
135€ for the F1 rim
250€ for a SPARCO R100 bucket seat
70€ for a SPARCO shoulder belt (correct term?), for shiggles

So it'll cost me around 850€. Going to put that on the PlaySeat Alcantara base instead of the original bucket seat. Hope that'll rock.

Just one question: what about the volume of the belt etc.? Is it comparable to the DFGT or worse?

 

[jonzster]

ask Mayaman - he has or is getting a TH8RS and has a Visionracer https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=229676

i don't have a Visionracer, but i'll guess the answer is yes you need to drill. if you don't want to you can always use the clamp - it is quite good. i know because i haven't hard mounted mine yet and am using the clamp on my rig

my 2 cents

Yeah you need to drill new holes for pedals and wheel. I also found the wheel sat to high for my liking (the T500 RS is much bigger than the G27 wheel) compared to my G27 so I raised the seat up 2 inches, it was perfect then. I'm 5'11" btw.

2yr!!! Good to know.

Nothing I did to it caused these issues. That's for sure. I don't have people using it. My kids have their own wheel. I've owned a G27 with zero issues. I use a specific set of shoes. Hard mounted on a custom cockpit.

Most my racing is on Hard Racing or harder tires. I league race and take it serious. So smooth inputs are key. Not into beating things up.

Yea nothing. Absolutely nothing I have done would cause it to break.

As for taking it apart. I will when the parts from Thrustmaster come. At which point I have their full permission and will not void the warranty. Usually I don't head to these "warranty" breaking terms. But with the issues these are having. I plan to watch my P's and Q's as to not void my warranty. Honestly afraid I may need it a few more times.

The pedal was odd!!! Do note I have 20+yrs experience with metal fab. The spring broke. It appears to me it was faulty material. Aka cheap spring.

Worst thing it happened 2 hours before I needed to qualify. Was pretty gutted then remembered I could swap clutch and gas hit button on wheel and be qualifying. One hour later I was up and running. Gas felt soooo good. I think the other spring was weak for a while. The gas felt so soft and was hard to get a out turns smoothly. After the fix I did. Much better.

Anyway. That's my story.

Had the same thing happen to me but luckily day before our race league were due to race so had plenty time to switch the clutch over to the gas pedal side. Now the fan has started making a weird noise too. My wheel base has already been RMA'd once as it wouldn't power on one day, got that sorted but now have these problems 👎

 

[advan031]

I tried this wheel for the first time today and I liked it A LOT. So much I'm gonna sell my G27 and GT2 wheel to free up room...lol

 

[priesty_lfc]

Should finally be getting mine tomorrow!

Serious question tho, what should I be looking for? I understand there is a version 2 model? How can I tell which version I have? (what's the difference?), also I assume I have to go to the thrustmaster website to get the latest firmware before I can use?

Hardware wise I guess I also need 1 plug socket for the unit but how many usb's?

Thanks

 

[lunarwolf]

Should finally be getting mine tomorrow!

Serious question tho, what should I be looking for? I understand there is a version 2 model? How can I tell which version I have? (what's the difference?), also I assume I have to go to the thrustmaster website to get the latest firmware before I can use?

Hardware wise I guess I also need 1 plug socket for the unit but how many usb's?

Thanks

AFAIK they are all the same except newer versions have newer firmware. Fan may be different TBC, pretty sure the rest is identical