The Thrustmaster T500RS Thread

  • Thread starter TomN
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Seems like the new rim is still not available to the UK, which is odd considering quite a few retailers have it in stock within Europe, but none of them will ship to the UK.
 
I don´t understand why they shrinked it. What is the point making a replica if you are shrinking it?

That size is great for rallying so not totally useless but for everything else where it would be suitable I would rather go for the F1 style rim for the "twitch shooters" cars.

There was room for a 320 mm rim. It´s very ergonomic you get in a really strong position with it but there was a long adjustment period because I have never sim raced with larger rims then the Fanatec ones.

One last thought on the size that just occurred to me: I found it interesting to hear the other user's comments about liking the ergonomics after watching Darin and Shaun discuss the CSW GT (BMW) wheel, which Shaun indicated felt too "big" because he had to remove his hand from the wheel to get to some of the buttons. This makes me think that TM's decision to go with a "partial scale" wheel may have been intentional. When you consider that a lot of teens and younger racers are Gran Turismo fans, the smaller-scale ergonomics also make even more sense (and I guess that Shaun and I would also fall into that category, because my hands are probably average, but I wouldn't bill them as "large").
 
You don´t have to pay more then 80 GBP for a really good aftermarket rim unless you want a specific brand or shave some extra grams off in the size of 320 mm. Then you get alcantara, suede or leather instead of cheap rubber too.

To me the Fanatec rims appear to be much more bang for buck then the Thrustmaster ones. And Fanatec is paying a license fee for the BMW rim as well but perhaps that is cheaper then Ferrari license.

It does look like Thrustmaster is banking more then Fanatec regarding the rims at the very least. Would anyone argue the buttons on the F1 rim is of high quality? Not that I have had a problem yet but seen the pictures :)

Rim size and all is very subjective of course depending if you have big or small hands, shoulder width. There isn´t a single rim size that fit all cars either. But Thrustmaster could produce a full sized replica of the 458 and using leather or alcantara or whatever is in the 458 and make a profit at that price point I am sure.

I am not buying anyway I guess you all guessed that lol
But if I am getting another rim it will be in a similar size to the 458 rim for rallying or old vintage F1 cars. Maybe one in wood would be nice :)
 
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This was an exchange I had with another user who just received his F458 wheel over on the ISR forums:
JogoAsobi
After spending a few hours using the wheel I have to agree about the buttons/ergonomics. I have very large hands, the button placement is perfect. If the rim were larger it would be a stretch to reach the inner buttons.

I used to own the CSW BMW GT Rim.

I found most of the buttons on it a "stretch" to reach with my large hands.
So in that sense, I do prefer the button placement on the F458 rim.

Still conflicted about the diameter, time will tell with that one.
I think that could be relative to ones physical size.

Maybe its related to shoulder width, personally I feel a bit scrunched.
I expect that with the F1 rim, but I get a similar feeling with the F458 rim.

But I am not losing sleep over it...
...it cost me half of what the CSW Rim did, and 1/4 of what a SM rim does.
 
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Looks like the PS4 will support triple screens then. I still think you will need 3 PS4s and MayBe still 3 copies of the game to do it. With only 1 hdmi cable I dont see how else you can do it.
 
Got my Ferrari 458 challenge Wheel and the damn thing doesn't work on PS3. The screen shakes like crazy and the buttons and D-Pad don't work properly. :ouch:
 
Got my Ferrari 458 challenge Wheel and the damn thing doesn't work on PS3. The screen shakes like crazy and the buttons and D-Pad don't work properly. :ouch:

Did you upgrade your firmware for the T500RS before installing the wheel?

This is REQUIRED -- older firmware will not allow the T500RS to recognize the new F458 wheel.
 
Thrustmaster isn't connected to my PC (Windows 7) or my old XP laptop. Do I need GT5 running on a PC? Sorry for my ignorance!! Thanks for the kind responses.
 
Thrustmaster isn't connected to my PC (Windows 7) or my old XP laptop. Do I need GT5 running on a PC? Sorry for my ignorance!! Thanks for the kind responses.

Click the above link. You need to download the user interface software and firmware to your PC.

Just get the PS3 out of your mind entirely for the time being. The PS3 has nothing to do with the wheel right now. Besides, GT5 is not a PC game.

Take your time, slow down, think about what you are doing. You are updating basically the operational system of the wheel. You're updating how it functions.
 
Thanks for the link. Downloaded the pdf and update. Will see tomorrow if that takes care of the problem. Many thanks!!!
 
Thanks for the link. Downloaded the pdf and update. Will see tomorrow if that takes care of the problem. Many thanks!!!

That's what we are all here for. To help one another be better. 👍

Have you used a wheel before? There will be a learning curve for everyone. So don't get too frustrated.. In GT5, use a low Force Feedback setting, like 1. You control the wheel, don't let it control you. Use low powered cars to get used to it. Do your license tests again.
 
Thanks for the link. Downloaded the pdf and update. Will see tomorrow if that takes care of the problem. Many thanks!!!

What it is, Firecracker is firmware for the wheel itself. Thrustmaster had to update the wheel so it will work with the new 458 rim.

It also installs a utility on your computer that you can use to run tests on the wheel among other things.

If you get or have the TH8 RS shifter (cannot remember if you have one or not), there is also a neat little utility Thrustmaster has for windows you can use to adjust the neutral settings on the gates.

It makes using the manual clutch much better in GT5. But like the wheel's firmware you do that in windows too.
 
Thats what I thought at first, but then I went back and looked at all the other angles that appear in the video.
It's seems to me to be the housing on the wheel itself separate from the rig.
 
Looks like same rig than on E3 GT6 booth:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.633776166650122.1073741836.177715455589531&type=1

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