Thrustmaster Sparco R383 Rally Wheel

[Double Ayyys]

This is one of my favorite SIM gear purchases.

I'm all about having authentic gear so having a real sized rim and knowing that it's used by real world cars is a huge plus for me.

I also believe that the larger rim has helped smooth out my turning inputs. I no longer get hand fatigue since my hands don't wrap around it like a toy since the girth of the rim is much larger than the standard ones and also much beefier than the 599xx evo rim too.

The tactile button takes some time to get used to it's multi directional abilities but having the ability to move around and then click it in is a good concept because you only need to use that one button to navigate and accept through the menus.

 

[insert coin]

I like the large and thick rim, also that it's a round wheel (not D shaped). I do not like the mushy buttons, they should 'click' more.

 

[Myles B]

This is one of my favorite SIM gear purchases.

I'm all about having authentic gear so having a real sized rim and knowing that it's used by real world cars is a huge plus for me.

I also believe that the larger rim has helped smooth out my turning inputs. I no longer get hand fatigue since my hands don't wrap around it like a toy since the girth of the rim is much larger than the standard ones and also much beefier than the 599xx evo rim too.

The tactile button takes some time to get used to it's multi directional abilities but having the ability to move around and then click it in is a good concept because you only need to use that one button to navigate and accept through the menus.

Thanks for great feed back iv also noticed my hands getting cramped I have the gt wheel and have a friends

I like the large and thick rim, also that it's a round wheel (not D shaped). I do not like the mushy buttons, they should 'click' more.

Thanks bud that's a pity about the buttonsand

 

[Bambeakz]

Every time i search for the 383 wheel this forumpost comes up so i created a account and hopefully someone can help me with this decision.

Im running a T300 base with the 458 challenge and the F1 wheel. All fun and good but i know it can be better. I was always looking at the 599XX Alcantara wheel but when i first saw the 383 wheel i thought that wheel would be perfect for me.

Then watched a YT video about that wheel and in the comments someone mentioned that the wheel is fun for rally and oval racing but not so for circuit racing as the ffb is in the centre and edges is weaker. Can anyone confirm this or is it just a case of cranking the FFB up? (my ffb is never way up for the details to shine).

I play AC, Automobilista, Raceroom and Dirt Rally. And in the first 3 games i drive every car avaiable. Would the 599XX be the overall better wheel for me or would someone still recommend the 383 over that wheel? Both would be the best i guess but i dont like the fast release from thrustmaster so the less i have to change the wheel the better.

 

[Double Ayyys]

Every time i search for the 383 wheel this forumpost comes up so i created a account and hopefully someone can help me with this decision.

Im running a T300 base with the 458 challenge and the F1 wheel. All fun and good but i know it can be better. I was always looking at the 599XX Alcantara wheel but when i first saw the 383 wheel i thought that wheel would be perfect for me.

Then watched a YT video about that wheel and in the comments someone mentioned that the wheel is fun for rally and oval racing but not so for circuit racing as the ffb is in the centre and edges is weaker. Can anyone confirm this or is it just a case of cranking the FFB up? (my ffb is never way up for the details to shine).

I play AC, Automobilista, Raceroom and Dirt Rally. And in the first 3 games i drive every car avaiable. Would the 599XX be the overall better wheel for me or would someone still recommend the 383 over that wheel? Both would be the best i guess but i dont like the fast release from thrustmaster so the less i have to change the wheel the better.

I had the 599xx rim at 30cm and it felt too small imo. I use the 33cm R383 for all types of cars and think it feels great. For me having a larger wheel just helped with driving feeling natural. Also alot of circuit cars in real life are running either 310 or 330 rims which is 31 to 33cm.

As far as feedback goes I went from having settings for pCars2 go from Informative, Gain 100, Volume 55, Tone 55, and FX 55 to 100, 65, 65, 65 and have the same if not more detail than the previous settings and the 599xx rim.

 

[insert coin]

I agree with Double Ayyys: I had the 599xx rim before, now I use the R383 for all cars. To get the same FFB as I had with the 599xx rim I upped the gain in the Thrustmaster control panel from 75% to 85%, now the force is the same as with the 599xx rim. I kept the same in game settings as I had before.
The 599xx rim is not a bad rim at all, but I just like a bigger, more realistic rim. And a round rim for vintage cars.

 

[NosOsH]

This wheel looks amazing, anybody in canada been able to find a reseller? I really want to order one but i cant quite justify spending 100$+ on shipping it from europe...

 

[Myles B]

Hey guys just court up on the thread and wanted let you know in my research iv found for the new sparco R383 33cm wheel there is a firmware update needed to run this wheel might help with FFB and save your bases.

 

[Myles B]

This wheel looks amazing, anybody in canada been able to find a reseller? I really want to order one but i cant quite justify spending 100$+ on shipping it from europe...

Witch wheel do you mean bud the sparco R 383 or the new fancy Farrrai set up

 

[NosOsH]

Witch wheel do you mean bud the sparco R 383 or the new fancy Farrrai set up

The sparco R 383
but honestly just looking for a reseller in canada for any thrustmaster product other than best buy or costco

 

[Myles B]

The sparco R 383
but honestly just looking for a reseller in canada for any thrustmaster product other than best buy or costco

Yer know what you mean I live in Germany and found it really hard to find in a shop only online. I thought Amazon.ca was big there these days

 

[NosOsH]

Yer know what you mean I live in Germany and found it really hard to find in a shop only online. I thought Amazon.ca was big there these days

The wheel will come up on ebay.ca but not amazon so far..and its always from either Italy, the UK or Germany haha
I guess i just have to wait longer until it becomes more common. I dont understand why it has to be so hard to find it's not like they're a small company.

 

[RacingManiac]

I ordered mine actually over the Xmas/NY break through BHPhotovideo(yea the one for camera stuff) and they said its in stock and supposedly it'll be here tomorrow.

I have a Sam Maxwell 33cm OMP wheel for PC side of things for my TS-PC and I think this will serve that purpose for PS4. I actually like having a bigger wheel and I use it on PC for everything bar like LMP car or open wheelers. You can dial the FFB up to compensate for the larger size. For example in GT-Sport I am usually only running Steering Torque setting at 3(out of 10)

 

[user3392345]

After mounting that sparco rally wheel on the t-gt, i needed to adjust height and angle of the base. Also pov & fov in all games i play. That big rim make looks everything tiny But after adjusting it was a nice look&feeling. After driving some laps on the ring my hands was colored black, damn. 1 time, 2 times, 3 times, black hands. I dismounted the rim, disassemble all that button stuff and then washed the rim with warm water soap and a handbrush. black water! Now no black hands anymore after driving. It was fun and a new feel but after some days i changed back to the orginal t-gt rim. With that sparco wheel i dont get that nice stall effect, even if i put strenght to 100%. Also the buttons are bit useless on ps4, u need to remember what button does what Also the position of the buttons are not very comfortable.

 

[Myles B]

After mounting that sparco rally wheel on the t-gt, i needed to adjust height and angle of the base. Also pov & fov in all games i play. That big rim make looks everything tiny But after adjusting it was a nice look&feeling. After driving some laps on the ring my hands was colored black, damn. 1 time, 2 times, 3 times, black hands. I dismounted the rim, disassemble all that button stuff and then washed the rim with warm water soap and a handbrush. black water! Now no black hands anymore after driving. It was fun and a new feel but after some days i changed back to the orginal t-gt rim. With that sparco wheel i dont get that nice stall effect, even if i put strenght to 100%. Also the buttons are bit useless on ps4, u need to remember what button does what Also the position of the buttons are not very comfortable.

I have read and seen a lot of what you have said one reason why I have decided not to buy it unless a great sale comes up.
Iv started to reserch how to make a custom wheel.

 

[RacingManiac]

Got mine on Friday, had a couple of days of use on it. All in GT-Sport. I run a TS-PC base with the Drivehub for PS4

So I was using the TS-PC racer wheel, Ferrari F1 wheel and actually the T500 RS GT wheel in that game before and this is probably where I want my wheel to be in this game. Mainly because in the game with the 1-10 Steering torque setting I don't get enough adjustment for it(I run 3, but realistically its a bit too heavy for my taste on the open wheel rim). T500RS wheel is actually ok but no paddles. This Sparco wheel being 33cm is actually a good size for that.

It is also as stiff as the Sam Maxwell OMP that I have for PC. Which is quite nice to have a TM wheel that doesn't flex and make plasticky noise.

I don't like the new buttons they used, or the D-pad. The feedback for the buttons is basically non-existent, I am not sure why anyone would want that. The D-pad requires all the attention to to make sure you are toggling it the right way. Paddles are standard TM fair. Throw is a bit long but works fine.

All in all I think shows a decent update over the old standard TM fair I think. I'd be curious to know how the new Ferrari compares but I probably won't buy that now.

 

[Bambeakz]

Can anybody tell me how the rim is called in the Thrustmaster config?. Here it says RIM : GT Wheel and the right shifter en de right yellow button are not working. I have installed the latest firmware for the T300 base.

I dont know if my rim is faulty or if its something with the software.

 

[PocketZeven]

Can anybody tell me how the rim is called in the Thrustmaster config?. Here it says RIM : GT Wheel and the right shifter en de right yellow button are not working. I have installed the latest firmware for the T300 base.

I dont know if my rim is faulty or if its something with the software.

Is your firmware updated?

 

[Bambeakz]

Oh man ...how stupid. Just updated te drivers and not the firmware. Will do it tomorrow..must be it.

 

[user3392345]

Oh man ...how stupid. Just updated te drivers and not the firmware. Will do it tomorrow..must be it.

Package 2017_TTRS_7

firmware update will help

 

[RaceFace85]

This is how the wheel looks after two months usage with gloves.

 

[Double Ayyys]

Same. Even with gloves I have matted down areas at 10 and 2.

 

[user3392345]

Sad to see how weak this material is. I can remember my old g25, i had put leather on the rim by myself. Mother´s good leather jacket had the right stuff i needed HAHA

 

[Bambeakz]

Wow is it just a bad kind of suede or is this always with suede? I dont wanna know how mine will look in a month of two without using gloves. Dont like to use gloves with racing.

 

[Myles B]

glad I didn't get 1 by the looks of it

 

[Double Ayyys]

My Ferrari 599xx evo rim did the same with its Alcantara material (and a mentionable thing is the stitching that holds the Alcantara on is visible and over extended usage with my hands constantly rubbing at 10 and 2 the stitching broke and was even more of an embarrassment so I think the R383 has a better design because the stitching is not visible and you won't run into that issue with it). The suede on the Sparco R383 is amazing quality but any wheel rim that has these softer materials will be subject to matting and discoloration specially if you tend to work up a sweat. I do hour long if not more race length or spend upwards of 4 to 5 hours a day on the weekends and with that much time on it there's not much you could expect. Still a great rim, by far the sturdier of all TM selections.

I have just over 200 hours with the rim since I got it between AC and pCars2.

20180126_101553

• Double Ayyys
• Feb 13, 2018

This is not due to it being a Thrustmaster wheel either... here is an example of a real race car cockpit with a suede wheel and you can see it suffers the same matting and discoloration and that's with using professional fireproof gloves that would absorb most of your hand sweat before it even gets to the wheel.

https://www.123rf.com/photo_8182652....html?fromid=RWIxOXZPYm9uS3VyMTVkUXd3cTZwdz09

 

[cjr3559]

Finally got my hands on this wheel yesterday. Most of my thoughts are similar to others in this thread, but my first impressions are very positive.

Large solid rim makes it feel like driving a real car. Certainly a plus in Rally titles where a high degree of rotation is needed.

Suede rim is leaps and bounds better than the rubbery stock GTE rim. No comparison. But wear gloves; the ink will definitely stain.

Paddle shifters are good, though TM must think we all have giant hands. I have long fingers and could use another half inch to reach them more comfortably without reaching behind the rim too much. The paddles are adjustable, but in the wrong direction for me personally. On the other hand, the paddles do not interfere when steering lively.

The buttons feel OK. Wish they had more click, but they do respond well.

The directional selector button can be a bit frustrating at times. It make take some time and familiarity to select the direction you actually want.

Overall a great wheel mod. If you are a Rally fan this wheel is a must.

 

[Tom]

Holy thread revival, Batman! I've just finished off a review of the R383 Add-on wheel, just in case anybody is thinking of purchasing one!

 

[ELmarcotuff]

Apologies for reviving what seems to be a dead thread, but I just got the wheel, And I'm having problems with the directional/X button. It doesn't seem to do anything. Its frustrating trying to play ACC on the ps4 because it defaults to the wheel regardless and I can't go through the menus. Has anyone else had issues with the directional button?