Thrustmaster T300RS Racing Wheel Thread

[Parker]

I'm on hold with the New Egg customer service now (live chat) to try and replace my T300 RS. Trying to do it myself with the website didn't work as it said the T300 RS was ineligible which definitely shouldn't be the case as I bought a 3 year warranty with it.

I absolutely love the wheel but the throttle issue is really starting to bother me now, especially since I've began to race online again so it is time to get it replaced. Hopefully before Project CARS releases.

Edit: Apparently since it has been more than 30 days since I purchased the wheel, New Egg can't do anything for me. The warranty I purchased is through a third party company but they advised me that Thrustmaster should replace the wheel since it still has the one year manufacturer warranty. E-mail has been sent to Thrustmaster, hopefully everything goes smooth.

Edit #2: I've been on Amazon's e-mail list to be notified when the T3PA becomes available but never received anything. Looked today and it said they are taking orders but they will take longer to ship, I figured what the hell and I put it in my cart and completed the purchase. Just received an a-mail from Amazon saying my estimated delivery date is between March 3-23rd. Project CARS doesn't come out until the 20th (and I took a week off from work that week) so that works for me. Hopefully Thrustmaster replaces my T300RS by then though.

 

[Cocomoto]

Sorry to hear that my friend. Hope you get a new set of pedals or a new wheel.

My T500 pedals arrive yeasterday and they are amazing!! It's so funny that sometimes i press the clutch pedal instead of the brake on DriveClub. But the brake feeling on the GT position of the pedals is sooo good, i'm in love.
just bought my TH8A today, it will be shipped in 10 days to me... just can't wait.

The problem is that i spend a lot of money on the wheel, pedals, shiffer that now i don't have money to buy ProjectCars.

I will have to choose between Battlefield Hardline or ProjectCars... but i want both.

 

[WarriusZero]

I have emailed Thrustmaster to ask them the full specs of their brake spring (especially the compression rate) but haven't received a reply, 9 days later.

Has anyone else tried to get these specs from them, or managed to calculate/measure the compression rate? There's no point buying a new spring and finding out it's even worse....


(Note: I've just ordered some foam golf balls, following on a trend seen all the way back in page 32. I'm hopeful this little mod won't limit the pedal travel to a point where I don't get 100% pressure. I'll let you know how it goes)


EDIT: I got a reply. They won't tell me, they say they don't know.

 

[DUC748inMD]

I got home Monday evening and went to work on unboxing and checking out the new goodies. My old setup was a Logitech DFGT with Wheel Stand Pro and an X-Rocker chair that came into my possession.



That is now replaced by the Thrustmaster T300RS and Playseat Evolution Alcantara w/seat slider.



I'm still coming to terms with the Playseat honestly. Construction is solid but I haven't found the best adjustment to place the wheel and pedals in the optimal (envisioned) placement. The Wheel Stand Pro being infinitely adjustable does have it's advantages in that regard but I wanted something more substantial (and the chair was really uncomfortable). Any users out there in the 5'11 145lbs range using the same rig with the same complaints? What did you do to alter the setup?

Now, comparing the DFGT to the T300RS...very different wheels. The T300RS is much heavier, much stronger, much quieter, etc. in comparison. The pedals are night and day. In socks the pedal faces are far more comfortable but also much heavier in spring tension; I don't see how you can use these without bolting them down honestly. No problems with locking up the brakes either. My deadzones on the pedals appear fine at this point* and no clicks or clunks while turning the wheel or using the paddle shifters. The fan came on last night after a bit and it wasn't loud enough to be an issue. I am currently running GT6 on 5/7 and this gives the wheel a nice weight to it without turning the arms to noodles after a long session. I had it built up that the feedback from curbing and whatnot was really pronounce but so far I haven't seen this. I definitely get the feedback from running over things but it is pretty light overall. My track time and venues have been limited to only three locations so more time will help underline where things really sit. So far, I'm enjoying the wheel.

For the cord nazis...a little velcro and time and the cables are tucked neatly and virtually out of site. And in the below shot, since people complained about the adjustment knobs eating into the finish when changing drivers and making adjustments, I laid a strip of black electrical tape down the center line to lessen the bite into the metal. Time will tell if that actually had any effect.



*When exiting GT6 and dropping into the PS3 screen I've had the problem of the menus scrolling down to the bottom-most position like the down arrow was stuck. The only fix has been to pull a DS3 out and navigate the menus from there. I have updated the firmware and don't recall reading about that in this thread. Google is my friend...

Also, Dirt 2 doesn't map correctly to the wheel (gas/brake fight against the paddle shifter mapping). Dirt 3 appears fine though the degrees of wheel rotation is set really low. Need for Speed still needs to be tested.

 

[BrandonW77]

Hey guys, I've run into a problem with my T300RS on PC sims. I've been discussing it with some friends, here's a copy/paste from our discussion.

In all my PC sims the wheel feels wrong, when turning the wheel it will suddenly go completely limp right at the point when you expect it to start getting heavier. It seems to coincide with the point when the car starts to exhibit understeer, as soon as the tires start protesting in a turn the wheel flops over. It's so light that I can literally spin the wheel around with one finger, no resistance at all. I can still feel bumps and vibrations and the steering inputs still work, there's just no weight or resistance. This varies from car to car and from sim to sim but all are exhibiting it to some effect. For example, the GT3 Camaro in AC feels pretty heavy while the Z4 has almost no weight at all. In GSCE the "tin-top" cars feel decent but the open-wheel cars have no weight to the wheel (though if I crank up the realfeel settings I can get weight in the wheel, but I have to go to the extremes and it still feels strange).

I have reinstalled the Thrustmaster driver and double-checked my profiler settings and ingame settings, no improvement. I have tried multiple USB ports (both USB 2.0 and USB 3.0), makes no difference. I got the wheel about a month ago, the first week or two I had the T300 it did not feel like this but it has gradually gotten worse and I think I can even feel it getting worse during the duration of a race. When hooked up to the PS3 with GT6 the T300 feels fine, lots of feedback and very heavy (to the point it was hard to steer with the torque at the high end of the setting). So I think the wheel is fine, it's something with the PC.

Any suggestions?

Here's a video of me driving the F3 car in GSCE with one finger, at the end I release the wheel so you can see there is some FFB to it but only enough to barely move the wheel on its own.

 

[FOSSILMOTO]

This fixed it for me in GSCE....

 

[BrandonW77]

This fixed it for me in GSCE....

I tried that and if I really crank up the settings I can get some weight in the wheel, but I have to really really crank it up. And the other sims don't use realfeel so that doesn't help there. At first GSCE felt fine without having to crank the realfeel, but now it doesn't so there is some kind of problem going on that is related to the PC and not the PS3.

One other bit of info, around the time this started happening my CSR Elite pedals randomly develop an odd behavior. The throttle pedal will only register about 1/4 input even when my foot is flat to the floor. The other two pedals register full input but the throttle does not. If I unplug the pedals and plug them back in the situation mends itself and all is back to normal. Not sure if the two are related, but they developed at about the same time. It could indicate something going on with the USB ports maybe?

 

[Cocomoto]

My T300 don't behavior right in GSCE too. But for me, the wheel "push" to inside the corner, really strange. But i think it's something with the calibration on the game.

 

[BrandonW77]

My T300 don't behavior right in GSCE too. But for me, the wheel "push" to inside the corner, really strange. But i think it's something with the calibration on the game.

I did discover that in GSCE with the T300 you want your FFB settings on "low" (in the area where you can pick off, low, medium, high, etc. It's above the FFB slider). And also make sure your FFB slider is on the positive side and not the negative side (negative side is for wheels that use inverted FFB).

 

[bellefs]

I'm in need of someadvice as I am going to purchase a wheel to use mostly on ps4.

Should I go t500rs with the t500 pedals (and aftermarket brake mod) or t300rs with the t3pa pedals?

It's my understanding that the t500 pedals are better. The t300rs + t3pa pedals will work out to the same price as the t500rs.

Any feedback to help me decide would be greatly appreciated!

http://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/B004J6...l=1&dpID=41i2SpqX2EL&ref=plSrch&pi=SX200_QL40

 

[DUC748inMD]

I would like to hear what makes the T500RS pedals better than the T300RS pedals.

Is it solely the addition of the clutch? Better feeling? The T300RS pedals are fine in my opinion and a huge step up from the DFGT pedals. Not a knock on the pedals but I have the CPX adapter on preorder as I'm considering the Elites for use with a TH8A shifter down the road. I never used the sequential shifter on the DFGT but I'm curious to test the added realism of shifting in GT6.

 

[BrandonW77]

I would like to hear what makes the T500RS pedals better than the T300RS pedals.

Is it solely the addition of the clutch? Better feeling? The T300RS pedals are fine in my opinion and a huge step up from the DFGT pedals. Not a knock on the pedals but I have the CPX adapter on preorder as I'm considering the Elites for use with a TH8A shifter down the road. I never used the sequential shifter on the DFGT but I'm curious to test the added realism of shifting in GT6.

I've never tried the T500 pedals, but the T300 pedals are kinda rubbish. I normally use CSR Elite's but if I wanna play GT6 I have to hook up the T300 pedals and in comparison to the Elite's, I can barely drive. Braking is vague and imprecise, threshold braking is nearly impossible. The brake pedal just has no resistance and if you need to add 5% more braking input you may end up with 5%, or 15%, or 40%, so braking is a real guessing game. Upgrading to the CSR Elite's made the most dramatic improvement to my lap times and consistency. I don't think the T500 pedals are quite as good as the CSR Elite's but they are surely a pretty big improvement over the T300 pedals. But load cell is the way to go, for sure.

I highly recommend both the CSR Elite's and the TH8A shifter. 👍

 

[skazz]

The problem with the stock pedals is repeatability for braking.

To be honest, the accelerator is good enough: It has a decent long throw and you can modulate it sufficiently. The brake, however, is just a lot less effective than a G25, T500 or Fanatec brake pedal.

A good brake pedal allows you to achieve just enough braking to avoid locking the wheels up, repeatably. So let's say you are driving a Ferrari 458 on comfort tyres in GT6 with ABS disabled, you know that ideal braking requires around 60-65% brake applied during heavy braking then gradually easing off to around 30% brake as you slow the car down, then rolling smoothly off the brake while cornering. If you can do this every time you hit a corner, the brake is good enough. If you can't do this, then you will lock up regularly or underbrake and spear off the road. Costing laptime or ending your race.
(disclaimer: If you just want to leave ABS enabled you can stomp the brake every time and not care)

In addition to repeatable brake pressure, deadzone on a brake is also painful since when you just want to feather the brake to balance the car you want to be able to just push the pedal in and know that the brake is just lightly applied... This is valid even with ABS enabled.


The stock T300 pedal has a small (1-2mm) deadzone at the start of travel and mine recently was also exhibiting a tiny deadzone at the end of travel too. In between the two ends there is very little weight to the pedal, and the throw is quite short. Both of these conspire to make it really hard to hit your braking points lap after lap.

I can threshold brake repeatably with G25, T500 and Fanatec Clubsport pedals. I can't with the stock T300 pedals. I spent 2 months trying to adjust to the stock T300 pedals while waiting for a set of T3PA pedals to arrive, but then gave up and I'm using my Clubsport pedals with the T300.



P.S. As an example: I recently spent about 20 laps with a Ferrari 458 GT2 in Assetto Corsa trying to put down a solid lap around Nurburgring GP with the T300 + T300 pedals. I knew exactly what my fastest lap should be but I couldn't complete one full lap without messing up one corner somewhere. I then went and got my clubsport pedals out of the cupboard, and having not even used them (or any load cell brake) for well over a year I put down exactly the laptime I was expecting to run inside 5 laps. It took a few laps to adjust to the brake throw and pressure, but once I did I could repeatably brake.

 

[bellefs]

@skazz would you say clubsport pedals are much better than t3pa pedals?

Just need to justify the extra $100 for the club sport pedals.

I will be using it with the t300rs wheel and th8a shifter.

 

[DUC748inMD]

Alright, thanks for the added feedback on the pedals. The CSR Elite pedals are on the future purchase list and I'm hoping they will mount up to the Playseat in a better fashion than the T300RS pedals. The center upright post is right at the ankles currently (forced there due to not wanting the wheel all up in my chest) and right foot braking doesn't really work. With three pedals, that middle pedal use starts to get questionable IF things were to mount up in similar fashion.

 

[Cocomoto]

The brake of T500 pedals is a galaxy ahead from the T300 pedals, using it now is justo so much better and more realistic.
The gas pedal on T300 pedals and T500 is really equal in quality and feel, at first when my T500 pedals arrived, the gas pedal felt really awkward, the T300 pedals is a little harder, but in the overall, the T500 is so much better.

I have to try my new pedals on on LFS, i build the cockpit and i have no place to put my notebook on a good place between the TV and me(use menu and other options). But i'll give it a try and see how it is to drive a car without ABS on those ew babys! *-*

 

[skazz]

@skazz would you say clubsport pedals are much better than t3pa pedals?

Just need to justify the extra $100 for the club sport pedals.

I will be using it with the t300rs wheel and th8a shifter.

No clue. I spent months waiting for the T3PA but simply couldn't get hold of them.

 

[BrandonW77]

No clue. I spent months waiting for the T3PA but simply couldn't get hold of them.

I've been waiting almost a week to hear back from Thrustmaster about the issue with my T300, still haven't heard anything. Not too impressed with Thrustmaster at the moment, both of their products I own went defective within a week or two of owning them and they don't respond to emails other than "we've received your email and may respond at some point in the future".

 

[Parker]

I've been waiting almost a week to hear back from Thrustmaster about the issue with my T300, still haven't heard anything. Not too impressed with Thrustmaster at the moment, both of their products I own went defective within a week or two of owning them and they don't respond to emails other than "we've received your email and may respond at some point in the future".

Same here. I sent Thrustmaster an e-mail on Tuesday about replacing my wheel and pedals and the only ting I've heard is a standard reply of "we received your e-mail." I may be trying to get in touch with the third party New Egg warranty provider if I don't hear anything from Thrustmaster by Monday.

 

[TomBrady]

I used to have the DFGT and now i own the T300, i have to say. At first, the T300 is so light that you'll think that it's is weaker than the DFGT. But after sometime playing you'll see that the FFB is just amazing and the response of the T300 is the same.

Drift in GT6 is amazing with the T300, to make counter-steering is just so much easier and on LFS i use only 50% of the FFB.

That's a shame. I was hoping the T300 would be stronger than the DFGT in GT6. I'm sure it will be on PC sims but from what I've heard, it seems like it's not very strong on GT6.

I've been waiting almost a week to hear back from Thrustmaster about the issue with my T300, still haven't heard anything. Not too impressed with Thrustmaster at the moment, both of their products I own went defective within a week or two of owning them and they don't respond to emails other than "we've received your email and may respond at some point in the future".

I've heard bad things about Thrustmasters customer service before so this is definitely concerning.

Another reason why I'm really unhappy about the situation on PS4. They're forcing us to buy what is frankly the worst of the 3 big brands in my opinion (fanatec, logitech, thrustmaster)

 

[Cocomoto]

When i said that the wheel is ligther, i'm not talking about the strong itself. What i meant is that the T300 is easier to drive, counter-steer etc. But the FFB is strong. I've always played with the FFB in low setting in GT5-6 becaused it requeried more strenght to turn the wheel. But the FFB is strong, belieave me.

Yesterday I played with my old DFGT with GT6(sold the wheel to a friend). And God, once you get used to the T300, go back to the DFGT is so weird.

I'm using my wheel for a mounth now, so far so good. No weird noises, feelings, the wheel is going smooth and is amazing the quality of it.
But yes, a lot of people report problems with it, and it's concerning. Hope my wheel doesn't show any kind of problem, because it does, i can't replace it. It was bought in USA and brought to Brazil without any warranty. And what makes me angry is that Walmart Brazil is now selling the wheel only $100 more than the price that i bought it. -.-'

 

[iQuacks]

They're forcing us to buy what is frankly the worst of the 3 big brands in my opinion (fanatec, logitech, thrustmaster)

Relax drama-queen, nobody is FORCING anyone to do anything.

 

[jay.s]

T3PA Pedals arrived yesterday and 1st thing I noticed after unboxing them was they are huge, I offered them up to my A1GP Playseat ( 1st edition I think ) and the mounting holes did not line up at all so needed to pull out the drill and get to work making 2 new ones... once that was done they fitted up pretty much perfectly

After making sure they work via the control panel on PC I fired up GT6 on PS3, felt very comfortable straight away due to the wider spacing of the pedals and the pedals are ultra responsive with absolutely no dead zone at all !! , just need to touch the pedal lightly and it is already registering movement

The real reason I bought these pedals was because of the Conical brake mod they come with, previous to the Thustmaster gear I was using a G25 with a modded set of Pedals ( Gt eye ) which had very good progression on the brake... was very happy with that setup and was able to hit my braking target perfectly but unfortunately they had to go to make way for the T300 which came with the standard pedals. As mentioned above it is very hard to judge braking with the standard T300 Pedals and found myself making a lot more mistakes etc, this is mainly down to no progression in the brake...
So how does the Conical brake mod compare , well it is absolutely stunning the braking sensation is a lot stronger than the GTeye .. I mean you really do have to push the pedal hard, very hard to get the braking at 100% . you have to push the thing so hard at max setting that it would be useless without hardmounting the pedals as they would end up flying across the floor if not mounted I currently have it set so the 1st 30% of braking is light then the remaining 70% is when the mod takes effect , gets very very stiff at about 80%..pretty much perfect

Not tried out the clutch yet as I don't have the TH8A but it does work and feels slightly stiffer than the accelerator pedal, no real biting point on the clutch just a smooth movement.

Overall very happy with the Pedal set and a worthwhile upgrade for anyone not happy with the standard pedal set
A few pics :

 

[V8-Johnboy]

T3PA Pedals arrived yesterday and 1st thing I noticed after unboxing them was they are huge, I offered them up to my A1GP Playseat ( 1st edition I think ) and the mounting holes did not line up at all so needed to pull out the drill and get to work making 2 new ones... once that was done they fitted up pretty much perfectly

After making sure they work via the control panel on PC I fired up GT6 on PS3, felt very comfortable straight away due to the wider spacing of the pedals and the pedals are ultra responsive with absolutely no dead zone at all !! , just need to touch the pedal lightly and it is already registering movement

The real reason I bought these pedals was because of the Conical brake mod they come with, previous to the Thustmaster gear I was using a G25 with a modded set of Pedals ( Gt eye ) which had very good progression on the brake... was very happy with that setup and was able to hit my braking target perfectly but unfortunately they had to go to make way for the T300 which came with the standard pedals. As mentioned above it is very hard to judge braking with the standard T300 Pedals and found myself making a lot more mistakes etc, this is mainly down to no progression in the brake...
So how does the Conical brake mod compare , well it is absolutely stunning the braking sensation is a lot stronger than the GTeye .. I mean you really do have to push the pedal hard, very hard to get the braking at 100% . you have to push the thing so hard at max setting that it would be useless without hardmounting the pedals as they would end up flying across the floor if not mounted I currently have it set so the 1st 30% of braking is light then the remaining 70% is when the mod takes effect , gets very very stiff at about 80%..pretty much perfect

Not tried out the clutch yet as I don't have the TH8A but it does work and feels slightly stiffer than the accelerator pedal, no real biting point on the clutch just a smooth movement.

Overall very happy with the Pedal set and a worthwhile upgrade for anyone not happy with the standard pedal set
A few pics :

Very nice hmmm wonder if those will fit on the basic Wheelstandpro. @jay.s would you mind measuring how wide they are please mate be very grateful.

 

[MV-IXIUS]

I was using a G25 with a modded set of Pedals ( Gt eye ) which had very good progression on the brake

How would you say they compare to the modded G25 pedals, i am not sure if i should purchase these or just get the adapter to use the logitech ones which works out a a lot cheaper ?

 

[jay.s]

Very nice hmmm wonder if those will fit on the basic Wheelstandpro. @jay.s would you mind measuring how wide they are please mate be very grateful.

Np buddy , going by my trusty tape measure I am getting 335mm wide 390mm length

exact measurements here : http://ts.thrustmaster.com/download/accessories/Manuals/TXRW/T3PA_3Pedals_Template.pdf

 

[V8-Johnboy]

Np buddy , going by my trusty tape measure I am getting 335mm wide 390mm length

exact measurements here : http://ts.thrustmaster.com/download/accessories/Manuals/TXRW/T3PA_3Pedals_Template.pdf

You are a gentleman thank you.

 

[jay.s]

How would you say they compare to the modded G25 pedals, i am not sure if i should purchase these or just get the adapter to use the logitech ones which works out a a lot cheaper ?

Hmm the modded g25 pedals were very good but honestly would have to say these are that bit better , few reasons as I mentioned the spacing of the pedals for me is pretty much perfect ( size 11 feet ), I have actually just lowered the acc pedal a touch which feels even better, then there is the actual throw distance of the pedals , I always felt this was a weak point on the g25 pedals as the distance felt very short so was hard to judge mid acc levels etc ( this did improve slightly when I messed about with the springs , gteye brake , clutch to acc and brake to clutch as it offered more resistance on acc making adjustment easier ). The T3PA ( and T300 for that matter ) are a lot better in this respect the accelerator has a very nice long throw that is very responsive from top to bottom making it a lot easier to balance the throttle when and where needed..
The modded GTeye brake is very very good and would recommend it to anyone running a set of those pedals but again these just do the progression thing that bit better, That bit of rubber that is behind the pedal is pretty stiff and to try squash/compress it down you really do have to STAMP HARD on that pedal pretty much as you would in a car when doing an emergency stop....
The clutch pedal offers a touch more resistance than the standard g25 clutch from what I remember of it but once you stick the brake spring in the g25 clutch that is probably the better option out the 2 as offers resistance close to a real car..

Would have to say they are worth the £90 they cost us in UK as a new set of decent clubsport pedals are more than double the price then add on the cost and unavailability of the adaptor etc... no thanks I would imagine you should be able to get some good money back on your G25 pedals as they still seem in demand making these even cheaper for you

 

[MV-IXIUS]

Hmm the modded g25 pedals were very good but honestly would have to say these are that bit better , few reasons as I mentioned the spacing of the pedals for me is pretty much perfect ( size 11 feet ), I have actually just lowered the acc pedal a touch which feels even better, then there is the actual throw distance of the pedals , I always felt this was a weak point on the g25 pedals as the distance felt very short so was hard to judge mid acc levels etc ( this did improve slightly when I messed about with the springs , gteye brake , clutch to acc and brake to clutch as it offered more resistance on acc making adjustment easier ). The T3PA ( and T300 for that matter ) are a lot better in this respect the accelerator has a very nice long throw that is very responsive from top to bottom making it a lot easier to balance the throttle when and where needed..
The modded GTeye brake is very very good and would recommend it to anyone running a set of those pedals but again these just do the progression thing that bit better, That bit of rubber that is behind the pedal is pretty stiff and to try squash/compress it down you really do have to STAMP HARD on that pedal pretty much as you would in a car when doing an emergency stop....
The clutch pedal offers a touch more resistance than the standard g25 clutch from what I remember of it but once you stick the brake spring in the g25 clutch that is probably the better option out the 2 as offers resistance close to a real car..

Would have to say they are worth the £90 they cost us in UK as a new set of decent clubsport pedals are more than double the price then add on the cost and unavailability of the adaptor etc... no thanks I would imagine you should be able to get some good money back on your G25 pedals as they still seem in demand making these even cheaper for you

Thanks very much for that in-depth analysis, you have given me much to think about

 

[WarriusZero]

I've been waiting almost a week to hear back from Thrustmaster about the issue with my T300, still haven't heard anything. Not too impressed with Thrustmaster at the moment, both of their products I own went defective within a week or two of owning them and they don't respond to emails other than "we've received your email and may respond at some point in the future".

Last week I waited 9 days for a reply. Hopefully you'll get yours soon.