Full details about the new “official” GT5 steering wheel, the Thrustmaster T500 RS, have now been released, and it looks like Kazunori Yamauchi’s original tweet hinting at the price was actually correct. It will be released on Wednesday, January 5, 2011 in North America and Europe for $599.99, £449.99, or €499.99 (it’s coming Jan. 25 in Japan). Thrustmaster is clearly targeting the higher end of the market with this price range, especially considering the T500’s H-pattern shifter (to be released in the next few “months”) is not included with the package.
It is also still unclear if the T500 will be compatible with platforms other than the PlayStation 3, a luxury that owners of Logitech and Fanatec wheels have enjoyed for many years now. With the second batch of Fanatec’s new 911 GT2 wheel also shipping next month, it will be interesting to watch these two high-end devices go head-to-head in 2011.
See more articles on Accessories, Steering Wheels, and Thrustmaster T500RS.
well, people sayings its soo much more expensive than the G27.. I bought the G27 when it just hit the stores here, and it was priced at nearly the same..$550+, depending on currency value..
biggest difference in price is that you don’t get an H-pathern shifter.. which surely costs money..
and tbh, like the G27 design more in every way.. looks nicer, and it shows off to have have better quality..
Quite angry with PD and logitech for not being able to solve the driver issue together.. Didn’t even hesitate of buying this steeringwheel cause it was the BEST at the market.. Doesn’t GT5/PD demand perfection..?
Stupid that such a wheel arrives now.. should be relased before such a game hit the stores.
Here we re on the 5th of January, and the T500 RS is nowhere to be found anywhere in the US. not online, no pre-orders, and FRY’s electronics reps told me they have no record of it, and do not see any records indicating they will be carrying it.
EPIC FAIL thrustmaster. This is ridiculous. I think I’ve taken crazy pills, not only because I was ready to order it, but also because no one has noticed its NOT FOR SALE ANYWHERE!
I think ‘will it blend’ would fail on the pedals.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07e0Xk-cYVw
First vid so far of it working.
$600 is fail. Stationary paddle shifters is not worth $600, nice pedals though. I’ll stick with my Fanatec GT3RS v2
Who would make a wheel at $600? They better announce about making the price lower.
Jealousy my arse, I run my own business, doens’t mean I’m going to spend my hard earned on overpriced French Junk, I want Abs feel in brake pedal, 100% real car pedals and a proper shifter, Playseat attachment support and choice of steerig wheel design, if not we def stay with my wonderful G25.
And yes, we are the target audience.. and the unsilent majority big mouth!
I trust this was ment for greyum? Cause the only thing I read about a target market/audience was from t-wrecks, and I think that was referring to greyum’s op, not you mate…;)
Otherwise +1
500€ and shifter will be sold seperatly? How much will the shifter cost? I´m very sceptical about this wheel, first off 500€ with no shifter included, second 30cm diameter. You could buy a G27, a wheel mount adapter and when buy and attach a real momo wheel on it for the same price.
Very costly if only my DFGT had an H pattern shifter and clutch
The only thing I like about this wheel are the pedals. If I wanted to buy a wheel and had $600 to spend I would go with a Fanatec Porsche 911 GT2. I don’t see why anyone would spend that kind of money on a non-leather wheel.
Then again Fanatec wheels are all plastic. When you are planning to get Fanatec CSS in the future this wheel is just a little $100 more than Fanatec GT2. (that if shifter are around the same price)
Now I Hope That My DFGT Gives the ghost (Which unfortunately won’t happen soon).
There you have it..Thrustmaster, this is your “focus group” telling you that this is a bad decision.
I hate the fact that the paddle shifters are stationary and don’t move with the wheel. How awkward is that gonna be? :s
I really think that the moving paddle shifters are really bad on the DFGT when I turn more than 90 degrees which requires me to remove my hand from the wheel.
The jealousy around here is incredible – just because your expensive unofficial G2x is no longer the best or most expensive…
What has jealousy got to do with common sense?? That price is ridiculous for a brand that fell out of repect years ago. Again £450 with no shifter, no support for Playseat, £450 LOL!
Bullshit. Jealousy? Really? I could buy this if I wanted, but I’m not an idiot. I’ll stay with the G27 that has a stick, great support, I can build around it, and save about $250. Then, I will use that $250 for the seating and piping for the build.
Guess we just heard from the target market.
To bad for Thrustmaster, it sounds like he couldn’t even afford the G2x.
Talk about a post that smacks of jealousy……sheesh.
It has nothing with jealousy to do. I do not own a steering wheel but wanna get one soon and still this price is too high. If it will cost about $300-400 i will buy it, not $600 OMG we are not dum?
From Thrustmaster’s site
“Brake pedal with reinforced and adjustable resistance (included and removable “Realistic Brake” mod)”
No load-cell brakes, no shifter and it can cost $600?
I think the wheel will be good, but not that good to be so expensive, it’s much better to get a GT2 Clubsport edition.
Fanatec CSP load cells are very very cheap. If you going to buy the tuning kit (another $50 plus $17 shipping) then you should go ahead and buy extra load cells as well. More likely you are going to need them.
Does the wheel enlarge manhood?
Does it make you get hard (to beat) and stay there?
If all that leads to girls not complaining then I’m fine with the price tag.
I can get the rest on the car for this money With steering and padals. 600$? Forget it!
It case some of you don’t there are already wheels and pedals on the market that’s more expensive than Fanatec and Logitech wheels. No doubt they already know this wheel will not have as many sales as DFGT or even G27 wheel. The same Ferrari will not have as high of sales as a Honda Civic.
thrustmaster, in general isnt Ferrari. Their generally 86′ Corolla…
No, no, no… a 1986 Toyota Corolla was a solidly built machine. Thrustmaster’s reputation is more akin to a mid-80’s Yugo.
$599 & no cruise control, cigarette lighter, or cup holders?
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
laughed 5 mins because of your comment
i think i’m going to seriously consider a GT2 wheel since this is way to pricey for what you get, and besides that, i can also play forza with the fanatec wheels (never played forza, but if GT doesn’t get better i’l probably have to)
I can’t play forza with my G27, thnx micro$oft -_-‘
I’ll give you $2000 to send a Fanatec GT2 to me lol.
Here’s hoping we see a ‘smash a thrustmaster’ video on youtube like what was done with consoles.
tooo expensive, stupid video too. FA!L if you ask me, whoever designed this wheel is goona loose a ton of money
I’m not buying that. I just got a Driving Force GT and I am satisfied with that.
I’ve ordered the GT2 club sport.
Kaz, you mad. In my country, it will cost double that. A G27 is $400 U.S here.
Fixed paddles is not on all real cars. Mine is on the wheel and I definitely prefer that – that price is ridiculous, what exactly is so much better than the DFGT? Someone justify that extra $500 for me..
it’s WAY better than a DFGT. DFGT is a POS. Probably better than a G25/G27, but the question is, how much better.
This wheel will have to be substantially discounted in order to gain wide adoption. At twice the MSRP price of a G27 with less included hardware this wheel will be a tough pill to swallow. And that assumes people pay full MSRP for logitech wheels….before GT5 came out a G27 wheel could be had for $150 by a savvy shopper. Personally, I picked up a DFGT for $70 to tide me over until either the G27 prices dropped again or this product came out. I can definitively say that I won’t be buying this unless it hits retailers with a 40% discount on day 1. $300 is the maximum I think the mass market would realisticly pay for a wheel. Even the hard core racing sim players won’t want to spend much over $400 and that is a very very small market to support a product like this and even then you won’t convince all of that super tiny piece of the gaming market to switch over.
Epic Fail.
It’s an elephant of a pill.
Too big to be considered a pill. More like Elephant Tranquilizer needed to convince guys to shell out that cash. Shouldnt there be a rule the accessory cant cost more than the system did when it was launched?
Poor babies, I know you can’t help yourself from crying… Your mommys got your milk ready but remember what she you told about growing up to be a good boy you gotta go to school and get a good job. Geez I just do masonry work and can easily afford this wheel if I want, there are so many expensive ass hobbies out there that cost thousands, mine being my cars. This wheel is twice as heavy and powerful as the G27 and isn’t produced by a large ass company, so naturally the price isn’t going to be in that range. All you babies want one so bad you’re looking for someone to blame that you can’t buy one. Blame yourselves, I hope Thrustmaster rebounds with their once reputable name in the high-end market. I’m happy about this wheel hitting the market.
I think Yamauchi and GT5 are victims of Product Placement, first we had my chemical scumbags, and now this.
occasionalracer ….. You are full of crap. I can afford one if I wanted. It’s not a question of whether or not I can afford it, it’s a question of if I think it’s worth 600 bucks it or not. Unless it’s way better than the Fanatec wheel, which I doubt, it probably won’t be. My G25 is still working flawlessly, and I have a reserve G25 in a box, so I won’t need to upgrade any time soon anyway.
Good for you BWX. I’ve been using the G25 since it was released and was lately thinking about the GT3 RS, but now that this wheel is being released I will wait for reviews. I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt that this thing costs more to produce, plus they won’t be pumping them out like Logitechs, so like many things in the world more exclusive items are more expensive. We don’t know what the major improvement will be over the competition but they state that the motor used is twice as powerful as what’s currently on the market, so obviously it’s going to be more solid and fluid feel, and that worth a lot to me. The Logitechs do have this weird mechanical feel to them that’s not strong enough sometimes. I’d rather see them doing something bigger and better rather than equivilent or affordable since we already have those options. They will sell enough units in the next year and they’re not trying to compete with anybody, they’re just going the next step and effectively releasing the most expensive gaming wheel to date. Cool I say.
Wow. Let me stop laughing first….
Ok, I loved the Knight Rider part of the commercial where the wheel is intelligent enough to drive a real car without human control. Nice. Always wanted KITT.
The part where “Slick Rick is offline” was a nice touch, because I DID feel like I was being had by a smooth talking car salesman. (Yeah, I know that wasnt on purpose)
Looks like Thrustmaster let PD design that commercial. Every day PD does stuff to prove they are no longer in touch with the rest of the world. Its like Kim Jong ILL is running PD now. They are becoming a bigger joke with each passing week. Its looking like GT5 will be the last GT I buy if they dont wake up to reality.
GT5 isnt even worth the $60 I paid for it in its current state. You want me to pay $600 effing dollars for a wheel WITHOUT a mother effing shifter? They’ve completely lost their marbles.
I want everyone who goes into their local electronics section to start bursting out with audible laughter. When the employees and managers start walking over to the aisle your laughing from, and they ask you “Whats so funny?” You just point at that price tag.
Ill Jong Kim..good one..LOL!
It looks like a wack! and cheap steering wheel. Also the ad is wack… Stupidly expensive no matter what it does or how many buttons it has… and it doesn’t look better than the Logitec or Fantec ones. So people don’t buy that crappy steering wheel. Don’t be s*ckas.
I love it when people tell others how to spend their money. There are 2 official wheels; one mass market, this is clearly something else entirely. Kaz clearly has a vision for GT and that is for it to be as realistic as possible unfortunately such ambitions do not necessarily lie in the economic reach of most. We live in democracies and enjoy free markets. There is absolutely no obligation to buy the wheel so lets all stop bleating like a bunch of effing idiots about being ripped off.
I’m not paying £450, especially not with the shifter!
even if it had the shifter i wouldnt pay £450..
crazy pricing.
£450 LOL!
I hope this sells well, the price might come down after a while. This wheel seems to address many of the things I dislike about my g25. One thing is the speed of the wheel self centering on g25 is not fast enough for me, but it looks promising on this and it might be less noisey too. I always wanted fixed paddle shifters and pedals that go the right way up, only thing that is not clear is wether the brake pedal is pressure sensitive or not. H shifter is no big deal as GT5 doesn’t support the H shifter realistically anyway, but maybe they’ll fix that in a latter update. All it needs now is a handbrake lever built onto the shifter and it might be impossible for me to resist!
Yep Handbrake lever a great idea! Also, let’s have ABS simulation on the brake pedal for when it is switched on (vibration) and all pedals weighted as in a real car.
Clutch pedal should be stiff at the top and then gradually get softer as the clutch pressure plate releases its tension.
One thing Like about this wheel is how the flappy Paddles are stationary on the steering column. It can get a bit annoying at times with the G27 when i lose track of where the paddles are
LOL, I hope they don’t expect total sales to reach much more than 1,000 units. Without even a shifter, good grief. I could buy a real car and park it in front of my TV for that money.
My concern is the pedals. We don’t know anything about them, do we? And when the shifter comes, will it come with a dead pedal-to-clutch conversion kit? Because Thrustmaster’s site says that the third pedal is a dead pedal, not a clutch. Also, how much is the shifter? Add that to the $600 for the wheel plus presumably clutch conversion kit, and we’ve got somewhere around $800 in this setup.
So someone said Thrustmaster wants to re establish itself in the market.
Sure go ahead price the wheel WAYYYY above the price of anything else out there thats a sure way to get your foot in the door
LAME!!!!!
and no matter how good it is these wheels do not simulate the real thing not even close when it comes to drifting
i think this needs to be thrustmaster saviour? Are they going bankrupt?
Way to much overpriced… Plus the look of logitech wheels is better… Less is more!
Uh, I hope this barely sells. That price is way too high for most people. Maybe the price will come down in a year if it doesnt do well.
Looking at it from an adult perspective I don’t see this being too badly priced compared to the Fanatec series. Lets remember those do not get discounted and these certainly could.
These invert, seem to be of heavier construction and look to have a much stronger FFB motor. It should offer both PS3 & PC support if not at the start, perhaps via later driver.
It will also be interesting to see if GT5 offers more user control options for this wheel than others. Regardless of price what some forget is these are to be the best for GT5. So it’s going to be interesting seeing how reviews and owner opinions fair.
Sort of funny that the adult opinion would be that it’s ok to spend $500 on a controller for a $60 video game, but i’ll agree with the rest of your comment. We will see.
I do think this “controller” is a bit pricey, but certainly see a market for them. I can see them selling very slowly within these next few months, but once the shifter comes out(mind boggling) and reviews are positive, there will be increased sales. For them to release this thing at that price, they gotta be pretty confident this wheel outshines the competition. The sheer weight of this box shows this is aimed at those who love racing and want to get even closer to reality. Plus this will be the new wheel for GT’s competitions and Academy’s, so it will just take a while to gain respect. It’d be nice if it eventually drops in price by a $100, but it’ll never as cheap as the “others”.
Holy crap that was cheesy, no shifter & high price point kills it for me.
I’ll get this wheel in any case, if I slip in the snow, falling on my head and am no longer master of my senses.
I’ll forget i’ve even seen the video. This is a high quality wheel. But way too expensive. And it came out too late. Hardcore gamers already have their G27/G25 or Fantecs. sell your trustmaster stocks if you have any..
Well it better be twice as good given the twice price from G27 otherwise i won’t be seeing thrustmaster going too far with this..
To all who are put off by the quality of the advert, give your heads a shake and explain to me why it has anything to do with the quality of the product?
If the vid was the best add you’d ever seen, would you rush out and buy it?
Ditto mate.
NO, thanks …
I am relieved that it’s so expensive having just bought a G27 for GT5 release… Would have been very disapointed had it been in same price league as G27
Too expensive for a wheel! Also, in my opinion, it has a massive flaw with the shifter paddles as a lot of times we need to change gears when our hands are at the top and at the bottom of the wheel. Since the shifters do not turn… it is a massive headache!
However, I cannot not say that it is one of the nicest wheels on the market.
You’ll find that you get used to the shifters very quickly, it turns out that it’s much more intuitive to shift with fixed paddles, especially after 90deg of lock.
I believe you’ll find that REAL cars have the shift paddles stationary, so this is the only wheel in-line with the real world in that department.
no one will buy this lmao
Except for some rich kid who doesn’t even have a game to it with
I guess Kaz will never fix the damn 2nd gear shift bug with the G25/27 now. WTF… just to sell a couple crappy overpriced crustblasters. Fix the G25/27 2nd gear bug PD!! Quit being stingy D-Bags.
Actually that makes you wonder if Kaz put the G25/27 2nd gear shift bug in GT5 deliberately, just to try to sell CrustBlasters.
Why go so upscale? This doesn’t make sense to me. I don’t think this will give 90% of the consumers a better experience than a G27 would. especially for half the price, and thats not even including the still unannounced shifter. This could easily be a $800 device. Thats a mistake.
LOL that was pathetic definatly keeping my DFGT!
I’m still running a DFP with some mods. There’s no way I’d spend that kind of money on that thing. If that’s the best advertisement they can come up with surely it’s indicative of what’s to be expected in the wheel. I’m surprised PD would get in bed with a company that presents such a goofy image.
wow..maybe someday there will be a game worthy of this device.
I think there is. It’s called Mario Cart….
lol @lol :)
Looks like a commercial from the 90’s.
Too bad about the price.
does the brake/accelerator paddles using potentiometers?
Bahahaha, such a cheap commercial thing… no way I’m wasting $599 on something like that.
This is indeed a brave pricing decision by a company that used to rule the world of high-end controllers, but badly tarnished its reputation by going downmarket at breakneck speed in recent years. Now they are suddenly heading into ultra high market territory, which is an odd marketing decision for a company that needs to rebuild its name. To be successful they should have arrived at a price point that offered better value than the competing Fanatec/Logitech options.
I predict some heavy discounting before this starts to make sense to potential buyers.
Im very upset at this price. No one is going to buy this. I guess ISR will give us the verdict, but I can already tell you they will recommend AT LEAST a $200 price drop, depending on how good it really is.
its a shame that some people are going to support a product at this price point big deal its got belt drive. at $600 it should have some type of state of the art tech inside but it doesnt. ill stick with my G27 it works great with no probs.
Any idea if this will mount to a playseat evolution?
This is probably the most horrible trailer i ever saw on gtplanet, i mean : there were some really outdated editing effects, clumsy camera work, the rendered graphics didn’t look really stunning to say the least, what they should, cause you need to sell a product. Better next time, 499 euro’s without clutch isn’t that appealing to me anyway.
I’ve got a Logitech G25 w/a Playseats Evolution. If my wheel ever gives out, I plan on just getting the G27. This wheel will have to be pretty good to make me change my mind… especially at that price!
Overall, this wheel looks very nice. Nice to see some more quality high-end wheels being made available. It is unlikely, but I am hoping, that the Thrustmaster will also be compatible with PC and Xbox360.
I cannot wait for a good breakdown of the wheel pros and cons.
:)
Sick wheel, but I’ll wait untill the price drops…
Yeah, I’ll just go rush out back and shake some cash out of my magical money tree. $600 wheel for a $60 game. Makes sense to me.
Umm, the last part where it shows a guy sweating, sound very wrong to me.
It like as though…
The wheel looks cheap. Hopefully it weighs more than 5kg.
The checker-plate on the pedal assembly looks to be genuine.(metal)
I want to buy a Fanatec wheel but they don’t ship to the Au
it weight ten kg and the pedals are 16kg .paying for weight
I think I’ll stick with my DFGT, and if I want to upgrade down the road, I’ll probably go with the G27. $600 is too much money for me.
It does look nice though, and I’m sure it’ll perform pretty good too.
Looks like an excellent wheel, very pricey though. If my G25 gives up the ghost I’d be tempted, would mean a complete redesign of my set up though!
“ONE wheel for the price of TWO PS3’s!…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
H-pattern shifter not included.”
Where’s the shifter!?
This is stupid, just stupid.
Although it’s stupid as hell they’re not releasing the shifter with it, if this comes with a life time warranty I will purchase it.
$600 with no shifter??
It’s stupid that somebody asked, “where’s the shifter?” Read the article, retard.
If anyone buys this for that money without a shifter, they’re insane… The Logitech’s half that price(at least mine was) and it came with a shifter… Ok it doesn’t have those fancy pedals, but i don’t think that warrants paying double the price..
Sigh morons online. I asked simply because it’s a ridiculous price for a shifter NOT TO BE included.
That was so damn cheesy.
lol I was about to put the same thing. For 600 bucks a pop you would expect them to make a more professional video. Maybe after they make their millions on this, the next model will have a better demo vid
Agreed
Wow…. this thing is way overpriced for what it is.
+1 to Agreed
I’m slick_rick_2010 and I approve this message. :P
You also have to take into consideration that Thrustmaster is trying to restablish themeselves, and probably don’t have a budget for a more nicer production video, especially after producing their wheel which the majority of their money went.
3:06…. Completely unnecessary lol.
lolwut? Is this the Matrix?
Too pricey!!
and no shifter?
The only way they get away with this is if people buy this regardless of the price.
We need to boycott it until they reduce the price.
otherwise we pay up the a$$
Sorta like that South Park episode where the airlines screw people up the who-ha because they can.
Then Mr. garrison makes a transportation device that does the very same thing.
why did they put the clutch without shifter? it’s pathetic..