Confirming last week’s leak, Thrustmaster has now officially unveiled the T-GT II steering wheel.
As the name might suggest, the T-GT II is a successor to the original T-GT, revealed at the GT Sport announcement event at the Copperbox in 2016, and launched in time for the game in 2017.
The first T-GT has long been the official wheel of not only Gran Turismo Sport, but the FIA Certified Online Championships. Competitors at the live finals events all use the wheel, and with the shift to online for 2020 and 2021, Sony sends out a T-GT to all finalists as mandatory equipment for the events. That includes today’s Olympic Virtual Series final.
With all of those highly rated drivers getting to grips with the T-GT, Thrustmaster has been able to take their feedback as market research. After pouring 23,000 hours into development, it’s now able to launch the second-generation wheel.
For the most part, the T-GT II features the same technologies as its predecessor. That means that it’s a belt-driven wheel, with driver input translated to a motor by a connecting belt and game feedback delivered in the opposite manner.
The controls and dials remain the same too. That includes the specific GT Mode which enables the four colored dials to set individual controls within the multi-function display, and which adds the T-DFB force feedback system unique to the game.
However there’s also two new features too. These are the T-DCC and T-RTF functions, as teased by Thrustmaster over the last few weeks.
T-DCC is an abbreviation for “drift curve calculation”, and seems to refer to an input smoothing technology. According to Thrustmaster, T-DCC allows players to manage their drifting — whether intentional or not — with a real-time drift calculation in order to maintain “the responsiveness of both the wheel and the car in the game”.
The T-RTF feature also involves real-time calculations, this time of force feedback. A dedicated, built-in processor manages the force feedback effects rather than relying on communication from the game. Thrustmaster says this creates a force feedback model with neither dead zones nor latency.
One last new feature is actually the wheel’s construction. T-AEC-Q refers to an automotive electronics standard used by almost all car manufacturers worldwide to ensure that things like vehicle infotainment can survive the rather harsh automotive environment. The T-GT’s internal electronics meet the same standards, so should prove more durable.
You can pick up the new T-GT II, bundled with the T3PA pedal set, for $799.99 (€749.99/£699.99). However Thrustmaster is also making the T-GT II base available as a separate item priced at $499.99 (€449.99/£399.99), allowing users to swap their existing T-GT rim onto the new servo unit, and as the wheel and base without pedals for $699.99 (€649.99/£599.99). Other add-ons, such as shifters and the T-LCM pedals, are also compatible.
Players in Europe will be able to pick up the full bundle starting today, with UK buyers to follow in September, and North America from October — and the rest of the world to follow thereafter. The separates will become available in late 2021.
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I don’t see how this can compete with the CSL dd for price/quality….
I think you never test TG-T, believe me is a great great wheel with an incredible FBB. Of course Fanatec is trying to do something new for the market, a DD wheel lower price, but at the end you are going to spend around 800-900 Euros. We will see, even because so far Fanatec release DD wheel only for XBOX, so we got to wait at least new year.
Fanatec does not use reseller, they take all the margin.
If you think about that, their price and their faulty gear….
I have a DD1 and a OSW dd and for twice the price i would not say that the DD1 is better.
By the way at the begining DD1’s ffb was awfull.
I would like to be able to test the GT2 because i know for sure that having a DD gives you no waranty to have a great ffb and at the end they all process the same datas coming from the game.
as a former owner of T500RS, it wouldn’t (I couldn’t) drift for beans in GT5. I wonder if this is why they’ve implemented the technology this time around as a marketing feature. nevertheless, awaiting GT7 before any purchases whatsoever. Merci TM & Guillemot !
If only there were places that had products there to test, and or see. A place were you could buy an item right then and there. Perhaps with employees that had some knowledge of the product. A place where If you had a problem you could come to them. If only. I kid, but if you can buy local for tax dollars, jobs and the blurb above.
Is there anyone in the market for a new wheel that would seriously consider this over a csl dd? This looks like a massive miss for Thrustmaster given what Fanatec have on the way.
The answer is yes. Fanatec isnt the end all be all wheel for sim racing I know 3 people with a csl elite and they all have complaints about it, buttons breaking pedal issues shifer issues. Though Fanatec makes a great wheel you can get a wheel that holds it’s own against it for a few hundred less.
Yes and I’m one of them. The issue for me with Fanatec is they do not ship to many places. Which means I’ll need a freight forwarder and that works against the value proposition of the Fanatec. And if there are any issues, it’s much more difficult to get it sorted out. Unlike Thrustmaster, whom I have a local retailer and they provide local warranty.
Is the new pedal already load cell designed?
If not, which one is worth adding, which is also compatible with ps5?
Thrustmaster are just milking the cow while they can, abusing the supply chain issues and Fanatec’s lack of PS-licensed entry products. They know that if someone wants to get a wheel right now, they must choose either an N-th nerf-refresh of Logitech DFGT named G923, or some Thrustmaster…
Aroogant move, but only gives me more respect for Thomas Jackermeier, who phased out all CSL Elite wheels early so that the least amount of people feel ripped off because they went for a worse hardware.
The T-GT released two years ago is a great, great wheel, precision, power, awesome FBB.
It must be mine.
Too expensive
If im gonna spend so much will go for fanatec dd.
They should go for a high quality lower price if they want to compete.
If you say that you never test T-GT, do it, is just a suggestion.
You are right, but the quality cost, even Fanatec makes high price wheel, depends if you are a real fan of racing games. Other way is to buy 100 Euros wheel. When you decide to buy a new car you can get a Mercedes or a small KIA, both are cars, but do you think are the same?
In this case you can either get the mercs or small Kia at the same price…
Does this mean that you can transtition smoothly from a drift to normal progress without uncontrolable snap back as with a controller, if so wonderful. The T300 is useless in this department, you’re power sliding out of a corner on opposite lock and as you return to normal lock car just spears inwards, and then flys off in the other direction as you correct …..
They make a T80 it may be in your price range its $75