Thrustmaster T150 Racing Wheel Review

Compared to where we were at the start of the last console generation, the market for racing wheels has changed quite significantly. Where they were once on the verge of becoming a natural extension and relatively inexpensive – under £100 at any rate – to pick up alongside a much anticipated racing game, the dawn of the current generation has seen prices rebalance themselves around the more niche market.

Fanatec and Thrustmaster have grabbed a major foothold in that area, with customisable wheels in excess of £250, and Logitech’s G29 has seen them return to the premium priced arena as well. However, the mid and lower end of the market has been underserved. The T80 is Thrustmaster’s entry level wheel, lacking the full force feedback that makes a racing wheel potentially transformative for these games, while the now discontinued T100 was only usable on PS4 with a DualShock 4 connected at the same time to deal with menus.

The T150 is the latter wheel’s replacement and currently in the region of £150. The most important inclusion here trickles down from the T300, with the chipset and toggle to switch between PS3 and PS4 modes, that let you navigate the PlayStation 4’s menu’s natively. Yes, there was the aforementioned workaround with a DualShock 4, but it’s a point which simplifies using the wheel quite significantly.

Another thing that’s been brought down from the T300 is the overall design of the wheel. The button layout is almost identical, with L2/R2 within easy reach of your thumbs, when placed at the rubbery blue handgrips, and the usual PlayStation face buttons, D-Pad and function buttons below that. L3/R3 reside on the base of the wheel, alongside the PS3/PS4 switch and a Mode button for optional wheel accessories. What I would have expected is for the general feel of the T150 wheel to be a little bit nicer in the hand, and while some of the feeling does go away over time, the blue rubber is a little tacky. Not in an overly unpleasant way, but one that’s noticeable.

But for all the similarities between the T150 and the T300, which extend right down to the way it clamps onto a desk, the key difference that justifies the price difference is with the force feedback motor, the beating heart of any racing wheel. Unlike the almost perfectly smooth resistance and pull that the T300 provides, the T150 relies on a combination of belt-pulleys and gears, and as you turn the wheel and go against the motor, you can feel the little increments as they try to bite and resist.

The effect will be familiar to anyone who’s used similar wheels, but compared to Logitech’s latest, the Logitech G29, the teeth here feel larger and the wheelbase as a whole makes a lot more noise when you’re putting a lot of force through it with sudden motions. Of course, it’s unfair to be comparing a mid-ranged wheel with Logitech’s top tier – and only – wheel on the market, but it’s worth saying that while I felt the T150’s feedback is less refined, it was also a stronger and more involving effect, especially in a rally game such as WRC 5, where the rumble, vibration and adjustment is practically constant and it’s a real battle to drive with.

Between brands, you also see different pedal sets shipped as standard, and both the T150 and T300 come with a rather basic two pedal set. They’re decent but unremarkable – and certainly more acceptable at the T150’s price point – but having used weightier pedal sets, it’s difficult to go back to the comparative lack of resistance that the brake pedal gives you, even if it is different in feel to the accelerator. One thing I will say is that the pedals are much less likely to slide back on carpeted floor. They still lack a real kind of grip, as Logitech pedal sets feature, but the pedals are more easily weighted down by your feet, and the lesser force you need to brake and accelerate quickly means I found them much less prone to sliding around than the T3PA pedals I had to use alongside the T300.

However, if a three pedal set is what you want, you are able to buy and use the T3PA pedals and TH8A gear shifter with the T150. The wheelbase even has a button to switch pedal modes, so that they can be mounted upside down for a more realistic layout. The one downside to this being the ridiculously bright and potentially distracting LED which lights up to signify one mode or the other. It’s rather excessive for a function you might never use!

That capability adds another question mark to the wheel’s price. It’s already climbed compared to the T100 that it replaces, but when you then have the potential up sell to the better pedals, at which point you might wonder if it would’ve been better to simply go for the T300 and its much smoother force feedback.

All told, the T150 is a rather appealing wheel, with a good set of features, a strong force feedback motor and several expansion options, but it doesn’t live in a vacuum. It’s a noticeable step up in price from its discontinued predecessor, and it’s expensive enough that prospective buyers might be better served saving a little longer and going for the more premium wheels.