Thrustmaster T300RS Racing Wheel Review

There’s no point in reinventing the wheel, as they say, but when it comes to creating a racing wheel peripheral for computers and consoles, there’s a lot of scope to refine what is always going to be the most natural and authentic input device. Launched last year, the T300RS is Thrustmaster’s PS4 native offshoot from their top of the line T500, with the unique advantage of being able to control the PS4’s menus and not have you picking up a DualShock 4 to navigate.

Pegged at £299.99 on the Thrustmaster site – though it can currently be bought for nearer to £250 online – this is clearly aimed at the high end market, and it commands a price that’s equivalent to buying a new console in and of itself. For all but the most diehard race fans, such a price is going to be hard to justify, especially when you might then consider the T3PA three pedal set for another £90-odd, with which I was reviewing this wheel, a separate stick shifter module, alternate wheels and even then a racing seat and wheel stand from third parties. It can all add up quite quickly.

My set up was not quite so extravagant. Putting the wheel the kit together was rather simple and self explanatory – which was lucky, because this review/demo unit didn’t come with an instruction manual. The wheel itself is a separate entity, with a set of pins in a socket that screws into the wheelbase in a satisfying manner and is then fully secured with an actual screw. The pedals then attach via a cable that looks suspiciously like an old 56k modem’s RJ45 cable, and finally, there’s a rather large external power brick to attach as well.

But in order to secure properly for play, just as I had to with my trusty old Driving Force GT, I personally had to stick the wheelbase to a spare piece of chipboard to then attach this to my desk with a pair of clamps, as there was simply not enough clearance or leeway from the built in clamping mechanism to let it get past the lip at the front of my desk.

The pedals also needed some ingenuity from me, as despite having a decent sized footrest and good looking metal fascias, they simply didn’t want to stay put and grip the carpet when I pressed down hard. In the end, I resorted to blocking its route from me to the wall with weights, but these two factors suggest very strongly that I would be wanting to invest in a third party wheel stand, or mount these pedals vertically for an ideal set up.

Getting ready to actually play a racing game can take a little while – yet another reason to get a wheel stand, regardless of the wheel you’re using – but once you’re actually in game, it can have quite a profound effect on the way that you drive your cars. Playing with a gamepad is inherently inaccurate, and you’ll often see little jerky flicks in a car’s motion when someone is driving with these, even going down a long straight. A wheel just lets you make those adjustments much more smoothly and more precisely.

Of course, you need skill to wring the best out of a car, whatever your method of control, and I’ll not claim that having the T300RS transformed me into an amazing racer overnight – there’s too many people online who would be quick to disagree with such an assertion – but I know that I’m putting more fine control into my acceleration, braking and steering and reacting to how the cars handle much better with a wheel, catching oversteer, backing off when the rear steps out, and so on. Not every time, by any means, but it feels like I’m doing a better job.

And I’ve had a wheel for years on PS3, but what makes the T300RS stand head and shoulders above the Driving Force GT is the wheelbase and the motor within. I could talk about dual belt systems, the H.E.A.R.T system or how the motor is brushless, but simply put, whereas I could feel the edges of the teeth to the gears within the DFGT, it’s absolutely smooth within the T300RS and it feels more powerful and quick to respond too. The metal pedals have more resistance as well, with an optional rubber stopper included with the T3PA for the brake pedal, to give a more realistic feeling impediment to the force you’re putting into it. Admittedly, the clutch is lost on me, not having driven a real car for several years.

Across the board, the wheel really is quite excellent, with support for not just PS4, but PS3 and PC as well, meaning it can be enjoyed with DiRT Rally, Assetto Corsa or Gran Turismo 6 – though you need to switch to a specific PS3 mode for those platforms. You will, however, want to fiddle with settings and reassign buttons with each game that you play. Personally, I always set the force feedback strength up a few notches, but then there are games like Project CARS, where there are so many buttons to configure. In addition to the gear paddles, there’s ten buttons on the wheel, with a further two on the wheelbase itself.

There’s a certain sports car feel about the basic wheel design and some of the button placements, as well as the little shiny blue strip at the top, so you can see when the wheel is centred in your peripheral vision. If I had one complaint, it’s that I found the textured rubber would become a little bit tacky, though not in an overly unpleasant way. Similarly, the wheelbase features a fan that kicks in when the motor starts to get too hot, and while not loud enough to distract from the roar of the cars on screen or when wearing headphones, it is odd to hear once the action’s died down.

Is the T300RS worth it, then? For the niche audience that love their racing games, it is undoubtedly a very strong contender, thanks to its built in PS4 support and the various options and mods that let you customise it to your heart’s content. But while it’s undoubtedly a very high quality racing wheel, its initial asking price is also out of reach or unjustifiable outside of that niche, where something like its lesser cousin, the T100, will be more suitable and more appealing to people like myself.