12.1.2014

.....Received this around 0930am today ( loving Sunday deliveries, nice one Amazon! ) and very happy considering I only placed the order at 3pm the day before, Prime is well worth the £49 a year if you purchase loads from Amazon.On to the review, I ummed and arred for a few days as to whether or not to purchase this due to the price, I mean £285 sovs is expensive with just one racing game being currently available on the Xbox one, having said that, this wheel is meant to be compatible with pc too although I haven't yet tried it. No doubt more racing/driving games will be thrust upon us in the weeks and months to come. I'm not sure the wheel is worth nearly £300 though. I would say £150 would have been more like it,but, can you put a price on fun ?The packaging is usual fayre from Thrustmaster, took seconds to open the box and empty the contents onto my bed. Yep, it's all there and is nice n shiny n new, good stuff. The main housing for the rim is pretty chunky and heavy and comes with a clamp. I have a wheel stand pro and opted for bolting the unit to this, I tried using the clamp but didn't find this worked very well as the plate on the wheel stand pro isn't very deep. The plate does come with pre-drilled holes and works very well with a couple of bolts and star washers holding the TX on. Bolts and washers are not supplied , if you haven't got any knocking around your garage or shed, I'm pretty sure for pennies your local DIY or hardware store will stock them. The pedal set clamps to the base of the wheel stand pro nicely using the wheel stand pro's clamping bar. This does not budge and the adjustable shaft of the wheel stand pro just fits nicely between the gas and brake pedals so you can adjust the rake to suit your driving position without knocking the pedals.All cables connected, neatly loomed , the unit is now ready for it's firmware update via the pc. Page 11 of the instruction booklet tells you what to do and which website to go to. Just follow the instructions on Thrustmaster's site, it takes minutes to do.Ok, I'm ready to race ! Got my computer chair and wheel stand pro/TX wheel lined up with me 40in Sammy , TX is plugged into the mains and got the usb plugged into the xbox one, started Forza, no need to have the pad as all the buttons are on the wheel and conveniently placed. I decided to have a free play and chose the Ferrari California with the in-cockpit view....3,2, 1 GO!!!! buried my right foot and the Ferrari took off, wheels spinning and the car snaking and the TX rumbling and shaking like a gooden in my hands as I battled to keep control of the Italian beast, instant grin on my chops and I was pleasantly surprised at the quality and added realism the TX offers, rumble strips rumbling the wheel, sliding on the grass, the wheel weight kicking in as I entered bends and a very subtle rumble through the wheel as the car shot along the black stuff so lots of feedback and just the right amount. For me, this wheel has transformed this game from a good game to a great game.Lastly and as I said earlier, I'm not sure it's worth £285 but this is where they have us, they know we won't wait for the price to come down and they know that any racing fan will part with their hard earned on a purchase like this that enhances a good game and makes it great.Have fun people, cheers ! ( back to ripping up the tarmac ! ).Update ( 20th January 2014) ....still excellent with Forza 5. Decided to try the wheel with a few pc games today, success all round with the following games:GRID 2 ( just remap the keyboard buttons for the controller ones, works a treat and you get the force feedback too, rumble effect etc ).F1 2012 ( again, just remap the keyboard buttons and force feedback etc is all good ).NEED FOR SPEED SHIFT ( go to options, driving controls, change keyboard by scrolling along to Thrustmaster GT EXPERIENCE separated pedals ).All basic controls, steering, brake and gas work great, other functions I used a wireless keyboard for. One last thing, the TX wheel was set for 900 degrees rotation which means you have to turn the steering wheel loads to turn. To solve this, go into programs on your pc, select the Thrustmaster folder then control panel and look for the option to lower the steering degrees, I scaled it down to around 270 degrees, hit OK and tried the games, pretty much perfect.Just tried a Logitech G27 in comparison with this wheel. Ok ,so with the G27 you have the 3 pedal set and gear shifter. Personally, I found the Logitech to be ok, the quality was ok but the gear shifter felt sloppy and loose and the pedal set, well the pedals for me are too close together. The force feedback is clunky compared to the Thrusty TX, maybe the industrial brushless motors make the rumbling smoother. I just found the TX to be a much better made, smoother force feedback experience than the Loggy, but then it is a £100 dearer. TX for me all the way.

9.11.2015

I'll start with the most important part; the force feedback. It's really good! Previously I had a Fanatec CSR and while in real terms it isn't worlds ahead of the CSR, the difference between them transforms the experience. The CSR was always a little too weak and a little too slow making catching slides/drifting more difficult and feel wrong. This has the speed required to properly drift without having to throw the wheel one way or the other yourself to counter a slide. It's also stronger which feels better because I prefer heavier steering, adds to the crash effects and makes a slide more noticeable again making it easier to correct.It's pretty smooth and quiet although I wouldn't call it quieter or smoother than the CSR and strangely it actually feels geared sometimes after it has been used for a while and become warm despite being belt driven (minor issue). The wheel turns between 270 and 900 degrees which is fine but I'm not sure why they didn't give us 1080 degrees available like on the T500RS. For the odd car here and there on Assetto Corsa it therefore doesn't follow the on-screen wheel perfectly, but on other games I've tried it doesn't matter at all.The rim is not very good quality wise. It feels like a Fisher Price toy made of hard plastic and rubberised plastic (exactly the same materials as my old £40 Logitech wheel from years ago), is much smaller than the real 458 wheel and there are paint issues on mine. It's plus points are that the buttons are placed well, 6 of which are very easily accessed without moving your hands at all. This is the best of any rim I've tried in the past. It's pretty light and weak feeling meaning the force feedback feels strong and quick but also a bit rougher than with the 599XX and 28 GT add on rims I have. One thing I really dislike here in comparison to Fanatec wheels is the way you can't modify the wheel's settings on the rim without minimising the game on PC or going into settings on the Xbox. To be fair though it wouldn't look like a 458 wheel if they stuck an 8 segment screen on it. If you find this wheel to feel too cheap then I would recommend getting the 599XX rim as an upgrade for this as it feels so much better and is a more realistic size or the 28 GT if you like the size but still want a better feel.The mount is pretty good. Every now and then it will slip for some reason while other times it will stay completely in place. It's not as easy to operate as the Fanatec CSR's because the feet can sometimes be at weird angles when pushing it onto your table blocking the path and also it takes longer to tighten the screw. The tightening process can also be a bit painful on the fingers so I'd recommend oiling the screw just to make it turn easier. The cables are all on the back which would be acceptable if the USB cable wasn't fixed in place. I cannot comprehend why they thought this was a good idea as it offers no benefit at all and just means I have to pull it out of the way while mounting the wheel and when it inevitably breaks I'll have to either send it back to Thrustmaster, bin the wheel or do some soldering myself. And that reminds me; the proprietary to USB is playing up and if knocked can cause the wheel to disconnect and fail to calibrate with the only way to fix it to literally jiggle around and keep unplugging and plugging the cables back in until it works. One day I will be cutting this wire and attaching a standard USB connector. This is a common fault as well.The pedals work but are pretty rubbish. They move around because they're pretty light, they look like a toy, there's nowhere to rest your left foot and they have no clutch pedal meaning if you have a shifter you're stuffed until you pay more for the T3PA or already have some other pedals. This is annoying because I'm sure most people would pay £10 more or whatever it costs to add one more pedal to the pedal set, so I assume they just want to give them another £80-100 for a clutch pedal. Of course if you don't have a shifter then this doesn't matter as such, but the pedals are still unstable and cheap feeling with nowhere to rest your left foot.But in the end I forgive these couple of issues for two reasons: 1) The force feedback is so good and 2) I already had Fanatec ClubSport Pedals anyway so the pedal problem didn't matter. If the pedal set had a clutch pedal I would give this 5 stars but assuming I was someone without already having pedals this would be a big issue for me stopping it being worth 5 stars. Luckily for me, I had some great pedals already and I got the TX for only £207 which is a really good price for the force feedback performance.

9.11.2019

I have had the TMX now for almost a year and thought now would be the best time to write a review.I use this wheel to play Forza Games (FH4/FM7). I tried my cousins Ferrai wheel and started looking into wheels and soon realied Force feedback is the ONLY way (Ferrai wheel doesn't have FFB). My Budget was around £160-200 and looking on the Web I was aiming towards the TMX or G920. Reading reviews I chose the TMX based on Direct drive and pulleys system for FFB. On first unboxing the wheel its soon apparent you need a stable place to attach the wheel ,I custom made a 22mm copper frame but soon purchased a playseat sold on here as the FFB is strong with this one !! .First of all dont expect to be L.Hamilton overnight FFB wheels take getting use to. I started by lowering my FFB strength to 50% and rotation to 540*. This helped alot on FH4 until I became use to what the wheel was actually "feeding back". In total I would say it took me 2 months to get fully acquainted with the wheel but trust me it is worth the patience. Now I have it set up perfect and must say, it is truely super Immersive !! It took a while again to learn how to drift as with a button on the wheel that rotates it can be fun to locate lol you will become a left foot brake expert in no time !! The FFB actually allows you to feel every camber,bump,undulation in the road or track ! Every car feels different and you soon realise why the GT3RS and Ferrari Pista are such Legend track cars ! Send the kids to Bed ! Turn the lights off and put a head set on, you will be hooked in no time ! . The wheel is worth every penny and can be had now for as low as £140 however I would 100% recommend going for the TX version if money allows as you can swap the actual steering wheel or at least try to get the Pro which comes with a clutch pedal. Which runs me into why I have given this 4/5. On the 2x pedal option the pedals are of poor quality. They work but you really miss some nice FFB or some resistance on the Brake pedal. Another option is the Base TMX and upgrade to the T3PA pedal set which has very good mods for all 3 pedal resistance. You can actually obtain a pedal mod set for the base 2 and 3 pedal sets but are expensive, there are DIY versions on youtube which work out "ok". The biggest issue for me is the Handbrake ! It's a button on a wheel ! Think about that for a second.You slide the rear Into a left hander youre wheel rotates 1.5 turns clockwise ! Where's the button now !! It takes practice to say the least however is possible lol. You can purchase a very expensive Sparco edition Thrustmaster handbrake at around £200 but I feel that is excessive. You can also add a 6 speed H pattern shifter for around £160 and all of a sudden you're at £500 plus seating option (£140 playseat for me) so now £640 for a set up which seems expensive but when you factor in no Fuel/tax/Mot/ points/fines and maintenance, it doesn't seem to bad. Save you're family car and get a SIM set up ! Bottom TMX / PRO / or TX it doesn't matter they are all awesome and aimed at different budgets just depends what your budget allows. Have fun and keep the racing to the track or computer ?

20.6.2016

It has been a few years since I last used a steering wheel controller for a racing game and I was looking forward to seeing how far they had come since the last one I used in 2009To answer that point first I am impressed with the responsiveness of the wheel and the force feedback gives a better overall driving experience. Compared to the old wheels where you could turn with little effect this is a welcome change.For me the two pedals took a little getting used to as it encourages left foot breaking which isn't something I do when driving a car normally. the pedals are heavy duty plastic and has rubber pads and a dished underside to hold itself in position.This works well and only moved once when I was playing.Out the box you will need to fit the desk clamp attachment to the underside of the steering wheel and add the wire from the pedals to the back of the wheel then the usb connection and a power cable. When clamped to a desk it is attached very securely and doesn't move, I never realised how unstable my desk was though until the force feedback started, few screws and nails later and no issues.So I tried this on two systems my friends Xbox one and a windows 10 PC.The Xbox one as you would expect, as this is boxed as a xbox one product, works perfectly with the wheel. The onboard software makes this a plug and play device and worked well with Forza, I forget the version of the game my friend was playing.For the PC you need to install the drivers, read the instructions as it is important you do not connect the wheel until prompted.After reading the instructions it turns out it is best to hold the steering wheel like you are off-roading by making sure your thumbs are flat on the wheel and not gripped so the thump is hooking round the wheel. This is because of the force of the feedback could injure your thumb. One to keep an eye on with the kids to be sure. This is reinforced when you plug in the usb as the wheel will move the full 900 degrees one way then the other at quite a turn as well so don't hold onto it when plugging it in.The PC driver is very good giving different test modes for the force feedback and options to tailor the force feedback responsiveness, other options include reducing the rotation of the wheel between 900 and 270 degrees to suit your preferences and also includes sensitivity settings as well.I had this working well with dirt 3 and also iracing. However other and a bit older games like Driver San Francisco wouldn't let the steering wheel control the car by turning, but did allow me to map the buttons so I am not sure what went wrong here. Possible windows 10 issue with an old game as the website believes this game is compatible.A friend has the Logitech G920 and I would say after using both the 920 feels better made but it is more expensive. However this wheel is good and I have had no problems during testing, it is responsive and the force feedback works well. Overall this is recommended highly, you can buy better but you will pay for it.

24.1.2012

My wife bought this steering wheel for me for Christmas. The pre-order date kept being put back so presumably Thrustmaster were struggling to fulfil the order.Anyway, I got my steering wheel for Christmas and when I opened it I was really happy with the quality of the product. The rubber grip for the steering wheel is excellent and the gear shifters are second to none, I have used the official Xbox steering wheel and both of these components wipe it clean out of the water. The pedals, again are excellent quality. I have seen some reviews on here about broken brake pedals. I actually am slightly confused how that could happen, they are solid! I do only wear socks though when using them,maybe people are wearing shoes. The pedals offer good feedback and resistance, meaning that you can really control the speed around corners, rather than being like an on/off switch.I have only used this wheel for F1 2011, which is what I wanted it for and it offers a great driving experience. OK, it hasn't got force feedback, but I used to race on the PC and had a logitech G25 which at the time was the creme de la creme, but after a while with force feedback it can really make your arms hurt, restricting game time in my opinion. I can play F1 for hours at a time, with no vibrations through my fingers and really decent control of the steering wheel.Now for the negatives. Within 2 weeks, the downshift was becoming irresponsible, at first I thought maybe I had a gearbox failure on the game (no joke), but then it started to get worse. To the point where it didn't work. Another reviewer said that people with this problem must be hamfisted, I don't think this problem is to do with how it is used, more down to the contacts within the wheel to be dodgy. I noticed that this wheel actually comes with 2 years manufacturers warranty. Usually i'd just send it back to Amazon, but I contacted Thrustmaster customer services, who were excellent and I sent my wheel postage paid to France for repair. They sent me another wheel within the week. I personally feel the wheels were initially rushed out of factory to meet the Christmas deadline and therefore quality control points may have been skipped. I am hoping this wheel will prove to be more reliable. If so, then fantastic, for £60 you really won't find a wheel of this quality anywhere!To sum up: -Pros -Great gearshifters, really good quality.Great steering wheel gripPedals are better than anything else i've used on the Xbox 360Buttons are really well placed with ease of use.Only £60.Cons -Suspect reliability (however this does come with 2 years manufacturers warranty)No force feedback (Not a con for me, but maybe for the purist)Microphone socket - Not a problem for me as I use a Turtle Beach headset, but normal Xbox 360 headset will require an adapter. Also get feedback when speaking into the microphone using this wheel.

3.7.2014

Disclaimer - I got my wheel from Overclockers UK NOT Amazon UK but this wheel deserves another positive review.There are many negative reviews all over the internet regarding the reliability of the Thrustmaster TX and though i've had this wheel for a two days I can honestly say just treat your equipment properly and set it up right (Plus use this on PC, you can on Xbox One but alot of these reliability issues seem to be when this is used with the Xbox One).Lets get one thing straight you are buying the wheel base here in all truth. The 458 Italia Wheel Rim and 2 Pedal Set is ok but they are cheap and feel cheep, so really with this wheel all you are getting for 90% of the money you spend is the wheel base.So keep that in mind as I did cause I got this wheel with the 458 GTE Wheel Rim and Fanatec ClubSport V2 Pedals which makes this setup a real blast.So now thats out of the way, how does the wheel base fair when used in game. Now I race only in Assetto Corsa and iRacing, eventually once Project CARS comes out I will use it with that but for know im only using it for Assetto Corsa and iRacing. The first thing I noticed with the wheel is the rapid response and quickness of the wheel, this is a perfect wheel for Road Racing because its a quick and very responsive wheel. Next the Forcefeedback is really good, it is strong but not over powering. I have the exact settings that the software installed with which basically sets everything at 100% and overall gain (I think) to 75%, then I configure the in game settings as they are preset for Assetto and iRacing. So really the forcefeedback is strong and gives great detail when on the road, when the steering goes light, when going over rumple strips, etc... Overall the wheel performs very well and really does a great job at this price. Just wish Thrustmaster just sold the base.Finally really the build quality is very good for the base, solid construction and no lose parts or rattles. The included wheel rim and pedals are very cheap but work as they were intended too really.The only complaint that I have, other than the fact that I wish the base was sold speratelly, is that the fan in the wheel is quite loud. It isnt too loud that it can deafen you but its noticable, so bare that in mind but to me its not that much of an issue as my PC has 3 120mm fans on the Radiator which 30db of noise level for each fan :POverall I do recommend this wheel and highly suggest to people to get either the 458 GTE Rim or the F1 Rim as the stock rim is very cheap and also upgrade to a better set of pedals, if your using this on the Xbox One then get the new Thrustmaster T3PA Pedals or if you are on the PC then you can get the T3PA but I recommend the Clubsport V2 pedals by Fanatec.

3.3.2015

I recieved my Thrustmaster 458 Spider wheel today, firstly let me tell you as this reviews title suggests dont I repeat DONT believe the bad reciews on this little beauty its an amazing bit of kit for so little money, I bought this to get back into racing as I have both Forza titles but to be brutally honest this wheel is better with Forza 5 than Horizon the reason I say this is because 1/ no force feedback and 2/ no matter how much I tinkered with the dead-zones it was was still naff on Horizon but forza 5 is a different kettle of fish after watching a couple of UTUBE vids I set me wheel up through F5 menu and I put my wheel on mode setting 4 this transformed the way the wheel responds to the

11.12.2013

I got my wheel yesterday, And I also own a logitech G27 and the microsoft force feedback wheel.The wheel base is sturdy and quite heavy with a robust feel.Pedal plates are metal and have good resistance and feel good to use.On the first test on forza 5 I was amazed at the way the wheel responded to the road surface and gave me the feeling of traction loss if I drove too fast.The feedback motor is amazing and really fights with you until you ease off the gas as a real car would.You literally can beat your lap times by going with the feedback and driving accordingly to the resistance you feel.First race I came first place and usually wheels are harder to race with than game pads.The engine start

14.6.2016

Let's get straight into the facts... Wheel base is fairly good for force feedback feel, not quite as powerful as the TX Base but at a fraction of the price it's very impressive. The wheel and wheel grip itself is rather plastic feeling and not enough grip for when you get into some tough corners where the wheel is fighting you. Again in the same respect the pedals feel a little flimsy too, by this I also mean there's little resistance on the brake pedal which you'll be best trying to jam something into the back of the pedal to make your own conical type brake mod...To the rescue is the fact you can add the TH8A Shifter and the T3PA pedals to upgrade the wheel. However you cannot swap out the wheel for the GTE and so forth.

8.4.2014

Ok, so if you look closely you will see another review from me on the other identical item but slightly cheaper item on amazon.co.uk. That review was based on my first order of this steering wheel and as it stated, it shipped with non-uk power cord and died after only a few hours, it has now been returned.This wheel was ordered because i still really wanted one and i hoped that as more people had already bought one than the other cheaper listed item, that this was the One!I am delighted to report that it ships with a UK power cord, yay! I am also delighted to report that it has been working well since i received it, thats nearly fours whole days! I will write a further review, if A)

19.8.2017

I read a number of reviews before buying this wheel and most said the force feedback was light so ok for a first wheel. However I have found it to be very good and I think the level of force feedback is partly dependent on the game. On Spintires (driving huge trucks off road) the steering becomes very heavy and hard to turn when driving the biggest trucks as it should be. I think it works best on the PC as you can make adjustments via the software were as on the Xbox games can have limited or no adjustment.I played Forza 5 driving a 1965 Mini Cooper S and knowing how these drive I could best judge the feedback and found it very close to the real thing and soon found having a wheel massively

9.1.2017

First of all you will need a dedicated stand (recommend wheel stand pro) or very stable table to clamp too (my table moved), a USB extension and a mains extension.Setup and ready to go on the above I started playing. One thing I quickly realised is you need to setup each game to the wheel. Doing research on each game (forza, project cars, F1 2016, dirt rally) online I found settings to setup the wheel and adjusted to my tastes. Dirt Rally is practically unplayable until you get in the game menus and set it up, also adjust the degrees of rotation on the wheel itself (see the Thrustmaster website on details for this)I did use the TX setups as there is not lots of TMX settings online yet,

23.5.2016

The Thrustmaster TMX is a quality steering wheel set for Xbox One and PC. I have a previous generation Logitech wheelset, which was excellent. However, for reasons best left alone, is not compatible with Xbox One – quite annoying given the cost this hardware. However, driving games are so much more immersive and fun using a proper wheelset compared with a controller that they're almost an essential purchase for anyone who likes driving games.The Thrustmaster is built to last and can take some very aggressive driving, even if the car you’re driving cannot. The wheelset offers a lot of feedback; it’s not exactly ‘lifelike’ feedback, but in the hustle and bustle of a close-fought race in Project Cars,

28.1.2017

Omg where to begin this wheel is so good it puts you in mind of the TX the only small problem is you cannot change the rims but for an entry-level steering wheel with Force Feedback wheel is amazing you really feel like you are there I can't stop playing Forza Horizon 3 with it it does take a lot of setting up to get it to your taste as if you put everything up high it will snap out of your hand but lower some settings and it becomes very real feeling look on YouTube Four Ways to set this up for different games in summary a very very good looks like it will last my only small complaint is the very top of the wheel is plastic and if you squeeze that a little too tight it feels a little cheap

19.5.2016

This Steering Wheel and Twin Pedal set is very well manufactured and the weight of the steering wheel alone is enough to indicate that this is a high quality item.We connected the wheel and the pedals to a very high spec PC running windows 7.As anyone familiar with the latest simulation driving games will know,it is practically impossible to achieve maximum performance using a regular xbox style controller as fine steering adjustments and quick manual gear shifts are beyond it's capabilities.Using this wheel and pedals with Project Cars and F1 2015 has been a revelation! Out of the box the difference in performance was noticeable but after some adjustment to the pedals'

Thrustmaster TMX Force Feedback - Reviews

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