Solving The Playstation 4 Racing Wheel Conundrum
December 23rd, 1997: The Arrival of Polyphony Digital’s Gran Turismo – A racing experience that fundamentally resulted in the establishment of a community of pre-existing simulation racing enthusiasts and newcomers to the genre alike within the Playstation coterie. The rest of course is history.
Quite aware of the racing passion their series, which had already spawned a sequel with another one being in the works at the time, had instilled and was continuing to do so amongst Playstation’s fan base, Polyphony Digital teamed up with Swiss computer accessory and peripheral provider Logitech to design what came to be the first in a line of immensely successful racing wheels – The GT Force. Acclaimed for their high durability, with owners claiming that the early Logitech wheels still function better than their older Playstation consoles, high accessibility and most importantly, their reasonable costs, the wheels that followed the GT Force found their way into nearly every Playstation based sim-racing fanatic’s household for years.
This streak continued much into the span of the last console generation with their last couple of models – the Driving Force GT and the G27 Racing Wheel basically dominating the Playstation 3 Sim-Racing scene. The Driving Force GT, despite the plastically clumsy dual pedals was predominantly the go-to racing wheel for any Playstation 3 owner looking to take their virtual racing endeavours up a notch specifically due to its offering of excellent Force Feedback, covert yet effective paddle shifters, sequential stick shift and longevity all at an immensely low cost. The G27 Racing Wheel meanwhile, catered to the more serious racing enthusiast, replete with a six-speed shifter and authentic paddle shifters, LED indicators and a clutch.
It is natural then for this very Playstation sim-racing community to be thrown in a state of disarray after Logitech announced their exit from the Console racing accessory market back in 2013. To make matters worse moreover, support for the existing Driving Force GT and G27 racing wheel on the Playstation 4 has been nullified. Since then, players have prayed and harped incessantly for DFGT and G27 to be made compatible with the Playstation 4 and while Logitech themselves have assured players they were working on a solution over a year ago, that solution is yet to see the light of the day. A Logitech G29 is rumoured to be in development but even that, lacks credibility.
Enter Thrustmaster
With driving games such as Need For Speed: Rivals, Driveclub and The Crew having been directed at an arcade audience on the Playstation 4, Sim-racing enthusiasts had somewhere mellowed in the hope that matters would resolve themselves. However, this was until Project CARS released earlier this month, only to drive home just how much the Sim-racing community was missing out in terms of experience minus a Racing wheel. With the game only supporting racing wheels, pedals and wheelbases from the line-ups of Thrustmaster and Fanatec, the sim-racing community and more importantly, newcomers alike have now turned their fantasizing gaze on these two Racing hardware giants.
The Thrustmaster T100
Determining which exact wheel however is a phenomenal mess, especially for those looking to buy a wheel for the first time. Step out into the internet and one would find opinions and facts of varying contrast backed by the fact that players are more than dubious of investing in a wheel solely for Project CARS. Factually speaking, the most affordable Playstation 4 supported wheel on the current market would be the Thrustmaster T80. However, it’s lack of Force Feedback makes a Dualshock4 controller seem to be the better choice. Move up a notch on the price range, and one would find the Thrustmaster T100, user reviews to which happen to be mixed if not at par with the Logitech Driving Force GT.
Moving up several more notches on the price range is where the dilemma commences- The Thrustmaster T300 and the Fanatec Porsche 911 GT2 wheel coupled with a set of CSR pedals weigh equally on the wallet. Polls, discussions and interactions with Gran Turismo based community GTPlanet, it’s founder Jordan Greer and several other Playstation 4 forums, reveal that those looking to invest in a wheel are more inclined towards a Thrustmaster for reasons that in most cases, attribute to brand familiarity; Familiarity enforced by the fact that Thrustmaster too, around the time of Gran Turismo 5’s release, had acquired the official Gran Turismo license, courtesy of Polyphony Digital, leading to the development of the highly acclaimed, and highly expensive, T500RS for the Playstation 3 system.
If we were to speak in terms of affordability from the perspective of those looking to invest solely for Project CARS and forthcoming par-simulation racing games then, this is where the discussion would stop as racing hardware beyond this point is priced at a figure suitable only for those sure to dedicate their days to virtual motorsport of the immensely serious kind of which there is a considerable lack on the Playstation 4. Bluntly speaking, if one were to invest in higher end wheels than the ones mentioned above, they are best of on a PC given the variety of Racing simulators.
Coming back to Playstation 4 then, and absolutely frustrated by the inability to come to a conclusion, we decided to take matters into our own hands. With the motive of reviewing each of the affordable wheels mentioned earlier – The Thrustmaster T100 (Neglected the T80 for obvious reasons), The Thrustmaster T300 and the Fanatec Porsche 911 GT2, we set out to contact each of the hardware giants with the proposition.
Beginning With The Thrustmaster Ferrari T300 GTE
While we are yet to hear from Fanatec that so far seem to maintain the composure of a secret society, Thrustmaster have been more than understanding of the current situation. And so, the first of the wheels they’ve sent us in the Thrustmaster T300 Ferrari GTE – A variant of the Thrustmaster T300, priced at exactly the same rate and differing only in the fact that it happens to be a 7:10 scale replica of the actual Ferrari GTE race car wheel.
Yes, the T300 GTE may have been reviewed countless times prior and yes, we already know all that is to be known about them. What’s different then?
For starters, the T300 GTE will be reviewed in due time with respect to all forthcoming racing games on the Playstation 4, near-sims and arcade racers alike. The first of these of course will be Project CARS, the developers of which Thrustmaster claim to have worked closely with in order to ensure their hardware delivers the most immersive experience on the Playstation 4. The review and others that follow, will evaluate the performance of the T300 GTE with emphasis on features such as accessibility, force feedback, experience offered in different game modes to minute details such as button layouts, noise and ease in gear changes. Those features however only scratch the surface, which leads us to our next point of difference – You, and those trapped in the chaos will be the ones guiding the review. Just like the fan-based interview with Slightly Mad Studios prior to Project CARS’ release, we need you, to send in your queries, doubts and any aspect that you would like covering within the review in the comments below so as to ensure an in-depth, honest evaluation of the Thrustmaster T300 Ferrari GTE.
“Thrustmaster have been an absolute pleasure to work with, providing all the hardware and technical support we could need to deliver a cutting edge driving experience in Project CARS using Thrustmaster steering wheels and peripherals.” - James Boulton, technology programmer at Slightly Mad Studios
While we are beginning with the T300 Ferrari GTE however, that in no way means we won’t be testing other Playstation 4 compatible wheels with the Thrustmaster eventually. With F1 2015 due for a June 12th release, Need For Speed due this fall and the much anticipated Gran Turismo 7 still within the pipeline, it is our honest hope that our reviews suitably gauge the value of each of Thrustmaster’s products and hopefully, put an end to the mess.
The review of Thrustmaster’s Ferrari T300 GTE’s Project CARS performance on the Playstation 4 will be released within the second week of June. Till then, do send in what you would like to be covered with regards to the wheel prior to June 10th via commenting below.