Hands-on With Direct Axial Drive: Thrustmaster T598 First Impressions


The Thrustmaster T598 offers a low-end Direct Drive wheel base with console compatibility. We tried the new base - here are our first impressions.

Two years after unveiling its first foray into Direct Drive territory with the T818, Thrustmaster announced a lower-end DD wheel base that also features compatibility with PlayStation 4 and 5. The T598 boasts 5 Nm of constant torque, a Direct Axial Drive Motor that is intended to eliminate cogging, and it comes in a bundle with a new 300-mm Sportcar wheel rim and the Raceline LTE pedals - not a bad deal for €/$499.99.

How does it feel, though? At ADAC SimRacing Expo, our own @Michel Wolk had the opportunity to try the T598 both on PlayStation and on PC to gather his first impressions.

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No Cogging, Smooth Steering​

According to Thrustmaster, the T598 heralds nothing less than a new era in Direct Drive steering wheels, as it replaces the radial flux motor with an axial flux motor, which differs in the arrangement of the stator tubes and thus the magnetic flux generated parallel to the shaft. This completely eliminates the cogging that can be felt when you turn your Direct Drive steering wheel when it is switched off.

When driving, this is usually dealt with by software and damping. According to Thrusmaster, the whole Axial Flux design has only advantages - less material, lower cost, a pure signal for sharper and cleaner effects, plus the eliminating clipping, so the loss of FFB effects during torque peaks.

We can already see from the wheelbase layout that it is significantly shorter, as this type of motor is simply less long. There are some drawbacks to this design as well, however: It is said to be very difficult and expensive to produce - which Thrusmaster seems to have this under control if they are offering it at the price point they do. On the other hand, heat dissipation is said to be a problem, which explains the rather tall base and why they start with a constant torque of 5 Nm.

Thrustmaster had the T598 set up on desks in their booth, as many sim racers out there do not have a dedicated rig. Michel found the base to be rather stable and smooth in Gran Turismo 7, and the Direct Axial Drive technology meant that the wheel felt quick to react when steering from side to side quickly.

Thrustmaster-T598-First-Impressions-Sim-Racing_Expo-2024-ACC-PC.jpg


The Clipping Question​

And since the base is compatible with other Thrustmaster steering wheels in addition to the Sportcar one it comes with, Michel finds the bundle to be a good starting point for those who want to take their casual racing on the PlayStation to a new level.

On the other hand, running the PC version of Assetto Corsa Competizione on the T598 mounted to a rig and with the Ferrari 488 GT3 wheel, the base continued to feel clean and smooth, but not immune to clipping when running over curbs, for example - according to ACC, that is, and not too much, either.

Interestingly, clipping should be completely avoided by the tech used in the T598, according to Thrustmaster, so we are eager to find out more. We should have a review unit avavilable soon to take a closer and more in-depth lool.

If there are any specifics that you want us to look into, feel free to leave your remarks and questions in the comments below, and we will try and answer as many as we can. Feel free to also join the discussion in our hardware forum!
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About author
Yannik Haustein
Lifelong motorsport enthusiast and sim racing aficionado, walking racing history encyclopedia.

Sim racing editor, streamer and one half of the SimRacing Buddies podcast (warning, German!).

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Comments

[T]he base continued to feel clean and smooth, but not immune to clipping when running over curbs, for example - according to ACC, that is.

ACC has no way to know if the base is clipping. What it's indicating is an overflow in the in-game FFB effects calculations (i.e., it's exceeded the -10000 to +10000 range.) You have to lower the game's FFB strength to avoid it.
 
that looks like a super interesting product, once my T500 falters (still going strong after five years of almost daily clamping and unclamping ...), this will be my next wheel I guess.
 
I mean, I've been plugging away (happily) with my CSW 2.5 and people have always nagged me to upgrade and waxed lyrical about the smoothness of DD wheels, so there is cogging? I'm confused.
It depends on the brand/model. Some (like Simucube) are completely smooth, whether turned on or off. Usually the cheaper the base is, the more likely it is to have a coggy feel. A CSW 2.5 is supposedly smoother than a CSL DD even though its belt-driven.
 
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Premium
I mean, I've been plugging away (happily) with my CSW 2.5 and people have always nagged me to upgrade and waxed lyrical about the smoothness of DD wheels, so there is cogging? I'm confused.
Lol, NOW there is.. When more money will eliminate it...

Ive already said it and Ill keep saying it. This 'new motor tech' should not be more expensive. TM should be pushing those saving to the customer but instead theyre going the opposite route, acting like new tech = higher prices. This new motor has less materials and is manufactured in a more efficient way so doesnt that mean its cheaper to produce?

On another note, stick with that CSW. You wont notice how much smoother a DD base is, its that small of an improvement.
 
OK, so now I've watched about 20 reviews of varying depth, recent weeks.

My impression is that Thrustmaster are shooting themselves in the foot with an attempt to capitalize via trying to reach the broadest possible customer audience.

Instead they have put themselves between two chairs.

This will indeed hurt their brand as a stamp of quality.

Since Cov-19, I have considered DD/DD2 (however, the family has made sure to spend my money on something else :thumbsdown::p ) still leaning mostly towards Moza R9/R12 or similar, so nothing fanatical.

Compared to my current T300RS-GT, I don't see the T598 as the 'next step' for me.

Sorry, those were the most positive terms I could find.
 
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Premium
It depends on the brand/model. Some (like Simucube) are completely smooth, whether turned on or off. Usually the cheaper the base is, the more likely it is to have a coggy feel. A CSW 2.5 is supposedly smoother than a CSL DD even though its belt-driven.
Not quite true. My SC2 has 8 or so distinct areas where you feel some drag while rotating the wheel when its off.
 
Not quite true. My SC2 has 8 or so distinct areas where you feel some drag while rotating the wheel when its off.
Mine (an SC2P) is completely smooth all the way round.

This 'new motor tech' should not be more expensive. TM should be pushing those saving to the customer but instead theyre going the opposite route, acting like new tech = higher prices.
How do you know that? This is one of the cheapest DD PS compatible bases currently available. Their TGT base which is of similar strength retailed for 1000 Euro in 2017.
 
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that looks like a super interesting product, once my T500 falters (still going strong after five years of almost daily clamping and unclamping ...), this will be my next wheel I guess.
I am really curious how the threads of the bolt are looking like after those 5 years. I find it hard to believe that after 5 years the metal on the bolt hasn't been stripped away by the nut.
 
OK, so now I've watched about 20 reviews of varying depth, recent weeks.

My impression is that Thrustmaster are shooting themselves in the foot with an attempt to capitalize via trying to reach the broadest possible customer audience.

Instead they have put themselves between two chairs.

This will indeed hurt their brand as a stamp of quality.

Since Cov-19, I have considered DD/DD2 (however, the family has made sure to spend my money on something else :thumbsdown::p ) still leaning mostly towards Moza R9/R12 or similar, so nothing fanatical.

Compared to my current T300RS-GT, I don't see the T598 as the 'next step' for me.

Sorry, those were the most positive terms I could find.
Do remember though that you do get lumped with rather large shipping fees with Moza. So on paper it looks cheap, but it's almost like robbing Peter to pay Paul. A cheaper product with much higher shipping costs... At least compared with when I bought my fanatec gear.
 
Premium
Mine (an SC2P) is completely smooth all the way round.


How do you know that? This is one of the cheapest DD PS compatible bases currently available. Their TGT base which is of similar strength retailed for 1000 Euro in 2017.
How do I know which part, the manufacturing process or that it should be cheaper? Mfg process is explained by TM enough so that you could make the same conclusions. The part about it should be cheaper is just my opinion.

We shouldnt be accepting these outrageous prices just because 'X product had these features for said dollar amount' and its comparable. If we continue down this road much longer, cheap Chinese goods will be the standard with a premium price tag. Affordable will be a cheap knock off of the cheap knock off of the original.

Wouldnt it be nice if TM's mantra at the moment was, "Hey weve made this - less costly to produce motor for our wheelbase and were passing the savings onto you!"? Thats my main point, just wishful thinking. I dont expect my comments to make any kind of difference in the way they conduct business.

As for the SC2. Mine isnt the only one I have felt and its not just the pro. Its incredibly subtle but if you lightly rotate the wheel with your fingertips, youll feel it slow down every couple inches. Thats the effect that this new motor eliminates.
 
I am really curious how the threads of the bolt are looking like after those 5 years. I find it hard to believe that after 5 years the metal on the bolt hasn't been stripped away by the nut.
photograph incoming, once there is sunlight again tomorrow in my home office. I did put a drop of oil on the moving parts first thing after unpacking, have had to restick the little "feet" made of rubber on the wheelbase itself a dozen times, but the metal parts are quite ok, I guess.
 
photograph incoming, once there is sunlight again tomorrow in my home office. I did put a drop of oil on the moving parts first thing after unpacking, have had to restick the little "feet" made of rubber on the wheelbase itself a dozen times, but the metal parts are quite ok, I guess.
I think from what I read it really helps to grease up the thread/bolt, if that does the trick I might order a replacement.
 
Some (like Simucube) are completely smooth, whether turned on or off.
Not quite true. My SC2 has 8 or so distinct areas where you feel some drag while rotating the wheel when its off.
Also on SC2 Pro here and I presume that your bases are completely the same, you just have a different sensitivity to it.

My experience is as follows: when you have some wheel the notches are almost impossible to feel, but remove the wheel, turn the base off (or remove all the filters, it can still be on), grab the shaft by hand and slowly rotate you will feel those notches, those 8 or so areas that the shaft wants to be in. It's so light though that having a wheel on with some diameter and they are almost impossible to feel.
 
I was laughing at it, but I have to admit that I might have been wrong.

I mean - sure, the rim itself looks cheap and the buttons, as other reviewers have mentioned, are not perfect, and there is currently no software support.... but when they release the software and firmware update as well as QR adapter...

I'm really thinking about changing my still great T300 base and T3PA pedals to the T598 base and pedals some day. I thought the height of the base might be an issue, but it turns out that even with my crappy wheel stand it should be fine.

It's good to hear the DD itself works great.
 
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