Thrustmaster quality control

Matheus Berçot · Feb 14, 2019

Next month I will be staying for a week in the US and I plan to buy a gaming wheel (almost three years after selling my old G27) and bring it back to Brazil so I can slowly return to sim racing.

The reasons I quit sim racing three years ago are simple: after playing Assetto Corsa with a T500RS in a different cockpit, when I returned home and had to pick the G27 again... damn, it really felt bad. I suddenly lost all the "thing" I had with sim racing. Also the pots started giving up and college and I just didn't want to go on. At the time I didn't have a chance of getting a T500RS myself.

That being said, I'm really considering getting a Thrustmaster TX (or perhaps even a Logitech G920) there, with the proper pedals and the shifter, but Amazon reviews (plus Google) are giving me many horror stories about people who bought Thrustmaster wheels. Is their quality control still that bad? I mean, I don't think I will be able to do much in case I buy a wheel and it gives up when I get back home. We have even no Thrustmaster technical assistance of any kind of support here in Brazil

.

I even asked Thrust on Facebook over a week ago if they could do anything in case a problem happened here but I really got no answer other than "we'll check it and return later" which never happened (and really... if *before* giving the money I'm already being treated like this, I fear imagining after it).

In case it's still bad, I ought analyze different options -- any insights about G29/G920 are also welcome.

Thanks for the advice!

.

SOLO59 · Feb 15, 2019

Matheus Berçot said:
Next month I will be staying for a week in the US and I plan to buy a gaming wheel (almost three years after selling my old G27) and bring it back to Brazil so I can slowly return to sim racing.

The reasons I quit sim racing three years ago are simple: after playing Assetto Corsa with a T500RS in a different cockpit, when I returned home and had to pick the G27 again... damn, it really felt bad. I suddenly lost all the "thing" I had with sim racing. Also the pots started giving up and college and I just didn't want to go on. At the time I didn't have a chance of getting a T500RS myself.

That being said, I'm really considering getting a Thrustmaster TX (or perhaps even a Logitech G920) there, with the proper pedals and the shifter, but Amazon reviews (plus Google) are giving me many horror stories about people who bought Thrustmaster wheels. Is their quality control still that bad? I mean, I don't think I will be able to do much in case I buy a wheel and it gives up when I get back home. We have even no Thrustmaster technical assistance of any kind of support here in Brazil .

I even asked Thrust on Facebook over a week ago if they could do anything in case a problem happened here but I really got no answer other than "we'll check it and return later" which never happened (and really... if *before* giving the money I'm already being treated like this, I fear imagining after it).

In case it's still bad, I ought analyze different options -- any insights about G29/G920 are also welcome.

Thanks for the advice! .

I've got the TX with T3PA Pro's. Been using the TX for 3 + years. And the T3PA Pro's for 3 years and a half years. Still going strong knock on wood. But I think I remember reading about a new batch of Thrustmaster wheels that have previous issues ironed out. Please don't qoute me on this, but I think that was around 2014 or 2013... Something like that.

I too came from G27, and stayed with it for 4 years + until I decided to go Thrustmaster after carefully reading reviews. The part about "Thrustmaster coming out with new batch of problem-free wheels" was one of the things that helped pushed me to pick up one. Still have my g27 in the closet should anything happen... Its been while now and I've had no need to pull out the ol G27 regardless of the many hours spent on my TX.

Oh and keep your g27 shifter imo. Its an old peice of hardware, but so many buttons, the shifter still "shifts" so no plans on upgrading my shifter. Besides, I mainly use the buttons for racing and the shifter for ATS.

Hope this helps

AJ McDaddy · Feb 15, 2019

I had the original TX wheel - motor blew up. TM replaced it but the second one had an issue. TM empowered me to fix it myself without invalidating the warranty (they sent the part - a ground wire).

The common issue with the first lot of wheels was fixed with firmware and a ground wire, but as a consequence during long races FFB effects would be reduced to prevent the motor overheating. I still have my TX (used for 2 - 3 years) but have been using Fanatec CSW 2.5 since December 2017.

TX or T300 will now be a good buy in my opinion.

asteroulis · Feb 15, 2019

The stories that have made TM the bad name nowadays were only due to the internal PSU of the T300/TX producing extra thermal stress to the components resulting in more failures that other companies/models.

Nowadays if you have force cooling mode on you will never have a problem with cooling , thermal throttling etc.
There are always things that can fail but no more that whats normal for these kind of stuff.

T300 & Tx are excellent VFM . I had been racing with T500 & TsPc and then downscaled (because I started fixing those models) and can't say I miss the bigger models. Next step imho is a DD.

Fat-Alfie · Feb 15, 2019

I use a T500RS & T3PA-Pro which were given to me by a motion sim-rig company who had switch over to DD wheels. Both had seen some serious use and even though they must be 4 or 5 years old (I have had them 3 years) I have had very few problems. One micro switch needed to be replaced on a paddle shifter (75p for 4 new ones) and one dusty accelerator pot (quick clean fixed that).

I really want a DD wheel now and if Thrustmaster made one I wouldn't hesitate to buy one over other brands.