Verdict
The Thrustmaster T818 Ferrari SF1000 Simulator racing wheel package presents a strong improve for anybody who has tried Thrustmaster’s nice belt-driven fashions up to now. However, the shortage of console help is a disgrace and, if you happen to’re not already a Thrustmaster fan, this might not be the primary selection for these trying to check out direct drive wheel tech.
Pros
Super-powerful and responsive pressure feedbackRidiculously complete controls for sure usesSupports present Thrustmaster wheels
Cons
No console help (PC solely)Expensive in comparison with some rivalsMiddling construct high quality in some elements Display represents a missed alternative
Direct drive pressure suggestionsThis wheel has one of the best type of pressure suggestions: direct drive.
4.3-inch display screenThe LCD display screen can show telemetry information from chosen video games.
Officially licensed wheelThis is a tie-in with Ferrari, based mostly on the wheel from the Ferrari automobile of the 2020 Formula One World Championship.
Introduction
This is the massive one. The Thrustmaster T818 is a direct-drive racing wheel from one of many greatest names in gaming peripherals. It’s the final to reach from the three huge names in tracing wheels too, after the good Fanatec CSL DD and Logitech G Pro.
The Thrustmaster T818 Ferrari SF1000 Simulator package goals to be a kind of “best of all worlds” package. It features a Thrustmaster TF1000 Ferrari duplicate wheel in addition to the T818 wheelbase.
Is it successful? The Thrustmaster T818’s pressure suggestions is great. It’s as sturdy as I believe any remotely regular racing fan wants, it’s ultra-responsive and quiet.
However, this rig can be much less polished than I’d anticipate from Thrustmaster in a couple of areas, irritating in elements, and goes to attraction most to F1 followers who have already got purchased into the Thrustmaster ecosystem. It prices £999, and that doesn’t embrace pedals. This makes it a match for the Logitech G Pro, and considerably extra expensive than some Fanatec CSL DD and Moza R9 kits.
Thrustmaster T818 – Image Credit (TechSwitch)
Design and Force Feedback
Power 10Nm pressure suggestionsDirect drive transmissionSupports present Thrustmaster wheels
What’s so particular a few direct-drive racing wheel just like the Thrustmaster T818? It means the steering wheel is immediately mounted onto the motor on the coronary heart of the wheel. There are not any middleman layers of belts or gears, as present in all the hottest reasonably priced fashions.
With a geared system just like the Logitech G920’s, you’re left with a kind of notched, granular really feel to wheel rotation. That’s not ideally suited. Belt-driven pressure suggestions could cause slippage, and generates a good quantity of warmth, mandating the usage of inside followers.
Some wheels just like the Thrustmaster T248 use a mixture of each kinds. But with the direct drive, Thrustmaster T818 you keep away from all these points with out spending a few grand this type of know-how demanded a couple of years again.
Thrustmaster T818 package – Image Credit (TechSwitch)
It’s terrific stuff, and the Thrustmaster T818 supplies 10Nm of peak torque. Some of the really specialist wheels from area of interest manufacturers present as much as 25Nm, however I don’t actually see the necessity for something greater than what you get right here.
The Thrustmaster T818 will be punishingly tough. If I have been trying to spend a protracted session, I’d take into account dropping its depth a contact. But for a couple of laps that peak energy is simply brilliantly immersive.
This can be better torque than is obtainable by Fanatec within the CSL DD — 5Nm as normal, as much as 8Nm with the enhance package, which is only a very costly beefed-up energy provide. I don’t discover the Thrustmaster clearly extra {powerful} or refined in particular person than the boosted CSL DD, although.
Thrustmaster T818 rear – Image Credit (TechSwitch)
With both, you get severe energy, glorious responsiveness and readability of suggestions. It additionally runs silent, without having for an inside fan. You simply miss out on the extra TruForce suggestions of the Logitech G Pro. This is a gimmicky-sounding type of vibration haptics that works off, for instance, the sound of the engine in a racing recreation. However, in use, it might add to the expertise in a fascinating style.
The Thrustmaster T818 is the least spectacular of this new breed of direct drive wheel in its bodily presence, although, even on this model decked out in Ferrari regalia. Its outer shell is plastic, making it appear a lot much less hardwearing and substantial than the Fanatec CSL DD or Moza R9, that are corrugated bricks of aluminium.
Thrustmaster glosses issues up a bit, utilizing a customisable LED ring across the wheel base’s entrance. I’m not a fan of this nod to “gamer” PC {hardware}, and I’d guess the age of the common pressure suggestions racing wheel person skews older, to start with.
Thrustmaster T818 Wheel base – Image Credit (TechSwitch)
Features
Tricky to suit onto present stands and cockpitsUses a selected mount adapter
Still, maybe aiming for the PC grasp race crowd isn’t the worst concept when that’s the one platform supported by this package. Xbox and PS5 house owners are overlooked. Logitech makes fashions of the G Pro wheel that help PC/Xbox and PC/PS. Fanatec’s DD Pro is for the PlayStation crowd, the usual DD for Xbox. Head to a type of if you need or want console help.
While I’m certain Thrustmaster will adapt this core {hardware} to work on consoles in a future mannequin, I can’t see a future software program replace bringing this one as much as par with the competitors.
Thrustmaster T818 rear – Image Credit (TechSwitch)
There are additionally some quirks to the Thrustmaster T818 that make it appear a little bit of a combined success. This base can use the identical wheel rims as present Thrustmaster fashions. That’s nice. However, it requires a mount adapter I spent greater than an hour attempting to suit correctly — the digital guide does admittedly clarify the method a lot better than the crappy Quickstart information discovered within the field of this package.
The second situation is the mounting course of. If you might have an present laborious mounting rig, you’re prone to discover it doesn’t have the appropriate holes, reportedly trigger by the small backside floor space of the T818’s hexagonal wheelbase. I’m utilizing Playseat Challenge, and must both kind of cludge collectively a three-point mount method that hardly works, or use the basic two-point screw-in clamps. But these go well with a extra reasonably priced racing wheel higher than a high-end one like this. If you might have an excellent cockpit already, you’d higher get the drill out.
Wheel
Huge variety of on-wheel controlsPlastic development with a carbon fibre plateNeat inlaid show, however with restricted recreation help
The explicit package I’m reviewing has a duplicate SF1000 Ferrari wheel. It appears mighty spectacular, with its military of buttons and that racey form, nevertheless it holds up higher at arm’s size than in particular person.
This rim does undergo barely from a criticism I levelled on the Thrustmaster T248, of focusing extra on flashy surface-level tech than the core expertise. There are a tonne of buttons right here, however every is labelled with a naff sticker, a few of which aren’t laid stage. I’m undecided how nicely these will climate over time.
Thrustmaster Ferrari SF1000 – Image Credit (TechSwitch)
The underlying development of the wheel is sort of fundamental bar the flashy carbon fibre plate on its entrance. It’s a plastic core with rubber handles. This does the job simply nice, after all, however a weightier metallic wheel provides to the sense of realism and immersion, and it additionally impacts the transmission of the pressure suggestions slightly.
Fanatec makes extra impressively constructed steering wheels for comparable cash. That’s the unbranded ones, anyway, as its BMW and Porsche wheels break the bank.
Thrustmaster SF1000 wheel show – Image Credit (TechSwitch)
What they don’t have is the XL-size display screen of Thrustmaster’s Ferrari wheel. This 4.3-inch show is used for telemetry information in choose video games. You can try an inventory over on the Thrustmaster web site, however unforunately it’s not a big record. At the time of overview you’re mainly trying on the F1 video games from the previous couple of years or Assetto Corsa Competizione. There are rev counter LEDs too however, once more, they’re solely carried out in a restricted variety of video games.
This display screen doesn’t do a complete lot when not used alongside these video games, repeating what’s successfully a Ferrari screensaver. There’s no menu entry, to regulate issues like pressure suggestions power or most wheel rotation, and it appears a missed alternative. Thrustmaster retains issues fairly easy on the customisation entrance in its PC software too, providing 4 “feel” based mostly presets within the desktop app.
Thrustmaster SF1000 wheel – Image Credit (TechSwitch)
Unlike the steering wheel of the Thrustmaster T248, although, the SF1000’s shifters are good. This half is aluminium and supplies an excellent constructive click on as you shift gears. The two controls are additionally joined in a see-saw-like style, as within the F1 automobile the steering wheel is predicated upon, apparently.
There are additionally decrease clutch paddles, once more mirroring these of the real-life F1 automobile. It’s all nice stuff, however I simply don’t discover the presence of this wheel wherever close to as spectacular as that of another higher-end wheels I’ve used earlier than that make use of supplies like aluminium and Alcantara. Still, this SF1000 wheel is geared toward a distinct segment viewers of F1 followers of which I’m not actually an element, so take my complaints in that context.
Latest offers
Should you purchase it?
You crave top-tier pressure suggestions and person interplay
This package supplies one of the best pressure suggestions I’ve felt in a Thrustmaster wheel up to now. And whereas some may name it unnecessary gloss, the 4.3-inch display screen and dazzling array of controls are to spectacular use in current video games from the F1 sequence.
No console help and plastic-ridden
This is perhaps the hardest promote of the current direct drive wheel units. It doesn’t help any consoles, the largely plastic development is much less instantly spectacular than that of its friends, together with a few cheaper ones.
Final Thoughts
The Thrustmaster T818 Ferrari SF1000 Simulator is a world-class racing wheel package deal. It supplies a straight-up unbelievable racing expertise. But is it the direct drive setup you must really purchase? That is extra difficult.
Its steering wheel appears superb, however the parts of the construct are surprisingly fundamental. And solely a tiny handful of video games could make use of that telemetry display screen. Mostly these from the F1 sequence.
The Logitech G Pro pips the Thrustmaster T818 Ferrari SF1000 Simulator for the general pressure suggestions suggestions expertise, and rivals with comparable clout just like the Fanatec CSL DD 8Nm and the Moza R9 present comparable energy for much less outlay. As such, I can largely advocate this wheel set to folks already purchased into the Thrustmaster ecosystem.
How we check
We use each gaming wheel we check for at the very least every week. During that point, we’ll test it for ease of use and put it by its paces by taking part in a wide range of video games.
We additionally test the controller’s software program help, in addition to the standard of bundled equipment reminiscent of pedals and shifters.
We used for at the very least every week.
Played a wide range of racing video games.
FAQs
How many Nm is the Thrustmaster T818’s pressure suggestions? It’s rated at 10Nm. This is a peak moderately than a sustained score, however it’s nonetheless nice energy. What consoles does the Thrustmaster T818 help It is PC solely, though the SF1000 wheel rim reviewed right here does help bases with console help. What pedals does the T818 help? All present Thrustmatser units work, however the T-LCM set is really useful on the time of overview.
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UK RRP
Manufacturer
Weight
Release Date
First Reviewed Date
Thrustmaster T818 Ferrari SF1000 Simulator
£999.99
Thrustmaster
10.806 KG
2023
26/06/2023
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