Hands down my most favorite thing I got to do at SDCC this year was checking out the newest product from Thrustmaster. The Ferrari 458 wheel addon for their T500RS system is an incredible piece of kit, and honestly a must have for ANY racing fan.

I met up with Michael from Thrustmaster at the Ubisoft booth on the show floor. He gave me a quick rundown of the product. The Ferrari 458 addon for their T500RS system brings a new level of refinement to the system. The familiar Ferrari logo sits in the center of this “Real World” accurate wheel, apropos switches and buttons circle the control column, paddle shifters are within reach, and the whole thing is wrapped in leather.

Michael explained to me that this particular wheel system has had the most thought put into it. This generation has five competing driving games being produced at the same time, which include The Crew and Project Cars. Thrustmaster met with all five developers to create the most ubiquitous driving system ever. He explained that each game has it’s own physics system. How each game transmits how the car on screen reacts to the driving surface and collisions. By joining forces with various game developers, Thrustmaster was able to create a controller that could interpret almost any output data to strong force feedback.

I sat down in a nice bucket seat, and the Ferrari 458 wheel was presented to me along with the T500RS pedals. Michael explained that Thrustmaster has teamed with Playseat in some of their higher end setups to provide the closest to the real thing any gamer could want. The Ubisoft presenter ran me through a quick run down of how The Crew demo worked and I was quickly paired up with three other players in the booth.

The first demo featured the four of us trying to take down a target. The moment I took off from the start I immediately knew how serious Thrustmaster was with this product. Driving over hills, bumps, road, sand, water and even through fences the wheel reacted differently on each surface. I struggled to keep the wheel under control, and Michael gave me a few pro tips on getting everything under control. The first demo ended and I found myself in last place. The T500RS wheel system really beat me up, and Michael explained that during this demo the wheel was set at it’s lowest sensitivity, and at the highest I probably wouldn’t have made it out alive, obviously joking Michael went on to explain that Thrustmaster had teamed up with colleges around the world for a brand new collegiate F1 racing league. Colleges would use Thrustmaster wheel systems to train their team’s before putting them on the track. Just after my first race of The Crew with the T500RS wheel I knew how it could easily be used in a total simulation environment.

The next demo was a street race, more my style. I quickly entered first and Michael gave me accolade for my use of the brake pedal. He also mentioned that Thrustmaster offered a pedal upgrade for this system that let users adjust the force feedback on the pedals. A few nice drifts and smooth turns later and I found myself at the finish. Our demo had ended.

Leaving the cockpit I instantly wanted more. The Crew was an amazing experience. The world looked beautiful, and coupled with the Thrustmaster T500RS system it felt amazing. I cannot give these two products higher marks. If you have to pick only one driving game this generation make it The Crew, and do yourself a huge favor and snag this racing wheel.

Afterwards, Michael told me about a new gaming league Thrustmaster was starting up this Fall. They wanted to create a new E-Sports gaming league centered around driving games. Fighting and FPS games are highly featured in many tournaments, and games like LoL and DOTA 2 have huge purses. Thrustmaster wants to bring that status to driving games. Gamers can get a hands on experience with the T500RS system and participate in the beginning legs of the first tournament at Gamestops sometime in late August. More details will be released soon from Thrustmaster so be sure to stay tuned to Geekscape Gaming for future updates.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Growing up with a Flight Instructor for a father, and some of the first games I ever played being flight simulators, Thrustmaster was a common name in our household. The company has pedigree, and it really shows with the Ferrari 458 Wheel and the T500RS system. The brushless motor was supremely smooth, but accurately conveyed the different driving surfaces I experience while playing The Crew.

The Crew was one of my most hyped games from E3 previous and this year. What Ubisoft has planned to release seems daunting, but from the short demo I had, I believe they can do it.