Official Thrustmaster T300RS + T3PA-PRO ADD-ON + TH8A Add-On Shifter

[Blackknight2000]

Hey guys I am new here but I would like to start the Official Thrustmaster T300RS + T3PA-PRO ADD-ON + TH8A Add-On Shifter topic. I recently  purchased a project cabinet and I am in the process of converting it to a Demul, Mame, PC , PS3 and PS4 cabinet. I know that Sony has had a long standing relationships with Logitech (soon to be Logi) I am really interested in this wheel because of the add on and the quality of the wheel as a whole. I have started learning a lot form BadMouth's Arcade Cabinet Guide (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,105961.0.html). I got to admit I jumped into this project without knowing anything about the difficulty of creating a racing cab but I like a challenge

 If you want to follow my cabinet project this is the official thread: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,146057.0.html

Here are some pictures of the wheel. To note the add on work on the Xbox One wheel as well so I could technically switch this thing to an Xbox One cabinet on the fly.







The shifter has an add on that can be switched to up down mode so it seems like this wheel has some great potential to be the ultimate when it comes to emulation. I know some games were  limited to 360 or 270 modes and the wheel is suppose to have a built in option to switch the wheel to work with these modes. Here is a video review in which they talk about it.



So here is what I would like this thread to be about. If you have the Thrustmaster T300 have you tried it with emulation. How well does it work? Have you tried the add one? I will be picking up this wheel shortly. I actually picket up the T3PA-Pro Add-On already since they go out of stock rather quickly.

[Blackknight2000]

Hello Everyone!

I finally picked up the Thrustmaster T300RS + T3PA-PRO ADD-ON. I will be posting my feedback on this wheel on this thread. If anyone else out there has this wheel please hit up this thread and let me know what you think or if you have any info on how it works. Any help would be much appreciated!

[Blackknight2000]

So I set up the wheel and updated the firmware to the latest that Thrustmasters has to offer. This is my first semi pro wheel and I have to say I am pretty happy with it. I know that most people use Logitech G27 and I am thinking about picking up the G29 to do some comparisons. For now I will focus on the T300 RS, I will be posting some video diaries of my project, there will be a ink to the first video further down this post. Here are some pictures of the current state of my rig.





I just started learning about racing game emulation and through some of BadMouth's post I have learned that limiting the radius of the wheel is essential for many arcade games, 180 degrees and 270 degrees if I am not mistaken. The box for the Thrustmaster T300 RS and the information found on the website state that the wheel can be limited from 270 to 1080 degrees, I thought I would be limiting myself since some games work on 180 degrees, but to my surprise the software allows you to limit it form 40 to 1080 degrees.



I played around with the wheel radius limiter and found that the wheel will auto stop at the designed radius once you set the limit through the software. Feels like it does this via magnetism but I am not sure. I don't know how the Logitech wheels do this so if you have some feedback regarding this please let me know.

I decided to test out this wheel with a classic, Datona USA. I set up Nebula's Model 2 emulator and quickly got things running. I put a video together for you guys, here it is. I will do a little more technical version later today.



I haven't played this game for a long time but it seems to work and feels like I remember. I have the wheel set to auto center when released, I set this through the actual Thrustmaster software. There is an option to let the game dictate how the wheel works but I haven't tried that option yet.  The wheel when set to auto center give you a bit of resistance when you turn it, not too much and it kinda feels just right. I have the wheel limited to 270 degrees (just took a guess that this game was a 270 degrees radius game) and it seems to work really welll with the game (meaning the game responds well to small adjustments in the wheel). Well guys, I am still learning but I hope I can bring something to the tablet to these forums, Thanks for playing!

[BadMouth]

Thanks for posting pics of the wheel settings in windows.
It's good to see what options a wheel has without having to buy it first.
 

[Blackknight2000]

Thanks for posting pics of the wheel settings in windows.
It's good to see what options a wheel has without having to buy it first.
 

Thanks BadMouth, you've been a big help with my project so far. I wanted to start this thread specifically to talk about the Thrustmaster T300 RS and how it works with emulators and systems like the PS3 and PS4 as well as how the wheel works with specific games. If anyone out there has this wheel and has some suggestions on how to run it with certain emulators and games (suggested settings) please post to this thread.

[Blackknight2000]

Aright guys! WOrked on this project a little more today. My goal was to get another game that I love up and running and see if it works well with the wheel. Going with the Thrustmaster as opposed to the Logitech seemed like a gamble to me so seeing if it works with my favorite games is a must. So the game is... CRAZY TAXI!!! I got it up and running using Demul.  I put together a video showing the game working while I talk about the wheel and how you go about setting it up in case any of you are interested in looking into it. Here is the link to the video.



Also here is a look at the other two option taps for the device options for the Thrustmaster t300 RS

[Fursphere]

Just want to clarify something here I saw in the first post.

T300RS = PC, PS3, PS4

TX = PC and Xbox One

Both wheels support PC, but one is Playstation, the other is Xbox One.

ThrustMaster made this a bit confusing...   the TH8A shifter will work with both, but is an independent USB device in H pattern mode.   The T3PA pedals plug into the wheel base, and will work with either base (and the T500 RS...)

[Howard_Casto]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure these wheel companies are taking advantage of customers at this point.  Considering the rather high price tag of this gear they can afford to spring for another 20 dollar pcb and have the stuff support pc, playstation AND xbox. 

[Fursphere]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure these wheel companies are taking advantage of customers at this point.  Considering the rather high price tag of this gear they can afford to spring for another 20 dollar pcb and have the stuff support pc, playstation AND xbox.

I wouldn't be so quick to blame the wheel company.  I would think that Sony and Microsoft would force this from a licensing perspective.  (Look at all the 'exclusive' game deals they push for no obvious reason other than to try and lock people into one ecosystem)

Spend $400 - $800 on a console specific wheel setup and you'd be more likely to stay with that specific console. 

[Blackknight2000]

Just want to clarify something here I saw in the first post.

T300RS = PC, PS3, PS4

TX = PC and Xbox One

Both wheels support PC, but one is Playstation, the other is Xbox One.

ThrustMaster made this a bit confusing...   the TH8A shifter will work with both, but is an independent USB device in H pattern mode.   The T3PA pedals plug into the wheel base, and will work with either base (and the T500 RS...)

Thanks for clearing that up for the readers. I actually picket up the TX and the T300 RS on the same day because they were on sale at Fry's. Got the T300 for $270 and the TX for $250 (which is the price for just the base now that they sell it as a stand alone part). I did not know about having to direct USB for H pattern, good to know! One more thing, the TX is limited to 900 degrees while the T300 RS does 1080 degrees of rotation.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure these wheel companies are taking advantage of customers at this point.  Considering the rather high price tag of this gear they can afford to spring for another 20 dollar pcb and have the stuff support pc, playstation AND xbox.

I wouldn't be so quick to blame the wheel company.  I would think that Sony and Microsoft would force this from a licensing perspective.  (Look at all the 'exclusive' game deals they push for no obvious reason other than to try and lock people into one ecosystem)

Spend $400 - $800 on a console specific wheel setup and you'd be more likely to stay with that specific console. 

Pretty sure it is the first party, the PC is not considered a competing product to consoles so MS and Sony wouldn't care about cross compatibility with PC (especially MS of course) but they wouldn't ever allow cross console products. Maybe there is a way to mod the wheel to play with both, I would totally do it and sell the TX.

The thing I like about the Thrustmaster stuff is that the add-on parts are cross console so the add-on pedal and shifter will work on either base (one reason I decided on Thrustmaster, I have every system so this saves me money in the long run).

Thanks for contributing guys!

[Fursphere]

Actually, the PC is inline with the Xbox One - they share a lot of the same games (direct ports) due to the shared DirectX / XInput APIs and whatnot.

Xbox One has a "Install Windows" option, and now there is a stream Xbox One games on Windows 10 option I've read about.  Anyway....  don't want to go too far off topic 

I only have a PS3 on the console side, so that's all I can comment on.

On the PC side, I've noticed the TH8A shifter 'just works' with a lot of games, every though it doesn't show up as an option to configure in the menus.  Little strange, but it works so I can't complain. 

The shifter does work good in sequential mode and in hand brake mode - but you have to choose 1/3 modes... 

And the only last thing I'd add is the pedals that come with the T300RS are garbage.  I can't express enough how bad they are.  They are the same pedals that come with the lower end T150 wheel. 

The T3PA or T3PA Pro pedals are pretty much a 'must buy' - unless you score a set of G27 pedals for $30 on ebay and buy the 3rd party adapter.  That would work good too. 

[Blackknight2000]

Actually, the PC is inline with the Xbox One - they share a lot of the same games (direct ports) due to the shared DirectX / XInput APIs and whatnot.

Xbox One has a "Install Windows" option, and now there is a stream Xbox One games on Windows 10 option I've read about.  Anyway....  don't want to go too far off topic 

I have an Xbox One and haven't heard of the install windows option, gonna have to look into that, sounds interesting.

On the PC side, I've noticed the TH8A shifter 'just works' with a lot of games, every though it doesn't show up as an option to configure in the menus.  Little strange, but it works so I can't complain. 

The shifter does work good in sequential mode and in hand brake mode - but you have to choose 1/3 modes...

This is good news! I haven't picked up the shifter yet so I can't wait to try it.

And the only last thing I'd add is the pedals that come with the T300RS are garbage.  I can't express enough how bad they are.  They are the same pedals that come with the lower end T150 wheel. 

The T3PA or T3PA Pro pedals are pretty much a 'must buy' - unless you score a set of G27 pedals for $30 on ebay and buy the 3rd party adapter.  That would work good too. 

I got the T3PA Pro pedals right away so I never tried the stock pedals. I may pop them in just for the experience.