GT5′s New Thrustmaster T500 RS Wheel Goes Upmarket

Accessories December 2nd, 2010 by Jordan

Kazunori Yamauchi has continued to reveal interesting bits of information on Twitter about the new official Gran Turismo 5 steering wheel, the Thrustmaster T500 RS. Unlike the last “official” wheel, the Logitech Driving Force GT, it seems Polyphony Digital will now be endorsing a premium product which commands a considerably higher price tag. According to Yamauchi, the T500 RS will sell in the range $500 (keep reading…), with the separate gated shifter sold separately for a still undisclosed amount of money.

Before you grumble, keep in mind that it’s not clear if the $500 price actually refers to the US, EU, or Japanese regions. As noted by Shirakawa Akira in our forums, the Logitech G27 already sells for around $450 in Japan (it’s $299 in the US), so it may not actually be that much more expensive. Other “premium” wheels, such as the Fanatec Porsche 911 GT3 RS, sell for as much as $349.95, so there is clearly enough demand in the higher end of the market and it is very encouraging to see Polyphony Digital supporting enthusiast hardware with the T500.

Kazunori reinforced this notion with more tweets, stating that the “T500RS [...] is a high-quality, premium steering [wheel],” and “you can feel the delicate and rich feel of the steering.” It will feature three pedals, a “high-power motor, belt drive backlash-free, [and] high-speed processing at low latency.”

Want More?

You should follow GTPlanet on Facebook, and on Twitter @GTPlanetNews. You can also get GTPlanet's news by full-text RSS feed, or delivered via email, straight to your inbox every day.

Tagged

79 Comments

Newest comments are displayed first.

  1. December 3rd, 2010 at 12:23 am - #
    Circuit*star

    i rather buy new suspension for my real car.

    • December 3rd, 2010 at 5:29 am - #
      ToreDL87

      Agreed, I have huge expenses coming up soon due to rebuilding a race engine for my car, my G25 is already good enough for simulators like rFactor and I fail to see why it shouldnt be good enough for PD to include full support (Change gears while drifting, adjust sensivity, deadzones and buttons) for it in GT5 because of some agenda for a new wheel :S

  2. December 2nd, 2010 at 11:50 pm - #
    jodark

    Sorry, if they wanted me to buy their fancy wheel, they should have released it before the game so I didn’t invest in a G27 that I am very happy with.

    • December 3rd, 2010 at 12:05 am - #
      Happy meal

      Do i need this really cool steering wheel? No, but i want it.

  3. December 2nd, 2010 at 11:46 pm - #
    blue cat

    If this means PD are not gonna devote time towards proper G27 support then i’m gonna be such a hater towards this wheel!

  4. December 2nd, 2010 at 11:45 pm - #
    organ-donor

    But if it is better, more power to them. I just want full support for the G27 :/

    • December 3rd, 2010 at 2:25 am - #
      Keyz13

      The G25/27 support is already there, (no triangle needed to enable the clutch), but the extra buttons will be supported with the patches to come , from what I’ve read. Crap! I have a broken, no reverse gear G25, and it drives quite awesome on this game. Lets welcome some wheel competition!!! Better for us right?

    • December 3rd, 2010 at 5:32 am - #
      Murcie

      ^ Same here, rolling with a G25 and it’s pretty much perfect for my driving style as it is.

      The last steering wheel I bought that wasn’t a Logitech was a Mad Catz Puma GT some 10 years ago. It’s going to take one hell of a wheel to top the G25/7.

    • December 3rd, 2010 at 1:22 pm - #
      Geo_212

      What he probably means is to have the ability to program the buttons to your own specifications. I really hate that I can only use TWO of the six buttons on my wheel, and two of the four buttons on the shifter module. What the heck? They really need to support the G25/G27 better.

  5. December 2nd, 2010 at 11:44 pm - #
    organ-donor

    I just bought a G27 a few months ago, hopefully this wheel won’t be much better and we will get full support for the G25/27.

    • December 2nd, 2010 at 11:53 pm - #
      Sean S

      Same here. Will be disappointed if I’ve bought an unsupported wheel given how much it cost.

  6. December 2nd, 2010 at 11:37 pm - #
    Ryan

    1st…..And I will buy

    • December 2nd, 2010 at 11:52 pm - #
      tvman

      When’s it for sale, i’m in. :) I’ve no wheel and can’t get a top of the line Fanatec or Logitech as they’re all sold out.

    • December 2nd, 2010 at 11:57 pm - #
      Juwlzxxx

      Agreed. If its within 300 USD then I’m all in. If not I’ll probably just buy a g27 wheel.

    • December 3rd, 2010 at 6:31 am - #
      Eric

      I almost bought a G27 but I hesitated missed getting it for $198. Now that this new wheel is arriving soon I going to look into this one.

    • December 3rd, 2010 at 10:29 am - #
      ICEMAN_ZIDANE

      thrustmaster = nice looking but = bad VERY bad quality
      ican just hope for you that thrustmaster will make a wheel with a good quality because of PD/SONY

      i had 2 thrustmaster wheels and both had a very bad quality
      they look good and you think it’s good but they aren’t

      lets see …

    • December 3rd, 2010 at 1:18 pm - #
      MrSkyline

      why am i getting the feeling the introduction of this wheel and not fully supporting other premium wheels is not a coincidence?

      this smells like a big pile of ****