Lightning SST Thread!!

  • Thread starter Thread starter guybo
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guybo

guybo

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United States
Tampa, FL, USA
C'mon SST owners, we can't let those TH8RS owners get the one-up on us! Come here for some SST lovin'!



The lifetime warranty sold me- if a company stands by their gear for the lifetime of the product.... I'm sold.
 
24vt9ir.jpg


My Xmas present :-D
 
I forgot all about this shifter when I ordered my TH8RS. I wish I would have remembered this.

How does the SST feel? Is the tension adjustable?
 
Yes, some feedback please!
Have my eye on the shifter for a while now, and still waiting to jump on a decision.
 
nice gear! A game shifter is my next gear purchase.

I will have to watch the vid and read some reviews of the SST.

The TH8RS looks really nice and is not too expensive. I like the fact that the TH8RS can be switched from H-pattern to sequential.
 
Yes it´s quite nice though I don´t have it anymore. If you are worried about loosing time going to H-shifter this is it. Took a while to get used to first days I misshift a lot. Then when I stopped thinking it went better :)

Tension is not adjustable. It has a bit gamey feel I would say. Solid but not much like any shifter I used. I will probably have to rma my TH8RS due to lack of dust proof in that way I believe the SST is a better design. Feels a bit more solid though I personally preferr the longer throw of the TH8RS. And that it can double as a sequential is a killer deal also.
 
It is a solid unit, that's for sure. The SST is also covered by a lifetime warranty- this may be the last shifter I ever buy making this the most economical shifter on the market, though the TH8RS is cheaper.

In the past I had a G25 and that shifter was good- though very loud and clicky. I had an Act-Labs POS too but that was poorly made, cheap and AL provided very poor support (I had to pay to send back the shifter that literally fell apart the first time used it). I used the G25 shifter with a Leo Bodnar adapter until it started getting flaky and wouldn't stay in gear and would go into gear even getting a little jolt. I loved that G25 shifter.

The SST has taken some getting used to but I am getting the hang of it and it is feeling nice. Getting into 5th can be difficult and takes some time to learn. The fell of the shifter is very light, it's not very clicky and I like the feel of the detents. The throw of this shifter is longer than the G25 was.

Setup was easy. Too easy... I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop LOL. So far, so good. No software to install, no probs with any games so far.
 
guybo,

I sent you a PM... I'd like to add support for this shifter to my SFA1 adapter so that people can use it directly with their Fanatec wheel. Let me know if you are interested in helping out. :)
 
mrbasher
guybo,

I sent you a PM... I'd like to add support for this shifter to my SFA1 adapter so that people can use it directly with their Fanatec wheel. Let me know if you are interested in helping out. :)
Click to expand...

Sounds good :D
Well, maybe i got already my birthday gift selected now.

Thx for the feedback Guybo 👍
How about the shifter knob? Is it removable and if yes, which thread on the shaft?
 
24vjfnq.jpg

My league is running an event for those of us with a shifter- the site is SimRacingPro.com and the race is in Race 07, Retro Expansion- 2x15 laps at 1975 Silverstone

The Race thread to sign up

The knob is supposed to be removable, but I can't find any info on how to remove it and I can't see how to unless I pop the seam of the knob on there.... which I am not about to do!
 
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After 3 weeks of use, the action on this thing is changing for the better. At first it didn't have a lot of feel and I had problems getting into some gears- esp. 3rd and 5th I got mixed up all the time. But the feel is developing better and I can feel and find the gates much better. I was using it today with a rF2 GP79 mod and it was fantastic!
 
Just managed to pick up an unused one of these for the princely sum of $20. Wondering if anyone knows of any mods for it. I haven't opened it up yet, but thought I'd get a head start and see if there's any advice out there.

It certainly is gated tightly. With quite a sloppy lateral movement feel (in neutral), it seems it might make for easy mis-shifts. I saw a mention of a spring upgrade, but don't know if it would be included in the one I have.

I get the impression that there's not too many of these out there, so I'm not expecting too much feedback, if any.
 
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There are a lot of them out there, it's just that you're asking the question in a place where the majority of the users race Gran Turismo on a platform not compatible with the shifter. Try the iRacing forums or ISR.

As far as I know, these shifters have lost momentum ever since the TH8RS was launched, since that one has interchangeable plates and a more realistic feel. Also, the design has been sold to a different company now and the lifetime guarantee that they used to carry is no longer.
 
Didn´t hear much about it before the TH8RS was released either. Neither of these shifters have a realistic feel. I think the key is Thrustmaster have a bigger marketing budget and is a more known trademark.

As you get used to it you will stop missing gears. The key is not to think about what you are doing. Once I learned that I never missed a shift with the TH8RS could skip gears all day long not a problem. You don´t need to mod it at all. It´s a very fast shifter much faster then TH8RS stock but of course you can get short plate TH8RS plates to make it about as fast probably but it´s not quite as solidly built as the SST shifter.

I was quite satisfied with the SST the first time around, but my rerun had me less impressed. That was however a used unit and maybe lost some of the great feel or I just got more picky about my shifters.

I would highly recommend the CSS over the TH8RS and SST. It´s a different league the only real con is the bulk of it which may make it harder to integrate in some setups.
 
The only mod I did was to blank off 7th gear with a sheetrock screw. It was an easy mod and makes getting into 5th a lot better. Once you get used to the shifter it becomes like an extension of your arm. Like oqvist says- don't think, just do.
 
Thanks for the replies.

I'm sure I'll end up with a CSS at some point. For the price, I couldn't resist picking up the SST though. Even if it's ultimately a backup shifter for if/when issues arise.

Yeah guybo, I was thinking the same thing with 7th. Also, the shifter has a decent clunk sound to it, but it's somewhat overpowered by the click that it also has. Damping that click may end up being the only other thing I do.

Thanks guys.
 
The #1 prob with the SST now is that the company that made it and offered the "lifetime" warranty is now gona and another company supports it now. I tried to contact that other company for a software issue and I could not reach them. So if i need a new shifter, i'll be forced to get a TM shifter (which I am interested in trying anyway). But for now, this thing is rock solid and tough as nails.

I even spilled coffee in it once. The ball at the top seals really well and almost none got inside of it. I took the thing apart and completely dried it up and it's been fine. They really did make this to last.
 
Ended up doing a bit more to it in the end. I extended the shaft by maybe 120% and threw on a knob matching the ones on my sequential shifter and handbrake. Between the extra weight of the knob and the extra leverage in the shaft, it ended up pretty floppy. The easy remedial things to do were to drill out the innards of the knob to make it lighter and beef up the lateral movement springs. The hard part was putting the upper section back together after dealing with upping the forward/backward tension. Even at the stock tension the thing "exploded" when I opened it up. For a sound dampener and neaten-er-upper I added a rubber cv joint boot. Really quite happy with the feel now.

Crappy quality photo of:
xVLDcGH.jpg


Knob looks disproportionately large in the photo.
 
LeMansAid
Ended up doing a bit more to it in the end. I extended the shaft by maybe 120% and threw on a knob matching the ones on my sequential shifter and handbrake. Between the extra weight of the knob and the extra leverage in the shaft, it ended up pretty floppy. The easy remedial things to do were to drill out the innards of the knob to make it lighter and beef up the lateral movement springs. The hard part was putting the upper section back together after dealing with upping the forward/backward tension. Even at the stock tension the thing "exploded" when I opened it up. For a sound dampener and neaten-er-upper I added a rubber cv joint boot. Really quite happy with the feel now.

Crappy quality photo of:
xVLDcGH.jpg


Knob looks disproportionately large in the photo.
Click to expand...

Video please ;-)
 

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