Thrustmaster T150/TMX Force Feedback Racing Wheels

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I've had the T150 (with standard pedals) for four days now and I'm very happy with my purchase.

I came from a line of Logitech wheels from early 2000s to 2012 - original Driving Force, Driving Force Pro, G25. I moved to Bulgaria four years ago and had to get rid of my G25, which was still working perfectly fine after six years of more or less regular use.

About a year ago I bought a Thrustmaster T100 for my PS4 - it's been sitting in a closet since the second or third week. Aside from the wheel feeling like a plastic toy and a gigantic step down from the G25, and it didn't even compare flatteringly to my memory of my 12+ years older Driving Force, it also developed an problem within a matter of days, where it sort of felt like a gear would frequently skip a tooth when there was even moderate resistance from the FFB.
I didn't bother taking it back - one of the drawbacks of living in a country where you can't always rely on English and your knowledge of the local language extends to taxis, restaurants and food shopping.

I finally decided I was tired of being stuck with a controller for my favourite game genre, so I went wheel shopping again last week in a local electronics store. I looked long and hard at the G29 (given my prior problem free Logitech history) and the Thrustmaster T300 RS (including the GT model with the three pedal set) but I was just not willing to shell out that much right now, so I opted for the T150, hoping it would be closer in quality to the T300 and Logitechs than to the T100.
Thankfully that definitely seems to be the case, at least in terms of wheel feel. It's hard to do comparisons based on four year old memories of my G25 but I'd say that the T150 at the very least has force feedback and a general responsiveness that makes it feel a lot more like a scaled back sibling to the more expensive wheels than an updated iteration of the T100.

The pedals are not great of course, but at least for the foreseeable future they'll make do. The wheel and pedal set has certainly provided a much needed massive immersion upgrade from my temporary controller limited years.
After a T100 failing within days and reading some scary reports of Thrustmaster reliability or lack thereof, I'm keeping my fingers crossed my T150 will last at least a year or two. Otherwise I'll probably be going back to Logitech (although they are obviously also not infallible if internet reports are to be relied upon).

... Just one last Assetto Corsa session for tonight.
 
First problem with my T150.The bolts(in blue) that hold the motor were almost completely unscrewed(after one year of use) despite having a red elastic glue on their heads.This led to a loose belt and sound of grinding teeth.

belt.png


Original bolts were replaced with M3x8 bolts with washer(see the photo above)
The belt tensioners that you see in the picture are ball bearings,they are not stock.(the stock belt tensioners are plastic)
 
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Thrustmaster T150 ball bearings belt tensioners mod.

лагери за обтегач.png

My advice is to buy quality made/expensive bearings.
Ball bearings dimensions:
Internal diameter-3mm.
External diameter-8mm.
Width-4mm.
позиция на оптегача.png

l8pQj9w.jpg


Attention:this mod will void your wheel warranty!
Attention:before loosening the bolt of the belt tensioner mark the exact position of the belt tensioner (as in the picture,use something sharp)because you will have to return it to the exactly same position when you finish!
There is a hole in the front cover in which there is a rubber pad,remove it and you will have access to the bolt.(see the bottom picture)
You will also need about twenty washers for M3 bolts.The axis of the belt tensioners is about 11mm. long and the ball bearings width is 8mm.You will fill this gap with washers.
This mod can be made without disassembling the entire front end of the steering wheel,simply remove the top cover(it is a little tricky to be made like that but can be done)
This mod will reduce the friction which will make your wheel little smoother, little faster and you will feel little more details in the force feedback especially around the center of the wheel,you will also feel better when the car start to oversteer.


Snapshot_20170201_4.JPG

Here is the hole which give you access to the belt tensioner bolt.
 
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Does the t150 work with gt6, and if so, what wheel setting would I set it up under? T500 or t300.
 
super_gt, you should have went with black elastic.
Yes,with black elastic will look much better. 👍
Or opened up the button box... put in some rubber type springs.
This might cause reliability problems with the paddle shifters,also it will be difficult to adjusts the exact pressure.Now I can put one,two,three or four rubber bands and adjusts the pressure quite accurately and finally anyone can do this mod even the T300 owners.
The disadvantage is that does not look so good and I will have to replace the rubber bands occasionally(I use them for two months without the need for replacement)
:)
 
super_gt, have read your posts about the T150 experience with the interest. Wonder how it's in the long run. I see you have been used T150 more than a year. You've reported some minor issues. Any other (may be weakening of the belt drive etc. ?).

Still cannot decide between G29 and T150 Pro. Or may be T150 + T3PA because of the same cost, and I would have some spare parts from stock pedals :D. G29 looks more solid (wheel surface, Hall sensor) and based on rather reliable G27 model. But the noise probably... :/ My free time is often a 'sleep time' as for many gamers here. On the other side Thrustmasters belt driven FFB is more smooth and feels a way better than Logitech's gears, as far as I understand from reviews and replies.
 
Still cannot decide between G29 and T150 Pro.
Yes it is a difficult choice.My comment about G29 was a year ago.Since then I've seen more videos about problems with G29 compared to T150.Write in YouTube Thrustmaster T150 problem and after that write G29 problem.(It will be useful to see what problems have both wheels)
Any other(may be weakening of the belt drive etc. ?).
My problem was with the bolts which was unscrewed.I changed the bolts and now everything is OK the belt is still strong,but this is because I noticed the problem in time if I was late then the teeth of the belt would wear and the wheel will lose the force feedback.
I have not had other problems with the wheel.
But the noise probably... :/ My free time is often a 'sleep time' as for many gamers here. On the other side Thrustmasters belt driven FFB is more smooth and feels a way better than Logitech's gears, as far as I understand from reviews and replies.
Yes,T150 is more quiet than G29.
T150 + T3PA
People prefer to use T150/T300 with G25/G27/G29 pedals.T3PA and T150 stock pedals may have big dead zone.

:)
 
Yeah, the T3PA has a big deadzone by design. Experienced it myself and read it across many forums.

There is a small dead zone on the gas pedal for my T3PA-pros.. I got used to it quick though. I have seen some people put a little adhesive rubber strip between the top of the pedal arm and the framing to remove dead zones from the T3PA pedals (pro or not). This also can help reduce the metal to metal "clang" sound on the T3PA-pros I read.. I guess I should try it myself.

The G29/G27 pedals achieve the higher bit resolution when they are connected to a T300/T150/Tx using the correct adapter so they are a good option, more so for people who already have fancy brake pedal mods on them.
 
Friction free mod? Got a link? I don't like the slow, grindy feeling of my T150
This is something you can do and it is not very difficult:
Thrustmaster T150 ball bearings belt tensioners mod.

View attachment 624515
My advice is to buy quality made/expensive bearings.
Ball bearings dimensions:
Internal diameter-3mm.
External diameter-8mm.
Width-4mm.
View attachment 624516
Attention:this mod will void your wheel warranty!
Attention:before loosening the bolt of the belt tensioner mark the exact position of the belt tensioner (as in the picture,use something sharp)because you will have to return it to the exactly same position when you finish!
There is a hole in the front cover in which there is a rubber pad,remove it and you will have access to the bolt.(see the bottom picture)
You will also need about twenty washers for M3 bolts.The axis of the belt tensioners is about 11mm. long and the ball bearings width is 8mm.You will fill this gap with washers.
This mod can be made without disassembling the entire front end of the steering wheel,simply remove the top cover(it is a little tricky to be made like that but can be done)
This mod will reduce the friction which will make your wheel little smoother, little faster and you will feel little more details in the force feedback especially around the center of the wheel,you will also feel better when the car start to oversteer.

One very simple but very effective mod for the paddle shifters.
If you find the T150 paddle shifters for little soft here's what you can do:
Take three rubber bands
View attachment 624517
and put them around the paddle shifters like that:
View attachment 624518
View attachment 624519
Here is the hole which give you access to the belt tensioner bolt.

This is step 2:ball bearings in the gear wheel(I'm not sure how reliable this step is,I made this step a month ago):
Ball bearings dimensions:
Internal diameter-6mm.
External diameter-10mm.
Width-2,5mm.
I used two ball bearings from this side:

Snapshot_20161231_4.JPG


and one from this side:

Snapshot_20161231_5.JPG


Step 3(I have not done this yet)is to put ball bearing in the electric motor.
motor.png

Steps 2/3 are very difficult and only a small mistake will destroy your wheel.
I DO NOT RECOMMEND ANYONE TO DO STEP 2 AND 3!
 
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There is a small dead zone on the gas pedal for my T3PA-pros.. I got used to it quick though. I have seen some people put a little adhesive rubber strip between the top of the pedal arm and the framing to remove dead zones from the T3PA pedals (pro or not). This also can help reduce the metal to metal "clang" sound on the T3PA-pros I read.. I guess I should try it myself.

The G29/G27 pedals achieve the higher bit resolution when they are connected to a T300/T150/Tx using the correct adapter so they are a good option, more so for people who already have fancy brake pedal mods on them.


I found one on the brake as well. Though these are nowhere as bad as the standard T3PA. On the accelerator for the T3PA Pro with my black rubber tape it only needed one strip. 0.1 cm to eliminate the deadzone. I lightly press it now with my fingers and the green bar registers. Nicer with that rubber below the metal framework of the pedals.

The brake pedal on the T3PA Pro required two layers of the rubber tape. That was 0.2cm. Registers the green bar with my fingers upon gently pressing. Will look further at adjusting the potentiometers as mrbasher spoke of on one of the threads.

Still, 0.1 and 0.2 is nothing compared to the 0.7 on the brake and 0.9 for the accelerator on the regular T3PA. For a so called Pro product there still shouldn't be any deadzone. Would be nice if they had Hall sensors though?...

The brake seems to be in between 0.1 and 0.2 as when the brake depresses still a bit engages. I have to compress the rubber even more to get rid of it. Had to take it off and use one bit of rubber strip with two layers of black tape.

I don't understand the end travel deadzone on the T3PA Pro's though. Green full bar with a bit of pedal travel that doesn't disengage. That also happens on the regular T3PA set.
 
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Yes,T150 is more quiet than G29.

People prefer to use T150/T300 with G25/G27/G29 pedals.T3PA and T150 stock pedals may have big dead zone.

:)
Thanks! I have never read about such issue on T3PA. Feel surprised the problem involves its Pro version. However hybrid setup is better solution, but needs extra money. Yes, a rather hard decision )
 
This is something you can do and it is not very difficult:

This is step 2:ball bearings in the gear wheel(I'm not sure how reliable this step is,I made this step a month ago):
View attachment 625253
View attachment 625254

Step 3(I have not done this yet)is to put ball bearing in the electric motor.
View attachment 625261
Steps 2/3 are very difficult and only a small mistake will destroy your wheel.
I DO NOT RECOMMEND ANYONE TO DO STEP 2 AND 3!

What bearing size did put inside that gear wheel?
 
Just wanted to throw my 2 cents in on the T150 and offer my own brief comparison to the G29.

I much prefer the T150 vs. the G29, which kind of surprised me as I've always preferred Logitech wheels to any of its competitors. Here's why:

I've pretty much been out of sim racing for the most part for the past 3+ years. Have 2 jobs now and just don't have much time to play anymore. But, I finally got the bug again and got a PS4, and sold my G27 (wrongly thinking that it wouldn't work on PS4 games). Used the money from the G27 to get a T150 after debating between it and the T300RS.

Used the T150 on PCars and liked it a lot, but didn't like the pedals. They're a little better than DFGT pedals, but just barely. So, I went and got the T3PA Pro pedals, and they're absolutely awesome. Throttle is great, and the conical brake mod is the best one I've used yet, by far, and I've used Fanatec Clubsport load cell pedals, and Nixim-modded G27 brakes and like the T3PA conical mod much better.

So, long story short, a friend of mine who wanted to get into sim-racing decided to sell me his G29 for a really, really cheap price after buying it and not liking sim racing. I took down my T150/T3PA Pro and put the G29 on my rig and tested it in PCars and Assetto Corsa.

The result was that I really, really did not like the G29 or the pedals that come with it, especially in comparison to the T150/T3PA Pro setup. The infamous "dead zone" that has always been in Logitech wheels was really bad with the G29. I would go as far as to say there was about a 30-40 degree deadzone in the center of the wheel. I had to turn the FFB up to 100% in AC and it barely helped with the deadzone at all. The G29's FFB doesn't have nearly the amount of detail and precision that the T150 has, which I didn't realize fully until I was able to compare the two. And another problem with the G29 is that even with the added pressure sensitive brake, the G29 pedals are still nowhere near as good as the T3PA Pro pedals. After switching back to the T3PA Pro pedals/T150 yesterday, I was immediately, and easily, more consistent and faster overall than I was with the G29.

I'm usually the type of person who has a hard time making a decision, but it's really clear for me that the T150/T3PA Pro pedal combo is the much better setup than the G29. The FFB that the T150 offers is so much smoother, more detailed, and more consistent than the G29. It's really impressive how good the FFB is in the T150 vs. the G29, and I've been one of Logitech's biggest fans in the past, but can't recommend the G29 now. I've never been a fan of too much/too strong FFB. I think generally it slows you down in the long run. As I said, I had to run 100% FFB on the G29 in AC, and it was still weak and sloppy compared to the T150, which I have been running at 40% in AC by comparison.

If pressed, I would even choose the stock pedal setup on the T150, rather than go with the G29 and it's stock pedals, even though they are better than the T150 stock pedals. That's how much I prefer the T150 wheel over the G29. The T150 has the best FFB I've ever experienced in a wheel, easily. I've used a G25, DFGT, G27, G29 and a Fanatec GT3RS wheel in the past, and the T150 is my favorite of them all.

My sole complaint about the T150 is that the rim is slightly smaller than the G29 and other wheels I've used before. It takes a little while to get used to, but once you do it's not a big deal, or at least I don't find it to be. I also like the overall feel of the wheel. The rubber grips work really well IMO and feel good overall. It also runs very quietly and doesn't produce any heat, that I can detect. The G29 gets noticeably warm to the touch, just like it's predecessors.

The T150 has been so good, I'm now tempted to sell the G29 and use the money to get a T300 and try it out, as the consensus seems to be that it's even better than the T150. If it is, I'll be very impressed.

Again, just my thoughts on these two wheels. Maybe it will help someone out who's deciding between these two but can't test them out before buying. I was just lucky to be able to get a chance to compare the two. If you're thinking about buying the T150, I would highly recommend getting at least the T3PA pedals to go with it. That would put you out about $300, which is basically the same price as the G29. The pedals are the only weakness on the T150 that I can see.

So far, the T150 has been running great for me, no issues whatsoever. I've only been using it a couple of months, but still. No worries so far. Really impressed with it overall, especially for the price.

Thanks for your comparison. I've had a G29 wheel for about 10-11 months now and thought all was going well. I even bigged it up on a couple threads. Now recently it's gone bad and can't use it anymore so so much for that.
I've been considering when I save up some more money to purchase another wheel to purchase the Thrustmaster T150. Just can't spend that amount of money again for another G29 and risk it going bad again.
 
I've had the T150 since around Christmas, I'm really enjoying it.

I got a bit crazy a few years back, spent a ton of money.
Started with a Logitech GT, moved up to a G27, then onto Fanatec.

I bought the Fanatec CSR elite when it first released in North America, then club sport pedals V2 if I remember correctly.
My god what a wheel. I ran it for a few years relatively problem free on PS3 and Xbox.
Should of never sold it.

Anyway, after a short break with sim racing I picked up a PS4 and saw how good PC, and Assetto was.
Wheel shopping a few weeks later had me really looking at the G29, as I'm sure my old Logitechs are out there somewhere doing laps.

Logitech is very reliable, but I wanted in cheap this time.
The T150 has given me just that, a fantastic product at an entry level price.

My only gripe is the rim is too small. I saw the ISR review, they held the T300 rim up to it, same size.
Is there any mods we can do to change rims?
I'm not worried about voiding the warranty.
Usually someone in the sim racing community figures it out in time.

Attached is a pic of my modest setup.
 

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Thanks for your comparison. I've had a G29 wheel for about 10-11 months now and thought all was going well. I even bigged it up on a couple threads. Now recently it's gone bad and can't use it anymore so so much for that.
I've been considering when I save up some more money to purchase another wheel to purchase the Thrustmaster T150. Just can't spend that amount of money again for another G29 and risk it going bad again.
Hey davidt33 this is why I did not buy the Thrustmaster T150, I saw this link before I brought my second G29, here is a review of the wheel and take note near the end of the review where it says, we wouldn’t recommend this wheel. http://www.trustedreviews.com/thrustmaster-t150-review
 
Thanks for your comparison. I've had a G29 wheel for about 10-11 months now and thought all was going well. I even bigged it up on a couple threads. Now recently it's gone bad and can't use it anymore so so much for that.
I've been considering when I save up some more money to purchase another wheel to purchase the Thrustmaster T150. Just can't spend that amount of money again for another G29 and risk it going bad again.

Not good, I'm sorry to hear that.
I was just commenting how reliable Logitech products are, I never had any issues with any of them.

What's the warranty on the G29?

The T150 does not disappoint, I love it.
 
Thanks @fordlaser777 . I've just finished reading the review. I've read quite a good bit of reviews by now. I guess when the time comes it will boil down to to what I can afford at the time though. Have to admit this issue with my G29 has left a bitter taste in my mouth.

@XXI . The store I bought my G29 from, when I checked the other day I was told their warranty was valid for 3 months, which I've long passed by now.
 
I
Thanks @fordlaser777 . I've just finished reading the review. I've read quite a good bit of reviews by now. I guess when the time comes it will boil down to to what I can afford at the time though. Have to admit this issue with my G29 has left a bitter taste in my mouth.

@XXI . The store I bought my G29 from, when I checked the other day I was told their warranty was valid for 3 months, which I've long passed by now.
On my G29 I have a 12 months warranty, check on the warranty on the G29 and not the store it is best to ring Logitech and find out your cover of the wheel.
 
The Thrustmaster T150 is odd because it uses both a belt and a geared part to link motor to wheel. Its gear part feels like it uses pretty wide teeth, getting you much less fine granularity than the Logitech G29. Turn it and you can feel the 'notches', even when it's not plugged in. However, the wide, soft clicks of the gear are smoothed-over a bit by the belt. The resulting feel is, well, pretty good.

Actually these notches are coming from the belt drive mechanism(there is a huge friction in this mechanism,especially with very tight belt) not from the gears.The gears are very well made much better than Logitech DFGT.
 
Guys I dont know if you ever encountered this problem (not performance prob, just noisy) Its been about 2 month now that I have my T150, and since like 1week of using it, the wheel when turning make a strange noise like a noisy bearing or how I describe it like if it needs some grease.... My wheel still perform like a charm, but my wife always ear that noise and the only way I resolve this is to remove the FFB options and its not the "ideal" solution..
 
Guys I dont know if you ever encountered this problem (not performance prob, just noisy) Its been about 2 month now that I have my T150, and since like 1week of using it, the wheel when turning make a strange noise like a noisy bearing or how I describe it like if it needs some grease.... My wheel still perform like a charm, but my wife always ear that noise and the only way I resolve this is to remove the FFB options and its not the "ideal" solution..
All parts in my steering wheel was lubricated very well.Do you feel difference in the force feedback?Can you make a video?
 
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