Thrustmaster Issues Statement on Gran Turismo’s New Partnership with Fanatec

Thrustmaster, the current official racing wheel manufacturer for the Gran Turismo series, has issued a statement on this week’s announcement that Fanatec will assume the role later this year.

The move comes in response to a question that many fans were clearly wondering about. When we originally posted the leaked images of the supposed new Fanatec Gran Turismo wheel, there were comments that it was clearly fake due to Thrustmaster’s partnership and the recently announced T-GT II unit for Gran Turismo Sport.

However, by Tuesday it was clear that — whether the leaked shots are representative of the final product or not — Fanatec would become the official racing wheel manufacturer soon, and likely in time for Gran Turismo 7.

Thrustmaster’s response, on social media, is intriguing on several levels:

As the brand rightly points out, Thrustmaster has been supplying equipment not only to the live FIA Certified Gran Turismo Online Championship live events, but to the players themselves over the past two seasons with the forced shift to online. That includes the current World Series events, and future finals like the Toyota Gazoo Racing GT Cup and the 2021 World Final.

The timing of these events overlaps with the timeline advanced by Fanatec in its press release yesterday. While Fanatec hasn’t officially revealed any Gran Turismo products just yet, it anticipates doing so over the next couple of weeks and plans to start shipping units before the end of the year. Thrustmaster meanwhile believes it will be the only peripheral manufacturer supplying officially licensed GT steering wheels by year end.

However, the move won’t affect Gran Turismo players generally. The games have always supported all officially licensed wheels, whatever the brand, with former partner Logitech, current partner Thrustmaster, and upcoming partner Fanatec all enjoying full wheel support in Gran Turismo Sport. Whether you purchase the official wheel or not, you’ll still be able to play.

The final paragraph is interesting too, as Thrustmaster states it still has new products to reveal later this year. That’s something we’ll be keeping a close eye on over the coming months.

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Comments (33)

  1. RacingGrandpa

    It’s not an announcement that they will be releasing it on both consoles, it’s a statement that they are considering what games to release as cross console games and that GT7 is a game they are considering doing so. That’s all.

  2. SchnellShmel

    If the new Fanatec DD will be advertised with Sony, I guess it will be nearly impossible to get one.

  3. MasterGT

    The way it was explained to me, years ago, back when Logitech suddenly wasn’t the only brand supplying PlayStation licenced quality wheels, was that if a wheel had the GT logo on it, it was an “official” wheel. That meant that more than one wheel could be an official wheel at the same time.

  4. Max__apex

    TGT is 6.7NM torque.
    Fanatec is 5nm.
    £350 is not gonna cut it. £500 will be needed for the 8nm.
    500+ 300+120 = £920 approximate

    Tgt rim is really nice and quality. Pedals include clutch so that above price is true to the mark.
    Thank you

    1. super_gt

      480€ for CSL DD Boost Kit 180 Bundle – 8Nm torque
      120€ for the CSL Pedals + CSL Pedals Clutch Kit – Hall-effect sensors on all three pedals + all-metal structure
      200€ for McLaren GT3 V2
      =800€

      1. Max__apex

        Difference comes in terms off rim.McLaren rim is not that nice. TGT is way better so unfair comparison somewhat. But yeah 850-900 ball park

    2. super_gt

      It is also unfair to compare DD with a dual belt drive, because even at 5Nm torque the CSL DD will have much more details in the FFB compared to T-GT II.
      It is also unfair to compare the CSL Hall-effect sensor pedals with the potentiometer pedals of T-GT II.
      McLaren V2 has magnetic paddle shifters, dual-clutch paddle system and OLED screen.

  5. Pha Que

    I just realized that I used the Logitech GT Force wheel when I first started sim racing obviously upgraded out of that pretty soon but went full thrustmaster prior to their GT alliance and prior to this statement at least switched my pedals over to Fanatec V3’s about a year ago when my T3PA-Pros crapped out on me had a fanatic Porsche wheel back in the day but I don’t consider that anything special as it was just a single belt and gear wheel if I remember correctly… Also only really raced GT online in the past two years never even got the game when it first came out I was still too into our factor and I racing at the time but always wanted a PS compatible PC wheel

  6. Skinny McLean

    I wonder how many ridiculous acronyms they can come up with this time.

    “Hey man, check out my new wheel. It has DDT, LSD, PCP and HIV, bro!”

  7. palqo

    Full wheel support, yeah right, I wish. If Sony lets the CSW back in, I might consider buying a PS5, otherwise they can keep their stupid console.

      1. palqo

        According to what Fanatec published on it’s forum, when CSW was banned from PS4, it’s Sony who has locked out the CSW from the console and did not accept any other solution, than a new base, that’s when CSL was made. As far as I know, it’s still the case, hence, if Sony let’s the CSW back…

    1. michael lopez

      If the peripheral did not have a chip, in general, it was not allowed. The drive hub work around was not bad but I won’t it is just another thing to mess with and up date. I’ll get this one it come out but it will probably have to come as a package when all, but oh well I’ll live.

      1. palqo

        Yes, the drive hub (sort of) works. But I didn’t pay 600 € for a base to pay 100 € to convert my wheel to a G27. As far as I’m concerned, the Sony’s motto is against the players, not for the players.

  8. gigio79

    I keep hearing wrong information, many people think Fanatec will release DD steering wheel for 350 Euros. That’s false. The standard DD base cost 350 euros, then yuo have to add the specific power supply that cost 150 euros more. Then you need to buy sttering wheel and pedal set. Of course if you take a DD base you need high level wheel and pedals. The total price will be around 1000 Euros. Great price for Direct drive system, but not for everybody.

    1. darvds

      I’m afraid your information isn’t quite right there either. You could spend 1000 euros, but you don’t have to. For a basic DD setup you can get:

      The CSL DD is 350 (you don’t need the extra power supply if you don’t want it)
      The McLaren GT3 wheel is 200
      The new CSL pedals are 80

      So you’re talking around 630 euros (plus another 50 for the PS certification I’d say).

      Not to say that it’s cheap, but a Thrustmaster T-GT 2 is 750 euros.

  9. Jump_Ace

    Backpedal backpedal backpedal.
    TM doesn’t listen to us, if they did, they’d have quality products like Fanatec. They think they have an idea of what the market wants because some VP says so. Pass.They’ll release a DD wheel with their same old, outdated pedals too #calledit #provemewrongTM

    Jerome

  10. SpeedStarGTS

    I remember when all Thrustmasters broke down at the world tour and PD had to replace it with Fanatec, maybe that was the writing in the wall.

  11. ynot

    Fanatec wheels are too expensive for me. I’ll stick with my Thrustmaster T300 thank you. Bad enough I have to by a new console to play GT7.

    1. TacticalGrace

      https://blog.playstation.com/2021/06/02/hermen-hulst-qa-whats-next-for-playstation-studios/

      Hermen: It very much is. You can’t build a community of over 110 million PS4 owners and then just walk away from it, right? I think that’d be bad news for fans of PS4, and frankly not very good business.

      Where it makes sense to develop a title for both PS4 and PS5 — for Horizon Forbidden West, the next God of War, GT7 — we’ll continue looking at that. And if PS4 owners want to play that game, then they can. If they want to go on and play the PS5 version, that game will be there for them.

      1. RacingGrandpa

        It’s not an announcement that they will be releasing it on both consoles, it’s a statement that they are considering what games to release as cross console games and that GT7 is a game they are considering doing so. That’s all.

  12. shoemaker

    Iam reading that statement as ‘we will be releasing a DD wheel’. That is the different desire, thats what we want, they need to cater for everyone and thats where the wheel technology is moving to, DD. Anything less than a DD is a disappointment to us loyal fans, i dont want to part with all my TM add ons, i like them, just gimme the wheel base and take my money !

  13. LUCIANO LOURENÇO

    I have my doubts. I never forgot when I was forced to swap my new Logitech G27 for a G29 when I migrated from ps3 to ps4.
    After this bitter experience I ended up getting discouraged from consoles and ended up migrating to PC.

      1. Rev12

        I think this means peripherals will work but not necessarily with PS5 games. My Astro PS4 controller will work on my PS5 but only when playing PS4 games.

      2. michael lopez

        That is mainly a function of the dual sense, because of how different it is. Now since we do not know if the new tech in the dual sense will make into the rims it is tough to say. I would think/hope that unlike the controllers they would just nix some things that any potential rim or base offers that can’t be replicated on from the ps4 rims. Sony got a lot of lack for this peripheral must have a chip so I think they want to be more inclusive. As this pertains to the controllers they felt the the new tech in the duals sense should be mandatory. Time will tell though but my bet is that ps4 bases, rims will be fine whether it is a ps4 or 5 game

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