Nice DBond! Although wine Is cheap here In Spain, I am good with beer too!

TBH, I think anything above the 500 mark Is a bit overkill, but If you sum up a HOTAS with pedals and a track IR set, your already In the 800 mark. If I had to pick now, I might have gone the other way around because you can basically takeoff and land with a Saitek X52, or a Cyborg Evo which are In the 100 range. No one In VATSIM Is going to know what joy stick your using!

I do think too that you need a stand at least. I like most of us here don´t like to have my wheel mounted on my desk, and that was one of the reasons I didn´t get more Into sim racing till now. The stand gives you the freedom of getting your wheel out of the way.

I am lucky to have two PC´s now but that has been recent, so now I can "kind of" live with having my wheel mounted on my sim PC and do other stuff on my other older i5 PC although I also use It for motor bike simming and Rally sims both with controller. The more demanding sim/games like Star Citizen, Escape From Tarkov and other car sims etc. I´ll do on my simming platform along with any audio recording/production stuff.

The wine bar thing was a stretch admittedly, but it was like the Fanatec stuff was too high end. I still may go that route when they get a handle on product availability. Of course these sorts of things can be intentional too, to keep demand outpacing supply.

I'm talking about magnetic like it's new to me, but these are just Hall sensors, or similar right? That what I have in my flight sticks and throttles so yeah I'm familiar with that, Pots are old school and I'm happy to know the wheel and pedals don't use them.

I think I'll be happy with the choice. It's all I need really, the T248. If it had been 400 I would have gone with the T300 I think. And the price I paid is everywhere, even Gamestop sells these for $300. So not a deal necessarily, but good value I hope.

The one thing that worries me is every review or comment mentioned how loud the paddles are. When you release them they make a loud plastic click. Obnoxiously so according to some. I'll have a headset on most of the time so I hope it doesn't prove too annoying. It's supposed to be here tomorrow so shouldn't take long to find out.

Weeellllllll, I returned it and bought an Xbox Series X
Dropping $565 on a wheel seemed too much for me. I figured I would get more use out of the Xbox, especially since I can use it as my media center. We recently got fiber optic internet. So we got rid of or satellite TV.

The T248 does have fantastic FFB, very strong, it shook my desk, making my speakers jump around. The display is cool, but really you are looking at your screen during the game. The Pedals are a step up from the Logitech Pedals. In my time of indecision , I exchanged the T248 for the Logitech G923, the Tru Force model. Which right away I did not like, not at the same price point as the T248. The Tru Force grinding of the wheel felt cheap, and destined to break. It really was not enough of an upgrade from the G29 to justify the cost.
I am not a fan of the Thrustmaster clamp system, for a desk or table. It feels cheap. I may be wrong, I have never owned a Thrustmaster Wheel for a long period of time. I did prefer the T248 to the G293. Yes the Logitech has the better looking wheel, with the leather wrapping. But the better FFB and better pedals (mind you, the pedal cable is quite short) edge out the Logitech IMO. Pretty much every YouTube comparison I watched also (3 or so) But I can see myself buying the T248 down the road, at a more reasonable price tag. And mounted to a wheel stand.
Right now the Xbox Series X seemed like the best purchase. They are very hard to find, and I spotted inventory at a Best Buy about 45 minutes from where I live.

Honestly, the most fun I have had racing on PC has been Dirt Rally 2.0 with my old Logitech Momo, using the shifter as a handbrake. If I ever do upgrade from the Momo, I will need a setup with a handbrake. A button just does not work for me as a handbrake.

Bottom line, I like the T248, but not at the current price point.

Oh, yes the shifter paddles are loud, but they do not feel cheap. I did not mind them.

Thanks Wango Tango and that squares with what I read.

I went for the hybrid T248 over the gear-only G923 for the better force feedback (according to others) And I went for the T248 over the T300 for the better pedal set and lower price.

As I said if this wheel hadn't been knocked down $100 I would have opted for the T300, which has better FFB (all belt) and you can swap rims. But that is still bundled with the inferior pedals.

As I always do with anything I buy I researched the sh!t out of it. The market at the $300-400 price point is muddled. Each product has something it does better and something it does the worst. The T248 seemed the best overall package in this range, and the $299 price sealed the deal. If it had still been $399 I probably would have made a different choice.

I think you will be very pleased.
I'll save you some hassle. You will need to download and install the driver and firmware. LINK
This is for the Xbox version.
After setup, go into Thrustmaster Control Panel and test the different FFB effects. You will be impressed.

Thanks for the tip. Yes, that was the plan. Hopefully it all goes smoothly, and the set is not busted or porch pirates strike before I get home from work.

I'm excited to get back to using a wheel after getting away from them over the past few years for convenience.

The choice was hard because none of them were perfect, or ideal. no matter which choice you make one of the others does something better. The G923 has a better rim, the T300 has better FFB. The T248 has better pedals. Nothing stands out as clearly superior in all respects.

Hopefully I'll be able to turn laps with it tonight and I'll post a report.

The porch pirates struck elsewhere it seems, and so the box was sitting there when I pulled in to the driveway. After walking the expectant dog I got it all unboxed. Setup is pretty straightforward, and I downloaded drivers and flashed the firmware. I really like the pedals and those are what put the T248 over the top in my search.

I did however run in to trouble in regards to mounting it all. The wheel won't work on my desk since the clamp isn't designed to fit over deeper table frames, which mine has. So I went down to my son's play room and took his wheel and pedals off the stand and was able to use that to mount the wheel, but the pedals wouldn't fit, bolt holes don't line up.

I was able to mash together a workable arrangement to try it out. Fired up F1 2021 and took the Red Bull out to Austria and did some hotlapping. I set the wheel rotation to 360 degrees. What do others use for F1? I disabled the brake and traction control assists I used with the controller and yeah, not bad at all. I was a bit off my normal pace though as I get used to it, a couple seconds slower. The pedals were rocking under my feet and need to be secured. I can't do any serious racing with it the way it is.

But everything worked, the kit was in perfect condition, updating the software was a breeze. I was completely lost in terms of control mapping, which buttons did what. Like DRS is button 6 or whatever. Well, what button is 6 ya know? That will take time, and then to reassign controls to suit me. There will be a bit of a learning curve here, but a steep one.

I want to stop for a second and talk about that. People often say there is a steep learning curve meaning it's a long and hard thing to learn. But that wouldn't be a steep curve. It's steep because there is much to learn, but it's learned quickly. That makes it steep. Just wanted to point that out haha.

I need to understand the force feedback more. How to set it up best. The feedback I was getting around the Red Bull Ring was different than expected. Maybe it's me, maybe it's my settings. For example, if you know the track you know the short back straight between turns 8 and 9, with 9 being the first of two righthanders that lead back to the pitstraight. This short straight climbs a small rise, and right at the crest my wheel would rumble like it was rough pavement. What is the wheel trying to tell me here?

I'll be spending some time learning about FFB settings and how to get this wheel set up properly. Maybe it already is?

So overall I'm happy with the T248. The issues I have are more to do with my physical space and mounting options. I think a full race 'pit is the next step. I won't go fast until I can sit comfortably with everything securely bolted down.

With regards to wheel range, most set it up to 900 and then let the sim adjust to the specific car. That Is If the sim In question has that option. Being F1 a specific car sim I really don´t know how that would work there, and I don´t have F1 2021. As for FFB, from what I understand, 100% Is peak power but bear In mind each manufacture and wheel base treat FFB differently. What you receive on your wheel Is hard to describe because of what I just wrote about and because you are the receiving end, but usually It´s understeer, oversteer, grip, road rumble, slip, curb and sausage transitions. You then have to learn how to Interpret what and when. Also, each track Is different and should give you different feedback, along with tire wear, pressure, temperature, track rub In etc.

Oh and as one would expect, your realism setting has a lot to do with the overall outcome on handling and performance.

There´s a lot more to It, specially with regards to adjustment (specific to each brand and sim), but from what I understand It goes something like that.

If you do decide to look for a stand, avoid the single truss base type, The more rigid the better.

Yes, and this is odd because this was on a straight, flat out over that crest. I thought it might be some sort of reaction to the spring load coming off as the car goes over the crest, but it's unconvincing at best. Not sure what it is, but what else could it be? There are other tracks with elevation and I'll see if the same thing happens on other tracks when cresting a rise.

Do you have any other sim besides F1 2021 you can try out?

Yes, but most are uninstalled. Assetto Corsa, F1 2020, and a few more older titles. Matter of fact I want to hunt now for a new racing sim, but there's just so much. I won't dilute this thread with that talk. But yeah, I'd like a GT style sim with a robust career mode. I have ACC and Automobilista? wishlisted at the mo. I also play Forza Horizon 5 quite a bit and will try the wheel there too. But honestly I need to get my physical setup squared away first.

Does your wheel rotation match your onscreen rotation? Did you set your wheel rotation range to 900 in the TM app like I said? Try to match both TM app and onboard game settings to 900. I am afraid F1 is not the best sim to try these things out.

As for career mode, again I am afraid none of the actual sims have a Indepth career mode. ACC has, but the end goal Is meh.The main focus of these "newer" sims Is racing, either by championship or custom races so again I am afraid you wont get the career mode like In F1. You know by now that I am a rFactor 2 fan, AMS 2 Is nice for Formula cars too, and ACC Is basically GT cars.

If you have GTR-2 that could be a good reference for now for your FFB. Personally I don´t like how AC feels, they feel floating on track and I hate that. rFactor 2 feels like you really have contact to the ground (mechanical grip) and I guess I am spoiled by that. I don´t get this sensation with any other sim.

While each sim has there own settings, here´s a good video to learn what each setting does. Like I said, not all sims are alike but somethings will be so this Is a good starting point...



Not a easy thing to get right, and as I stated before each track, car and sim will be different but as to get a general Idea and bases.

Yes, thanks. I'll be checking out info for my specific sim/gear soup, see what others recommend.

900 degrees is way too much for F1 I reckon. 360 felt good and maybe 270 would be better. I have a lot of tweaking and testing to do.

Yep, I was just suggesting for testing purposes, and If you had the option to car specific. You might want to check out a recent video I posted In the gear section In thee event you run Into the subject situation.

OK, thanks for the tip.

So I have this nice wheel now and no acceptable way to mount it at the mo. As I joked about before I sort of have $700 left over after going with a much less expensive wheel. So of course that means I should blow it on a solution to my issue. Before I get to that, while due'ing my diligence I came across this, about various F1 drivers' sim rigs. This is Max

https://boxthislap.org/max-verstappen-sim-racing-setup/

There are links there for a bunch of them, Lando, Sainz, Alonso, Leclerc and more. Pretty interesting for folks who'd click on a racing wheels thread I reckon. These guys are not foolin' around

I also view iRacing more favorably now..

So back to my solution. I think the only thing to do is a seat/cockpit setup. I saw this one and it's the sort of thing I'm thinking. Fully adjustable up/down, forward/backwards for seat, pedals and wheel platform. It could double for flight rig if I had the energy to swap it out.

Open Wheeler Gen 3 @ Amazon

There are a lot of other options, and I might have a different vision after I've been through all of the F1 drivers' rigs lol, but this is the sort of thing I think would work, even if it's not this one in the end. The thing I am wondering though is how the inclined pedal platform works. Does it feel natural? Anyone use something like this? My pedals seem angled for laying flat. But maybe it is way better on the incline, and some of this depends on seat height and how far from you the pedals are mounted, how straight your legs are. I wish I could test it first. Most of these have the incline so it must be the way to go, unless my pedals sit a different angle than most.

I guess no one uses such a setup? I'll keep looking in to it. Driving position I think is the thing I need to sort. If I go all laid out low like open wheel then I also need a monitor mount solution to bring it down lower. This is quite the rabbit hole I'm jumping down. Let's see where it leads.

For the moment I have to just leave the wheel aside as it's no good trying to drive with your controls moving about. Once I get a solid foundation I'll give it all a proper go and get accustomed to it.

I don't want to end up looking like Checo does in that link I provided. He looks awkward the way he is reclined.

The winner of the racing seat search was indeed the Open Wheeler Gen 3. It seems very well built, is fully adjustable, has a shift stand and the company seems quite responsive. I read a few comments where the company machined some custom parts for specific requests and the customers were really happy. I don't expect to need that sort of thing, but it bodes well if something should be wrong, need repair or if I do want something custom. I also ordered 5-inch seat risers, so it can be slung low like F1/open wheel or set higher for a more GT-style position. It can double as a flight rig for Falcon, Elite or maybe the DCS Apache which I will probably pick up.

I also recently got a VR headset although I haven't used it much, and not at all for racing or flight. Might go well with a pit setup and racing in VR has to be amazing right? It's an older set, got it as a gift when a friend upgraded. Worth a go anyway.

For the times when I haven't strapped on the VR, I also ordered a 32" curved monitor to set in front of the new seat and wheel.

Pit should arrive in a couple days. I think I have it worked out aside from one thing, keyboard and mouse. I hope I can navigate menus with the controls on the wheel, but I will still probably need a KB + M within reach? That still needs a solution.

VR is intriguing, and I'll certainly give my set a run out to see how I like it. Do any of these sims support Track IR? Do you guys use either head tracking or race primarily in VR?