This Tumaster T128 Wheel and pedal sets are marketed to beginners as the first step into the world of sim driving. That is, someone who loves driving or racing games and wants to ditch the pad but doesn’t want to spend Proper Money yet. This is certainly the type of consumer that will benefit from this package: the type of person it will be the placeholder for. Dip your toes in the water before going all in. But I think the T128’s greatest value lies in its suitability as a daily driver for those of us who simply don’t have room in our lives for something more important: a full-fat analog experience for those of us who can’t commit to a full-fat setting.
How much a driving game can be enriched by a proper interface. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with using a pad. This is the perfect way to control your pretend car. But having a simulated steering wheel that mimics the way you control a real vehicle connects you to the driving simulation in a profound way that brings the game world to life. Suddenly, the cockpit view becomes your default view, and you discover the simple joy of the way the steering wheel turns in sync with its on-screen counterpart. Force feedback turns the road against you. The car itself communicates with you through feel, not just the sound of revs and instrument readouts.
It turns something like Euro Truck Simulator 2 (a dull game about delivering wooden pallets to Aberdeen) into a very engaging experience, in which the dull intricacies of controlling a vehicle and obeying local traffic laws Become magical, if you will excuse the pun, transport. Mats don’t turn mirroring, signaling, manipulation into engaging game loops. This is too abstract. With a good analog wheel, your connection to the inner world of silicon is more direct and less dulled by the extra steps your brain and nervous system take to map rotations to turns.
In short, analog wheels are great. But they’re also often very large, bulky, a pain to install, and pretty much require mounting to a dedicated stand or racing seat to function properly. What Thrustmaster did with the T128 was build a compact analog wheel that doesn’t require any deal-breaking compromises, and when it’s not in use it fits neatly in a cupboard (or a deep desk drawer )middle. And as these things go, it’s also pretty cheap: a feature set like this (900-degree range of motion, force feedback, pedals included) would normally set you back an extra £170.
That is to say, since the firm Logitech G29 The set is getting longer and it can be had for less than £250, so the pricing of the T128 is not as competitive as Thrustmaster would like. But again, convenience and budget are the considerations here: the T128 doesn’t require expensive seats or stands, nor any kind of permanent installation to get the most out of it. It only requires half a square foot of desk space. Simply move the keyboard to the side.
The fact that the T128 doesn’t even have hard points for seat mounting is a testament to this stubborn commitment to convenience, and basically any other consideration. However, it’s a very capable peripheral: force feedback won’t send you running around the room, but it’s powerful enough to tire you out after a ten-minute run in the snow, and subtle enough that you can feel it Something about the pavement is relatively tame as in Forza Horizon 5. The controls themselves are very accurate and feel solid: the magnetic paddle shifters have a satisfying muffled sound when activated, and the ample controller buttons are well positioned to always be within reach of your thumb no matter what your turn As extreme as it gets, there’s plenty to map to turn signals, radio fiddles, and other gizmos.
Where it lets itself down is the pedal set: there are only two, so the path to upgrade to a shifter attachment is somewhat hampered by the lack of a clutch pedal (not a problem for me, but if you’re the one mentioned in the opening paragraph First class of consumers, scalability will be an issue). More important than that, though, is the size: it’s just big enough to hold both the brake and gas with one foot, which is fine, but the pedals themselves are steep and there’s not much travel in them, so it’s not very conducive Subtle throttle or hit the brakes.
That said, it’s perfectly fine for general use and sturdy enough to hit the baseboards under the desk, which is its natural habitat. In fact, “totally adequate” sums up the overall capabilities of the T128. This is good enough. If it’s a transport worker, it’s considered reliable enough to do the job to an acceptable standard, but it won’t win any Driver of the Month awards.
But that’s absolutely fine, because the compromises here are perfectly acceptable in terms of what it achieves: getting a higher level of driving sim experience, beyond the dimensions of the pad, for those of us who aren’t willing or able to commit to a permanent setup Come home. A versatile professional controller that instantly enhances and enriches any of your favorite driving simulation games.
In short: an analog wheel for the rest of us.
If you’re like me and don’t have the space (or, frankly, the cash) for a full-on racing setup, you can buy the Thrustmaster T128 from Amazon:
Thrustmaster T128 Amazon UK Thrustmaster T128 Amazon US
Disclaimer: This racing steering wheel was provided by Thrustmaster for review.
