Thrustmaster - T128 Racing Wheel for PlayStation 4, 5 and PC - Black

This is the best Sim Racing experience I’ve ever had! The Thrustmaster handles so well, with excellent braking and acceleration too! Feels like I’m literally driving! I would recommend this for anyone; expert or novice. My grandson and I love it!

Great cheap steering wheel and works great doesn’t feel weak and fidgety has force feed back

It worked most of my games and it never fails me while playing 8 hours on it

Initially, I thought the T128 wheel was more like a toy. It is not a full-size wheel, light, and made mostly of hard plastic. The buttons feel kind of cheap, especially the shoulder buttons (LB2, RB2, LB3, and LB3) and d-pad. Although quite loud and clicky, the paddle shifters actually do feel authentic and are of decent size. The dual-pedal board is exceptionally small, which adds to the toy look. Setting it up is quite easy. The clamp has good clearance and is highly adjustable. There is no need to use any tools whatsoever. Because the wheel is so light, it feels very secure on the table (I tried two different setups). The wheel is fixed, with no room for up-down adjustments. The cables are long enough for a PC setup, but I did have to bring my PS5 closer to the rig in the living room. On the PC desktop, the wheel was immediately recognized in all my racing sims, including Fortza 5, NFS: Unbound and Grid Legends. Weirdly, I could not get it to work with F1 2022, which is a bummer. I did run into a small issue when hooking it up on the PS5. Turns out you must select the platform by using a combination of buttons which are not in the manual and found online (a QR code is provided on the simple manual). After figuring this out, it was all smooth sailing from there. I played GT7, Assetto Corsa Competizione, Dirt 5, and thankfully for me, F1 2022. Most importantly, the actual driving experience is what I found somewhat surprising. Despite the toyish look, the wheel was responsive and precise. On PC, I noticed that the force feedback is soft, but still noticeable and helpful. The turning was a bit loose, but messing with PC games settings easily took care of that. Now the PS5 is where the T128 truly shines. The force feedback was strong, contextual, and the 900° turn added to the realism. There was a real difference felt while driving in asphalt, grass, and gravel. The turning was tighter. The paddle shifters were on point and combined with the engine speed lights, changing gears were a joy. I will say that the hard plastic did make my hands cramp up a bit during intense driving, which makes me wish a little padding would’ve been nice. Wear gloves if you have them! Unfortunately, the pedal design is the T128’s true weakness. Depending on the driving style and the surface on which it is placed, the experience will vary. Because of the size of the pedals and how close they are to each other, wearing shoes is a no-go. Luckily, I have wrestling shoes (which feel a lot like driving shoes) and that made it easier to avoid accidentally pressing both at the same time. Another thing is that there is no weight on the base, and the rubber footings have no grip at all, which meant that I had to keep one foot on the base to hold it in place. This can be very distracting and cumbersome, especially if you use a dual-foot or toe-hill action. Nevertheless, I still found it functional enough once I sort-of got used to it. The good thing is that the pedal response is as tight as the shifters. Again, I have to stress that this is an entry-level, casual racing kit and as such it is considerably less expensive than other more advanced kits. The T128 has some truly strong points in its favor, and if you don’t mind not using shoes and find a way to keep the base in place, it is great for beginners at a very decent price. If you’re a PS5 driver, it's a no-brainer.

The Thrustmaster T128 is a good entry-level steering wheel that offers realistic force feedback that will increase the fun factor and immersion level of racing games without breaking the bank. The installation and setup is simple and easy, the software is easy to configure and use, and the wheel was compatible with my games out of the box with no tinkering or extra software workarounds required. The build quality of the wheel is decent at this price point but the all-plastic pedal set is a disappointment because it slips around too easily on carpet. _____ *Pros: -The table clamp with its rubber feet work well on slippery desks. -The Thrustmaster Control Panel app is easy to figure out and use. -The hall-effect foot pedals are responsive and work well. -The gear shift paddles are quiet and feel satisfying to use. -The wheel comes with 13 buttons, plenty for most games. _____ *Neutral: -The all-plastic construction of the pedals feels a bit cheap and toy-like. -The steering wheel is slippery and doesn't offer much grip. _____ *Cons: -The pedal assembly is too light and slip easily on carpet. **** Setup **** Physically setting up the Thrustmaster T128 on my Windows 11 gaming PC was a breeze. I first headed to the Thrustmaster website to download the software/firmware file, installed it, then followed the prompts and made all the wire connections. Upon reboot, the T128 was detected right away by Windows 11, and the steering wheel rotated left and right by itself executing its autocalibration routine. The clamp is easy to set up and use, and it stayed put securely on my desk which has a somewhat slippery surface without any issues. The racing games I enjoy playing correctly detected the T128 in the settings, and it worked without any compatibility issues. I played Dirt Rally 2.0 and Forza Horizon 5, and the games felt way more immersive and exciting playing than with a gamepad. The T128 is great for beginners and less tech-savvy users because it's so quick and simple to set up, and it's compatible with many racing games out there out of the box. The Thrustmaster technical support website has a list of compatible games, and there's a good chance that your racing game is already supported. **** Build Quality **** I'm quite content and happy with the steering wheel but not so much with the pedal set. The steering wheel has a nice heft to it without being too heavy or cumbersome. The wheel supports 270 to 900 degrees of rotation, and it rotates smoothly and realistically in games. The wheel surface has no grippy texture which can be a bit bothersome during long sweaty sessions but I found that one can apply some bicycle handlebar tape to improve the experience. There are 13 available buttons and they felt responsive and good to use. Although the pedals work well enough, I didn't like their super-light and all-plastic construction and their close spacing. The plastic base feels very hollow and cheap as well. Because they're so light, the pedal base kept slipping forward on the carpet during gameplay and it was very annoying. To alleviate the issue, I had to place some rubber non-slip mat underneath the base which helped a lot. It would've been nice if Thrustmaster included some sort of folding wheel stand but that would've surely raised up the price quite a bit. The brake and accelerator pedals are spaced together too closely, which I did not like. You will get used to it but it feels unrealistic and too toy-like. **** Performance **** Having never before played racing games with a steering wheel, the T128 was a revelation for me. The force feedback feature definitely makes racing games feel more visceral, immersive, and fun, and the T128 offered realistic steering wheel resistance and feedback that no gamepad can. Just like in real-life driving, you can feel the bumps and changes in road surface textures through the wheel. The paddle shifters are clickity and precise, and again, add to the immersion. The pedals worked very well as well, offering good responsiveness in the games, and not offering too stiff of a resistance. Compared to real cars, though, the pedals are a bit soft for my liking. My 8-yo daughter, though, was totally cool with the pedals because she doesn't have too much foot and ankle strength. **** Is it a good buy? **** Despite the aforementioned annoyances with the T128, I still think it's a good buy at this price point. It's not super-fantastic but it's not terrible either. I think it's great for both racing game beginners and non-hardcore enthusiasts who don't want to spend a lot of coin to experience the niceties that a force-feedback steering wheel can offer to elevate the immersion and fun factor. 4 stars.