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The vast majority of our reviews come from verified purchases. Reviews from customers may include My Best Buy members, employees, and Tech Insider Network members (as tagged). Select reviewers may receive discounted products, promotional considerations or entries into drawings for honest, helpful reviews.

• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  A great racing setup for beginners & experts alike

  • Tech Insider Network Member

  Thrustmaster’s most recent innovation, the Thrustmaster T248R, is a virtuous choice for traditionalist simulator drivers and beginners commencing their journey in the world of simulator racing. Thrustmaster yet again provides a strong minimalist design that is ergonomic yet multifunctional. Coming in at a diameter of 11 inches, with a height of 11 inches, the racing wheel doesn’t occupy a lot of space and provides a compact driving experience. Weighing in at about 12.6 pounds, the product is super light and portable. Built with synthetic perforated faux leather, and high quality plastic, the wheel provides a very pleasant tactile feel that helps enhance the racing experience. The carbon imitated finish makes the wheel feel similar in terms of looks to authentic GT3 car wheels. On top of this, the shifter paddles on the back of the wheel are constructed with plastic married with magnetic precision technology that helps provide accurate and responsive shifts, minimizing the overall input delay. Overall, the strong build materials that have been used make the wheel durable for continuous long term usage. As for the technical aspects, the versatile Multi Functional Display on the wheel is a huge aid to access crucial information such as engine RPM (helps shift gears), caution flags, and the pit limiter. Moreover, the MODE button helps shift between the gaming mediums, which include Playstation 4, Playstation 5, and PC. The design is symmetrical providing enough buttons and button maps to make the racing experience authentic and customizable without going overboard. The organization of the buttons is a huge positive for the wheel, as every button is within a finger’s reach, reducing distractions when engaged in wheel to wheel battle. The Thrustmaster 248R is an A-grade performer in any sort of racing game. After extensive testing and analysis in the F1 23 game, the Thrustmaster 248R continues to impress. The wheel provides a very strong force feedback increasing the notch of difficulty for avid sim racers. The setup works perfectly in long distance running, without any sort of degradation in input response. Additionally, the wheel doesn’t lose its force feedback after long distance running, nor does it heat up unnecessarily. While still a luminary choice for hardcore simulator drivers, the wheel is also great for beginners due to the user-friendly setup, and due to its complete bundle (wheels and pedals). The quality of pedals is the best part of the whole package. Possessing a built in brake mod, the process of applying the brakes is a lot more immersive and requires a considerable amount of force. While this may aid in quick turns, heavy braking zones do prove to be a challenge, especially if you are a beginner. On the other hand, the spring base resistance provided by the brake pedal makes the exercise of trail braking a lot easier. Additionally, the 3 way pedal system consisting of the accelerator, clutch, and brake makes the whole package compatible with a grand variety of games including Assetto Corsa, iRacing, Gran Turismo, and the F1 games. Additionally, there is a larger angle of input for the accelerator to overcome in order to be considered “flat”. Hence, the process of lifting and coasting itself provides enough reduction in speed to attack high speed corners. All in all, the Thrustmaster 248R is an excellent pick as it works as a great wheel for beginners and experienced drivers alike.

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  Posted 1 day ago by Kalai

• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  First Wheel, Love it!

  • Tech Insider Network Member

  I've always loved racing games, so adding a wheel seemed like a no brainer. Setup was straight forward. There are 3 different cords you need to deal with: Power, pedals-to-wheel and wheel-to-console. The annoying part of the cables is keeping them out of the way. I may need to take some time to do some cable management. The wheel is easy to move around when you aren't using it, though again the cables can get in the way. I do find that the pedals slice on hardwood, so I have to keep them against the way, otherwise they slide around and it's really annoying. I have it in a good place now, but that's something to keep in mind that you need a good non-slip surface for the pedals. The design is great. I like the carbon look and the red accents. The ergonomics are good. I have it attached to my desk and the height works well. It feels like it had high build quality. The paddle shifters feel solid and like they will task. I like the controller on the wheel, but I prefer the PS5 controller if I'm going to be using the controller for a while. I haven't found a way to look around using the wheel, so that's a minus, but maybe I just haven't figured it out yet. I don't really use the display on the wheel, but if I turned off the speed, etc on the screen to make it more realistic, I'd use that display. I ended up turning the feedback down because it was on 100% in Motorfest and it was way to high and didn't feel realistic. I've used the wheel on the Crew Motorfest and Forza. The wheel performs well in both games. I like the customization options better in Motorfest, but that might just be because I'm more familiar with Motorfest since I play it more often. I'm not 100% confident with my skills yet, so if I'm doing a race, I'll still use the controller, but if I'm just driving around, I'll use the wheel. FYI, I don't think you can use the clutch pedal unless you get a separate stick shift add-on Conclusion This wheel/pedal makes the game more fun for sure. I would definitely recommend it.

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  Posted 6 hours ago by Birby

• Rated 4 out of 5 stars

  a bit of a headache to setup, but fun to race with

  • Tech Insider Network Member
  • Top 250 Contributor

  so I've owned the Thrustmaster T248R for about a week now and I have mixed feelings about it. I was quite excited to open it up and get it set up because one of my favorite games to play on the PS5 is Gran Turismo 7 and I could not wait to play the game with this wheel. My headaches started started with the set up. The steering has its own "power brick" that needs to be plugged in when in use. Not a huge deal BUT.. the cable on it is not very long. I would say like about 6 feet. You'll need to set it up very close to an outlet or get a long extension cable. This made setup a little cumbersome for me because the cable was not long enough to get it to reach across the table I was going to set it up on. The pedal also has a cable that resembles an old phone cable. Think network cable but smaller. The plug has a thin piece of plastic that holds the cable into place. again.. shouldn't be a huge deal but I feel like they are prone to breaking and the cable looks like it is non replaceable. So you have to be extra careful when plugging and removing it. So when you finally get it set up, you end up with a bunch of cables sticking out of the back of it. One that powers the wheel, one that connects the pedals to the wheel, and one that connects the wheel to your playstation or PC. All different cables. The power cable is propietary. I wish they could have don't USB C as well with that. You end up with all these cables and you'll have to do some cable management because if not you end up with cables getting in the way of your feet and pedals. Petty complaints but I just wish it was packaged and designed better. maybe there is a reason each cable is designed the way it is, but I wish it was a little more simplified. Now as far as the gameplay experience, it was fun! Unfortunately there isn't any haptics or force feedback in the steering wheel. I thought it would have some but it does not. The wheel itself feels quite responsive and has a very good turning radius. The pedals take a good amount of force to use. Which makes the driving experience feel more realistic. The pedalboard stays nice and secure on hard floors. Should be just as good on carpets. Playing Gran Turismo 7 with this setup was fun ( when it worked) more on that later. But it makes the game even more fun. I actually plan on letting my niece and nephew use the setup to get some practice in for driving lol. I am convinced that playing Gran Turismo with a good racing wheel and pedals makes for a good driving simulation for getting practice in for real world driving. All headaches aside, I really enjoy the wheel and I am happy to have it. If you plan on getting this, keep in mind that you need a lot of space to set it up. And I recommend that you get some type of "cockpit" to have it set up to permanently. I did not plan on having one at first, but am now currently shopping for one. Now back to the couple of issues I had while starting up this wheel. For some reason.,. my playstation 5 randomly shut down when I first started using this wheel. I have no idea why. It could be a coincidence but when I started up a race on gran turismo 7 with this plugged in, it literally just shut itself off. I googled online if there is any known issues, but couldn't find much information. after resetting my ps5 and running the restore prompt everything was back up and running properly. The only other thing I have to warn you all about is to read the instructions about the buttons, I managed to throw my ps5 into rest mode once or twice also by accidentally pressing the wrong buttons. All in All.. I think the wheel is fun and very high quality. If you've never owned something like this before be prepared to spend some time setting this up and invest in other accessories for it. The wheel and pedals is just a part of the expense. As far as compatibility, I can confirm it works for gran turismo 7.

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  Posted 1 day ago by Ponskippa