Reviewing a budget $99 Sim Racing Wheel
The Thrustmaster Ferrari 458 Spider wheel retails at under 100 U.S. Dollars. Clearly aimed at the beginner, low budget market, I’m actually pleasantly surprised by it although it's certainly not for everyone. In today's review, I'll explain exactly why and highlight everything I like, and dislike about this beginner sim racing wheel.
First things first, I want to explain Thrustmaster's Ferrari lineup as I'm sure many people are a little confused by it. For some reason, they made a bunch of different products with similar names so it gets a little tricky:
The wheel I am reviewing today is the 458 Spider wheel which is compatible with only the Xbox and not PC or Playstation. As I mentioned, this one retails for $99.
Then, there's the T80 Ferrari 488 GTB Edition which looks very similar, also retails for $99, but is compatible with the PlayStation and PC. From my understanding, this wheel has the same internal mechanism as the one I’ll be reviewing today so if you're considering that one, this video will apply to you as well.
Then there's the Ferrari 458 Italia edition which uses a belt-driven mechanism and thus is a lot more expensive than all the other ones.
So basically, if you’re on XBOX, the 458 Spider Wheel, the one I'm reviewing today, is the one you should be looking at and if you’re on PC or Playstation, the T80 488 GTB Edition is for you. At least I think that's right…
The wheel itself was a lot nicer than I anticipated. Not only does it look pretty cool and aggressive, but it also feels just as nice. The red rubber on the sides of the wheel felt very grippy and nice to hold on to, and it by no means feels like some cheap rubber used to keep costs low. The wheel is made primarily of plastic which is unsurprising but it feels fairly rigid to the touch. This is a replica of the Ferrari 458 wheel and it looks very similar, however, being only a 7:10 replica, it's a lot smaller at only 28cm in diameter. The many buttons on the wheel felt as you would expect at this price point, nothing crazy but good enough for you to know when you have pressed them. A few notable things, however, the engine stop-start button is used as a D-pad as you can see by the 4 arrows around it, and has the text indented rather than printed which I thought was a nice touch. On the right of the wheel is the 3-position engine mode dial which requires decent force to move around and is finished in a shiny red color. The iconic Ferrari badge sits flush in the center of the wheel and although made of plastic, looks very good and glistens under light. Behind the wheel are its metal paddle shifters which have a nice click to them but get obnoxiously loud after a while. Something I don’t like about them is that for some reason, they’re only on the top half of the wheel, so when pushing them down you can only grab them with your index and middle finger which felt a little awkward to me as I'm used to pushing them down with four fingers. I hope that made sense. In general, they are pretty good however, I always knew when I had pressed them, they never gave me any problems, and they're made out of metal which is impressive for a wheel of this price.
The wheelbase itself is also made entirely of plastic and is a lot wider than any I’ve ever owned. This is because this wheel uses a bungee-cord mechanism to provide resistance as it doesn’t have force feedback. Underneath the wheelbase is where you attach its table clamp which did a great job at firmly maintaining the wheel in place. Here you also see the single USB cable which powers this wheel.
Now let's move on to talking about the pedals. Unfortunately, I can’t think of too many good things to say about them. They’re made entirely of plastic, which although held up fine throughout the few days I’ve been using them, I can’t give any promises regarding its long-term durability. They’re also quite small, well… extremely small to be honest, but surprisingly I didn’t seem to be bothered by their size when using them in-game. If any of you watched the unboxing and initial thoughts video I made on this product, you might remember that I said that the brake pedal needed more force to push down than the accelerator, well, after using them I’ve realized that was not true. They require the same force to push down which felt extremely weird at first and I took a while to get used to them. The brake pedal also has a very short travel so it's almost impossible to accurately, or at least, consistently brake with them. Underneath the pedals, there's a cable management indent, some rubber grips to prevent them from moving around much on the floor, and two mounting holes if you use these on a cockpit. There are no spikes for using these on carpet, however. Overall, the pedals left me disappointed but honestly, I can’t expect much from them at this price point.
Moving on to arguably the most important part of the review, how did the Ferrari 458 wheel hold up in-game?
Honestly, it felt pretty good for what it is. The lack of force feedback is obviously a massive drawback as I needed to rely solely on visual queues to know when I was losing control, and very few times was I able to regain that control. But in terms of casually cruising around it more than did the job. The bungee cord mechanism provides good resistance when turning the wheel and immediately snaps back upon release. I would however find it nearly impossible to drive on the limit without spinning and as a result, this leads me to my final thoughts and recommendation.
This wheel is good for what it is. A wheel that costs under $100 and doesn’t have force feedback can only get you so far and the Thrustmaster Ferrari 458 Spider wheel does the most it can. However, the lack of force feedback is a massive drawback which means it is not for everyone. If you want to play real sim racing titles, be competitive in online races, and push your car to the limit, do not purchase this wheel as it will not allow you to do so. This wheel however is a great choice for those of you who simply want to casually play something like Forza Horizon 4 and just cruise around with a wheel. If you play NASCAR Heat or any other oval racing title, I guess this could work too. This product however is ultimately intended for a very young audience who wants to stop using a controller and begin to play around with a steering wheel. So, if you have a child under the age of like 12 who likes cars, this would be a spectacular gift. But again, if you're looking to get into sim racing in the cheapest way possible, save up a little bit more and buy a slightly more expensive wheel with force feedback.
Anyways, this has been my review on the Thrustmaster Ferrari 458 Spider wheel, a product that offers the most that it can at its price point but is certainly not for everyone.
