Logitech G29 Killer?! | NEW Thrustmaster T128 Review
The Thrustmaster T128 is the company's newest entry-level wheel replacing the T150/TMX and serves as a baby brother to the T248. At $200, this entry-level wheel will be appealing to many and will be taking on some fierce competition. The guys over at Thrustmaster were kind enough to send it to me for review, so today, I’ll be telling you all whether I think the T128 is any good.
Included in the T128 package you receive the force feedback wheel itself, a very basic set of pedals, all the cables you’ll need to connect everything, and the typical Thrustmaster table clamp which to my surprise, you’ll be forced to use as neither the wheelbase nor the pedals can be hard mounted onto a cockpit or wheelstand. And with that, I highly emphasize that I found this product to be intended for a very young target market as it’s no more than a beginner set of gear.
Starting with the wheel, it’s no surprise that many cost-saving sacrifices had to be made to make this product as inexpensive as possible. You cannot interchange wheel rims, the wheel itself is almost entirely made of plastic, and at ten inches in diameter, is tremendously small. All that being said, I found it to do the job. With 13 buttons along with the D-pad, you have sufficient room to bind all of your essentials, the layout of the rim is fairly ergonomic with all buttons and the paddle shifters being at close reach. Moreover, subtle red accents, a slightly different finish on the faceplate, and even a small rev indicator do try to flare up the look of this wheel.
With a full-plastic rim, the T128 feels cheap on the hands and doesn’t provide much comfort or grip. To my surprise, this even feels like a downgrade from the T150 (The wheel this is replacing) which at least had a soft rubber finish. It’s also no discovery that the T128 is taking most of its design cues from its older brother, the T248, though I think we can all agree it’s the less handsome one of the two.
Magnetic paddle shifters are seen behind the rim which although small in size, do feel very clicky and satisfying to press down. As previously mentioned, you cannot interchange wheel rims since the wheelbase does not come with a quick-release system, but talking about the wheelbase, it has been completely redesigned to go along with Thrustmaster’s new hexagonal design language. The wheelbase is made entirely of plastic and it too looks strikingly similar to the T248, although with 50% less force feedback strength.
The T128 makes use of a hybrid gear and belt force feedback mechanism which does a decent job for what it is and allows for a max 900 degree rotation. I used it in max settings at all times and it was never excessively loud or felt clunky like the Logitech G29. That being said, it lacks force feedback strength and with low torque, it also felt slow to react meaning it’s not ideal for drifting and could make catching small imperfections difficult. In the general scheme of things, it did give me enough feedback to know what my car was doing and how it was reacting which means it’s definitely good enough for beginners, unfortunately, it didn’t feel like a significant upgrade from the T150/TMX which was a little disappointing though. I should also mention that the table clamp along with the power supply and all other cables plug in underneath the base rather than behind it.
Moving onto the pedals, if you ever seen my review on the T150, you would know that I was very disappointed with the pedals that came with those, and some 6 years later... Thrustmaster somehow managed to make an even worse version of them. Simply put these pedals are way too small for anyone other than a child, they have little to no travel, are way too close to each other, and I found no ways of properly using them as they would lift up whenever I tried to apply any force whatsoever. So unless I were to tape these down to the floor, I don’t know how I would make them work.
As per compatibility, the T128 comes in two versions. One works with PC and Xbox and the other works on PC and PlayStation. Moreover, Thrustmaster pedals like the T-LCM’s and other accessories like the TH8A shifter will work this wheelbase.
In conclusion, at $200, the T128 serves as the new entry-level wheel by Thrustmaster but overall, I wouldn’t recommend it for anyone other than a child. Other than a revamp in appearance, I don’t see much of an upgrade from the previous T150 and TMX and with far better pedals and a leather rim, I’d still rather go with the G29/G920. I think the wheelbase itself is fairly capable but with a cheap feeling, non-interchangeable rim and a very poor set of pedals, only time will tell how the T128 will hold up against the competition.
