WEBVTT 00:00:07.839 --> 00:00:13.920 Hey guys, this is pretty cool. This is the kind of thing that I don't often 00:00:11.920 --> 00:00:20.000 have the opportunity to take a look at. This is the T500 RS from Thrustmaster. 00:00:18.080 --> 00:00:23.600 And the difference between the RS and the nonRS is that the nonRS is the one 00:00:22.160 --> 00:00:28.560 that I would personally be interested in because it's compatible with PC as well, 00:00:25.680 --> 00:00:32.640 but this is the PS3 only one. Other than that, they're pretty much the same idea. 00:00:31.039 --> 00:00:36.960 So, we're gonna start by getting it opened up because this is going to be a 00:00:34.559 --> 00:00:41.600 bit of an ordeal to open because it's big and it's heavy. In fact, that's even 00:00:39.200 --> 00:00:45.040 a selling point of the device in the first place. It's one of the things that 00:00:42.960 --> 00:00:51.280 Thrustmaster puts right on the front of the box. It's heavy, which it better be 00:00:49.360 --> 00:00:56.079 for how much it costs, I guess. So, if you're looking at in terms of like 00:00:52.800 --> 00:00:57.920 dollars per pound, then um you know, you 00:00:56.079 --> 00:01:02.879 could go to xc.com and you could find out what the actual exchange rate is. Or 00:01:00.160 --> 00:01:07.760 you could just um I'm just kidding. That's a little that's a little uh you 00:01:05.199 --> 00:01:12.159 know, exchange rate humor, which I think is I think is an underdeveloped uh an 00:01:10.240 --> 00:01:18.799 underdeveloped field of in the in the humor science humorous sciences. Uh 00:01:16.560 --> 00:01:22.560 basically, I'm I'm just stalling, guys. I'm just stalling. I'm trying to get the 00:01:20.320 --> 00:01:27.920 box open and figure out what we've got to deal with here. And I wanted to talk 00:01:24.640 --> 00:01:30.240 about how Thrustmaster does call out 00:01:27.920 --> 00:01:37.920 specifically the weight of their pedal set right on the front. 15.4 lb for the 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:40.960 100% metal pedal set. It also has two 00:01:37.920 --> 00:01:42.560 positions, GT and Rally or F1. So, you 00:01:40.960 --> 00:01:46.560 can actually switch it around to mount it either this way or this way. And it 00:01:44.479 --> 00:01:50.880 looks like this is the one that comes out of the box. So, let's actually, you 00:01:49.360 --> 00:01:54.320 know, I'm going to get it deacified and then we'll be back in a second. So, why 00:01:52.640 --> 00:02:00.479 would you pay more for a racing wheel? The simple answer is build quality. So, 00:01:57.600 --> 00:02:04.960 yes, all metal, extremely rugged construction, great feedback on the 00:02:02.719 --> 00:02:09.440 pedals. It actually feels like pressing on a brake as opposed to just being a 00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:13.280 piece of plastic that doesn't feel like pressing on a brake. These are fully 00:02:11.440 --> 00:02:17.680 removable, which is really cool. So you can actually customize the whole unit 00:02:15.520 --> 00:02:24.560 quite a bit according to your particular preferences. So there's your uh uh so 00:02:21.680 --> 00:02:28.239 gas brake and clutch all have different tensions so that they feel legitimately 00:02:26.480 --> 00:02:33.440 different. Now switching between the two different modes is actually really 00:02:29.599 --> 00:02:35.519 simple. All you have to do is 00:02:33.440 --> 00:02:40.720 flip it like this. Use the included Allen key to move the diamond plate down 00:02:38.319 --> 00:02:44.000 to the bottom and then you are in the other mode. And then I guess you can uh 00:02:42.720 --> 00:02:47.040 I guess you just have to switch around through the software the functionality. 00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:52.319 And then you can actually switch the pedals over like that. That's really 00:02:49.440 --> 00:02:56.160 cool. So, okay, the bottom can also be fully taken apart and rearranged 00:02:54.720 --> 00:03:00.000 according to how you want. See, they've even got wing nuts on there as opposed 00:02:57.920 --> 00:03:03.599 to, you know, building it with rivets or hex screws or, you know, stuff they 00:03:02.239 --> 00:03:10.000 don't want you to take apart because they don't want you to see how it's built. Tends to be riveted together. Um, 00:03:08.080 --> 00:03:15.760 not the case. So, you got nice big rubber non-slip grippy pads, six of them 00:03:13.120 --> 00:03:19.040 on this one, and four of them here. So, you shouldn't have any problems with it 00:03:17.280 --> 00:03:25.760 moving around while you're trying to use it. And the pedals connect to the top 00:03:21.599 --> 00:03:26.879 via um what is that? RC uh or RJ RJ 11. 00:03:25.760 --> 00:03:32.319 Is that what it's called? Whatever. The phone jack one. Okay. So, let's put that 00:03:29.840 --> 00:03:38.080 down for now. Man, it's heavy. And now we get to the meat and potatoes of this 00:03:35.760 --> 00:03:42.159 particular unit, which is the actual wheel itself. So, it has a little base 00:03:39.760 --> 00:03:45.040 station standing guy here, which goes on like that. We're not actually going to 00:03:43.280 --> 00:03:49.680 install it for the time being. You got all the hardware pieces that you may or 00:03:47.120 --> 00:03:54.959 may not need. You've also got the huge power brick. Why is there a huge power 00:03:52.400 --> 00:04:01.680 brick with this wheel? And the reason is quite simple. There is a 3,000 RPM motor 00:03:58.319 --> 00:04:03.840 inside here that gives you a variety of 00:04:01.680 --> 00:04:09.280 different things. It gives you the responsiveness and the torque necessary 00:04:06.879 --> 00:04:14.480 for much better force feedback than you're going to find on a less expensive 00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:19.359 racing wheel. It also gives you that responsiveness. So, when the when the 00:04:16.479 --> 00:04:22.800 motor spinning faster, you get a quicker response depending on what it's trying 00:04:20.959 --> 00:04:27.120 to do than it would if the motor was spinning slower. So, you get that. You 00:04:24.800 --> 00:04:32.080 also get an extremely well-built racing wheel 00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:36.560 here. So, you've got 10 buttons overall, I believe, on the outside. These are 18 00:04:34.240 --> 00:04:39.440 cm shifters, so that pretty much no matter where you are in your steering, 00:04:38.240 --> 00:04:43.120 you can actually shift them. They're also affixed to the base, which has a 00:04:41.600 --> 00:04:47.199 couple of advantages. One is that it's not going to move the wheel around when you're trying to when you're trying to 00:04:46.080 --> 00:04:52.479 press on them, so you're not going to accidentally shift a little bit. Number two is it gives you the flexibility to 00:04:51.040 --> 00:04:56.240 upgrade your wheel. So you can actually completely remove the wheel and uh 00:04:54.720 --> 00:05:03.040 replace it with something when an upgrade is available in the future. That's something that they have built in 00:04:59.280 --> 00:05:04.320 as functionality with this unit. Um all 00:05:03.040 --> 00:05:08.479 right, let's talk about the wheel a little bit more. So it's got a very 00:05:06.320 --> 00:05:11.520 grippy feeling outside, but there's a little bit of slide as well. Basically, 00:05:09.759 --> 00:05:15.280 it feels like a steering wheel, which is the complaint that I have about some of 00:05:13.440 --> 00:05:18.320 the uh some of the steering wheels that I've encountered in the past that just 00:05:16.720 --> 00:05:22.080 don't really feel like a steering wheel. It's big like a steering wheel as 00:05:20.240 --> 00:05:25.039 opposed to again being small and not really feeling like a real steering 00:05:23.360 --> 00:05:30.560 wheel. In terms of buttons, this is the PS3 exclusive one. So, it's got, you 00:05:27.280 --> 00:05:34.320 know, PlayStation buttons, R2, L2, 00:05:30.560 --> 00:05:36.639 D-pad, U, and then the triangle, square, 00:05:34.320 --> 00:05:41.520 damage, hoo-has, and then there's also your additional ones down here. And you 00:05:38.880 --> 00:05:46.160 can switch between modes down here as well. Uh, give me a sec, guys. So, more 00:05:44.320 --> 00:05:51.440 about the wheel itself. It can actually do three full turns. So 1,080 degrees 00:05:49.440 --> 00:05:55.120 rotation, which means you are not limited to, you know, driving your car 00:05:53.360 --> 00:05:58.880 like Mario Kart style. No, you can actually 00:05:57.440 --> 00:06:02.800 turn the wheel when you're trying to turn the car, which is very cool as 00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:06.560 well. Now, they talk quite quite a bit about the uh the powerful quick 00:06:04.479 --> 00:06:10.560 responding force feedback, but what's equally important if you're going to 00:06:07.759 --> 00:06:14.479 have powerful force feedback is having a way to stop it. So, it has a rigid 00:06:12.240 --> 00:06:20.000 motorized stopper. No matter what angle of rotation you've you've selected, it 00:06:16.560 --> 00:06:21.759 will be able to respond the way that the 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:24.960 game intends and the way that the car would have intended, assuming the game 00:06:23.199 --> 00:06:28.319 is an accurate representation of the car, which not all of them are, but some 00:06:26.400 --> 00:06:33.759 of them are pretty close, I'm given to understand. Um, 00:06:30.800 --> 00:06:38.479 so, right, okay, fluid and smooth action, silent system claims to be not 00:06:36.319 --> 00:06:42.400 very loud, although I don't own a PS3, so I actually have no way of verifying 00:06:40.319 --> 00:06:46.560 that. Right. The size of the wheel is 12 in. So, if you guys don't want to see an 00:06:44.800 --> 00:06:52.240 iPhone comparison, then I'll just tell you in in real real measurements. That's 00:06:48.639 --> 00:06:54.400 30 cm or 12 in. And sorry, there were 12 00:06:52.240 --> 00:06:57.919 12 buttons, not 10. That was my mistake before. Oh, right. The piece in the 00:06:56.240 --> 00:07:02.479 middle. So, this is actually brushed aluminum and uh looks really sharp. So, 00:07:00.720 --> 00:07:07.039 you got the rubberized outside and then the brushed aluminum inside and the 00:07:04.720 --> 00:07:10.080 shiny again inner piece here. It looks very, very sharp, although I think you 00:07:08.479 --> 00:07:14.479 guys can clearly see that for yourselves. Now, in terms of mounting 00:07:12.720 --> 00:07:18.080 mechanisms, you got your rubber grippyiness here. You got a way to mount 00:07:16.160 --> 00:07:21.919 it to the bottom of a of something here. You've got a variety of different 00:07:19.280 --> 00:07:26.639 mounting options. So, yeah, it's big. Yeah, it takes up space in your house, 00:07:23.759 --> 00:07:32.479 but if you are a racing enthusiast, then it is probably a compromise that you are 00:07:29.840 --> 00:07:36.319 willing to make. So, I think that pretty much wraps it up. It does have internal 00:07:34.720 --> 00:07:42.039 memory, so you can upgrade the firmware, which is something that I've forgotten. Oh, right. No, last thing. 65,536 00:07:44.639 --> 00:07:52.479 like data points or polling points or or or positions around the wheel. So, what 00:07:50.080 --> 00:07:56.160 that means is okay, basically here's the extreme examples. If you're using a 00:07:54.160 --> 00:08:01.520 D-pad to play a racing game, you know how you kind of in order to get like a 00:07:57.759 --> 00:08:03.440 like a a a sorry, a a light turn, you 00:08:01.520 --> 00:08:08.240 have to kind of like tap it once in a while because the only two positions you 00:08:05.360 --> 00:08:15.280 have are like and like this, which is not realistic. This has 65,000 00:08:12.960 --> 00:08:18.160 plus 65,536 positions all the way around the wheel, 00:08:16.879 --> 00:08:22.560 which means if you make a slight adjustment, 00:08:20.240 --> 00:08:26.400 your car will genuinely make a slight adjustment. So that granularity of 00:08:24.800 --> 00:08:31.280 control is again one of the things that sets apart a more, you know, legit 00:08:29.360 --> 00:08:36.560 racing wheel from something that is, well, not as legit and not as uh well, 00:08:34.560 --> 00:08:39.680 not as expensive, I guess. But if you really want to play racing games and, 00:08:38.240 --> 00:08:44.880 you know, be comfortable and have, you know, more accurate driving experience, then there you go. This seems pretty 00:08:43.680 --> 00:08:49.680 pretty awesome, actually. I kind of want to try it. I wish I had a PS3. I wish I had the PC version, though, is actually 00:08:48.000 --> 00:08:53.200 what I wish I had. But there you go. So that is my unboxing of the T500. We're 00:08:51.680 --> 00:08:57.120 going to pretend it's not the RS. I'm going to call it the T500. Don't forget 00:08:55.120 --> 00:09:02.080 to subscribe to Linus Tech Tips for more unboxings, reviews, and other computer 00:08:59.600 --> 00:09:02.080 videos.