Our Verdict
Pros
- Extremely good value for money
- Includes a pedal set
- Fully compatible with PS3, PS4, PS5
- Smooth force feedback
Cons
- Looks dated, less appealing than TMX
- Force feedback isn’t the strongest
- Lacks force feedback detail
- Two pedal set is extremely poor
Sim racing wheels can be expensive, and sim racing can be an expensive hobby, but it doesn’t have to be. Thrustmaster proves this by offering a range of budget-friendly racing wheels, including the TMX and T150.
We have reviewed the Thrustmaster T150 to bring you this review, with the aim of finding out whether the T150 is the best entry-level PS5 racing wheel.
What is the Thrustmaster T150?
The Thrustmaster T150 is the most budget-friendly racing wheel from Thrustmaster that includes force feedback. I mention force feedback because Thrustmaster does sell cheaper racing wheels such as the Ferrari 458 Spider racing wheel. However, that product doesn’t include force feedback.
The lack of force feedback in the Ferrari 458 Spider racing wheel will result in a strange racing experience. One where you can’t feel your car or any of the forces that racing wheels were designed to emulate. For this reason, I wouldn’t recommend considering a racing wheel such as the Ferrari 458 Spider or Hori Apex.
With those budget, non-force feedback racing wheels removed from the equation, the T150 is the cheapest PS5 compatible racing wheel you can buy.
If the design of the T150 looks familiar to you, you’re not going crazy. The T150 is essentially the same racing wheel as the TMX racing wheel that we have already reviewed. You can read our Thrustmaster TMX racing wheel review here, as many of the points I mentioned in that review are applicable to the T150.
What is different between the Thrustmaster T150 & TMX?
As you can see from the image below, there really isn’t much difference in the design of the T150 and TMX racing wheels. This is intentional. Both Xbox and PlayStation consoles feature different requirements for third party peripherals.
Both consoles handle compatibility differently, making it tricky for peripheral manufacturers such as Thrustmaster to design a cost-effective product that is compatible with both PS5, PS4 and Xbox consoles.
This is the reason that we often see certain racing wheels only compatible with one console and not both. All racing wheel manufacturers have this same problem, which is why we see almost identical products in some instances.
Logitech for example has two versions of the G923 racing wheel, a PS5 version and an Xbox version. Both look identical other than the buttons featuring Xbox or PlayStation buttons.
Fanatec has gone a different route and released two different products, the CSL DD and GT DD Pro wheel bases. Both products look rather different on the outside, yet inside they’re almost identical. The CSL DD is an Xbox compatible wheel base while the GT DD Pro is the PS5 compatible version.
Going back to the T150 and TMX, you’ll see that there are a few minor differences. The T150 features the blue colour of PlayStation in its handgrips, which for me cheapens the design a little. I much prefer the all-black appearance of the T150, as this makes the wheel look a little more mature and less toy-like.
Other differences include the use of PlayStation buttons on the main body of the wheel, and four additional buttons situated just behind the main body. The TMX moves almost all buttons to the panel that sits just behind the main body.
Again, this design works a little better on the TMX in my opinion as each button is more prominent and easier to reach with my thumb. I have to extend my thumb a little further to reach the four face buttons on the T150 wheel.
However, when it comes to force feedback and the feeling of this wheel during use, both are almost identical.
How does the T150 perform?
The T150 racing wheel utilises belt-driven force feedback to produce around 2Nm of torque. This allows you to feel resistance in the wheel as you turn as well as forces generated from your car interacting with the road.
The force feedback is good enough to allow you to race at speed. You can certainly decipher when you are losing grip, and the weight of the wheel feels good for a wheel of this price. The strength of force feedback isn’t overly impressive coming in at around 2Nm. However, at this price point, it is certainly usable.
When it comes to force feedback detail, you do lose some clarity thanks to the belt system in use. The main negative of using a belt inside a racing wheel is that some force feedback detail can be lost in translation.
This happens as the belt transfers the forces from the motor to the wheel shaft. The flexible nature of a belt means some fine details do go missing. This isn’t the case in direct drive or gear-driven racing wheels.
On the rear of the Thrustmaster T150 are two paddle shifters. These are both constructed from metal and feel pretty premium to the touch. The shifters feel good during use with a nice quiet click when you engage them. This is enough to let you know that you have successfully shifted, even if the feedback from the paddles isn’t overly strong.
The T150 features up to 1080 degrees of rotation. This mimics a real-world car and gives you complete freedom to race any and all racing sims. You can lower the overall degrees of rotation in-game if you are playing an F1 game for example where they only use 360 degrees of rotation.
Much like many racing wheels on the market, the diameter of the T150 is 280mm. This is just about the right size for a racing wheel albeit on the smaller side. In a circular wheel, this does feel a touch small. It could do with being 300mm across, but this was never an issue in-game.
Most importantly, the force feedback was decent and impressively quiet. Unlike many racing wheels, you could easily get away with racing this wheel at night without disturbing others in the same house. There wasn’t any excess heat generated either with the wheel base only ever getting slightly warm, never hot.
The T150 pedals
With the base Thrustmaster T150, you receive an all-plastic two-pedal set. These are quite frankly terrible. They look incredibly cheap and don’t feel much better to the touch.
There is some resistance in the pedals as you depress them, and you can certainly race with them. But the lack of a clutch pedal and the overall cheapness of these pedals would almost stop me from recommending the T150 to new sim racers.
However, Thrustmaster has realised this and does offer the T150 as a pro bundle. The pro bundle features the same racing wheel but upgrades the pedals to a metal three-pedal set. This is the T3PA 3-pedal set that I reviewed previously. Check out my T3PA review here.
The upgraded pedals fixes all of the problems that plague the base T150 pedals. There is a third pedal included, all pedal plates are constructed from metal, and there is a range of adjustability to help you find the perfect placement.
Compatibility
If you are looking for a racing wheel that simply works with a PS4 or PS5 right out of the box, the T150 could be for you. It comes fully assembled, meaning all you have to do is connect the cables and you’re good to race.
There is a cable that connects the pedals to the racing wheel, a USB that runs from the wheel base to your PS5 and a power cable. Once all of those are connected and your racing wheel is mounted to a desk, table or sim rig, then you can start racing.
The T150 will be automatically detected by most games right away. And if it isn’t, you can simply select it from the controller menu in-game.
While the T150 won’t work with Xbox consoles, it works flawlessly with PS3, PS4, PS5 and PCs.
You can attach additional peripherals such as a handbrake and shifter as long as they are Thrustmaster products, and they will also work right away in-game. I would recommend picking up a Thrustmaster TH8A shifter for more realistic manual shifting.
How much is the Thrustmaster T150?
The Thrustmaster T150 is one of the most budget-friendly racing wheels you can buy. In its base form, it comes in less than £200 / $200. If you are looking to pick up the pro bundle, that can be found for not much more, in some stores, you can find the pro bundle for under £200 / $200 as well.
In comparison to other racing wheels, the Logitech G923 is possibly the closest competitor. This is a slightly more premium racing wheel, but can be found for between £200 – £300 / $200-$300. That makes it slightly more expensive than the T150, but it does look and feel more premium.
Should you buy a Thrustmaster TMX?
If you’re a beginner to sim racing and looking to buy your first racing wheel, the Thrustmaster T150 is a solid option. It’ll allow you to experience racing with a racing wheel instead of a controller and to see if you enjoy sim racing.
It certainly won’t be long before you look for an upgrade if you find yourself racing often. As the T150 isn’t the most immersive or premium of racing wheels. But as an entry into sim racing, it does a good job for a relatively low price tag.
