Thrustmaster T248: Everything you need to know

The Thrustmaster T248 has been officially revealed. Here is what you need to know about the hybrid steering wheel for PC, PS4 and PS5.

We already knew it was coming, thanks to a product leak. Now I can give you details of the Thrustmaster T248 steering wheel, which combines belt and gear-driven systems for PC and PlayStation consoles.

The Thrustmaster T248 is said to offer ‘unrivalled force feedback at an affordable price’ and is 70 per cent more powerful than the Thrustmaster T150 – presumably that is a reference to torque. The kit includes the steering wheel, base and T3PM medals.

In terms of price, at £300 it is a competitor to the Logitech G923 reviewed on the channel as well as the T300 from Thrustmaster. Or the same price as the Fanatec CLS DD base.

So what does the T248 offer? Well, there is a five-character ‘Race Dashboard Display’ above the logo, which can be used for wheel rotation, force feedback (FFB) type, gear ratio, speed, number of laps, driver’s best position, best time and more.

Then there is the Force feedback, which comes in three flavours. FFB 1 offers ‘linear’ force feedback 100 proportional to what is being requested by the game. FFB2, ‘enhanced’, is designed for better skid control.

Lastly, FFB 3 ‘boosted’ ups the sensation to higher levels of detail in an effort to let you more clearly ‘feel the tiny minutia of each racing effect from the track’.

Thrustmaster T248: What about the hybrid thing?

Benefits of the T248’s hybrid belt and gear system should include enhanced handling detail, less slip and a less granular feel during rotation. Whether that is the case is something I will investigate in the full review.

You also get H.E.A.R.T. magnetic technology, which helps eliminate deadzones and increases input precision, and magnetic shifters that offer a 30-millisecond activation time, reducing the time to change up or down a gear.

For those who play racing games that require a lot of buttons, the Thrustmaster T248 is equipped with 25 – 23 if you take out the magnetic paddle shifters.

Most interesting, I would say, is the T3PM pedal set. This three-pedal offering appears to replace the lacklustre T3PA set and comes with springs and hall effect sensors instead of potentiometers – a nod to the excellent T-LCM pedals also reviewed on A Tribe Called Cars.

Besides offering more pedal feel, in theory, those T3PM springs can be adjusted to one of four different spring configurations. So if you want easier or harder pedal travel, that should be no problem.

What about next-generation console support? The T248 is officially licensed for the PS5, but no word on an Xbox-friendly version. Given that Thrustmaster has a number of products lined up to released in 2021, I would guess we will see a T248 variant in the near future.

Thrustmaster T248 release date & price

The Thrustmaster T248 hybrid steering wheel will be available from the 31^st of August 2021 in Europe, North America and the Middle East at a recommended retail price (RRP) of £299.99, US£399.99 or €349.99. The rest of the world has to wait until ‘late 2021’.

That makes it more expensive than the also hybrid T150 was at launch, but then it appears there have been a number of useful improvements – and those pedals should feel more realistic.