LE: (not anymore) -> Unfortunately, for now I have GRID installed in Vista 64 so I have no access to those settings.
Last edited by Machine-V8, .
So... my F430 wheel has arrived and I've been playing with it for the last couple of days. There is really not much to say that hasn't already been said about this product.
About the build quality/functionality:
It looks and feels very solid. The build quality of the wheel and pedals is very good. Various plastic parts join together perfectly. The wheel has a nice rubber texture which imitates leather. Your hands won't sweat or slide on it. Metal is featured around the central console (from the pictures I thought it was cheap plastic but it's actually metal) and the two paddle shifters are also from metal. The other buttons are from plastic but they look ok and do what they're supposed to do without making annoying sound/clicks. Only the paddle shifters have a nice discreet click when you press them. The only button which sounds too loud/annoying is the D-pad (engine start on the wheel). The "manettino" dial can be turned (and then pressed - manual/automatic mode) in 5 backlit positions and it looks really cool in a dark room.
The two (brake and gas) pedals look and feel really good by my standards. They are very precise and you can apply the pressure desired without struggling too much with the spring tension. They feel just right. The brake pedal is harder to press than the gas pedal so that I'm able to rest my foot on it without risking to press it by mistake. If I rest my foot on the gas pedal it will go down half way.
There are three wires coming out from the back of the wheel case: the USB cable, the power adaptor cable and the cable from the pedals. You can't detach the USB cable but the other two cables can be unplugged.
The mounting mechanism is very simple and the plastic "jaw" keeps the wheel very firm and stable on my 2.5cm thick desk. There is a metal screw (and metal nut) which goes through the clamp but I cannot overlook the fact that it is made entirely from plastic without a metal structure. The system is cleverly designed though and it will adjust itself even on a thicker desk without increasing the tension on the clamp too much. But, like I said, a metal structure clamp would have been nice.
The "only" 270 degrees of rotation doesn't seem to bother me at all. At least not for the moment. I hardly turn the wheel 180-200 degrees in GRID for instance. In LFS maybe 240 sometimes.
About Force Feedback:
I bought this wheel mainly for GRID but I also tried it on LFS and GTR Evolution. I must say that in GRID I don't like FFB effects at all. In fact they are distracting and you have all the chances to find yourself in a wall with the FFB enabled at only 40-50% (in the game) therefore, to my sorrow, I had to disable them. The only useful FFB feature in GRID is the auto-centering feature. Without it, it would be really hard to take the corners decently.
In LFS I had a surprise. The effects are really cool and they help you feel what's happening. It is a unique feeling, almost like in a real car. So FFB is not completely useless after all.
I haven't played too much GTR Evolution but I guess FFB in this game is nothing to be compared to LFS's FFB effects.
LE: Actually, after playing more and fiddling with some settings, FFB in GTR Evolution feels great too.
One more thing... I think this wheel, unlike the XBOX 360 gamepad, does not have vibration FFB because except some vague effects in GRID, I can't feel the bumps in the road. Or maybe there is some hidden setting... But it's unlikely. I think even the G25 doesn't have that. Only the Fanatec 911 wheel has some sort of vibration if I remember correctly.
Like someone else said before, when we talk about FFB, it all comes down to how well it is implemented in a game because the technology for the hardware exists.
About drivers:
The product comes with a CD where you will find the drivers for the wheel. Everything seems ok about the drivers except the fact that... let me hear you... yes that's it, they don't work entirely with Vista 64bit. Well, actually they work and they do it good enough to be able to play with no problems but the force feedback calibration options are not available in driver's utility when you install the driver in Vista. When you install the drivers in XP (32bit) you will notice a second "page" in the utility which will let you adjust around six FFB settings. This is not such a big problem for Vista users because usually you can also adjust those settings from within the game.
LE: I must tell you that I'm very impressed with Thrustmaster's technical support. I sent them a mail asking for a solution to the driver issue that I had and in no more than 24 hours they replied and sent me the newest beta driver which works perfectly with Vista. I had never expected that my mail would ever be read. So this is another very good reason to buy an F430. If you ever have any issues with your wheel they WILL answer very kindly and they WILL solve it right away. The guys from insidesimracing were not talking bull$%^& in their review. Thrustmaster technical support is awesome. Oh... and now, after adjusting some FFB settings I can play GRID without expecting FFB to throw me into a wall. GRID is great with this wheel.
Final words:
I think that if someone will buy this wheel he will not regret it. In this price range I think it is a good choice. Unfortunatelly I don't have a MOMO, a DFGT or a G25 so I can't make a comparison with other wheels but for what it is, it's a good product, I will be having a lot of fun with it and I think this is what matters in the end, right? If you have some questions about the wheel please ask.
About the build quality/functionality:
It looks and feels very solid. The build quality of the wheel and pedals is very good. Various plastic parts join together perfectly. The wheel has a nice rubber texture which imitates leather. Your hands won't sweat or slide on it. Metal is featured around the central console (from the pictures I thought it was cheap plastic but it's actually metal) and the two paddle shifters are also from metal. The other buttons are from plastic but they look ok and do what they're supposed to do without making annoying sound/clicks. Only the paddle shifters have a nice discreet click when you press them. The only button which sounds too loud/annoying is the D-pad (engine start on the wheel). The "manettino" dial can be turned (and then pressed - manual/automatic mode) in 5 backlit positions and it looks really cool in a dark room.
The two (brake and gas) pedals look and feel really good by my standards. They are very precise and you can apply the pressure desired without struggling too much with the spring tension. They feel just right. The brake pedal is harder to press than the gas pedal so that I'm able to rest my foot on it without risking to press it by mistake. If I rest my foot on the gas pedal it will go down half way.
There are three wires coming out from the back of the wheel case: the USB cable, the power adaptor cable and the cable from the pedals. You can't detach the USB cable but the other two cables can be unplugged.
The mounting mechanism is very simple and the plastic "jaw" keeps the wheel very firm and stable on my 2.5cm thick desk. There is a metal screw (and metal nut) which goes through the clamp but I cannot overlook the fact that it is made entirely from plastic without a metal structure. The system is cleverly designed though and it will adjust itself even on a thicker desk without increasing the tension on the clamp too much. But, like I said, a metal structure clamp would have been nice.
The "only" 270 degrees of rotation doesn't seem to bother me at all. At least not for the moment. I hardly turn the wheel 180-200 degrees in GRID for instance. In LFS maybe 240 sometimes.
About Force Feedback:
I bought this wheel mainly for GRID but I also tried it on LFS and GTR Evolution. I must say that in GRID I don't like FFB effects at all. In fact they are distracting and you have all the chances to find yourself in a wall with the FFB enabled at only 40-50% (in the game) therefore, to my sorrow, I had to disable them. The only useful FFB feature in GRID is the auto-centering feature. Without it, it would be really hard to take the corners decently.
In LFS I had a surprise. The effects are really cool and they help you feel what's happening. It is a unique feeling, almost like in a real car. So FFB is not completely useless after all.
I haven't played too much GTR Evolution but I guess FFB in this game is nothing to be compared to LFS's FFB effects.
LE: Actually, after playing more and fiddling with some settings, FFB in GTR Evolution feels great too.
One more thing... I think this wheel, unlike the XBOX 360 gamepad, does not have vibration FFB because except some vague effects in GRID, I can't feel the bumps in the road. Or maybe there is some hidden setting... But it's unlikely. I think even the G25 doesn't have that. Only the Fanatec 911 wheel has some sort of vibration if I remember correctly.
Like someone else said before, when we talk about FFB, it all comes down to how well it is implemented in a game because the technology for the hardware exists.
About drivers:
The product comes with a CD where you will find the drivers for the wheel. Everything seems ok about the drivers except the fact that... let me hear you... yes that's it, they don't work entirely with Vista 64bit. Well, actually they work and they do it good enough to be able to play with no problems but the force feedback calibration options are not available in driver's utility when you install the driver in Vista. When you install the drivers in XP (32bit) you will notice a second "page" in the utility which will let you adjust around six FFB settings. This is not such a big problem for Vista users because usually you can also adjust those settings from within the game.
LE: I must tell you that I'm very impressed with Thrustmaster's technical support. I sent them a mail asking for a solution to the driver issue that I had and in no more than 24 hours they replied and sent me the newest beta driver which works perfectly with Vista. I had never expected that my mail would ever be read. So this is another very good reason to buy an F430. If you ever have any issues with your wheel they WILL answer very kindly and they WILL solve it right away. The guys from insidesimracing were not talking bull$%^& in their review. Thrustmaster technical support is awesome. Oh... and now, after adjusting some FFB settings I can play GRID without expecting FFB to throw me into a wall. GRID is great with this wheel.
Final words:
I think that if someone will buy this wheel he will not regret it. In this price range I think it is a good choice. Unfortunatelly I don't have a MOMO, a DFGT or a G25 so I can't make a comparison with other wheels but for what it is, it's a good product, I will be having a lot of fun with it and I think this is what matters in the end, right? If you have some questions about the wheel please ask.
Last edited by Machine-V8, .
You could open the pedals case and take the potentiometer from the brake pedal and switch it with the one from the wheel then set a deadzone or assign brake to a different key. Usually a worn potentiometer is hard to fix plus it's pretty small so it is hard to handle. I can't think of anything more simple than that. A new potentiometer would be perfect for you though. You can also check this out.
Last edited by Machine-V8, .
Thank you Mazar. Your input is greatly appreciated I assure you but the F430 seems to be above the RGT in terms of build quality. It is a pity that they did such a poor job with the RGT and most probably the F430 also has some problems. I really can't understand how it can be that hard to manufacture a good, sturdy, reliable wheel at a decent price. It's not rocket science. Right now I think I'll go for the F430 just out of curiosity. If it is a piece of garbage well... that's not such a big problem since I'm not a hardcore gamer anyway but I was really curious about how it feels to play some racing sims with a wheel. Also as I can see, there are not too many owners of the F430, so I'll buy it and I will try to make a mini-review for everybody who wants to buy one. I'll tell you my most honest opinion about it. However it would be disappointing to see that Thrustmaster didn't learn anything from their mistakes with prevoius wheels. I also own a joystick from Thrustmaster (Top Gun Fox 2 Pro) and it does its job pretty well in IL2 Sturmovik. About the wheel though... we'll see.
Hmmm... I think the F430 is actually meant as a replacement for the RGT. It is newer and should be better.
Can anyone explain how exactly DFGT's rotation can be adjusted? I mean if you set it to say 300 degrees of rotation will it actually lock and allow only 300 degrees of rotation or it will turn all 900 degrees but stop responding beyond 300... phew... does that even make sense?
Mazar, do you own the F430 wheel?
...ahem... right. I didn't notice it was the same guy. I wonder why he had to write about the broken pedals in a separate post though...
Maybe you can tell us which wheel you have.
To be honest I really don't believe that Logitech is a manufacturer which is renowned for its outstanding reliability/quality products either. For instance their famous Momo wheel... while it is a good product it has some obvious design flaws (the pedals especially are extremely easy to break and the wheel itself has got some centering problems) and for some unfortunate folks it lasted no more than a few weeks. Just google it. Thrustmaster is no better than Logitech probably but this wheel, the F430, really looks like a good effort from them.
By "cool" I didn't mean only the Ferrari logo and the good looks but also the metal axle and ball-bearing mechanism maybe or the aluminium paddle shifters and the nice pedals. And there are some more "cool" things about this wheel at least from the specifications. I would love to see some Thrustmaster F430 owners posting their impressions about this wheel. If it is indeed a piece of garbage then my only choice will be the DFGT. But if it is as solid as it looks then I will go for it.
Last edited by Machine-V8, .
Logitech Driving Force GT vs Thrustmaster Ferrari F430
Hello everybody!
I would like to buy myself a wheel and I thought maybe you could help me decide which one to get. G25 is out of discussion being too expensive. From the reviews and comments that I read it seems that DFGT is a good wheel. I didn't hear anyone complain about it. But I must say the F430 looks cool (at least from the pictures) and I tend to like it a bit more. Also the few reviews that I found say that this is a good quality wheel too. The major difference is DFGT's 900 vs F430's only 270 degrees of rotation but since I haven't owned a wheel before, I can't see how this could be such a big disadvantage. So... I'm waiting for your opinions.
I would like to buy myself a wheel and I thought maybe you could help me decide which one to get. G25 is out of discussion being too expensive. From the reviews and comments that I read it seems that DFGT is a good wheel. I didn't hear anyone complain about it. But I must say the F430 looks cool (at least from the pictures) and I tend to like it a bit more. Also the few reviews that I found say that this is a good quality wheel too. The major difference is DFGT's 900 vs F430's only 270 degrees of rotation but since I haven't owned a wheel before, I can't see how this could be such a big disadvantage. So... I'm waiting for your opinions.
FGED GREDG RDFGDR GSFDG