How To Setup Thrustmaster Racing Wheel on PC, Xbox & PS5

Read our quick guide on how to correctly set up your Thrustmaster racing wheel on Xbox, PS5 and PC. Follow our simple how to guide.

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How To Setup Thrustmaster Wheel

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Thrustmaster makes some of the best racing wheels around. Products such as the Thrustmaster T248 offer great product quality for a budget sim racing wheel and are often the starting point for many sim racers. Then there are the higher quality products such as the Thrustmaster T818 direct drive racing wheel, which offer incredible force feedback detail and strength for those looking to improve their sim racing setup.

In this guide, I’m going to show you how to connect your Thrustmaster racing wheel to a PC and ensure all of the drivers and firmware are downloaded and up to date. I’ll also look at how to connect a Thrustmaster wheel to PS5 and Xbox consoles.

If you are sim racing with a Thrustmaster racing wheel on PS5 or Xbox, you can scroll down to the calibration section that is specifically for Xbox and PS5, as you won’t need to worry about installing any drivers.

How do I install drivers for my Thrustmaster racing wheel?

Thrustmaster sim racing products can be rather tricky to correctly set up on PC. It isn’t always clear where to download the drivers and firmware, and installing the right drivers can sometimes be a trickier process than it should be. The first step for any Thrustmaster setup is to download and install the Thrustmaster drivers so your PC can recognise your racing wheel as by default, your PC won’t know a Thrustmaster racing wheel is connected..

When you are starting your Thrustmaster setup on a PC, like most input devices, you will need to install the correct drivers. These will allow the PC to recognize your racing wheel. After you have installed the drivers you should look to update the firmware to ensure you are running the latest version. We will cover the firmware after we have installed the drivers.

  1. Locate drivers: To start, you should go to the Thrustmaster support page (https://support.thrustmaster.com/en/). On the support page, type in your Thrustmaster product, in this scenario, I’m looking for the drivers for my SF1000 steering wheel. Click search and then scroll down until you find the file labelled drivers.
  2. Download drivers: You should find a file for the up-to-date drivers and firmware. Download this file and double-click the icon to start the installation process. Follow the installation wizard to install the Thrustmaster drivers.
  3. Connect your Thrustmaster wheel to your PC: Once installed, you can connect your Thrustmaster wheel to your PC via USB, and it should be recognised.

A note, in case your wheel isn’t connecting correctly, some Thrustmaster racing wheels have a mode select. This will switch the wheel base between Xbox, PS5 and PC compatibility modes. When connecting to your PC, ensure you have the PC mode selected.


How do I update the firmware of my Thrustmaster racing wheel?

Once you have installed the Thrustmaster Control Panel by following the steps above, you can update the firmware of your Thrustmaster products. This can all be done from the Thrustmaster Control Panel although it isn’t always obvious how to access this Control Panel.

Even if you have been using your Thrustmaster racing wheel for a while, you may want to periodically check to ensure there isn’t a newer version of firmware available. If there is, you should always look to update it, as each firmware version fixes certain bugs.

Thrustmaster Firmware Update
  1. Install drivers: If you haven’t installed the drivers for your Thrustmaster product yet, scroll back up and follow our driver installation instructions above. Once you have installed the Thrustmaster drivers, you will be able to open the Control Panel to continue updating your firmware
  2. Open Thrustmaster Control Panel: To open the Thrustmaster Control Panel on Windows 10 or 11 you can press the “Windows” key and search for “Control Panel”. This will give you a couple of options, but you should select the Control Panel app that has an image of a steering wheel next to it.
  3. Check firmware version: Within the Thrustmaster Control Panel, you can see your current firmware version in the top right hand corner. This will show the firmware version as well as the driver version you have installed.
  4. Check for updated firmware: If you know there is a newer firmware version available, or if you just want to check that you have the latest firmware installed, press the “Windows” key and search “Firmware update”. This is another piece of Thrustmaster software that will check for newer firmware versions and install them.
  5. Update firmware if required: Open the Thrustmaster firmware updater and follow the on screen instructions. You should see a list of your Thrustmaster products on the left of the firmware updater screen. The instructions will tell you if you need to do anything in particular with your racing wheel in order to update its firmware. Once you have followed the instructions, click the OK button to proceed with the firmware update.
  6. Calibrate your wheel: Once you have updated the firmware, you should always re-calibrate your wheel before your next gaming session. This can be done in the Thrustmaster Control Panel. There is a button in the bottom right of the Control Panel that allows you to calibrate and set your wheel’s center position.

Calibrating Thrustmaster racing wheel on PC

Before using your Thrustmaster racing wheel, or after any firmware update, you should always recalibrate your wheel. Calibrating will ensure that your wheel is correctly centered and using the right steering lock. If you don’t recalibrate your wheel, you may find some strange behaviour in game, so it’s always a safe thing to do before racing.

The calibration method differs slightly depending on which platform you are using, PC, PS5 or Xbox. Below we show how to calibrate your Thrustmaster wheel on PC.

  1. Connect your wheel: Before calibrating your Thrustmaster wheel ensure it is connected to your PC via the USB cable, and that your racing wheel is turned on. Also, ensure your racing wheel is in the correct PC compatibility mode if it has multiple modes like the T818 that I’m using. After powering on your racing wheel it should start to rotate automatically. Let it finish this process and return to center before proceeding.
  2. Set your rotation angle: Before calibrating the wheel center, you should set the steering rotation that you wish to use. For F1 games, you will want this set to 360°. For most road cars this should be set to 900° or 1080°.
  3. Calibrate your wheel center: Next, rotate your steering wheel so it sits exactly centered and the correct way up in front of you. Then you can press the “set wheel center position” button in the bottom right of the Thrustmaster Control Panel. This will complete the calibration process.
  4. Race: Now you are ready to race.
Thrustmaster Control Panel Screen

Calibrating Thrustmaster racing wheel on Xbox & PS5

The calibration process for Thrustmaster racing wheels on PS5 and Xbox is very similar to doing it on PC, however, you won’t be using the Control Panel, and there are a few things that can prevent correct calibration.

  1. Connect your wheel: Plug your Thrustmaster wheel into your PS5 or Xbox. If the wheel starts to spin, let it complete before doing anything else.
  2. Rotate to the center point: Rotate your steering wheel to exactly center.
  3. Calibrate the center point: With your wheel at center, hold the share button and option button together on your steering wheel. The light on the wheel should change colour. Once it does, the wheel has been calibrated successfully and you can release the two buttons.
  4. Race: Now you are ready to race.

Issues with Thrustmaster PS5 calibration

There is a setting on PlayStation 5 consoles that can prevent you from calibrating your Thrustmaster wheel correctly. This is the “keep applications suspended” setting. To ensure you can correctly calibrate your Thrustmaster racing wheel on PS5, you may need to navigate to the power settings on your PS5.

There you should untick the option to “Keep applications suspended”. The reason for this is that you need to connect your Thrustmaster wheel to your console before opening and playing any games. This will mean that you can’t sleep the console with games suspended, and will have to restart your game every time you power on your PS5.

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Once you have disabled the above PS5 setting, you can continue to calibrate your Thrustmaster wheel in the exact same way as outlined above.


Recommended Thrustmaster Racing Wheels

I completed all of the above calibration and set-up steps using a Thrustmaster T818 direct drive racing wheel and a Ferrari SF1000 steering wheel. And in my eyes, this is one of the very best Thrustmaster racing wheels around. However, there are a bunch of incredibly good Thrustmaster racing wheels that are ideal for different scenarios and budgets.

If you are looking for the best Thrustmaster racing wheels, you have a wide range of choice. I have compiled some of the best wheels that Thrustmaster currently sell in the table below. All of these wheels are fantastic choices in their respective price ranges.

Racing wheelCompatibilityPrice
Thrustmaster T128 Racing WheelThrustmaster T128Xbox, PS5, PC£169
Thrustmaster T248Thrustmaster T248Xbox, PS5, PC£299
Thrustmaster T818 Racing WheelThrustmaster T818PC£599
Thrustmaster T-GT IIPS5, PC£429
Thrustmaster TS-XWThrustmaster TS-XWXbox, PC£379

Best premium Thrustmaster wheel

The current best premium Thrustmaster racing wheel has to be the T818. This racing wheel is the first and only direct drive racing wheel that Thrustmaster currently sell. It is capable of producing up to 10Nm of peak torque from its direct drive motor.

The other perk of the T818 being the first direct drive Thrustmaster wheel is that the force feedback detail is vastly improved over any other Thrustmaster wheel that came before. Direct drive wheels don’t suffer from any loss of force feedback detail thanks to belts or gears because the motor is directly mounted to the steering wheel.

Currently there is only a PC version of the Thrustmaster T818 available, however, it is very reasonably priced to compete with competition from other sim racing brands. Add on the fact that Thrustmaster make some of the best steering wheels like the SF1000 steering wheel, and you have an incredible mid-range to premium racing wheel.

Racing Wheel – Thrustmaster T818
Compatibility – PC
Price – £599/$649
Where to buyBuy Thrustmaster T818 UK/EU / Buy Thrustmaster T818 US

Best budget Thrustmaster wheel

On the other end of the price scale, Thrustmaster also produces some brilliant low-cost budget racing wheels. There are actually a few budget Thrustmaster wheels to choose from.

These include the Logitech G923 competitor, the T248, and this costs from £299.99. However, there is a cheaper Thrustmaster racing wheel that I would recommend. The T128 is the company’s cheapest ever force feedback racing wheel coming in at just £169. It’s also often available for cheaper than this price on retailers like Amazon.

The Thrustmaster T128 is impressive as it is incredibly low-priced compared to other racing wheels that produce similar amounts of force feedback. The T128 can produce around 2.5Nm of torque from its hybrid force feedback that consists of both gears and belts just like its bigger brother, the T248.

Racing Wheel – Thrustmaster T128
Compatibility – PS4, PS5, PC, Xbox Series X|S
Price – £169/$169
Where to buy – Buy Thrustmaster T128 UK/EU / Buy Thrustmaster T128 US


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Frequently Asked Questions

Where do I find the latest Thrustmaster drivers?

You can find the latest Thrustmaster drivers and firmware for your racing wheel on the Thrustmaster website, on their support page. From there you can search for your specific product and then scroll to the driver download file which is indicated by a gear icon next to the name.

How do I test my Thrustmaster wheel on PC?

You can perform different tests on your Thrustmaster wheel via the Control Panel on PC. There are input tests that you can complete in the Control Panel, and you can see your steering wheel’s rotation as you turn the wheel.

How often should I calibrate my Thrustmaster wheel?

You should always calibrate your Thrustmaster racing wheel after completing a firmware update. You shouldn’t need to re-calibrate your wheel every time you use it as it will remember its calibration settings after being powered on and off.

How do I connect Thrustmaster to PC?

You can connect your Thrustmaster racing wheel to your PC via the USB cable on the rear of the wheel. Modern Thrustmaster racing wheels use a USB-C to USB-A cable, while older wheels use a USB-A to USB-A cable.

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Article written by Rich

Founder of SimRacingSetups.com

Rich is the co-founder, and one of the main F1 setup creators and content writers for SimRacingSetups. With over a decade of experience as a graphic designer, marketing director, competitive sim racer and avid motorsport fan, Rich founded SimRacingSetup.com to share his passion and knowledge of sim racing and Formula 1 with other sim racers. Regularly writes for sim racing website SimRaceReviews.com

Disclaimer: Some of the links on this page may be affiliate links. We may earn commission from any sale after clicking a link. Read our affiliate policy.
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