An Honest Review of the Thrustmaster T-GT II | The $800 Belt-Drive Wheel...
The Thrustmaster T-GT 2 was released in December of 2021 as the company's newest, most powerful wheelbase yet. Despite that though, word on the T-GT 2 has been practically nonexistent. With Fanatec releasing a similarly priced direct-drive unit and Thrustmaster promising a future release of a direct-drive wheelbase of their own, the T-GT 2 has been mostly overlooked. Recently, Thrustmaster sent me one for review purposes and I honestly think this might be the most underrated sim racing wheel I’ve ever owned.
The T-GT 2 is the company's flagship wheel designed specifically for Gran Turismo 7. That means it’s compatible with PlayStation 4 and 5 as well as PC. It’s a belt-driven wheelbase that retails for $800 along with the detachable Gran Turismo wheel rim, and T3PA GT II pedal set. It also comes with a table clamp and the Turbo power supply, which looks very cool. All of this comes in at a grand total of $800. That being said, if you want the wheelbase and the wheel but not the pedals, Thrustmaster offers that package for $700. If you only care about the wheelbase, you can purchase that as a standalone for $500.
The T-GT 2 Wheel Rim might remind you of the Fanatec GT DD Pro wheel rim. They look strikingly similar because they were both designed by Polyphony Digital (the team behind Gran Turismo), not by Thrustmaster or Fanatec. Despite the similar appearance, I am very satisfied with this wheel. It’s wrapped in leather which gives it a nice premium feel and has a total of 25 action buttons, and 4 rotary selectors which are all natively recognized on GT Sport and GT7. It also has a brushed aluminum center plate although the wheel's button box is primarily made from plastic. Personally, I’m not a fan of the ginormous Gran Turismo logo or the plastic used on the inner bottom half of the rim, but that’s just my opinion. The buttons and D-pad feel fine, similar to what you would find on a PlayStation controller but the 4 rotary selectors do have a very premium feel. On the back of the wheelbase, you find Thrustmaster's controversial quick release (which I’ll talk about soon) as well as the brushed aluminum paddle shifters. They look good, feel nice to the touch, and use a spring mechanism that feels good to press down. My main complaint about the wheel rim is of course its size. It is 11 inches or 28cm in diameter which is essentially the same as the Logitech G series wheels. In essence, too small- especially at this price. Overall though, a solid wheel rim with exceptional functionality on Gran Turismo that feels comfortable and of high quality. Just wish it was a bit bigger.
Moving on to the T3PA GT 2 pedals, they… are ok, but not what I was really expecting. The pedal set itself uses a lot of plastic which although works fine since the load you’ll be putting onto them isn’t substantial, doesn’t make them look very good - especially not compared to the all-metal build of the Fanatec CSL pedals that are even less expensive than these. It has a wide and textured footrest and features metallic pedal plates. That being said, there’s not much to say about the feeling of the pedals themselves. In my opinion, they just don’t go well with the quality or performance of everything else in this package. The pedals require relatively low force to push down all the way, even the brake doesn’t require much, and they don’t feel all that special. Considering that they come with Thrustmaster's current flagship wheelbase, this was very underwhelming. Considering that this is Thrustmaster's flagship wheelbase, I’m not sure why they didn’t pair it with the load cell T-LCM which would have made this entire package FAR more competitive, or AT LEAST, the newer T3PM pedals which are included with the T248 and are a big and notable improvement over these. I’m not saying these pedals are terrible, far from it, they’re just not on the same level as the wheelbase in terms of quality or performance. So while they can get away with providing these pedals with the T150 Pro and T300rs GT, trying to do that with the T-GT 2 which by the way retails for $800, just doesn’t make sense to me. Again, the pedals aren’t terrible - you can adjust the pedal plates, and it even comes with an optional brake mod to increase the resistance of the brake… but it just feels like they don’t fit in well with everything else.
That, of course, leads me to the T-GT 2 wheelbase itself and I’ll be completely honest- it’s a very very powerful and capable bit of gear. I feel like the majority of the sim racing community immediately undermines it simply because it's not “direct-drive”, but I can confidently say that this is probably the top-of-the-line belt-drive technology and it fights well with even some direct-drive units. Throughout testing, I used both the T-GT 2 obviously, AND the 5nm Fanatec GT Direct-Drive Pro back and forth, and I will say that without the Fanatec booster kit, the T-GT 2 felt stronger and had a higher peak torque. Talking about peak torque, Thrustmaster hasn’t published any technical specifications about that, but I’m assuming it gives off about 6nm from just comparing it to other wheelbases that I’ve used. The wheelbase is quick to react and gives off very precise details, although that’s where direct-drive units do perform better. But overall though, my experience using the T-GT 2 both on PC with real sim racing titles and PlayStation exclusively playing GT7 has been great and I’ve never felt at a disadvantage compared to when I use a direct-drive. Not all is great about this wheelbase though, as it most definitely has its drawbacks. For starters, I’m not a fan of how it looks… at all. It’s a very big wheelbase with an odd shape that takes up a lot of space. Moreover, the internal fans used to keep it cool paired with the belts moving around in it, do make it give off some noise. Granted, not anything substantial that’ll be an annoyance, but some noise regardless.
On the back of the T-GT 2 is where everything plugs in including your pedals, optional shifter, and handbrakes. Whilst this wheelbase is primarily made from plastic, it does include some nice features like this see-through part which shows off some internal components, and the large T-GT 2 logo on the back. Regarding the wheelbase, just as people say it's not about the looks it's about the personality… In this case, it's not about the looks, it's about the performance, which again, is where this wheelbase excels. I feel like a lot of people associate the performance of belt-driven wheels with the T150 and T300 which although are good wheels for what they are, they don’t come close to the performance and capabilities of the top of the line belt-drive technology. So although this wheelbase is not direct-drive, which is a bummer, it’ll probably be enough for a majority of casual and even serious sim racers excluding those who REALLY want to get the most out of this hobby.
In conclusion, the Thrustmaster T-GT 2 IS an underrated wheelbase, but I can see why. At $800, it doesn’t look too attractive considering what the competition offers at that price. Moreover, it comes with pedals that aren’t able to carry their weight, and regardless of how good the belt-drive technology used in this wheelbase is, it is belt-driven regardless, which continues to be seen as less and less attractive as direct-drive becomes increasingly more attainable to the masses. The main advantage Thrustmaster DOES have with this product is that you have a decent shot at getting on one. Unlike Fanatec which sells to limited locations, is constantly sold out, and has notoriously high taxes and shipping fees, Thrustmaster products are wildly available and even sold by massive retailers like Amazon and Walmart to name a few. So, in terms of actually attaining a very capable sim racing setup in a short amount of time with little hassle, Thrustmaster is the way to go and this wheelbase will very likely be more than enough.
