The Thrustmaster T248R is making me question where a sim racing wheel with no direct drive and no modular wheelbase fits in the market in 2026

The sim racing landscape is evolving pretty rapidly. New brands are popping up, technology is advancing, and the price you have to pay for one of the best racing wheels is starting to come down. While there may be plenty of change going on, it’s always nice to have some consistency. Thrustmaster has been a household name in this space for decades, long enough that it's now iterating on its own popular wheels.

That’s what’s going on with the Thrustmaster T248R, likely to be a familiar-looking wheel and pedal combo. Rather than something entirely new, Thrustmaster has refreshed the T248 from 2021, making a few setup changes in a bid to improve the overall experience. The price has changed too, like an F1 team shedding weight in order to compete, Thrustmaster has shaved $50/£50 off the T248’s launch price, now starting at £249.99/$349.99.

It may have a new price and a new livery, but the technology under the hood remains the same, and that begs an obvious question. Is a gear and belt driven wheel still a viable option in 2026? I’ve been setting lap times with the Thrustmaster T248R to find out.

Design

If you’ve seen the Thrustmaster T248, the new R edition holds few surprises; it’s almost identical. In fact, viewed from almost any angle except front on, I’m not sure you’d be able to pick them apart. Starting from the back, the T248R retains the same compact hexagonal block of a wheelbase as the original and follows the same design language as most racing wheels. It’s aged well as a result and looks the part with subtle Thrustmaster branding and a few cooling speed holes on top.

It’s entirely plastic, as is pretty much every part of the T248R, and that’s particularly noticeable across the wheel face. Where even the comparably-priced Logitech G923 uses a brushed aluminium faceplate, on the T248R, it’s plastic and underwhelming. The silver trim of the original has been replaced with imitation carbon fibre for what Thrustmaster calls ‘a sportier look’, but plastic designed to look like carbon fibre is still plastic. The buttons I can forgive because there’s both a decent variety and they’re nicely laid out. Most of the 25 action buttons are available within thumb’s reach and, while not mechanical, feel responsive and reliable.

There are impactful changes on the Thrustmaster T248R however, with both the wheel rim and paddle shifters getting an upgrade. The outside of the wheel rim is now clad in perforated leather, which is wonderfully plush with a nice amount of give. I say clad rather than covered though because it’s only on the outside of the 28cm wheel rim; the inner half is still hard plastic. It’s quite literally a tale of two halves because while the outside feels wonderful to hold and was comfortable against my palm, the inside started causing discomfort in my thumbs after a few laps of F1 25.

The paddle shifter changes are a direct response to a common user complaint of the T248: noise. On the T248R, they still use Mag-Shift magnetic sensors for precision, but have been reworked to quieten things down. I haven’t used the original to directly compare, but while far from silent, the T248R paddles are no louder than any other wheel I’ve tested and certainly weren’t disruptive. What they are is nicely sized and well-positioned. I found them comfortable to use and responsive throughout my testing.

Features

Inside the T248R racing wheel is Thrustmaster’s unique T-HD Hybrid Force Feedback system, which combines both belts and gears to deliver 3.1Nm of torque, slightly higher than the Logitech G923. The onboard LCD screen gets both a resolution boost and an upgrade to color, along with four new colored LEDs for revs, flags, and pit limiter status. The LEDs in particular are super bright, and while I’d have preferred them along the top to be as visible as possible, they definitely still catch your eye even without looking down at the dash.

The Thrustmaster T248R comes bundled with a T3PM pedal set, which uses the brand’s Hall Effect H.E.A.R.T. sensors. These are in a different class from what’s included with the Logitech G923. Where in that bundle they’re the low point, in this bundle they may be the best bit. The heelplate is plastic but feels reassuringly thick with plenty of texturing, and it’s great to see chunky metal pedal covers. The brake doesn’t use a load cell as you’ll find on higher-spec pedals, but you do get a second spring and the ability to switch between four levels of resistance tool-free. A surprising inclusion for a set at this price point.

The Thrustmaster T248R is compatible with PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC. No love for Team Green on this one. I’ve been testing it on PC and bolted to a Playseat Trophy, though a basic desk clamp is included in the bundle as standard. If you’re planning to race at your desk, be aware that there’s no carpet grip on the bottom of the pedal box, so you’ll want to find something to wedge it up against to stop it from flying in the braking zone.

Performance

Setting up the Thrustmaster T248R was simple; the wheel is permanently attached to the wheelbase, so it’s just three cables to connect, and you’re off to the races. One from the pedals, one for power, and a USB-C cable to your PC or console. Thrustmaster has opted to have the ports for these cables sit recessed underneath and near the very front of the T248R, and I wish it hadn’t. Not only does this mean needing to plug everything in before bolting it to anything (something I found out the hard way), but it leaves cables awkwardly squashed and dangling straight down between your legs. The back of the wheelbase is completely blank, and I’d have much rather seen these connectors added there to make cable management neater.

There aren’t a huge number of settings to change on the T248R, but the couple of values you are able to adjust can be done onboard using the LCD display. By default, force feedback intensity will be set to 50%, and while I’d say you do you, I’d really recommend immediately slamming that all the way to 100%. If you’re racing on PC, there’s a companion app you can download to do this as well, but console players will need to rely on the device controls.

One of my biggest irks with new sim racing equipment is game compatibility. Brands so often seem to overlook how fundamental having pre-configured keybinds is to the overall experience. Thankfully, that wasn’t an issue I ran into when trying to race with the T248R. It speaks to Thrustmaster’s history in the category and the fact that this is a refreshed product that, in each racing game I tried, inputs were mapped out of the box. It wasn’t always correctly labelled as the T248R, but it was always mapped in some way. I specify “racing” game because I tried jumping over to Farming Simulator 25, and while the wheel and pedals were both recognized in-game, they came with no mapping, and I needed to manually go through each and every one myself. Not a criticism, just an observation, this is a racing wheel after all.

In F1 25, the experience was fine. I can’t fault the T248R in the sense that it worked reliably; it just felt very distant most of the time. I wasn’t expecting extreme performance from a wheel at this price point, but it was only when losing the car, running through the gravel, or hitting something that I really noticed the force feedback doing much. There is resistance there, and probably enough of it for brand new sim racers, but not enough to be able to lean on through sweeping corners or to feel what’s going on with the rears. As you’d expect from a belt or gear-driven wheel, the force feedback is grainy, and on the T248R, I almost found it slightly stepped. I could almost feel each tooth on the cog as I turned the wheel.

In Forza Horizon 5 on the other hand, I was actually rather impressed. The Thrustmaster T248R is probably close to the best wheel I’ve used in that game, including beefier and more expensive direct drive options. This isn’t a wheel aiming for perfect simulation realism, and Forza Horizon isn’t a game aiming for that either, so they’re a good match in an arcadey sort of way. The feeling of smooth road surfaces was still largely non-existent, but the resistance felt more consistent, and I was far more in tune with my hot hatchback on a single carriageway than I was with my Formula 1 car around Silverstone. Going off track or across some of Mexico’s cobbled streets seemingly woke the force feedback up, and it felt great. Again though, I’d suggest popping into the settings and ramping up a few of the effect sliders.

Throughout all of this, the pedals remained an impressive companion. There’s enough travel in all three to offer plenty of fine control. Swapping between the four configurations of spring and elastomer delivered surprisingly different feels, and given how simple it is to change them out, it’s well worth having a try of each of them. It would have been nice to see some level of side-to-side customization of the pedals, but their fixed positioning wasn’t a problem.

Should you buy the Thrustmaster T248R?

As a wannabe sim racer’s first foray into dedicated hardware, the Thrustmaster T248R does a decent job. At £249/$349 it’s a complete bundle that’ll get you away from using one of the best PC controllers, and when framed through that lens, it’s not a bad option. Its nearest competitor, the now decade-old Logitech G923, has a nicer wheel and the benefit of TRUEFORCE for an added layer of force feedback, but is completely outclassed by the T3PM pedals here and the onboard LCD screen. Across a full championship series, I’m sure they’d head down to the final race neck and neck.

Where does a fixed wheel, non-direct drive bundle realistically sit in the market in 2026 though? Like so many things, it all comes down to cash. The likes of the direct drive MOZA R3 are only slightly further up the price grid for a huge leap in performance, though admittedly that one’s only for PC and Xbox. Beyond that, you’re looking at Thrustmaster's own T598 at £449/$599, the Nacon Revosim RS Pure bundle at £699/$799 or Logitech RS50 Bundle at £719/$859. Each of those are far superior, expandable systems, though you’ll need to save up a fair chunk more to get there.

But not everyone really needs that modular setup. If you’re only going to do the odd lap around a virtual circuit, options like the T248R exist to save you forking out on the technicalities of a modular wheelbase and more advanced pedals. If that sounds like you, the Thrustmaster T248R will do you just fine. As a veteran sim racer, I’m just cautioning you against spending money on something that can’t be upgraded when there are plenty of other fish in the sea that can. If you’re considering this as a stepping stone to a better setup, just be aware that it’s possibly a step you’ll end up wanting to make sooner rather than later.

How we tested the Thrustmaster T248R

I added the Thrustmaster T248R to my sim racing setup and used it as my primary wheel for a week. Gaming on PC, I played a number of titles, including Forza Horizon 5 and F1 25, trying both default and customised settings.

For more on how we test controllers, take a look at the GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

See also the best PS5 steering wheel, the best Xbox steering wheel, and the best Xbox Series X controller.