Bsimracing Sim Racing Resources and News for the racing enthousiast.
In August of 2021, Thrustmaster published a 2021 product roadmap, listing a number of new products that were in the pipeline. Interestingly, the roadmap also listed a Direct Drive wheel for the PC, and therefore, officially confirming that Thrustmaster would make the jump to Direct Drive technology.
Via their official social media channels, Thrustmaster has now started promoting the coming of their first Direct Drive racing wheel.
While I am personally not a big fan of these long-stretched teaser campaigns, Thrustmaster decided to share some details in a series of promo posts that will reveal snippets of product details along the way.
The first teaser shows us a hexagon shape. When taking a closer look at the shared graphic, the hexagon seems to be the base shape of the wheelbase. We can also see what looks to be an array of cooling fins on the side of the unit.
Interestingly, Thrustmaster stated that the Direct Drive Wheelbase will be compatible with all the existing Thrustmaster wheel addons. This made many community members raise an eyebrow, considering that these existing addons are not exactly designed to withstand the force generated by an average Direct-Drive motor. Also, the existing wheels feature a plastic quick connect system, secured with a single thread cutting Screw. This design was already questionable on a belt-driven system, so it will be interesting to see how that will work on a DD wheel setup.
Furthermore, It is once more confirmed that the Thrustmaster Direct Drive unit will be a PC-only product. Taking into account that Thrustmaster has always been a strong competitor in the console peripheral market, I wonder if this could mean we will see a game console version appear in the near future.
At the time of writing, no pre-order, or release date has been shared. Nevertheless, it’s clear that the product will become available somewhere in 2022.
For more detailed info, we will have to wait until January 20th, 2022. I will keep you posted when the next teaser is shared.
We promised to give you more info about our Direct Drive Racing Wheel before the year was up, so here is your first clue.
Next info drop coming on January 20th #STARTINGLIGHTS pic.twitter.com/8vhp6bL9WV
— Thrustmaster Official (@TMThrustmaster) December 29, 2021
Official Webpage – www.thrustmaster.com
