****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
I've owned my Thrustmaster 458 Italia TX base for about a year and a half now but it wasn't too long after owning one that the "novelty" of being able to race hypercars in Forza wore off and I began to want more of a simulation experience. Surprisingly it wasn't too long ago until all of these TX compatible add-ons were readily available for online purchase and I was more than ready to upgrade. I recommend getting the TH8A shifter and T3PA pedals first, like I did, and then buying a wheel rim later (unless you have the money to get all of them at once.) The reason being there's much more immersion found in the better pedals and being able to shift H pattern over having a nicer wheel rim. However after getting both the pedals and shifter it wasn't much long after that the original TX wheel rim felt out of place as it's so light, plasticy, and hollow. Also the D shape and huge "airbag" make the wheel almost impossible to hold comfortably any where but 9 & 3 so tight turns requiring lots of wheel rotation wasn't very smooth. Now that I'm done describing how bad the TX wheel rim is enter the TM 28 wheel which fixes all of this.When I got this wheel I was immediately happy by how much more realistic it looks and the very noticeable increase in weight which makes it look and feel as if it is a real steering wheel (just slightly smaller and with a plastic quick release.) Since this rim is completely round and the center of this wheel is much thinner and smaller it makes it easy to grab at any angle and you can just let the wheel slide through your hands back to center (just like in a real car) and you can also do hand over hand or whatever method you use when making tight, fast turns. My only disappointment was the leather feels very thin and hard and the stitching is also very hard and rough and can sometimes itch/hurt your thumbs depending on how tightly you're holding the wheel. I was quite disappointed the leather wasn't as supple looking as the Logitech G29 (which I've never felt but from pictures it looks thicker since it's perforated) I put mink oil on the leather a few times and that seems to have made the leather a bit richer and it does feel a bit smoother and more comfortable however it'll never feel any softer since the leather itself is so thin however you could just modify a lace-on or wrap-on steering wheel cover onto this wheel or just wear gloves but for me I got used to it and have a blast using it every time I race. Aside from the looks the best part of this wheel rim is the buttons. The positioning is perfect, and click is very pronounced and realistic, and there's just the right amount for the console necessities (since on PC you should probably be using a button box anyway if you need to map many commands.) To make things easier I cut small black pieces of electrical tape and labeled them with a silver sharpie to correspond to all of the Xbox controller's buttons which saves a few dollars instead of buying the custom stickers.It was also very important to me that this wheel is thinner depth wise, probably by an inch and a half to two inches than the TX rim as I'm using a Playseat Challenge which doesn't offer any forward/backward wheel deck movement so this allows my arms to be a bit more straight out and less cramped and at an angle like they were with the TX wheel which is a huge and much needed improvement for me.At first I was going to save up for the Ferrari 599 alcantara rim but this wheel is often so affordable for used ones (which my used one look brand new and never opened) I decided I would go with it and am happy I did. However if you're going to pay full price for a new one you may want to consider paying just another 30 dollars more and getting the larger and nicer alcantara wheel. I may add the larger, D-shaped, alcantara wheel and F1 rim to my collection in the future but right now I've very happy doing all of my racing on this wheel rim.The TM 28 Leather wheel rim is a must have for anyone who has the cheap plastic TX rim and also worth considering if you're tired of the rubber grips on many of the other Thrustmaster wheel rims. This wheel rim looks great, feels higher quality than the rubber and plastic ones, I prefer the black Thrustmaster badging in the center over the Ferrari logo, the buttons feel professional, it makes sim racing easier, more realistic, and most importantly more fun, all of which make you a better sim racer.
