Thrustmaster Unveils Formula Wheel Add-On Ferrari SF1000 Edition

[Uskompuf]

Celebrating the long-standing partnership and launching the new season, Thrustmaster is thrilled to unveil its new Ferrari wheel, the Formula Wheel Add-On Ferrari SF1000 Edition: a gaming replica of the wheel found in the world-famous Ferrari SF1000. Based on the real wheel of the single-seater race car in which Scuderia Ferrari marked its 1,000th Grand Prix during the 2020 season, Thrustmaster has designed a replica worthy of the event. Featuring a variety of innovations and technical tours de force which represent a new level of achievement for the company, the wheel provides a truly cutting-edge racing experience for owners of a Thrustmaster T-Series base and helps them completely own the race. Having listened closely to the Scuderia Ferrari community, Thrustmaster is excited for this product to delight fans as well as racing enthusiasts and gamers keen to discover the world of Ferrari through this replica of the SF1000 wheel.





This replica features a 4.3" / 109 mm interactive screen along with 21 LEDs, natively connected or wirelessly connected (via Wi-Fi). The screen allows for display of up to 69 items of information, with different designs for the type of game being played or car being driven. The LED display is composed of 15 LEDs for the engine speed, and 6 LEDs for marshal flags.

For the wheel's launch, Thrustmaster has introduced native integration of the screen in the game F1 2020 from Codemasters on PS4, PS5 and PC. Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S users can enjoy the screen in the game thanks to the wireless telemetry connectivity by configuring the wheel via the Thrustmaster TM Connect Web platform.

In addition to its elegance, the Formula Wheel Add-On Ferrari SF1000 Edition is also an incredibly powerful tool that prioritizes performance. Following Scuderia Ferrari's commitment to constant innovation and excellence, the wheel incorporates several features designed to reach the highest levels:

• 100% carbon fiber faceplate combining firmness with a lightweight design, for accurate, perfectly-balanced Force Feedback and enhanced racing control.
• Textured rubber grips for exceptional racing comfort, allowing users to remain highly focused throughout long gaming sessions.
• 11 physical action buttons (up to 25 in total) with a firm feel, to avoid inadvertent activation, plus 7 encoders (including 2 thumbwheels) — 5 more than were available on the previous Thrustmaster Ferrari F1 Wheel Add-On.
• 100% aluminium paddle shifters featuring both push/pull and magnetic technologies, for clear, precise activation in order to help avoid driving errors, and allowing for an unlimited lifespan.
• 2 alternative, customizable analog paddle shifters.

The Formula Wheel Add-On Ferrari SF1000 Edition is one of the most versatile wheels ever designed for sim racing, thanks in part to the ability to swap out its main rear paddle shifters. For even smoother gear shifting (bounce time of less than 5 milliseconds), the T-Chrono Paddles paddle shifters (sold separately) are a great alternative providing a different feeling that could help some drivers to shave valuable milliseconds off lap times.

The magnetic transmission made possible by these alternative paddle shifters, which include gold-plated silver contact switches, ensures even lower contact resistance and provides a super-responsive gear shifting feel that is completely unrivaled.

Thrustmaster Racing Ecosystem-Ready

Like its predecessor the Ferrari F1 Wheel Add-On, launched in 2011, the Formula Wheel Add-On Ferrari SF1000 Edition features the Thrustmaster quick release system: the wheel was developed to be compatible with Thrustmaster T-Series bases* (excluding the T500RS).

The Formula Wheel Add-On Ferrari SF1000 Edition is therefore fully compatible with the following racing wheel bases: TS-PC Racer, T-GT Servo Base, TS-XW Servo Base, TX Racing Wheel Servo Base and T300 Racing Wheel Servo Base.

Pricing & Availability

• The Formula Wheel Add-On Ferrari SF1000 Edition, the new flagship in Thrustmaster's racing ecosystem, will be available at suggested retail prices of £329.99 / $349.99 / €349.99.
• The T-Chrono Paddles, the alternative option available for this new wheel, will be available at suggested retail prices of £54.99 / $69.99 / €59.99.

• European commercial availability: April 20, 2021
• APAC commercial availability: May 18, 2021
• Commercial availability in the rest of the world: August 26, 2021

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[ZoneDymo]

dear lord...its probably accurate but man does it look unappealing

 

[thesmokingman]

The arms race between Thrustmaster and Fanatec is getting really serious now.

 

[AsRock]

These be $600+ soon.

dear lord...its probably accurate but man does it look unappealing

It's a F1 wheel dude it's gonna look like that, it be a crime not to look like that. Just wait they most likely do another just like it if they haven't already

 

[hellrazor]

I like the drink button.

 

[Dammeron]

I like the drink button.

I'd have liked it if a waiter brought me a glass of whisky after pressing it.

The wheel looks nice, however I'm wondering, how much it weights - anything more than 1kg could make the FFB a bit sluggish.

 

[Chrispy_]

What's the target market for this? Hardcore Ferrari-only F1 simulators? Marketing stunt only?

I'm guessing 90% of the stuff on that wheel isn't supported by the majority of games. Assetto Corsa, CARS2, F12021 might be the only games that support even half of the features, and only if you mod them heavily.

Sure, you can use the driver software suite to rebind everything to keys and buttons but surely it's way better to have numbered mappable keys for most cases, rather than having to know that "Drink" is button 3 and "Oil" is button9 etc?

 

[micropage7]

maybe interesting if you could drive tiger tank with that

 

[Dammeron]

What's the target market for this? Hardcore Ferrari-only F1 simulators? Marketing stunt only?

I'm guessing 90% of the stuff on that wheel isn't supported by the majority of games. Assetto Corsa, CARS2, F12021 might be the only games that support even half of the features, and only if you mod them heavily.

If You pay 350€ for a steering wheel add-on (where the servo base costs at least another 350€ and You sill need pedals etc.), then it's not for playing Garfield Kart, but for proper sim racing. The games that matter do support this wheel.

 

[Chrispy_]

If You pay 350€ for a steering wheel add-on (where the servo base costs at least another 350€ and You sill need pedals etc.), then it's not for playing Garfield Kart, but for proper sim racing. The games that matter do support this wheel.

I'd be curious to see which games those are. I'm definitely a filthy casual when it comes to driving sims and in no way the target audience. I borrowed a logitech G920 wheel and pedals to play some Dirt Rally 2.0, and that's about as hardcore as I got.

The thing that strikes me about this is a niche within a niche within a niche.

1. You'd need a game that had the appropriate ferrari F1 car
2. Then you'd need the dev to put in effort to code game features that these wheels map to. I mean, this F1 wheel has its own OS, computer, and menu options on a display built into the wheel FFS!!
3. Finally you'd need a hardcore crowd that would buy multiple different wheels for different cars. I'm guessing the Mercedes F1 wheel has different features and mappings to a Ferarri F1 wheel, right? This is the bleeding edge of immersion accuracy so if they go to the effort of securing this particular car's sim racing wheel, they won't want to use it for other cars where it has mismatched controls.

 

[Dammeron]

The thing that strikes me about this is a niche within a niche within a niche.

1. You'd need a game that had the appropriate ferrari F1 car
2. Then you'd need the dev to put in effort to code game features that these wheels map to. I mean, this F1 wheel has its own OS, computer, and menu options on a display built into the wheel FFS!!
3. Finally you'd need a hardcore crowd that would buy multiple different wheels for different cars. I'm guessing the Mercedes F1 wheel has different features and mappings to a Ferarri F1 wheel, right? This is the bleeding edge of immersion accuracy so if they go to the effort of securing this particular car's sim racing wheel, they won't want to use it for other cars where it has mismatched controls.

This wheel is not about "feeling like a real Ferrari indy car", but about having all the controls and telemetry that You can use during the race. And yes - different cars IRL have different button layouts (however similar), but the button functions are actually almost the same. So You can use the same wheel for all the indys.

As for the "F" branding - Thrustmaster and Ferrari have been working together for more than a decade, just like Fanatec is working with Porsche and BMW.

I just hope that this add-on marks the beginning for some more high quality goods from TM and new, more 'heavy-duty' servo base and full-metal version of T-LCM pedals will show up.