Racing games have evolved dramatically over the years, offering increasingly realistic graphics and driving physics, resulting in an incredible immersive experience. But the core element that will make you feel all the sensations of the game is your racing wheel, and more particularly its motor: the wheel base.

This will determine the force feedback’s power and accuracy felt through the racing wheel, which produces movements and vibrations to simulate road roughness, shocks or skids. Among the available options, Direct Drive technology has become increasingly popular for experienced players looking for the ultimate driving experience.

In this article, we’ll take a deep dive into this technology.

What is Direct Drive technology?

Direct Drive technology is a transmission technology used in wheel bases for car racing video games. Unlike traditional bases that use a belt or gear to transmit movement from the motor to the racing wheel, Direct Drive bases are equipped with an electromagnetic motor directly connected to the racing wheel axis. That means there’s no loss of power and details due to a belt or gear, therefore providing instant response and a more authentic feel of the road thanks to an immediate reception of in-game data.

The benefits of Direct Drive technology:

Enhanced realism: Direct Drive technology delivers a realistic driving experience thanks to its instant response and precision. Players can get a more authentic feel of the vibrations of the road, rumble strips, changes in terrain and vehicle movements, further reinforcing the immersive effect in various games.

Torque delivered: Direct Drive motors can provide high force feedback torque (mainly between 5 and 15 Nm), delivering a genuine feeling of power when handling the racing wheel. This enables players to feel the force needed to turn the racing wheel during sharp turns or emergency maneuvers, and better feel the information sent by the game through their hands, thus adding an extra dimension to the driving experience.

Steering accuracy: Direct Drive technology provides exceptional steering accuracy without unwanted movements, enabling players to make subtle and precise adjustments to their racing wheel for better racing performance. Players can therefore better control their vehicle, which can mean the difference between winning and losing a race.

Customization: Most Direct Drive wheels offer advanced setup options, enabling players to adjust their base to match their driving preferences for a custom experience.

T818: the fruit of two decades of experience

In 1999, Thrustmaster unveiled its first racing wheel dedicated to simracing. Even if the driving experience offered by these games was elementary, Thrustmaster was already striving to offer a driving experience that was as true to life as possible.

More than 20 years later, racing simulation has never been closer to a genuine driving experience. With this in mind, Thrustmaster presents this new base showcasing Direct Drive technology.

Extremely sharp design:

Our engineers made very important choices in creating such an experience:

• Optimized angular acceleration: Our motor delivers constant torque of 10 Nm, without any saturation. There are no power spikes here: power is there when you need it. The force feedback is fluid, powerful and reactive, regardless of how long your driving session is.

• Unfiltered power: For the design of this T818 wheel base, we chose to convey all game effects without any filter to remain faithful to each game and provide the intense sensations of real racing.

• New quick-release system: Five seconds: that’s how long you need to switch wheels on our Direct Drive base.

• A complete ecosystem: We’re well aware of the depth of our ecosystem. That’s why we chose to make all our wheels compatible with this base thanks to an easy-to-use adapter. This means you can change from rally to GT mode in a snap.

• A customizable base: As we all know, customizing your gear is key. You are the driver, so your setup has to reflect your needs. To make it more your own, we designed a system of interchangeable color plates. In addition, RGB LEDs let you set your lighting preferences. These LEDs also interact with telemetry data sent by the game to display RPM and race flags.

T818 SF1000

To push the experience even further, Thrustmaster unveiled an exclusive version of the T818 base on April 15, 2023: the T818 Ferrari SF1000 simulator. Designed for diehard Ferrari fans, this set will put you in the shoes of your favorite Ferrari driver with its Formula Wheel Add-On Ferrari SF1000 Edition wheel.