My new Thrustmaster Hotas impressions

[lost cause]

I got in it the mail Monday and have put about six hours on it. I wanted to give my initial impressions and then update this thread again after more experience. Maybe this can help some players who are considering a purchase. Please feel free to comment!!!!

1. Quality: Very impressed! It seems rock solid. Everything works as it is supposed to. The throttle section can be detached. It is good size and has some weight to it. The rubber feet stick very well to a flat surface and will not slide around. It appears to be all plastic.

2. Function: Button placement is excellent! The instruction manual tells which button matches up to the sony controller. You use your forefingers and thumbs. The buttons have to be pushed with some force to activate.
You can fly easily without removing your hands from the controls. Well placed.

3. Does it help or hurt game play? Good question. My expectations were this stick would give me finer control than the gamepad. It does that. Moving the stick in small increments is 100% easier than using the gamepad. The rudder is a vast improvement. You can twist the throttle left or right or there is a rocker switch on the front of the throttle activated by your two middle fingers. Both work well. The stick twist can be locked so you won't accidently use rudder. Either way is your choice. Right now, I can still use the controller much better. I would not try an online arcade battle yet, if ever. I'm flying a lot in sim and this thing is infinately better than the controller in that mode, which is probably where its greatest strength lies.

4. Operation: There is no deadzone. Move the stick and/or rudder rocker switch and control surfaces move incrementally the farther you move stick.
Wherin lies my problem right now. It is hard if to get a grip on just how far to move the stick to get desired results. Example: tryin to match a turning opponent keeping you wings level with his, I'll roll too far, try to correct and roll too far the other way. I sway like a drunk. The tit is over the target. Push the stick forward to correct and, too far! Pull back, try to correct. too far! I sway like a drunk. The stick has a lot movement. A different mindset is required. I'm not just mashing buttons. Your hand has to move the plane intuitively as your eyes watch your craft. Tough to get adjusted to doing. The hat switch on top of the stick "clicks" left, right, forward, backward for you to look around with. It blows doors on the controller, but you cannot turn all the way around in the seat. This is probally what the vets don't like. but it hasn't bothered me yet because you can't see thru the fusalage anyway. But in a bubble top it may make a difference.

5: Conclusions: Unsure. It is worth every bit of $30, for sure. Whether it makes me better hasn't been determined. I'm sticking with sim mode with it. If I can stop swaying like a drunk and make the plane do what I want and go where I want, it'll work. More Later. Oh, and zoom works!!

[f1rebrand]

Thanks for sharing. I'm considering buying one myself but there are arguments for and against. My left thumb says yes!

[Houndstone Hawk]

I got in it the mail Monday and have put about six hours on it. I wanted to give my initial impressions and then update this thread again after more experience. Maybe this can help some players who are considering a purchase. Please feel free to comment!!!!

1. Quality: Very impressed! It seems rock solid. Everything works as it is supposed to. The throttle section can be detached. It is good size and has some weight to it. The rubber feet stick very well to a flat surface and will not slide around. It appears to be all plastic.

2. Function: Button placement is excellent! The instruction manual tells which button matches up to the sony controller. You use your forefingers and thumbs. The buttons have to be pushed with some force to activate.
You can fly easily without removing your hands from the controls. Well placed.

3. Does it help or hurt game play? Good question. My expectations were this stick would give me finer control than the gamepad. It does that. Moving the stick in small increments is 100% easier than using the gamepad. The rudder is a vast improvement. You can twist the throttle left or right or there is a rocker switch on the front of the throttle activated by your two middle fingers. Both work well. The stick twist can be locked so you won't accidently use rudder. Either way is your choice. Right now, I can still use the controller much better. I would not try an online arcade battle yet, if ever. I'm flying a lot in sim and this thing is infinately better than the controller in that mode, which is probably where its greatest strength lies.

4. Operation: There is no deadzone. Move the stick and/or rudder rocker switch and control surfaces move incrementally the farther you move stick.
Wherin lies my problem right now. It is hard if to get a grip on just how far to move the stick to get desired results. Example: tryin to match a turning opponent keeping you wings level with his, I'll roll too far, try to correct and roll too far the other way. I sway like a drunk. The tit is over the target. Push the stick forward to correct and, too far! Pull back, try to correct. too far! I sway like a drunk. The stick has a lot movement. A different mindset is required. I'm not just mashing buttons. Your hand has to move the plane intuitively as your eyes watch your craft. Tough to get adjusted to doing. The hat switch on top of the stick "clicks" left, right, forward, backward for you to look around with. It blows doors on the controller, but you cannot turn all the way around in the seat. This is probally what the vets don't like. but it hasn't bothered me yet because you can't see thru the fusalage anyway. But in a bubble top it may make a difference.

5: Conclusions: Unsure. It is worth every bit of $30, for sure. Whether it makes me better hasn't been determined. I'm sticking with sim mode with it. If I can stop swaying like a drunk and make the plane do what I want and go where I want, it'll work. More Later. Oh, and zoom works!!


Sorry but I have to disagree with most of your review. Being a FlightSimmer for a long number of years with titles like IL-2, FS2002, 2004, FSX, Lock On, BOB, Rise of Flight etc & as a result, having built up a collectionof some 5 sticks including the excellent CH Products Fighterstick, Sidewinder Precision Pro & Aviator, I had recently bought this stick also, for the primary use in Bop on PS3.

In my opinion, this is a highly 'clunky' stick with absolutely no precision or finesse in its useage & even after the arrival of 1.01 & the custom setups, there IS INDEED deadzone issues. OK I'm comparing it to my CH Fighterstick which is a fantastic piece of kit (along with the pro throttle, pedals & Yoke) but all the same; they are both joysticks.

Your comment on the view panning 'blowing the doors' off the controller equivalent I find extremely baffling. The hatswitch views on the Thrustmaster is, as you rightly pointed out, restricted to directional points only & this is a HUGE disadvantage over the controller that (with certain setups) dedicates the analogue thumbstick for an extremely smooth & precise view pan. The Thrustmaster viewing is easily the worst aspect of the stick.

Buttons are easy enough to reach (apart from the awkward hatswitch). All in all, it's a stick that gives what you put into it; in this instance, 20 GBP. It's a cheap stick in every sense but I guess there's not the huge choice as there is on PS3.

Conclusion:
For me; Sticks & Flightsims go hand in hand (half a pun not intended there) but where BoP is concerned, the deadzone issues, clunky inputs & horrific in-cockpit panning means that the PS3 controller is still (by far) the smoother, finer & ultimately more enjoyable experience..................IMO ofcourse!

[InfiniteStates]

...tryin to match a turning opponent keeping you wings level with his, I'll roll too far, try to correct and roll too far the other way. I sway like a drunk. The tit is over the target. Push the stick forward to correct and, too far! Pull back, try to correct. too far! I sway like a drunk. The stick has a lot movement.
That'll no doubt improve as you get used to it. You've spent who knows how long getting used to a controller on various games, and just 6 hours odd with this. Give it more time and it will undoubtably become more natural :)

I remember the first time I tried to play an FPS on a PS2 controller having come from FPSs on PC mouse and keyboard. I spent the majority of my time in a corner looking at the floor and spinning in circles lol.

[lost cause]

HaHa! Funny Infinitestates. This is part 2. I want to say I'm writng this as a newcomer to flight sims on ANY system. I have no experience with flight sticks. This like a diary. It may help other players decide if they want a stick and what to buy.

I played 4 hours last night in training mode and campaign. All in sim. The more I play, the better it is. The stick is shaped really well and has a rest on the bottom that supports your hand. Very good fit. It is giving me what I wanted, a finer more precise control and ease of use. I particularly love the rudder. I'm using the stick twist left and right. I turn it slowly to get on target and hold it there while operating the other control surfaces. It works great! I am no longer swaying back and forth like my plane is on a rubber band. A vast improvement over the little thumb sticks on the gamepad. In a turn, the more I pull back on the stick, the tighter the turn. I get right in there on the edge of a blackout and hold the turn (depending on the plane type). Nice. I have figured out not to use the entire range of movement on the stick. Half to 3/4 will do. I am flying with full aerleron sensitivity and elevator 3-6 clicks down. The key is smooth moves. No slamming the stick like on the gamepad in arcade! The throttle has good range and will stay where you put it, at any percentage. Unfortunately this include WEP. All the way forward is WEP. You have to be careful not to leave it there or you'll burn up the engine and it will quit. But I have found the engine will take quite a bit of abuse from this with no ill effect, so it is no deal to me. So, the controls, with practise, are excellent. The button layouts are very easy to find and operate. No issues there.

Now the bad, but not so bad. The tophat has three functions. 1. Look around. 2. Issues orders to your wingmen. 3. Controls the gunner on bombers. Number 2 all you do is hold a button on the throttle and the tophat corresponds to the direction pad on the Sony controller. Easy. On look around, it can be a detriment. It is a camera that looks up, down, left, and right only. Push it in the desired direction, and the camera pans straight to the area. Anything in between looking forward and the area you go to can be missed as the camera is moving. You cant look exactly where you want. So far, I am dealing with this OK. I push the tophat repeatedly and quicky, say up. and I can maintain site on an oppnent moving. But I have not been online yet in a real dogfight either. Using in a bomber is also a little tricky. I didn't try this much but it was a little difficult to move the gun smoothly and follow an incoming fighter with it.

I'm finding I use the zoom a lot, both looking for targets and aiming at them from a distance, especially bombers. The button is located on the throttle in the front. Very easy to use. Zoom could be an issue for some people if you got used to having it and then losing it on a custom layout. I personnaly like it.

I don't undersatnd how you guys say you can't check your six with it. It doesn't quite go all the way back so you can stair at the back of your seat. You can't see back there anyway! I can't see shit behind me even using the gamepad so this has not been an issue for me yet. I found that by flying in a cricle and looking up I can scan quite a big area! This is what I was doing and a sharp eye will find the little dark spots. Keeping up with them after you spotted them is another story for another time.

I did well in practise finding the targets and downing some of them. It is definately superior to the gamepad in sim. In campaign, I defeated the dreaded Hornets Nest on the third try. That battle is at night and it is very diffucult to find the transports at all. The tophat gave me no problems. I defeated the entire Ciciliy invasion, including landing on my second attempt to rescue the downed pilot, in about 1 1/2 hours. Had some good kills, good bombing, and was finding targets pretty good.

The patch supposedly supports a mouse to use as a lookaround so I stopped at Best Buy on the way to work and picked uo a wireless mouse on clearence for $9.99. I discoverd last night that I fly for lapses without my left hand on the throttle as I am hunting targets. These are times when the Miller Lite is in the left hand! I'm goin to try the mouse tonight if I can figure out how to use it. Does anybody know? Just hook it into the 2nd USB port and go? Anyway, so far I like it a lot. I will report more after I get the mouse going and get online and test this thing in real sim combat.

[KAV]

lost cause

Thanks dude. I awaite my TM Hotas anyday so this was usefull.

[lost cause]

Part 3. Last entry in my freakin essay! I got the mouse plugged into port 2 and WAA LA! Instant camera to look anywhere I want. Hold the left button and scan anywhere, including all the way backward. Right button zooms! It is awesome! There can be confusion as to which way you looking and which way you are flying! It takes practise. I was using the tophat and mouse in conjunction with good results. Definately the way to go. By the way, you can see your six in a bubble top (i.e. P47). Without the mouse, the tophat WILL NOT.

I found the zoom to be indispensible. In the last fight at Sicily and the first in Korsun, there is no way I would have found the ground targets without it. Tanks and trucks blend right into the ground and are pretty small. I had trouble even using the zoom. Without it would have been pure luck. It also will zoom on planes and you can see which way they are going. Using it sneaking up from behind allows right on targetting from a distance. In a bombers case, you can open fire still out of the bombers gun range. It is more than useful.

I got into a real sim dogfight with a 1 on 1 situation last fight of the night. I found him immediately and had no problem closing in. I was going to open fire but I wanted to see how close I could get and see if I could stay with him, just for the hell of it. He lost me in a turn and I fumbled around too much before I located him again off in the distance. The zoom worked perfectly in tracking his direction. I again closed in and this time opened fire leading his plane in a shallow turning dive, then the the damn system lost contact and disconnected us both. Pissed me off!!!! But the TM and mouse gave me a whole new meaning to the word simulation.

So here it is, my recommendations. I give the Thrustmaster Hotas a thumbs up as a LOW COST (hell, just save your lunch money for a week and get one!) INTRODUCTORY flight stick that will enhance your simulated flight and combat experience. In conjuction with a mouse, I give it a BIG thumbs up. I give it a thumbs down if you are only going to fly in arcade. The sony controller is superior to the stick in that mode.

One more comment. Do you need a Lexus or Malibu? Do you like zoom (I wont go without it)? Is money an issue (should be)? Do you want to be champion of the world (who cares)? I have no regrets.

[trueshotcaller]

Thank you immensely for taking the time to describe your experiences learning and using your flight stick. Depending on how well Edal's upcoming tournaments go, I will probably end up taking the route you took, thanks to your well written input on this issue. It certainly gives me real insight on the possible advantages of migrating away from the PS3 controller - it seems to have contributed greatly to taking your piloting to a higher level.

Thanks again lost cause <---- your ID will probably now apply more to the opponents you meet in the air than ever before!

[lost cause]

Thanks!!! It was a labor of love. If it helps some newcomers and gets more players into the sim mode, it was worth it. I feel confident somebody is goin down!!

[winny]

I thought I'd let you guys know that I've just ordered a mini trackball mouse

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:yRiIabZ_ylg8VM:http://craziestgadgets.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/mini-mini-usb-trackball-378x500.jpg

I'm going to mount it to the throttle on my TM, as using a mouse left handed and taking my hand off the throttle are both big problems in MP.

I'll let you know if it works...

[lost cause]

Please do. The lookaround is the one knock on this stick. I'm doing ok with the mouse. It takes practise. If you could get a fix, that would really good.

[dkwookie]

Winny where did you find that mini trackball mouse? I googled for it but the results were a lot bigger than that one.
By the way, anyone in UK interested in a Hotas. Amazon have them for £22. I think this is cheapest in UK. Argos £25 which is still a great deal
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001CXYMFS/ref=s9_sima_gw_s7_p63_t4?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-4&pf_rd_r=1ZJ92DB7YCAP8E30DZK2&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467128133&pf_rd_i=468294

[winny]

Winny where did you find that mini trackball mouse? I googled for it but the results were a lot bigger than that one.
By the way, anyone in UK interested in a Hotas. Amazon have them for £22. I think this is cheapest in UK. Argos £25 which is still a great deal
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001CXYMFS/ref=s9_sima_gw_s7_p63_t4?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-4&pf_rd_r=1ZJ92DB7YCAP8E30DZK2&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467128133&pf_rd_i=468294

I found it on Ebay.. It arrived this morning. Put this number in the search box.. 290378917637

I think it might work, just need a usb extension cable now coz the one on it its way too short. I'll let you know if it works.

[dkwookie]

Cheers Winny, USB extentions are available at poundland. I bought one to extend my charging cable a while back.
Let us know how that mouse works, it looks perfect for camera tracking

[WZI-P51]

My son just got one of these joysticks for Christmas this morning. We plugged it into the PS3 and everything seems to work fine except for the shooting button. Ours is on the thruster/throttle control button (R2) instead of the actual joystick. Is there a way to change or reconfigure this so the shooting button is on that actual joystick? Thanks in advance, and Merry Christmas!

[P-51]

My son just got one of these joysticks for Christmas this morning. We plugged it into the PS3 and everything seems to work fine except for the shooting button. Ours is on the thruster/throttle control button (R2) instead of the actual joystick. Is there a way to change or reconfigure this so the shooting button is on that actual joystick? Thanks in advance, and Merry Christmas!

Hey, have you gone to (Might not be exactly right) Profile => Options => Controler Options and changed the layout to one of the dedicated 'Thrustmaster' layouts? (I personally fly on thrustmaster layout 1, it seems more natural) Merry Christmas :D

Hope that helps! If your son (or infact you) want a game - give me a shout on Reaper1526.

[Houndstone Hawk]

My son just got one of these joysticks for Christmas this morning. We plugged it into the PS3 and everything seems to work fine except for the shooting button. Ours is on the thruster/throttle control button (R2) instead of the actual joystick. Is there a way to change or reconfigure this so the shooting button is on that actual joystick? Thanks in advance, and Merry Christmas!

Hi. Just a thought. Check on the back of the joystick; there is a button with 2 settings. Just make sure it is set to 'PS3' & not 'PC'. Always best to check for easiest mistakes 1st.
Happy xmas to yourself too!:)

[winny]

Cheers Winny, USB extentions are available at poundland. I bought one to extend my charging cable a while back.
Let us know how that mouse works, it looks perfect for camera tracking

It actually works quite well..

Basically I've taken the elastic strap off the trackball and stuck the unit to the throttle just above the rudder control (using Blu tack of all things). I also had to set it as a left handed mouse so I can use the right click and track ball at the same time, if you have it the other way round you end up with the ball and button being directly above each other and it's awkward. It means I can use the 2nd and 3rd fingers of my left hand to look around and still have control of the power.. Which is a good thing.. Now if only I could actually see anyone whilst I'm looking around.

[xBino]

If I can stop swaying like a drunk and make the plane do what I want and go where I want, it'll work. More Later. Oh, and zoom works!!

I'm having problems with zoom not functioning in custom layout for the ps3 dualshock controller. Is zoom working under custom layout or a preset config? (e.g. thrustmaster 1). If so, I might just have to look into this...

[Varcus2]

I ve got hotas X thrusmaster for christmas and i m very enjoy to have it for all reasons you given! But for me there is a very bad point for the online dogfight, that the camera. We can't see anything what's happen behind me to 3 at 9 hours!! And that s not cool..:rolleyes:

[AV 1611]

Great review, thanks! :)