Thrustmaster Ferrari 458 Spider Racing Wheel – Wheel and 2 pedal set – compatible with Xbox

I was a little dubious given the price and some previous comments, but it’s lockdown and I’m bored but reluctant to spend a lot of money on one of the fancy wheels available so went for this one.
Very surprised that it’s as good as it is for the money, worked fine for me straight out of the box and makes racing games so much better. Given some of the other reviews I was expecting it to be a hassle to set up but I had no issues with it at all, simply pluged the pedals into the steering wheel, wheel into Xbox and then switch on and away you go

Bought for my son oft santa, he absolutely loves it easy to set up and handle.

Bought for my son’s birthday. He loves it. Very sensitive on first use but it can be turned down.

It is a great wheel to buy if it is your first racing wheel. Takes time to get used to it but once you improve it is a great experience. Don’t feel bad if you are bad at the start getting used to it took me a couple of weeks that is all.

bought this as a surprise for my son for achievements at school.
he was over the moon, it feels like your actualy in contact with the car and so responsive.
paddle change gears are awsome, just like the real thing.
pedals are responsive and true to form.
Robust and well constructed.
great price and well worth purchasing.

I have used many wheels in the last 20 years and the best was my TSW but this wheel is very nice it worked with my X Box 1 games like I F1 and NASCAR so I will buy another one when this one where’s out — for the price you can’t go wrong

Love the detail on the steering wheel itself. Driving with it is great, just what I expected and more.

The only letdown and the reason this is not a 5-star review is the pedals. Because they’re not weighed down enough pressing the pedals sometimes causes the whole thing to tilt backwards.

Excellent purchase but son has got a different desk now so not sure how to attach it to that !

My 9 year old son bought this out of his birthday money and is not disappointed!
The product feels like good quality and is very easy to connect to the xbox and to see up. It attaches easily to a table top, however to get the best use a stand would be preferable however these are as, if not more expensive than the wheel itself.
As a controller it does what it should (makes it easier for me to use as I am usually hopeless at driving games)!
No complaints so far but only had it for a week!

By far and away the best wheel I have ever bought. I didn’t want to pay the megabucks for a force feedback wheel so this looked the best option. And it is. It feels really sturdy – and when attached to the WheelStand Pro it adds hundreds of percent to the enjoyment of all driving games. Absolutely recommend

The Thrustmaster 458 Spider arrived within 48hrs. I have to admit, for the price, it was worth every penny. I connected it to my xbox one & tried it with Forza Horizon 2 and Forza Motorsport 6. It worked flawlessly. The build quality is excellent. The clamp is adequate. The only caveat I have is that the pedals are really quite firm to push. Within a few minutes of using them my right thigh felt like it had had a good workout. Another issue is that due to the firmness of the pedals when depressed fully, it tends to make the base raise & tip forward. It also tends to slip on the carpet. My son has size eleven feet & the base is just comfortably large enough for him. The one saving grace is that there are 2 bolt holes under the base allowing for it the be secured to a larger base. We’re it not for the pedal problem I would have given 5 stars.

I was a bit worried after reading some of the reviews that I could have a nightmare trying to configure the wheel. The instructions really arent very good and I did end up watching a couple of youtube videos but once i figured it out, it wasn’t too bad. Once operational, it works really well, has a good feel and you don’t really notice the lack of force feedback. I did however do something rather silly. A bolt comes with the unit which goes into the underside of the wheel base to clamp it down. The stand that I bought didn’t need this to be used, but to keep it safe I thought I would screw it in place. However, i wound it in too far. I didn’t know this, but the wheel would not work properly. It would only turn in one direction and with some delay. I took the unit apart and realised that the bolt had gone in too far and dislodged the sensor inside which picks up the rotation of the wheel. I was then able to fix this and put it back together. Then worked perfectly.

This is a great piece of kit, works very well and feels realistic, only had 1 slight issue with the allignment of the bearing so now and then it veers to the left. Other than that this is a must have unless you want to pay extra

Simple, elegant, weighty, sturdy and easy to set-up and use. my only issue is that it doesn’t work on both the PC and X-box one, which are both products owned by the same company. worth the money if you only plan on using it for the X-box one

Great steering wheel. No force feedback, but works great and complements Forza 6 perfectly.

This is possibly the very best accessory I have bought ever. I thought I was going to be disappointed by the lack of Force Feedback but it really isn’t something I miss at all. The resistance band on the pedals is incredibly effective and the action of the wheel is very responsive.

The Manual and features:
The manual is lacking as is the case so often these days. While it shows the dial for righthand side of the wheel it fails totally to explain what it is, why it’s there, what it does. I’ve had the wheel several weeks now and apart from changing the camera settings on Forza I fail to see its purpose. It appears to be pretty much redundant which is a great pity.

Tip 1 – The manual also fails spectacularly to explain that the “Engine Start” button doesn’t start the engine (unless you have a game that will let you programme it” but is a multidirectional button that functions as the D-Pad from the X-Box controller. It isn’t intuitive at all and I stumbled across it by accident. Pressing the edges of the button will move the cursor about for selections and so on.

Tip 2- Having just said how bad the manual is my next tip is carefully read the section about the sensitivity setting adjustment. You will need to do this each time you plug the unit in which is one of the very few downsides I have found. Doing the sensitivity adjustment though will make a huge difference to performance. Each time you press the relevant buttons and pull on the two metal flappy paddles the light on the right of the wheel base will flash a number of times. The manual reveals how many for each level. I have found 3 flashes to be the best for Forza 6. The second downside of this pedal is the site of the light. It is just in the wrong place and is obscured by the wheel meaning you have to bend at an odd angle to see the number of flashes. You only need do it once per session though so it’s not a major flaw by any means.

The Quality:
The quality of the unit is really very good indeed. It’s particularly evident where the table locking bolt fits under the wheel. Normally this sort of fixing is flaky at best but on the Spyder 458 wheel is look less substantial than it actually is and I see no reason other than badly abusing it to cause this socket to fail.

The table lock itself is a real plus and very easy to use. This is my second tip of sorts that you will need a table or solid surface to use this wheel. There is no way it could be used effectively without locking it down. but as I state above the mechanism is excellent.

The Stand:
This brings me to my last point and it is a really important one. To date Amazon continue to advertise ” The Ultimate Steering Wheel Stand in Black – suitable for Logitech, Xbox, Madcatz and Thrustmaster ” as being a perfect partner for this wheel. IT ABSOLUTELY ISN”T COMPATIBLE!!!

I cannot emphasise this point enough. It will cause huge disappointment when after half an hour struggling to put it together you find that the locking mechanism for the pedals doesn’t come anywhere close to fitting. The stand claims to be compatible with the Thrustmaster 458 wheel and maybe it is, but it most certainly isn’t compatible with the 2015 release of this wheel set. The 458 Spyder has a different design for the pedals and the base is too large for the stand lock.

I sent it back and did eventually get a refund but it took some time and they initially wanted me to do the running around posting the stand back to them. Being a wheelchair user and this being quite a heavy piece of kit there was no way I could have done it. They were happy to collect it though after asking but the point is that it shouldn’t have happened in the first place.I have no idea why Amazon persist in advertising them together but I will say it again The Ultimate Steering Wheel Stand in Black – suitable for Logitech, Xbox, Madcatz and Thrustmaster WITH THE Thrustmaster Ferrari 458 Spider Racing Wheel (Xbox One)

Instead I paid a bit more and got the ” Wheel Stand Pro -Stand for Logitech wheels and Thrustmaster Ferrari F458 ” which is far, far more effective and is far, far, far better built in my opinion. It is also far easier to collapse to store so do give it a look and save some more pennies to get the wheel and the stand together.

I’ve given the wheel 5 stars because that setting is for “I Love It” and I do. However I would mark it down on the few points I mentioned above. They are mainly about the poor manual and as such can be overcome, but despite Mr Cameron thinking we are all rolling in cash these days I still think that 65 is a lot of money. For younger readers when you reach the age where you need to feed yourself and pay the bills you will appreciate the truth of what I say . I just think at 65 which is already a reduced price, the manual ought to be right. It should be clear in all languages and should be checked for errors. With the internet giving unlimited access to the world pretty much, there is little reason that companies cannot get contacts in other countries to translate and check for errors. It’s really not a big ask these days.

Enough negativity though. I think I have kicked Amazon and Thrustmaster enough for shortcomings. In defence of both though Amazon delivered super quick and with a smile from the driver (always a plus to see happy people) and Thrustmaster have delivered a superb piece of kit in the form of the Thrustmaster Ferrari 458 Spider Racing Wheel (Xbox One) . One very, very happy customer.

Got this for my sons birthday and he loves using it, so does his dad, the only downside is that we will either have to make something or buy something to put it on, the stand is available to buy but is very expensive for what it is.

Having never had a steering wheel before I thought I’d try this before splashing out for a higher model. I’ve only used it on Forza Horizon 2 so far but its brilliant! So much more engaging than the gamepad but it does have a learning curve to it.
The wheel feels pretty solid and does rotate smoothly, but as it uses “bungee cords” the first few degrees are very light getting heavier through its rotation. I use a wheelstand pro with mine so can’t comment on the clamping system or the grip of the pedal base.

Overall I am loving this wheel and my brother has now bought one too. Highly recommended!!

bought for my son and he is happy so am i.

got this wheel this morning hook it up 2 f1 2015 in seconds and love it.only cost 60 rips.bosshogg.now got the thrustmaster tx with the ferraia f1 wheel and its alots better.

great bit of kit completely change the game love it!

I have had no problems with this wheel, the wheel itself is really nice. I have played Project cars and forza and it has made me enjoy it much more.

Only a couple things though..

The pedals don’t have a decent grip to stop them sliding so I have had to put them touching my wall so they don’t move.

The steering wheel has nowhere to plug the headset in for Xbox one. You will need to use kinect if you want to talk whilst using the wheel.

It took literally 2 mins to setup and I would recommend it for kids and adults alike. It’s good value for money considering the force feedback model is over 200 and this is 60, no regrets.

Used this wheel for a few weeks now clamped to a table. No problems with it at all playing forza 5 on xbox one. Ensure you read instructions to maximise the use of the wheel. Would recommend this wheel for the recreational gamer.

It’s nothing special, not for somebody that takes the racing sim thing with any kind of seriousness, just for a bit of fun really. Build quality However is excellent (especially for the price). Yeah does what it says on the tin, no more no less and you can’t fault it for that.

unbelievably accurate,great piece of equipment,I love it. defiant must have for driving games.

Ive never written a review before but felt i needed to with this wheel. First off dont listen to all the 1 star reviewers complaining about there arms hurting because its to hard to turn (do u even lift brah). The wheel is amazing for the price, ye it is slightley plasticy but that dosent change how good the wheel is. Ive been playing forza horizon 2 with it the last couple of days and its 10x more fun with it plus after abit of practice im alot better than what i was with the controller. Would recommend buyin a stand with it, mine isant coming for a while so i made one for now, it works fine but not to comfy after a while. If your thinking about buying one but dont want to spend 300. Dont hesitate like i did just buy it u wont regret it. And merry christmas dudes

Steering response is fairly realistic but the method of securing the pedals could be greatly improved.

I got the steering wheel within a couple of days it’s an awesome product I use it all the time I haven’t manage to find any problems with it yet so it’s perfect for me