Force Feedback gets very weak after one lap

[bradleyland]

Just a quick info request for the people who, like me, have experienced problems with the T300 and sadly had to return it, replace it or buy a new one.

Do you know if the latest wheels that Thrustmaster sells on amazon come with the latest firmware installed?
I don’t have a pc so I’m one of those who can’t update the firmware and since I’m getting a new T300 Alcantara Ed (as a replacement of the broken one) I’m literally scared about breaking the new one as well.
I would like turn the fan in the always on mode in order to avoid the overheating and I’m pretty sure I will lower the FF gain in the game.

It's impossible to know for sure. The problem is twofold:

A) When you buy through Amazon, the seller might actually be a third-party.

B) You can't know how old their stock is, so you might get a wheel that is 6 months old from one vendor, or 1 month old from another.

It's really important to be able to update your firmware. We're a Mac household, but I run VirtualBox with Windows on one of my iMacs. There are just too many gadgets that require Windows at some point or another.

[IceShaft]

It's really important to be able to update your firmware. We're a Mac household, but I run VirtualBox with Windows on one of my iMacs. There are just too many gadgets that require Windows at some point or another.

Well I just got it today and the manual "always on" fan mode works (pressing "options" and "mode" at the same time) so it has at least the 25 Firmware on it.
I tried using vmware fusion with a Win10 virtual machine to install the drivers but windows doesn't recognize the wheel as a T300 but as a generic "Thrustmaster FFB wheel", making it impossible to update.

Anyway I already got what I was looking for so I'm good for now.
I'll keep my fingers crossed hoping this new wheel will last longer

[TrueValue]

Well I just got it today and the manual "always on" fan mode works (pressing "options" and "mode" at the same time) so it has at least the 25 Firmware on it.
I tried using vmware fusion with a Win10 virtual machine to install the drivers but windows doesn't recognize the wheel as a T300 but as a generic "Thrustmaster FFB wheel", making it impossible to update.

Anyway I already got what I was looking for so I'm good for now.
I'll keep my fingers crossed hoping this new wheel will last longer

Glad you got a wheel with firmware V25 already installed. Got my wheel in October and thankfully it was also already there. Hope you have more luck this time.

I promised to tell you guys my experience with the fan. After long testing I think, that it definetly helps. My current FFB Settings are Informative 90/58/16/40 and before I had the fan the FFB would completly disappear after a while (about 10-20 minutes).
Now the FFB still gets weaker after about 30 - 40 minutes ( so later than before) but not in the same amount as before. Before I had the fan the FFB would drop from 100% to 10% maximum, not it drops to about 60% (of course all these data is subjective).

So, if you have 10 Dollars to spare I would recommend to buy the fan, of course only if you experience FFB reduction.

By the way I got an answer from the support (after 3 weeks!. They told me to just turn the FFB down. Wow. A 350 Dollar wheel and I can't use more than 50% FFB. Shame on you Thrustmaster. If my wheel is ever going to break, I will buy a Fanatec.

[IceShaft]

well... Thrustmaster's answer is like giving up on the problem.
It seems like their wheels can't handle new games, these products are years old anyway and I've never seen anybody complain about a T150 yet (maybe because it's weaker, I don't know).
But still, you bought a new wheel in october and after 2 months it's already damaged... I'm starting to be afraid just to play now

[simmersauce]

Very informative thread guys. I'm a little surprised that I couldn't find much more on this subject to be honest.

I'm on my second T300 now. My first one overheated and smoke started bellowing out before it's terminal failure. I presume that my fan failed all together and the board got smoked. I reached out to Thustmaster explaining what had happened, and because it was outside of the warranty, they had zero interest in helping me out. I was a little surprised that they didn't want to investigate this being that it could have possibly caught on fire.

Anyways, I ordered a replacement about a year ago now and have been using it frequently. I've had the FFB turned down to 5 on the GT Sport game and it wasn't until a few weeks ago that I decided to bump it up to the 8-9 range. It was shortly after that that I started to notice FFB dropping off after a few laps. At first I thought it was just tire wear, but when I realized I was in lobbies with the tire wear off I began to suspect that the wheel had an issue.

Using the above mentioned process of activating the fan manually, I was able to slightly extend the time before FFB failure, but only a few laps more. I've concluded that the T300 just isn't all that great of a wheel. Adding fans is gimmicky and shame on Thrustmaster for making such a crappy wheel.

Pretty sure I'll go with a Fanatec wheel next.

[Daz555]

Very informative thread guys. I'm a little surprised that I couldn't find much more on this subject to be honest.

I'm on my second T300 now. My first one overheated and smoke started bellowing out before it's terminal failure. I presume that my fan failed all together and the board got smoked. I reached out to Thustmaster explaining what had happened, and because it was outside of the warranty, they had zero interest in helping me out. I was a little surprised that they didn't want to investigate this being that it could have possibly caught on fire.

Anyways, I ordered a replacement about a year ago now and have been using it frequently. I've had the FFB turned down to 5 on the GT Sport game and it wasn't until a few weeks ago that I decided to bump it up to the 8-9 range. It was shortly after that that I started to notice FFB dropping off after a few laps. At first I thought it was just tire wear, but when I realized I was in lobbies with the tire wear off I began to suspect that the wheel had an issue.

Using the above mentioned process of activating the fan manually, I was able to slightly extend the time before FFB failure, but only a few laps more. I've concluded that the T300 just isn't all that great of a wheel. Adding fans is gimmicky and shame on Thrustmaster for making such a crappy wheel.

Pretty sure I'll go with a Fanatec wheel next.

I have a T300 and whilst mine has been fine, it is clear to anyone who opens one up that the T300 is poorly designed and poorly assembled. My recommendation to anyone who has one out of warranty is to replace the crappy $1 cooling fan with something better, and if they have the tools cut some additional vents into the case.