Thrustmaster Hypercar Wheel Review: The Name Fits

So many new sim racing wheels are focused on delivering the closest thing to a race car you can get. Crisp dashboards, tons of configurable buttons, rev strips… all in the name of making you forget you’re actually sat in your boxers driving pixels.

What about those who don’t do serious racing though, and instead spend more time with road cars in their games? Sure, you can use any other wheel but there’s not a massive range of options focusing on immersing yourself in the world of supercars and high-end hypercars. This is where Thrustmaster’s new wheel comes into play.

This is the aptly-named Hypercar wheel, and it’s designed to mimic those you’d find in, well, a hypercar.

It has a GT-race car-like square-ish shape but with more of a focus on feeling luxurious, rather than motorsport-esque. It’s trimmed in leather and features beautifully put-together red stitching plus a bit of Alcantara to round things off.

There’s also a flash of forged carbon-echoing plastic at the bottom, pretty much akin to the real stuff you’d find on high-end cars, though sadly on this occasion it is definitely plastic. That aside though, the Hypercar wheel looks and feels good at idle.

You’ve got a decent selection of buttons, although none are labelled and it’s not quite as many as you’d find on most motorsport-leaning wheels. There’s plenty that should keep you happy playing the likes of Forza Horizon, open-world mods for Assetto Corsa and when the AC Evo official thing lands, or even TDU Solar Crown if you’ve continued to subject yourself to that.

Those feel nice to the touch as well, and bonus points for the inclusion of four rotary dials plus making two of those clickable. It’d be nice to have some proper high-end labelling to match the luxury approach of the wheel, rather than relying on an included slightly-tacky sticker sheet.

You’ll have to make do without an integrated rev strip, however. If you’re running a T818 wheelbase, which this has primarily been designed for, you can take advantage of the integrated LED hexagon but I’ve never been a huge fan of that. On the plus side, when you do have to shift, the magnetic paddles are a delight to use.

In use, the build quality of the Hypercar wheel shines through. No squeaks, no rattles, no feeling that it’s about to snap in two. Although you’d hope not given the £349.99 asking price.

If you do want something to immerse yourself in more of a hypercar sim, then, the Thrustmaster’s namesake new wheel does an excellent job of it. Its shape and button layout aren’t particularly conducive to serious racing, so you’d be better off looking at some of its other wheels if you’re taking to the track more than the roads. Yet, it’s nice to have something for those who aren’t.