After a lot of you, and I mean a lot, watched my comparison of Logitech G923 and G29, I even more of you mentioned this – the Thrustmaster T300RS GT as a better choice for this price point, so well, let’s see if the Thrustmaster T300RS GT will give it a run for its money in this T300RS GT vs G923 comparison. Oh, yeah, be sure to leave a like on this one and subscriber for the future content, because I’m also aiming to get my hands onto Fanatec’s CSL Elite kit.
At this moment we all have to have one thing in mind, and that is that these two wheels now cost pretty much the same, which is an important moving on with this comparison because if it was otherwise, for example, if the G923 would to cost as same as the G29 during the past year or so, that being around 220-240 euros where I live, the conclusion wouldn’t be the same, although the comparison on a technical level still stands, as they are both coming from the same wheel segment so to speak, but in that case, the value proposal would be different.
As you all probably saw in my review of it, Logitech did a modest face-lift with its new-old G923 wheel, where they’ve changed up the color scheme a bit, kept the same outer psychical design, put some kind of haptic feedback feature for more immersive gameplay, put a progressive spring into the brake pedal to make it a bit more real-life, but when you draw the line, it’s not that different from its predecessor in its core.
G923 vs T300RS GT – The ultimate sim battle
On the other hand, the Thrustmaster T300 series, in particular the T300RS GT which I have here, is also a well-known model among the racing community, just as the G29 was and now the G923, it’s been on the market for some time now, so it’s not exactly brand new, but it still manages to end up on shortlists of a lot of users who are thinking of getting into sim racing and gets pinned a lot against the Logitech predecessor and of course now its successor too. I had a chance to try it out once, but this will be the first time that I’m going to get more up close and personal with it in order to draw some conclusions during this back to backtesting.
Comparing them to build quality, they feel pretty much the same when it comes to their respective housings for the wheel and pedal base, supporting plastic construction. When it comes to the wheels, both of them feel equally good, very robust, combing metal framing and leatherette upholstery in the case of the Logitech wheel, and rubber upholstery in the case of the Thrustmaster’s stock wheel, which makes it tad less premium looking. But, then can easily be changed, which is why I’ve mentioned the word stock for a reason because Thrustmaster offers a possibility to put different wheels to its wheelbase thanks to its detachable type of wheel hub. While the hub itself is not made of metal and technically it’s not a quick-release one which you usually see in real cars that have a system like that, you can still change the wheel in less than a minute time. As you’ve probably noticed, I have another wheel with me, Thrumasters Ferrari Alcantara 599XX Evo 30 model, which looks really cool and it’s also 300 mm in diameter. Because of this it almost feels like the real deal, especially since it’s really similar to the original found in the car, basically a replica. It uses the same shifter pedal setup on the back as the stock GT wheel, but since the wheel larger, it makes everything a bit more spacious around it. There are some third-party mods and rims for the wheel of the G29, and now G923 presumably, and the same goes for the T300RS, but it still has that advantage of having official support of installing a different wheel on it.
On the other hand, the G923 like this has more switches and buttons, so you have that flexibility if you want to go crazy on those shortcuts, while both the stock and the 599XX Evo 30 wheel offer a similar amount of buttons, plus a d-pad. Where the Thrustmaster also stands out is with its gated manual shifter as an add-on, the TH8A, which although not that cheap compared to the Logitech’s shifter, feels miles better when it comes to building quality, you’ll definitely feel that you have something much sturdier in your hand. Since the T300RS GT comes with the clutch pedal, it makes sense to get the shifter too, although you could use the clutch pedal in combination with the pedal sifters on the wheel, that’s a bit unconventional. Lastly, although the G923, has LED indicator shifter lights, the T300RS has 1080° of lock-to-lock wheel rotation, compared to the 900° that G923 has.
As for the wheelbase installation, Logitech uses two clamps on each side, the same mechanisms which they’ve been using since way back on their older models, making the wheelbase very straightforward to install onto a table. But, despite that, in my experience, the wheel still tends to move around, and I feel like Thrustmaster did a bit better job with this big clamp, although it’s a bit more finicky to hook it up, they’ve used a lot of rubber padding all over the major surface contact points on the bottom of the wheelbase, so didn’t have any issue of wheelbase moving around. Of course, this is not an issue for either of them if you plan to use a dedicated rig and just screw the wheels into the stand, and both of them have dedicated wholes for just that.
Same, but different
Coming down, literally, to the pedals, here is where we again have some interesting differences. For a lot of users, Logitech pedals have been a sore point, in particular the brake pedal, where it had that bit of two-tone feel, which is now improved thanks to progressive spring instead of linear one and ditching the rubber stop. There is still a lot of aftermarket mods for it to improve it even further in that regard, being it with just using different springs or getting load-cells for it, which makes it that much better, but as it is, out of the box, they’re alright. When it comes to Thrustmaster’s pedals, the T3PA-GT pedal base which comes with the T300RS GT wheel has a three-pedal setup, so with a clutch, instead of just having a brake and throttle pedal. The whole housing is a bit raised, carrying big and very minimalistic metal pedal covers, which are also adjustable just by unscrewing and moving them around if you need them to be closer for your heal’n’toe technique, similar to Logistics’s solution. The pedal arms are unfortunately not made out of metal, like on Logitech’s or on their T3PA-Pro model, but rather plastic ones, but they do feel and look really sturdy. As for their placement, when you put it on a hard floor, it doesn’t budge at all thanks to a lot of wide rubber padding on the bottom side, while that can’t be said for Logitech ones, I always had to put something between it and the wall so it doesn’t move forward.
Both the Logitech and Thrustmaster use a not that common type of connection for hooking up devices between each other, for example, Logitech uses a serial connection and Thrustmaster uses this RJ-12 type of connector for the pedals, it reminds of old phones and modems. The power cable and connection on Thrustmaster is also completely different from what you usually see, like a laptop barely type of connector, but I personally like this one, it’s really robust, you can’t just yank it out, plus the power supply is integrated within the wheelbase. Also, if you plan to use the TH8RS shifter, be sure to use the added USB cable for it, because hooking it up directly to the wheelbase only works if you’re using a console, so it won’t be recognized, which a bummer because you have to use two USB connections for the wheel and shifter separately. Not a big deal, but still. Oh, yeah, I love how they use this locking ring for it.
Where these two-wheel majorly part from each is once you take a look under the hood of their wheelbase. As we now know, Logitech stayed with the same gear driven system for the G923, using two smaller brushed motors on each side of the big gear which they’re driving and which is attached to the wheel and wheel hub itself. The T300RS GT uses a belt-driven system, two belts actually, in combination with a single brush-less motor and cooling system. They also use a contact-less magnetic hall sensor for more precise positioning of the wheel.
That’s all well and good, but what does this mean when you’re out and about driving your Assetto Corsa, iRacing, Project Cars, and so on.
Ready for some driving?
The most obvious difference is in the force feedback, where the T300RS GT feels more precise and real-life like, it’s just much smoother compared to the G923, mostly thanks to that belt-driven system. You also won’t have that notchy and gritty feel of the gears with the T300RS, while you won’t experience any center-play or more excessive dead-zone that the G923 has. And although the G923 has the added TrueForce feature, in reality, it doesn’t add to the driving feedback and what’s actually going with the car so you can then act upon it. It does add a new level of immersiveness, but it’s a bit debatable since you don’t find that kind of haptic feedback in real life.
After this, the biggest difference is definitely in the loudness of the system, where the G923 sometimes can sound like something isn’t right, the T300RS GT is as quiet, especially if the cooling fan is off, but even with it, I find it to be more subtle.
Speaking of the fan, if you tend to play on a longer period or use the full strength of the motor for the force feedback, it will turn on eventually. You can also switch from automatic to force mode in case you want to cool the motor at all time, and not rely on the internal temperature reading, just to prevent any overheat and loss of power, while it’s always good to lower its overall strength output so it doesn’t clip out and you don’t lose any force feedback or unnecessarily strain the motor.
As for the pedals, out of the box Logitech’s has a bit firmer brake pedal, while Thrustmaster offers you a free option of installing this additional stopper, conical brake mod to be precise, which adds more resistance to it, so you have a better feel for those more brake sensitive cars. I advise you to use it right away, it will improve your experience right away. Other than that, I had no complaints between their clutch and gas pedals, while overall the T3PA-GT suit me better and was actually quieter and less clunky. Both of them don’t use load cells, but rather potentiometer, but as I said before, if you want and really need to go that step further, you can do so with some of the aftermarket mods.
Comparing the manual shift sticks, as I already mentioned, the TH8A is a robust and almost real-life type of product, especially when you have a gated shifter like this one, it feels like you’re almost driving a manual Lamborghini Gallardo. The only thing that bothered me about it is its lack of resistance and a long throw, that second one is not a surprise for a gated shifter, but there’s a possibility of shorting the throw with getting an aftermarket shorter connecting rod and swapping it out. Logitech’s shifter has a short throw, although I tend to miss-shift its third gear occasionally. It only works with the wheelbase itself, while, as I mentioned earlier, the TH8A can be used separately as another game controller via its USB dongle on the PC, plus it has a sequential shifter mode option, something which Logitech actually had before with its older shifters
Nevertheless, Logitech’s shifter is a good choice for what it’s worth, you can’t beat its value, although yeah, it sometimes feels like you’re playing with a toy, although this particular did withstand the test of time.
Coming down to the last piece of the puzzle, software, they both have a similar level of settings available, although Logitech’s G Hub utility has a possibility to do macro functions on the spot, whereas the Thrustmaster doesn’t have a single solution for everything, they have three separate programs for doing updates, firmware checks and settings, plus you technically have to go through Window’s game controllers settings to get to it, which is not a big deal, but I feel like it can be done in fewer clicks.
As I said at the beginning, having in mind that they have basically the same price, actually the G923 average price is mostly towards the 400€ mark were I live, and that’s the official price on Logitech’s website, there are some shops offering the PC/PlayStation version of it for around 340€, while the PC/Xbox version holds higher, while the T300RS GT average price is more around 350€, the choice is pretty obvious.
After going back to back between these two wheels for a week or so, I feel like for the same amount of money the T300RS GT looks to be the more obvious choice, even without the manual shifter, as most of the cars and games can be drive using flappy pedals. If one day the G923 again gets to it’s price down around 220-240 euro, dollar, what-have-you, like its predecessors, it would be a different value proportion, but at the moment, as many of you pointed out in the comments of its review, the T300RS GT feels like a better deal for this price segment.
That’s it for this time, thanks for checking out my G923 vs T300RS comparison, if you have any question feel free to hit me in the comments section of my YouTube video listed above, you can contact me via my social media channels!
