Gran Turismo 7 was a long time coming, and now that it’s here, it’s time to dust off your steering wheels, pedals, and shifters and start racing. Before you do, though, when was the last time you updated the firmware? We just updated our Thrustmaster T-150 wheel and our TH8A Shifter, and man did that make a difference.
The Gran Turismo series has called itself the “Real Driving Simulator” since GT4, and it has always been one of the best sims on the market. To really appreciate the game, and get the most out of your experience, not to mention the fastest lap times, a nice racing wheel is a must. We dusted off our old Thrustmaster T-150 with the TH8A shifter and T3PA pedal add-on, mounted on our Wheelstand Pro and proceeded to attempt to rule the world of Gran Turismo 7 on the PS5. Keep in mind that Thrustmaster sent us most of this hardware back in 2016, and we hadn’t even attempted to update the firmware since.
The wheel and pedals worked great as is, but the shifter wasn’t being seen at all by our PS5. Upon doing some research we found that our T150’s firmware was sitting at v22 (latest version is v35) while the shifter was sitting at v26 (latest version is v29). While we used this setup with the PS4 Pro playing GT Sport and Project Cars with no issues, moving the setup to the PS5 is where the issues started with the shifter and clutch pedal. The pedals defaulted to a 2 pedal system and totally ignored the clutch pedal, and the shifter was non-existent to the PS5.
The fix was a fairly simple process, and all we needed to do was head over to the Thrustmaster Support website (shifter support is here) to get the proper drivers and software installed on our PC, and then hook up the wheel and shifter VIA USB, one at a time, to update the firmware. Even if you have a newer wheel, you should probably check to see if you have the latest firmware to ensure that it is working as intended.
To make sure you are getting the latest firmware versions, always use the Thrustmaster Support website to download the appropriate software and drivers. Both of the above images are linked directly to the update PDF at their website.
Using the TH8A Shifter with the PS5
With the PS4, we always plugged the wheel and shifter into it separately via USB. We found that the PS5 doesn’t seem to recognize the shifter like this (and you’ll need a hub if you want to even try). The shifter ships with two types of connectors, USB and S (or DIN), that can be swapped out pretty easily. The S connector plugs directly into the back of the wheel and that is the only way the PS5 will recognize it.
Once we had everything fully updated and connected properly via a single USB to the PS5, we were able to shift using the TH8A and even had a working clutch pedal. As a side note, not all cars worked with the clutch pedal, but we tried it with our ’69 Corvette and we could even stall the engine if we came to a stop without pressing the clutch, or if we dumped the clutch too fast on take off.
What wheel setup do you use and how long has it been since you updated the firmware? Let us know in the comments below.
