Visitors to the northern circuit flocked in their thousands to see Davy Jeanney take on nine-time WRC champion Sébastien Loeb in a rallycross event.
But, they were also greeted by fresh sim racing equipment, in the form of a rally steering wheel prototype from Thrustmaster.
Used in collaboration with the direct drive PC-only T818 wheel base, the new device was using the company’s all-new quick release system natively, which has not yet been seen in use.
Quentin Dall’olmo, who is a Thrustmaster brand ambassador, posted to TikTok a brief video of the wheel in action (hat tip Josh Martin and Jon Armstong for also sharing) – Dall’olmo won the DiRT Rally 2.0 Word Series rallycross championship in 2021 and this season is competing in the iRacing Of-Road championship alongside sibling Killian.
@quentin_dallolmo La nouvelle roue de @Thrustmaster 😍🔥 #thrustmaster #simracing #esports #rallye #rx #wrc #t818 #tss #gamingroom #setup #fyp ♬ NANANA COLA IAN ASHER EDIT Out Now On SoundCloud – Ian Asher
Based purely on the quick clip, we can see that it’s completely round (with no squared-off edges) which is ideal for the lock-to-lock driving required for rally, rallycross or drifting. It also features hints of yellow throughout, both as a backing for four rotary switches and also stitching on the rim.
There looks to be 10 additional buttons plus what looks like a form of analogue ‘nub’ for menu scrolling. Around the rear is the aforementioned quick release system and a pair of seemingly magnetic shifters.
It marks the second new wheel expected but the popular gaming peripheral manufacturer, following the teasing of a Ferrari 488 GT3 wheel during a Ferrari Esports stream. It makes the beginning of a push to support the latest T818 device, although adaptors will be available to make sure these new wheels work with older wheel bases too.
We are yet to receive confirmation from Thrustmaster about the device’s name, price or availability.
