Is Thrustmaster dropping the ball?

.......or has the market for flight sim controllers gotten that small? We have the F-18 replacement stick coming out for the Warthog, but apparently no throttle in the works.

Also they never came out with a stand-alone of the cougar throttle, so it could be paired with the stand-alone stick, which is just a repop of the Cougar stick as it is. It seems to me they could just as easily do the same for the Cougar throttle, the tooling is already done.

With the new rudder pedals coming out, they obviously see some market potential overall, and BMS is still popular, with a DCS F-16 in the pipeline as well IIRC. Not even a hint of a Warthog/Cougar quality "universal" throttle as a catch-all.

All this after the initial hype of the Warthog being the first in a line of modular flight sim gear.

It's a mystery to me.

I'm not holding my breath for an F/A-18 stick and throttle. I'm surprised we're getting the stick.

Some 3d-printable plans and a manual how to assemble it ( and what else to order ) what be ok too. Given that you have access to a good 3d-printer

.......or has the market for flight sim controllers gotten that small?

Keep in mind that only a fraction of the flight sim users is able to afford a high end hotas. TM has released new models, but they are aimed towards more price-concious buyers.

Also they never came out with a stand-alone of the cougar throttle, so it could be paired with the stand-alone stick, which is just a repop of the Cougar stick as it is. It seems to me they could just as easily do the same for the Cougar throttle, the tooling is already done.

It's not so easy, the Cougar throttle works together with an advanced processor on the Stick´s base .. the Warthog is a much dumber Hotas, where the processor was replaced by a Target driver that runs on the PC instead of on the Hotas.

Thats why I cling to my Cougar rather than replace it with a Warthog .. newer isnt always better :)

All this after the initial hype of the Warthog being the first in a line of modular flight sim gear.

The same was said of the Cougar, when I purchased mine on 2003 it was suposed to be getting "soon" an F-15 replaceable handle for the stick ... never to be released. Pity :(

I wish they would make another TQS style throttle. Update the mechanics and bearings. The haptic was superior with the throttle quadrant system.

To be honest, with no Hornet throttle to go with it, I can't really justify the cost of purchasing the Hornet stick to go on my Warthog after all the mapping and such is already done on the existing stick. I think that may be a common thought, and will hurt sales. With a matching throttle, it would be way more tempting. Having the throttle and stick map 1:1 to the A10C was a major selling point for me on the Warthog.

The bottom line is that TM has, historically, found a much better market in the racing sim world.

The bottom line is that TM has, historically, found a much better market in the racing sim world.

Just a much bigger market, even I have a their T300 and ferrari alcantara wheel. If the market was there we would already have FFB sticks.

I would be happy to pay 1000 for a good FFB stick. I'm was even considering a brunner joystick if the software was ready at €1.249, no date when the software will be, it is in development apparently, going off the sales guy I emailed.

According to the roadmap posters shown on e3, they have something planned for 2019, we will see if that's another hotas or just a stick.

Several months back, waaaay before the rudder reveal I post some messages about what is waiting for us regarding Thrustmaster products. I linked an interview done during their anniversary event from one of the top official at TM.

As some1 told, something else is coming for serious flight simmers. At least, something was in their books at the time of the interview. Let's keep faith.

Too bad they don't think fixing the WH gimbal is a priority over coming out with something new.

Too bad they don't think fixing the WH gimbal is a priority over coming out with something new.

i’m sure it was discussed, but money, revenue and roi profits are very strong forces.

not many companies can resist.

Better quality control would help some. Just knock off the flashing.

We shouldn't have to take apart a brand new stick that's not that cheap.

Another point. Has anyone felt the stick in a real A-10? Is it as stiff as the WH? Everything in the WH is supposed to true to how the real stick feels. Switches etc.

Is Thrustmaster dropping the ball? Well if you seen the inside of your warthog you hope they do drop the ball. What a piece of plastic junk this stick is. The only reason i still have it is because i dont have the money to buy one from the other brands yet.

Is Thrustmaster dropping the ball? Well if you seen the inside of your warthog you hope they do drop the ball. What a piece of plastic junk this stick is. The only reason i still have it is because i dont have the money to buy one from the other brands yet.

If you think that's junk, the worst I ever experienced was a opening up a Mad Catz steering wheel to find that instead of springs it utilized a textile elastic band, like those found in underwear. No joke.

If you think that's junk, the worst I ever experienced was a opening up a Mad Catz steering wheel to find that instead of springs it utilized a textile elastic band, like those found in underwear. No joke.

LoL ! :cry:

That actually works quite well in high end yokes:

But I can imagine the execution of this concept in a cheap non-FFB steering wheel from Madcatz/Saitek was less than stellar.

The buttons and action of TM WH is pretty good. I've never had issues with stiction so I can't attest to that being problem. I understand from folks like dburne that quality of the gimbal was worse in later productions. But again, it's a sample size of one. But if you see the 1,500+ who have TM WH in DCS, the number of complaints is pretty small.

When I did open up the joystick, the wiring and the solder joint *was* cheap. Almost hanging on by a thread. It certainly wasn't what I was expecting considering the quality on the exterior. Would I buy it again? I believe I would. But I would consider Virpils of the world as well.

Got my Thrustmaster TPR yesterday and find them an excellent piece of hardware.

Coming from the Crosswinds, my standards are not low at all, but the perpendular movement feels fantastic and the heel operation suits me much better than the foot rest.

So in my opinion they didn't drop the ball completely, but a TM Warthog Mark 2 with a quality throttle stick and gimbal on the joystick would be very welcome.

I shouldn't really complain about the WH gimbal. The two previous WH I bought had smooth gimbals. I received my third on yesterday and it's the smoothest one yet. It feels more dampened like they change grease to a thicker one. Zero stiction and as smooth as it could be. Still a heavy spring but I have the lighter green spring on it's way.

The throttle is the same way. very smooth and all switches work as they should. I would have bought a Virpil or VKB is they had been in stock. So far, i'm not sorry I bought the WH and saved the money. Plug it in and have it completely programmed for the A-10C isn't hard to take either.

We'll see what the future holds. I might be whining like a little girl in a month. :)