Bought this joystick specifically for playing Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. It wasn't my first choice by any means but at the time of writing this every other joystick, yoke, throttle control has been sold out or is selling for vastly inflated prices due to such low stock. This joystick was pretty much what was left and also one of the cheapest (I bought for £30) so wasn't expecting much to be honest but thought it "might" be better than a keyboard and mouse at least.
Anyway, pleasantly surprised. Took me a while to get it to work with MSFS but this is more down to MSFS I would say. Firstly, it doesn't recognise this joystick specifically and just shows up as "USB Game Controller" however you can still map functions to the joystick. Next issue was I had mapped Ailerons & Elevator left, right, up, down to the joystick (seemed sensible to do it this way) and no matter how sensitive I was with the joystick my plane would not react and then suddenly react violently and ultimately crash within seconds. Playing about with the sensitivity settings made no difference. Finally figured out I need to map to the Ailerons Axis and Elevator Axis instead! This appears to have caught out quite a few people in the MSFS community and I wonder how many joysticks have been returned because of this. Once I got past this problem then the joystick works like a dream. You can also further adjust the sensitivity within the software itself.
I have also been able to map the drone camera functions, pause key and brakes to the buttons as well as throttle to slider control to keep keyboard input to a minimum.
Finally, like the look, feel and size of the joystick. It's all black except for middle button (a touch of yellow) so matches my black keyboard, mouse, monitors. It doesn't come with any suction pads or means of fixing it to the table so I'm not sure how well this would work with more arcade like games. In the simulator I am only applying gentle movements to the stick.
I've read reviews of longevity issues so will update if I encounter these. At the moment very pleased with the purchase. PS I appreciate this review is more how this joystick works with MSFS rather than the joystick itself but giving the popularity of the game right now I'm guessing I'm not the only one who considered buying the joystick for this reason
| Brand | ThrustMaster |
|---|---|
| Product Dimensions | 19 x 13.5 x 3 cm; 2.15 Kilograms |
| Item model number | 2960703 |
| Manufacturer | Thrustmaster |
| Series | T.Flight Hotas X |
| Color | Black |
| Hardware Platform | PC |
| Operating System | Windows 10 |
| Are Batteries Included | No |
| Item Weight | 2.15 kg |