If you’re into car racing games, getting a Thrustmaster wheel is an excellent choice. Launch the game, show off your driving skills and reach the top of the leaderboards.
Unfortunately, many car racing games are affected by various glitches and issues, especially on Steam. If you own a Thrustmaster steering wheel, you may have a hard time controlling your car. Thrustmaster peripherals may sometimes fail to work properly on PC. Let’s see how you can fix the problem.
How to fix Thrustmaster wheel not working on PC
Update your Thrustmaster driver
Make sure to update your Thrustmaster wheel driver to the latest version. As soon as a new game is out, Thrustmaster releases a new driver version adding useful improvements and fixing various wheel-related issues.
Download the latest wheel drivers from Thrustmaster
- Go to Thrustmaster’s support page to download the latest updates.
- Select the Racing Wheels tab.
- Then select your Thrustmaster wheel model.
- Click on Drivers and then hit the Download option.
Update Thrustmaster wheel driver using the Device Manager
- Launch the Device Manager.
- Expand the USB Human Interface Device category.
- Right-click on your wheel driver and select Update Driver.
Use a different port
After updating your drivers, unplug your wheel and restart your computer. Wait until your machine boots up, plug your wheel back in and check the results.
To make sure there are no issues with the USB port, switch to a different USB port as well.
Use the Control Panel to update wheel firmware
Sometimes, despite installing the latest Thrustmaster driver updates, you also need to update the wheel with the Control Panel. You can use the Control Panel to update your firmware.
- Open the Control Panel, press the Windows key and search for Thrustmaster.
- The Thrustmaster folder should now be visible on the screen.
- Click on the Control Panel.
- Locate the Game controllers menu.
- Your firmware version is available at the top of the screen.
- If you’re not running the most recent firmware version, exit Control Panel.
- Note: To check what’s the latest firmware version, go to the support page of your racing wheel.
- Then press the Windows key and search for “firmware update“.
- Click on Thrustmaster Firmware Update.
- Follow the on-screen instructions to install the latest firmware version.
Turn off Steam Input
If Steam won’t detect or recognize your Thrustmaster wheel, disable Steam Input. Go to Steam Properties, select your controller and turn off Steam Input. Check if Steam sees your wheel now. It should appear in the menu now.
Some users suggested that turning off generic controller settings in Big Picture Mode could help you fix the problem as well.
Verify the integrity of game files
If your wheel is unusable only when playing certain games, verify the integrity of your game files. Have Steam verify that the game’s files are installed properly on your device.
- Restart your computer.
- Launch Steam again.
- Right click the game in your Library.
- Select Properties from the drop-down menu.
- Click on the Local Files tab and select Verify integrity of game files.
- Wait until Steam finishes verifying the game files.
- Exit Steam, and launch your game.
- Check if your Thrustmaster wheel is working properly now.
Enable Game Mode
Windows has a built-in Game Mode that allows players to optimize the OS for PC gaming.
- Go to Settings
- Select Gaming.
- Click on Game Mode in the left-hand pane.
- Then toggle on the Game Mode option.
Game Mode automatically allocates more memory and CPU power to the game you’re playing. This option also closes power-hungry background apps, and prevents updates from installing.
Additionally, make sure to disable or uninstall software that might be interfering with the wheel.
Contact Thrustmaster Support
If the problem persists, and you still can’t use your Thrustmaster wheel on PC, contact Thrustmaster’s technical support for further help. The wheel might be bricked, and you may need to get a new one.
Did you find other ways to fix this problem? Feel free to share your ideas in the comments below.