Thrustmaster T. Flight Stick X
The Thrustmaster T. Flight Stick X is a great and simple to use joystick that works for both the PC and the PlayStation 3 using plug and play ease.
Ease of Use, Performance: 20/25, Look & Feel: 20/25,
Features 20/25, How much I enjoy 22/25
Total: 82/100
The T. Flight Stick X for both the PC and the PlayStation 3 works equally well and is plug and play simple, comes fully customizable and with default settings for popular games. The plug and play simplicity of the T. Flight Stick X is a great feature and the choice to customize the key configurations and remap not only keys but axis make for a nice joystick.
The T. Flight Stick X is a nice comfortable flight stick with enough buttons and a throttle to have all or most of your controls for flight sim and combat flying games all on the stick. The remapping feature works well and is very easy using no external programs so to reprogram a key or axis is a simple matter.
To reprogram a key or function all you do is press a button to get the flight stick into Manual Preset mode, press the remap key and press the key or axis you want to change and then press or move the function you want to change it to. The LED that tells you what mode your currently in also tells you if the programming is working correctly after each entry so you know it’s working while programming.
The T. Flight Stick X works so very well with it’s on board throttle for a nice joystick and having the buttons that not only correspond to the SIXAXIS controller for the PlayStation 3 but the common PC ones is great. There are enough buttons on the controller, 12 in all, that you can have a good amount of common in flight commands at your fingertips as well as the one hat switch for looking around or issuing commands.
For use on the PC or PS3 you simply change the slider switch to one or the other and you’re ready to go with that system with preset common keys for games like Flight Sim X or Blazing Angels: Secret Weapons of WWII. The T. Flight Stick X works great in automatic preset mode for both PC and PlayStation 3 games but also the remapping is very easy to perform.
To remap while in PS3 mode you have to press two buttons after getting the joystick into manual preset configuration and then press or move the button or axis you want to change and then the button or axis you want to change it to. One rather odd problem I discovered with the PlayStation 3 game Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII was the engine start function while on some missions.
In the game you have some missions where you start the conflict from a runway or onboard a carrier and need to start your engine. On the SIXAXIS controller you would turn the right analog joystick but the T. Flight Stick X has no analog stick. You would turn the stick to get the rudder to turn and that is the function that engine start is tied to but it does not work the same with the joystick.
In order to start the engines the program needs a varying input from the rudder to get the propellers to turn repeatedly and the T. Flight Stick X cannot send this same type of signal out. In order to start the engines while using the T. Flight Stick X you need to use a regular controller to start the engines and then pause the game, switch the controller over to the second position and use the flight stick.