Thrustmaster and Boeing collaborate on $500 flight yoke and quadrant

[Daniel Sims]

Something to look forward to: Thrustmaster recently announced a collaboration with Boeing on two peripherals—a flight yoke and a quadrant—in an attempt to create the most realistic flight control system yet for fans of flight simulators and games. It seems they aren't making any compromises on build quality or functionality to get as close as they can to a real Boeing cockpit.

Thrustmaster announced on November 9 the pre-order details and availability dates of the TCA Yoke Boeing Edition and TCA Quadrant Boeing Edition, which they plan to sell individually and bundled. The idea is to recreate the controls of a 787 as closely as possible in the comfort of someone's home. The peripherals will be compatible with both Xbox consoles and PC.

The yoke—the steering wheel for a plane—is a full-scale replica from a 787 Dreamliner with 100 percent metal internals. Its pendular system replicates the swing of a genuine floor-mounted Boeing control column on a desk or table. It features 18 action buttons, including official Xbox buttons, and a mini-stick controller for mapping options. It also includes a stand for a mobile device, among other features.

The quadrant, which includes the throttle controls, is also meant to replicate what one would find in an actual Boeing. It has 17 action buttons of its own, three axes, and four swappable levers for extensive per-game customization. However, Thrustmaster designed both peripherals to simulate airliners and private plans as opposed to fighter planes. Users can also pair both devices with Thrustmaster's separate pendular rudder and rudder pedals.

The TCA Yoke Pack Boeing Edition containing the yoke and quadrant is available for pre-order for $500, and the quadrant alone is $150. Both ship on December 23. Pre-orders for the yoke start February 10 and ships March 10. It goes for $400 by itself, so the bundled option saves you $50 and gets you the controller earlier.

It's worth noting that while Thrustmaster said that as of November 9, pre-orders are available worldwide, its website only has the buy option available for European regions. Fortunately, US customers can pre-order the bundle and the quadrant from Newegg right now.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/92293-thrustmaster-boeing-collaborate-500-flight-yoke-quadrant.html

 

[Uncle Al]

It really looks great, although I'm not sure I'd be willing to spend $500 to operate a $60 game ..... just saying ....

 

[RudyBob]

That would be so cool to have. What little time I have spent with flight sims has always been fun. To have a stick like that and a great sim (so I could buzz my house) would be swell

 

[pcnthuziast]

It really looks great, although I'm not sure I'd be willing to spend $500 to operate a $60 game ..... just saying ....

I don't play flight sims. Never have. That being said I can totally see the value of piece of gear like that and someone's desire to want to purchase it. My point is what does the price of the game have to do with it?

 

[QuantumPhysics]

Airbus and Cirrus have moved to sidestick controllers for the better. It's much less complicated and makes it easy to fly even a plane as large and complicated as the A380-800 In real life. I have no idea why Boeing continues to stick with the yolk/ quadrant when the sidestick/ quadrant is so much more efficient.

 

[ziffel66]

It really looks great, although I'm not sure I'd be willing to spend $500 to operate a $60 game ..... just saying ....

Ha. $500 is nothing for hardcore simmers. Some spend thousands and thousands for cockpit setups and add-on software.

The initial cost of the sim is always the cheapest aspect of simming. Go on youtube and look up high end racing and flight cockpits.

 

[Faelan]

It really looks great, although I'm not sure I'd be willing to spend $500 to operate a $60 game ..... just saying ....

Same could be said about the people who buy a wheel for racing games or even a VR headset. Even the cheapest entry level specialized controller for these games nearly always end up being more expensive than the base game itself. Maybe games are just too cheap?

At the end of the day, they cost what they cost because they are physical products catering to a niche market, unlike software which you can make infinite copies of at little to no cost and price so low that even casuals with a passing interest may take the bait.

Playing these games with a decent control setup is often a make-or-break situation for some people. There are plenty of people having a good time flying a Cessna through the streets of New York with a standard console controller from their couch. I’m not one of those. My setup allows me to do things in these games that would either be frustrating or outright impossible to do with a regular controller or mouse and keyboard. It not just adds to the enjoyment I experience, it outright multiplies it. If I lost my setup, I would simply not play these games.

To me, it’s not just another game on the list of games that I’ve played since the days of the C64. It’s a hobby and although I’ve dumped several thousands of dollars into my setup over time, it’s no more crazy than what other people are willing to spend on hobbies that they’re really passionate about. To an oblivious outsider, it may seem odd to pay almost 10 times as much for a controller, I’ll give you that. But it’s actually worse than that. That $500 yoke is what I would call a good start, but it’s far from being end game. You still need rudder pedals and head tracking or a VR headset to at least say that you have a complete setup. If you’re willing to compromise, a full setup can be obtained without breaking the bank and it’s very much a case of prices going exponential once you enter the high end segment. Compared to a high end setup, you can have 80% of the fun for 20% of the price, so people wanting to get into the hobby should not be discouraged by looking at just high end stuff. Even a simple second hand twist stick HOTAS with a DIY head tracker is still miles better than a console controller.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

It really looks great, although I'm not sure I'd be willing to spend $500 to operate a $60 game ..... just saying ....

DCS WORLD is the most expensive "free" game ever.

I spent $300 for a Hotas stand frame.
$260 for the Logitech Rhino Hotas
$299 for the Oculus Quest 2 VR.
And then add another $200 for modules: F18, Harrier, F16, Persian Gulf...

Haven't played in a while, but it's a great setup and works with Microsoft Flight Simulator.

 

[Guberian]

I know another fun toy called the "THRUSTMASTER".