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Official Gran Turismo 5 wheel costs £450

Thrustmaster T500RS out now.

The official Gran Turismo 5 steering wheel, the Thrustmaster T500RS, goes on sale today in Europe, Africa and Australia with an eye-watering RRP of £450/€500.

To celebrate, Sony's put out a video of the wheel in action, which you can see below.

The Thrustmaster T500RS is only the second ever wheel to be officially licensed for use with Sony's simulation series, apparently.

The T500 RS wheel and pedal set is said to be optimised for GT5. The wheel weighs 4.6kg; the pedal set 7.3kg. The gearshift levers, the wheel's central spokes section (30cm in diameter) and the pedal set are all entirely metal.

The wheel itself offers 1080° rotation. A motorized stop means the three full turns are adjustable. The magnetic sensor-based H.E.A.R.T (HallEffect AccuRate Technology) is incorporated into the wheel's steering mechanism. The wheel has 16-bit resolution and 65536 values on its steering axis.

"The goal that I set for the Thrustmaster team was to design for me the most precise wheel ever developed, without any latency – to accurately reproduce the sensations of GT5, and let users truly feel the emotions experienced by drivers on real racing circuits," said Polyphony Digital boss Kazunori Yamauchi.

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