Another part of arduino experiments series (part1, part2, part3). Ever wanted to build a custom button set for your Thrustmaster T500RS? Nothing is impossible :)

Parts needed:

1. Arduino Nano board
2. Dozen of push-buttons
3. Wires.

Wiring diagram – connecting Arduino to T500RS wheelbase

Firmware

Download t500_gt_wheel_emu_13buttons.ino sketch source code for Arduino IDE 1.6.x or 1.7.x. (tested with old T500RS, FW 42.00)

UPD September 2019:  Got a feedback from Oleg P.  – T500RS FW 47.00 works better without bit shift. Here’s the sketch to try - t500_gt_wheel_emu_13buttons_no_bitshift.ino. It also works with T300 PS Wheel emu (in case you want Gear Up/Gear Down paddles) and 458 Italia wheel emu.

As you can see, stock GT rim has 13 buttons onboard, requiring 13 bits of data to pack and transfer buttons state – 00011111 11111111.

This mod became possible thanks to Seth Francis Sim Racing, who repeated my steps (part1) to read the data structure and button mapping from his T500 GT rim and also did all the testing. Yep, t500_gt_wheel_emu_13buttons sketch confirmed to work with T500RS wheelbase. Photo/video report is planned, hope Seth will share his build for everyone.

Video from Seth Francis

Seth also posted a picture gallery and a discussion thread of this mod – at ISRTV.

Links

1. t500_gt_wheel_emu_13buttons.ino – source code, tested on T500RS FW 42.00
2. t500_gt_wheel_emu_13buttons_no_bitshift.ino - tested Sep 2019, T500RS FW 47.00
3. Getting started with Arduino
4. This mod thread at ISRTV
5. T500 discussion thread at GTPlanet
6. Hacking a Thrustmaster TX RW gaming wheel with Arduino Uno – part 1
7. Hacking a Thrustmaster TX RW wheelbase with Arduino Uno – part 2
8. Arduino Nano controlled buttons for Thrustmaster wheelbases – part 3
9. Thrustmaster TX RW and Quick Release adapters