Popular game accessory maker Thrustmaster has teamed up with Playground Games and Xbox to debut the new Forza Horizon 5-themed Eswap XR Pro Controller. This new controller not only sports some intense Forza branding, but has been designed with Playgrounds’ newest open-world racer in mind.
Pedal to the plastic
The Eswap XR Pro is not just ‘another’ Xbox-style controller in the sea of third-party accessories. Rather, this controller has been built to mimic the behavior of an actual racing wheel; a peripheral that’s targeted more-so at “pro” players due to the inherent complexity.
With that in mind, the Eswap XR Pro Controller allows the user a couple gameplay choices. They can either keep their control scheme fairly standard with dual analog sticks and a D-pad, or they can shake things up they can with a racing wheel module.
You can swap the racing wheel module for either of the analog sticks or for the D-pad, and then use it to drift around corners and perform stunts throughout the world of Forza Horizon 5. It has a 95° rotation angle, thus providing the user with lot of travel that’s necessary for making fine-tune adjustments to their steering.
The whole purpose of racing wheel peripherals in the first place is to offer a more traditional, and arguably more “precise” control scheme for racing games, and especially racing sims.
Image via Thrustmaster
Thrustmaster Eswap XR Pro controller gives you a wheel for Forza Horizon 5
In addition to the modular design, Thrustmaster’s controller also sprots mechanical buttons that it claims are “64% faster than standard membrane-based buttons.” You can also configure the controller layout to your liking, and save two different profiles within the gamepad’s internal memory.
More “pro” features include four additional rear buttons that can be remapped or disabled, along with the ability to control the travel of LT/RT triggers to the user’s liking.
Screenshot by PC Invasion
It must also be noted that the Eswap XR Pro is a wired controller, and makes use of USB-C. So make sure you have spare port.
The Forza Horizon 5 edition of the Eswap XR Pro Controller goes on sale on March 29 with a hefty MSRP of $179.99 USD. That price may be steep, but at least it comes bundled with a one-month subscription to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which grants you the ability to jump into Forza Horizon 5 even if you don’t already own it.
