Thrustmaster's updated HOTAS Warthog MKII remains one of the best premium Hands on Throttle and Stick (HOTAS) devices money can buy, with versatility across combat flight sims, general aviation games, and space exploration titles. But, if you already own the original, there's little reason to consider upgrading.
Thrustmaster's original HOTAS Warthog has long been one of the best PC joysticks you can buy, provided you're willing to pay up its $400-plus price tag. Modelled and fully licensed from the flight controls of the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II, which has been nicknamed the Warthog (and is a jet still flown by the US Air Force today), it adds a level of realism to your flight sim experience that most rival devices can't match, particularly when piloting the Warthog itself, which itself appears in a number of flying games.
However, the original has remained the same since it first went on sale back in 2010. That's just changed, with Thrustmaster now launching the HOTAS Warthog MKII.
On the face of it, the motto here is clearly 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'. But underneath, there's a few changes to make this A-10 Warthog replica an even better option for those looking for a versatile joystick setup, with enough programmable buttons that it's equally at home in military titles like War Thunder and Digital Combat Simulator as it is in general flight sims such as Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024.
One of the most significant changes over the original HOTAS Warthog is a sturdier joystick base, which we found near-impossible to tip over no matter how roughly you are with the controls - a common complaint with lighter and cheaper flight sticks. The base also gets a new six-pin connector, letting you swap the included A-10C joystick for any other Thrustmaster grip, with support for a total of 128 buttons and 8 axes. Like the original, there's aircraft-accurate green backlighting on the throttle unit too - useful for flying in a dark room, but also just for looking the part.
Setting up the HOTAS Warthog MKII is an easy affair, and the only assembly needed is to screw the flight stick into the heavy metal baseplate. That modular construction also means you can easily month both units to aftermarket products like chair mounts, if you'd like. The stick is recognised instantly in games like Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 and War Thunder with basic controls already mapped, but you'll still want to spend a good while in the settings assigning every available button. With so many buttons and switches at your disposal, you shouldn't need to fall back on your keyboard and mouse mid-flight for specific functions, a common problem with cheaper units that fall short when it comes to the total number of programmable buttons.
Thrustmaster's included 'T.A.R.G.E.T' software lets you tweak the device further still with macros and scripts. By default, Windows recognises the throttle and flight stick as two separate devices, which is fine for most modern titles, but some older games can refuse to take input from more than one device at once. A handy option in the software lets you combine the two, along with any other Thrustmaster accessories you have such as rudder pedals, into a single virtual device to get around this.
Unsurprisingly, I've never piloted a real A-10C, so I can't vouch for how closely the joystick and throttle match the real thing in operation. But Thrustmaster says the pressure needed to operate both is identical to the actual aircraft, so let's give them the benefit of the doubt - and the heavy metal construction certainly makes it feel like it could've been lifted straight out of a multi-million dollar aircraft. The use of hall effect sensors should ensure that issues such as stick drift which occur on cheaper joysticks doesn't happen over time, and while the original HOTAS Warthog already had these sensors, Thrustmaster claims smoother control movement over the original.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.pcgamesn.com/thrustmaster/hotas-warthog-mkii-review
