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The best PC joystick is one that will make piloting that Tie-Fighter in Star Wars: Squadrons opens in new tab or gently cruising over your old neighborhood in Microsoft Flight Simulator opens in new tab an unbelievable experience.
These joysticks provide a level of control and immersion you can't get with a gamepad or keyboard and mouse. The intensity that comes from manually throttling up, or pulling out of a nose dive to avoid a crash, is second to none. If you think of yourself as a budding virtual pilot, you need to step up your home cockpit game.
The most important piece of hardware, more important than any chair, fancy screen, or aviator glasses, is the joystick. For most people tinkering around in a flight sim, any of the joysticks below will make for a good choice because they are easy to set up and use.
Consider it the building block for your full cockpit experience. Companies like VKB opens in new tab and Virpil opens in new tab have everything you need for a wildly more advanced cockpit environment if you want something closer to the real deal and have the money to spend. Even if you decide to set up an entire HOTAS Hands-On Throttle and Stick with foot pedals and a special captain's chair in your study, we still recommend getting an excellent wireless gaming keyboard opens in new tab and gaming mouse opens in new tab for navigating menus and such.
Below are the best PC joysticks that we've personally tested. These joysticks can make all the difference in the world in providing the best and most authentic flying experience for PC gamers,. The Thrustmaster Warthog is hands-down the best PC joystick you can buy. It's beautifully made, looks like it was ripped straight out of an A, and comes with an industrial strength that means the only thing left in our post-apocalyptic future will be a bunch of cockroaches trying to figure out how to use these sticks.
Sure, it's an expensive unit, but you will know your money's been well spent as soon as you lift the lid on the packaging and pull the setup out.
The stick alone weighs a kilo even before it's been screwed down onto the solid, wide metal base. That's something to behold, but the throttle is something else. It is one of the finest pieces of PC peripheral engineering I've ever experienced. Its casing is entirely made of metal and festooned with buttons.
And not just buttons either; extra hat switches adorn the throttle itself, one that can be split in two should you need discrete control, and there are a host of toggles and metal flick switches too. I will honestly just sit there idly flipping switches even when the thing's unplugged, so satisfying is the action. All that weight means it practically sticks to your desk as you fling your Cobra MkIII around in Elite: Dangerous like a BSG Viper, and if you're so inclined, the drill holes are there if you want to make it a permanent addition too.
It feels great to use in-game, too, providing you with all the possible control permutations you could need without ever having to go near your keyboard again. The only slight miss, and one that owes to its AC Warthog replica status, is the lack of Z-rotation on the stick to offer rudder control. However, that's easily mapped onto any number of extra hat switches or even extra analog joysticks. The Warthog was originally released over ten years ago now and yet is still the best you can buy.
This explains why the price has steadily crept up since then too. But trust me, if you're serious about the best PC joystick, this is it, and once you pick it up, you'll never think about its price again. An update to the aging X55, the Logitech X56 HOTAS improves nearly every aspect of the older Saitek design, but it still has many of the same features that made its predecessor great.
The throttle can be unlocked to provide inputs for left and right engines individually. The throttle panel also hosts an entire series of metal switches and knobs that look and feel absolutely awesome. I was a bit disappointed to find out that the metal top plate on both the flight stick and throttle doesn't extend to the base and that both the stick and throttle are composed mostly of plastic.
The hardware still feels sturdy, but the seam running along the joystick handle is a bit jarring given the quality present on the rest of the build. The entire setup for the X56 is deceptively light. While it does come with suction cups that can be attached to the base for increased stability, without them, I found the stick and throttle far too eager to slip around on my desk. However, for those inclined to make this indulgence a more permanent part of their setup, the X56 has holes present in its bases to allow you to affix it to nearly any surface with the appropriate hardware.
Featuring adjustable stick tension and over programmable controls, this throttle and joystick combo is a quality setup. It's not quite in the same league as the Warthog, but it is a little cheaper. If you're ready to kick tires and light fires, the X56 is a good way to go. Best controller for PC gaming opens in new tab Best gaming monitor opens in new tab Best mechanical keyboard opens in new tab Best gaming routers opens in new tab Best graphics cards opens in new tab Best gaming mouse opens in new tab.
Thrustmaster TCA Officer Pack Throttle and Stick bundle opens in new tab Thrustmaster has bundled both the throttle and main flight stick together in the Office Pack, so you don't have to go searching for the two separately. With the arrival of Microsoft Flight Simulator and Star Wars: Squadrons, we saw a sonic boom in interest for compatible flight sticks. But it's back now and a solid upgrade for any wannabe long-haul pilot looking to ditch the controller for Microsoft Flight Simulator.
It's good for other games, of course, but as a piece of officially licensed Airbus kit, it feels best suited to the flight sim of the moment. With that in mind, it features a fluid and responsive control with a comfortable stick bolted on for long-haul flights.
The joystick can also be reconfigured to your liking with a modular design, making this stick particularly friendly to lefties. There are a heap of buttons within reach to keep shortcuts accessible at an instant, too; though we wish there were some clear indication which button was which.
It can be tough to track down 'button 14' in a bind, especially if you have flying skills are a little rusty. But kick in for the full kit, and you can divvy up even more shortcuts to the throttle quadrant module ripped right out of an A—they got the color spot on, anyways.
Baby blue isn't my first choice for gaming PC accessories, but I suppose it's a change from the standard black garb. The Thrustmaster T. Flight Hotas X below is a more affordable alternative, but if you can splash out on this more airworthy kit, then the Thrustmaster TCA Sidestick Airbus edition won't let you down.
Coming in as a smart combo buy, the Raptor Mach 1 HOTAS is a sturdy, no-mounting-necessary setup for getting stuck straight into your flight sim of choice. While Microsoft Flight Simulator didn't suggest any preset button layouts for it, I see this as a plus as it means you can assign buttons that make sense to you as you go through the training process, no need for the arduous process of cleaning up pre-assigned buttons.
The Raptor Mach 1 stick has just enough buttons and hats accessible to the fingers and thumb, two of the triggers even have a safety lock feature so you don't end up kicked off the squad for accidental friendly fire.
The throttle is ergonomic, smooth, and has an easy tension resistance adjustment dial on the side. It comes with the much-appreciated feature of Z-rotation, and the electromagnetic sensor tech also means you get accurate and durable movement from the stick, and action that feels great in hand, although the X action that's your roll isn't as smooth as the others.
The Mach 1's base is heavy and features non-slip pads which mean it doesn't feel necessary to screw it down, though you can go all DIY and mount it if you want with the handy, built-in-but-unobtrusive brackets. The fact it comes with the throttle means you can use the passthrough, meaning fewer USBs connected directly to your PC, though it would be nice to have the option to buy them separately. There is the added bonus that they work independently of one another and also don't come stuck together which can be a pain; if you're left-handed for example and want to switch them around, or broader and need them further apart.
It has a couple of thumb-accessible dials and plenty of buttons, bringing the total combined action buttons for the HOTAS up to 32, and making it very versatile indeed.
The throttle feels notably less premium built than the stick, but that doesn't detract from its accuracy and smooth action. It's a much cheaper build and design than the Warthog, but for a tenth of the ticket price, you can forgive the use of plastic and lack of buttons and hats. The key elements are there.
The detachable throttle is probably the neatest feature: given that you're going to need easy access to your keyboard for its extra buttons, being able to split these components around it is a definite advantage.
It's also got the much-needed Z-axis rotation for rudder control, although the press of a switch will enable you to operate the rudder via a rocker on the front of the throttle grip. You get plenty of programmable buttons too, but they feel very much the sort you'd expect to find on a budget controller. The action on the stick and throttle aren't great either, and you'll likely notice some graunching plastic noises as you push and pull the controller around.
But it's still robust and feels solid on the desk. This is an excellent value pick if you can't convince yourself that an X56 or Warthog is a sensible purchase.
The Raptor Mach 2 is a little harder to get hold of in the US than the UK, but can at least be purchased separately to the throttle for those looking to buy just the stick alone. The issues being, one: you can't use the throttle passthrough for the stick, and two: the stick alone can cost almost as much as the combined Raptor Mach 1 HOTAS. That being said, this is a joystick with impeccable accuracy and a premium feel.
Not only does it look like it was ripped straight out of a chopper, it's comfortable in the hand, and doesn't feel breakable. The least premium thing about it is the flip-up, trigger-cum-safety feature. It's fragile enough to make you think it could break under pressure, and while a safety feature is always a welcome addition to any joystick, it leaves only one hat and pinky button accessible.
So there's not a huge number of handy buttons, but on the base there are not only a great deal to make up for it including ones dedicated to flaps and throttle , there's also the option to mode switch up to two levels with two functional modes and button shift. This gives the Raptor Mach 2 an edge, despite the buttons being a little awkward to get to if you've got your hands full, achieve 29 programmable actions. There is the potential that all this can get confusing, but once you've got yourself all mapped out and are used to it, the Raptor Mach 2 is a dream.
It's a really smooth, sturdy piece of kit despite being not as heavy as it's sister, the Raptor Mach 1. Touting the same tilting, pendular movement you'd expect from a real Boeing aircraft, the yoke swings back and forth intuitively as you pitch up and down. It's a much more pleasant experience to the push-pull motion you'd find on the majority of yokes on the market, even at the higher end.
It really makes a difference to the immersion—I can almost feel the g-force as I pull back on the control column. It moves intuitively as you pitch the plane's nose up or down and is so much nicer than the push-pull motion of many yokes on the market.
When you're flinging the yoke around feeling like a pro, the yoke stays rigidly in place with the built-in mount, which sits sunken between your legs where it should, and doesn't knock the throttle even when mounted directly beside it. Mounting the yoke itself is as simple as slipping it over the edge of your desk and doing it up, no drilling necessary, and the throttle quadrant doesn't even require mounting at all if you don't feel like it, though the process is also pretty straightforward.
Not only are there detailed instructions on how to set the whole thing up—with control mapping charts and diagrams—there's even a little instruction leaflet for adjusting the yoke tension with an included spring. That part does require a little faffing, but isn't too scary. The obvious drawback to choosing a yoke like this is the lack of z-rotation you'd get with many of the best joysticks around, but this is easily circumvented with the use of the trigger buttons. That does mean you can't map your guns to the triggers, but the TCA yoke is designed more for long-haul flights, as opposed to games involving intense dogfight action.
I would have liked to have seen some pressure sensitivity on the triggers, too, especially at this price. Still, there are more than enough buttons, hats, and a trigger for each hand, yet the design somehow doesn't feel overly complicated. One of the hats available to the right thumb is actually an analog stick, which gives you more freedom for whatever you feel like mapping it to. On the front of the yoke, at the bottom, there are also two more axes for extra mapping flexibility.
There are even detailed instructions on how to adjust the tension with a mounted spring. It's pretty awkward to map the non-axial reverse thrust levers on the throttle arms, particularly when tested in Microsoft Flight Simulator, as it picks up the input as a button and doesn't let you verify until they're unpressed.
Not as useful as I first anticipated, but all the throttle arms are interchangeable and even come with extra tops specifically stating 'flaps' or 'speed brake. There's even space on the front for a chart or checklist, though what looks to be a clamp on the front of the yoke is actually fixed in place—Blu tack it is then. It's an easy thing to overlook, but it would be better if it was optional to have your switches marked X, Y, A, and B.
None of that takes away from the professional, satisfying feel of the whole setup.
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