At the height of Flight Simulator, many companies are competing to bring consumers peripherals to match its deep immersion factor that was seemingly absent for players – none comes close to VelocityOne Flight by Turtle Beach. This new and one-of-a-kind Yoke and Throttle peripheral is incredibly rich but surprisingly easy to control. With VelocityOne Flight specifically designed for Xbox and Windows PC’s Flight Simulator, there’s no mistaking the effort made on this massive device.
Designed to Near Perfection
VelocityOne Flight build quality is of an extremely durable hard plastic where the throttle control is attachable to the side of the yoke control through a circle socket. At the top of the yoke is a removable panel where an allen key is stored for use of tightening the clamps. On the throttle control, there’s a thick clip that snaps into place, which is quite sturdy as it should be. The overall UI of the control is populated with 10 programmable buttons above the throttle, several button interfaces on the yoke and panel, 4 levers which comes with changeable GA handles, a rotator trim wheel as well as 3 linear or vernier control throttles for elements like increasing engine speed and so on. Although this module was designed with Flight Simulator in mind, it can be used in other future simulators as well. This module feels so immersive to me, especially when combining the experience with a 36″ ultra-wide monitor. The materials used for the VelocityOne is of premium design – one that should make any owner feel proud to have.
Piloting Dream
Assembling the module wasn’t a hassle at all considering the bulkiness of the product – actually, it’s one of the smaller flight modules in the market; there’s 2 USB-C ports on the side where the yoke is, which are color coordinated for easy reading – one port is to connect to the PC or Xbox, the other for throttle control. There’s a headphone jack as well for better audio options but Xbox would need a compatible headset whereas PC, it’s just a switch with audio sources. You cannot use the throttle separately, although you can detach it from the yoke to position it however you like. Since I have an L-Shape desk, I find that the length of the cable is suitable for people with any set up they have.
When using the module, I find that the handle on the yoke is quite stiff, which is fine to me because it gives a sense of authenticity to the overall experience. However, the throttles and lever handles are quite sensitive as well as the trim wheel, but nothing that has me worried; the sensitivity is really in-game. When using the lever handles to prop or flip, I found that the plane would pivot strangely. Although there’s action springs to adjust the yoke handles, I found that it may be a bit sensitive when trying to tilt up or down by default – some setting changes alleviated much worry, but I think it’s by design from the VelocityOne perspective, and more than likely someone as inexperienced as me would need to learn to handle better.
In time.
There are panels that’s interchangeable for light indicators which can be a use case for some players. I found to rarely remove these once installed but I know veterans would love the option to swap elements like the light indicator. On the yoke handles there are default Xbox button layout with an additional 4-way HAT switch and an 8-way POV with a button on each grip. On the back of the yoke comes with 2 triggers per handle each for rutters and other configurations.
After spending much time learning the layout, I had spent almost no time at all setting up the controls for Flight Simulator as it was a seamless process. Nothing is more satisfying than seeing your actions replicated in the 3D space; increasing speed on VelocityOne actually felt like I was doing so to an actual aircraft. And with sheer number of planes to pilot, all with their unique layouts, there’s so much to explore with VelocityOne. Top it all off, there’s infinite number of actual landmarks to experience which leaves near endless amount of playtime in this rigorously gorgeous project. I absolutely look forward to adding hundreds of hours with this module.
Conclusion
The VelocityOne is such a masterful piece of hardware with its compact but intuitive design. For me, with this many button configurations and handles, it was a positive experience of overwhelming immersion. As an avid gamer, it was easy enough to navigate through it all – however, I have to give a heads up to casual gamers: this will be intimidating at first but give it enough time and it’ll be worth it.
See more at https://www.turtlebeach.com/
REVIEW SCORE: 9.5/10
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