While Microsoft Flight Simulator has made the genre widely accessible on Xbox Series X and S, flying with a normal Xbox wireless controller may be challenging and it’s certainly not realistic.
For those who want to elevate their experience, especially while flying airliners like the Airbus A320 Neo available in the simulator Thrustmaster has just released its TCA Airbus range for Xbox Series X|S.
It’s available in as a stand-alone sidestick (TCA Sidestick X Airbus Edition) for €119.99 / $119.99 / £99.99 and the whole TCA Captain Pack X Airbus Edition for €299.99 / $299.99 / £249.99 including both the sidestick and the full throttle quadrant.
If you’re wondering, it’s called a sidestick because it’s designed to be positioned on your side, either on your left if you’re the captain sitting on the left seat of an aircraft, or to you’re right if you’re the first officer sitting on the right. It’s what Airbus uses for its airliners, while Boeing uses the more classic yoke, which incidentally, is also available from Thrustmaster (and you can read our review).
This is the successor to the version for PC released a couple of years ago, and it’s definitely a tried and true solution that is also rather affordable compared to others on the market.
The Captain Pack’s throttle quadrant includes controls for the throttles with functional reversers and autothrottle disconnect, airbrake, flaps, landing gears, auto brake, engines, rudder trim, and parking brake.
The sidestick lets you choose whether you want the pilot or copilot configuration with a fully ambidextrous design. You can swap the controls at the top of the stick fairly easily.
Of course, everything works out of the box on Xbox, but the controllers retain their PC compatibility in case you have both.
An Ecosystem Hub has been added at the back of the stick’s pedestal so you can attach accessories like pedals.
