Thrustmaster SimTask Farmstick X Review
design
The first thing that struck me about the SimTask FarmStick X is how much it looks like it belongs in a fighter jet rather than a tractor cab. Its gunmetal grey base and electric orange accents definitely make a statement but there’s something distinctly retro about the whole vibe, and not in a good way. It’s more old fashioned than old school cool with both the overall styling and materials making it feel a little dated.
I could forgive this more if it was merely a case of aesthetic choices, where it becomes a problem however is it has a knock-on effect in the execution. Almost everything here is plastic, that’s not a problem necessarily, it’s just the wrong kind of plastic. The FarmStick X‘s hard, thin plastic and the base has a noticeably hollow quality that immediately makes itself known the moment you pick it up. I’m not asking for actual fighter jet titanium and carbon fibre, but a thin metal shell or some weight added to the base would have transformed the feel entirely.
The buttons tell a similar story. The larger inputs scattered around the base are hard moulded plastic that does the job but feels cheap under your fingers. It’s particularly jarring when you compare them to the smaller rubber buttons on the joystick itself, which are infinitely more pleasant to use. Why Thrustmaster didn’t extend that treatment across all of the SimTask FarmStick X is beyond me, cost perhaps?
The main joystick is where things get interesting, even if the plastic construction carries over and continues to disappoint. I’d really have liked a little texture or rubberisation here as this would have boosted comfort, grip, and overall quality. It’s designed to be ambidextrous though, which is a nice touch for left-handed gamers who usually get forgotten, and the ergonomics are actually pretty solid for extended use. It’s worth noting how thick the FarmStick X‘s joystick is and while this was comfortable for me, it might be an issue for smaller or younger hands – this is definitely built with big, adult users in mind.
Around the back of the Thrustmaster SimTask FarmStick X you’ll find all the connectivity options, including a USB-C port for both PC and console connection, a DIN port and an RJ12 port for a TFRP rudder, and a toggle switch to flip between Xbox and PC modes. You’ll want to use a wheel alongside the Farmstick X, though this won’t directly connect and your device will see them as two entirely separate entities.
performance
I’m sure I’m similar to a lot of gamers when it comes to Farming Simulator, much more Jeremy Clarkson than Kaleb Cooper. I tend to get a burst of interest, jump into a new game and then quickly get lost in knowing quite where to begin. That’s where I was hoping the Thrustmaster FarmStick X would bridge the gap and for the most part it did, but not without a few teething issues and frustrations.
Getting started with the FarmStick X was more of an adventure than I’d bargained for. Despite being pre-configured for Farming Simulator 25 and entirely geared towards it, the out-of-box experience still needs some refining. Some buttons didn’t do what they claimed they would, others did nothing at all, and the in-game labelling system is a bit of a mess.
Here’s the thing that drove mad the most: the game refers to buttons by number, but most of those numbers aren’t actually printed on the device, some are, some aren’t. It meant I had to constantly reference a PDF manual on my second screen as a map, which rather defeats the point of having a plug-and-play, immersive experience. It’s a bizarre oversight for something so niche and makes you wonder how much actual in-game testing the FarmStick X went through.
The console experience when hooked up to my Xbox Series X initially seemed more polished, with fewer mystery buttons and mismatched functions. The catch? You can’t customise or re-bind anything on Xbox, so what you get is what you get. Plus, those helpful (if incomplete) button labels are nowhere to be seen on console, leaving you to play a frustrating game of press-and-hope until muscle memory kicks in.
Once you push through the initial confusion though, the SimTask FarmStick X starts to really show its worth. Paired with a separate wheel and pedal setup, it adds a genuinely useful dimension to certain farming activities and it did improve my experience as a result. It’s not a complete allrounder though, I found myself largely ignoring it during routine field and tractor work, but the moment I needed to operate a crane or manipulate an excavator arm, everything clicked into place.
The Hall effect joystick is genuinely excellent for precision work like this. Movement is silky smooth in all directions and there’s just enough resistance to hold position without fighting you. The three-axis control makes complex machinery feel intuitive in a way that keyboard controls never could and I had an absolute blast. When I found myself fishing a wayward digger out of a river (don’t ask, there was an incident), the SimTask FarmStick X transformed what could have been a tedious keyboard-mashing exercise into something genuinely satisfying.
I was curious whether this could work as a general-purpose joystick for other simulation games too, and the answer on PC is yes, but with quite a large asterisk attached. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 recognised the Thrustmaster FarmStick X immediately, though you’ll need to manually map every single input. On Xbox, things get weird. The game sees the device and lets you configure it in menus, but then completely ignores it during actual gameplay. It almost feels like artificial limitations rather than genuine compatibility issues, which I hope isn’t the case.
summed up
The Thrustmaster SimTask FarmStick X is one of those products that’s easier to respect than recommend, for a majority of gamers anyway. The concept is solid, the specialized functionality works well when you need it, and there’s genuinely nothing else quite like it on the market. The Hall effect sensors in the main event joystick deliver excellent precision, and for dedicated farming sim enthusiasts, it unlocks control possibilities that simply aren’t available any other way.
There are problems that are hard to ignore here though. Build quality feels disappointing, the initial setup and early gameplay experience is needlessly frustrating, and the value proposition becomes questionable once you factor in the additional hardware requirements for console players. I imagine you’ll be looking at over £300 all-in for Xbox users, at least, and at that point you’re looking at serious money for something that only works in very specific scenarios. At least the wheel and pedals should work in other games.
If you’re a hardcore Farming Simulator player who already has a wheel setup and finds yourself regularly operating complex machinery, the FarmStick X will likely earn its place on your desk. After all, when it was good, it was great, and I’d happily continue using it next time I get the farming itch. For everyone else, that money might be better spent on a more versatile HOTAS setup that’ll serve you across multiple simulation games, even if it lacks the agricultural street cred.
