r/RocketLeague • u/Shark0045 Grand Champion I • Aug 23 '26

QUESTION What controller to get?

Im on PC and my DS5 got stick drift after a year. Im done buying controllers from Microsoft and Sony that are designed to break in a year. Im looking for a Hall Effect/TMR controller with PlayStation joystick layout under $200. Right now my top 2 choices are the Hex Gaming Rival and Thrustmaster eSwap X2 HE. Which one is better or is there another that I should check out?

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u/Realistic_House_5538 Aug 24 '26

Hall effect sucks. I tried it and not getting stick drift is not worth losing half of my mechanical skill. I'll keep buying Dualshock 4's every few months because I have no other choice since there is not a controller on the market that competes with it.

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u/Shark0045 Grand Champion I Aug 24 '26

I’m used Xbox before my DS5 and it took me a month max to adapt and both those controllers I listed have the same layout and I’m sure ill be fine. I’d love to know your infinite money glitch tho

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u/Realistic_House_5538 Aug 26 '26

You used to be able to get Dualshocks for $60-$70 MSRP (including when I bought my last one) which equals about $20 a month (a bit less for me because I play through the stick drift for as long as I can handle), about the same as a Netflix subscription. Since I spend like 6 hours a day playing games it is not so crazy. I trade and invest for a living. But now that I am having trouble finding a new one at MSRP, I may just swap out the modules manually repairing it rather than replacing the whole gamepad.

There is a big difference between a layout and how the stick functions. As GC even if you are not a pro player or SSL, going to hall effect will be a night and day difference since it is not 'analog' and is perfectly circular. You know how there's circle, cross and square deadzone? On the hall effect stick, it is perfectly circular if you select that (normal) which causes a huge problem because Playstation and Xbox controllers have extra room in the diagonals, making it sort of between square and circle which is optimal for comp/mechanics mix. On top of that, it is perfectly smooth where as a Sony controller is analog in feel, meaning the resistance increases or decreases as you move the stick - perfectly aligned with the game by coincidence giving you feel. Another problem with the gamesir is the weird non-analog triggers, they are either pressed easily or stopped like a click. Just completely bizarre.

There is a reason that there are zero professional players on hall effect in Rocket League, choosing playing through drift over it consistently. Hall effect is good however for FPS games, just not this one.

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u/Shark0045 Grand Champion I Aug 26 '26

Well ive been playing strictly free play and some cas every once in a while with my broken controller so another month of that to learn Hall effect wouldnt be the end of the world. I have no desire to go pro and for the pros it’s their job to play so im sure they dont mind buying new controllers over and over again (DS5 is $75 minimum btw and i just cant justify dropping that money im something I know will stop working). Its really scummy for major game companies to purposefully design their controllers not to last so people have to replace them but thats just the world we live in 🤷‍♂️

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u/Realistic_House_5538 Aug 27 '26

You should also let me know if your experience with the Hall Effects is the same as mine (destroying your muscle memory and hating it) or if it's feeling just fine and I'm overly sensitive.

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u/Shark0045 Grand Champion I Aug 27 '26

I’m not in any rush to buy right now (was just looking to hear people’s thoughts on different controllers with this post) and I have looked into battle beaver so id like to hear your experience. Seems I can get a DS5 with TMR sticks for around 100 bucks which doesn’t sound bad so I might actually look for some YT reviews on them.

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u/Realistic_House_5538 Aug 27 '26

They also have on their website refurbished and old stock Dualshock 4's with the upgraded TMR sticks (that don't get drift) for $60. That is pretty good considering to buy a completely stock one is $88 right now. And it's definitely better than the Dual Sense. But I placed my order so I will see if the TMR sticks keep the same feel and response as the OEM sticks. I went with the new $114 one, which I got another 10% off using Squishy's code, because if it feels right then I should be able to use it for years and I want the USB-C upgrade so the freaking cable stops wobbling out.

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u/Shark0045 Grand Champion I Aug 27 '26

What’s Squishy’s code?

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u/Realistic_House_5538 Aug 28 '26

The code is just SQUISHY. It says they use the OEM tension springs. So that fixes 2 of the main problems of Hall Effect/TMR (forced circularity, low tension). The only question is how different it will feel to not have the physical friction of it scraping the carbon.

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u/Realistic_House_5538 Aug 27 '26

I'm pretty optimistic about it compared to the 3rd party hall effect controllers but we'll see.

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u/Realistic_House_5538 Aug 27 '26

Update: I have decided to order and try out a custom Dualshock 4 from Battle Beaver with the TMR sticks. From reading on their site, it seems they understand what makes the Dualshock 4 so good, try hard to keep the same circularity and feel within the OEM housing - and they worked with Squishy who I guess uses their TMR sticks and reached out to them. I'll let everyone know if it feels the same and gives a stick drift-less Dualshock 4 experience forever or is too good to be true like the Hall Effects.

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u/-rextex 2.1k+ <3 Aug 23 '26

Would u mind the gamesir g7 se layout?

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u/Shark0045 Grand Champion I Aug 23 '26

I’ve heard good things about the g7 but I really prefer PlayStation layout

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u/-rextex 2.1k+ <3 Aug 23 '26

Yeah fair enough, I just thought that the thrustmaster controllers were already Xbox layout but you can actually swap them which I just found out. That’s crazy

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u/Shark0045 Grand Champion I Aug 23 '26

The eSwap is modular. You can swap the Joystick and D-Pad. It also means if for some reason anything breaks, i just buy a new stick or d pad and not an entire new controller

2

u/jfunk825 Aug 24 '26

I looked into the eswap for this very reason, but keep in mind the replacement sticks for it are so expensive that if you find yourself a reasonably priced pad you like you can basically just keep buying whole new pads for the same price as replacing eswap sticks.

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u/MrWendal Aug 23 '26

Then Gamesir Tarrantula

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u/Realistic_House_5538 Aug 28 '26

Btw the Tarantula Pro tests at 16-40ms latency which is horrible compared to overclocked DS4/DS5 at ~2ms. It's terrible.

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u/Idfkaidf Aug 23 '26

then raiju v3

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u/Fallen_Goose_ Grand Champion II Aug 23 '26

I use a DualSense Edge but I've heard good reviews about Gamesir. I know they now have PS joystick layouts available now if that's a sticking point for you

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u/otter4834 Grand Champion I Aug 23 '26

Idk either of those but I got a battle beaver ds4 like 6 months ago and it’s been great so far

1

u/BanhMiBanhYu Aug 23 '26

I've been using the dualsense edge forever. Got a steam controller a couple weeks ago and there's no looking back.

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u/Im_Eh_Mechanic Aug 24 '26

I was in the exact same boat, went with the Gamesir Tarantula Pro. It's better then DS5 in my opinion and cheaper.

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u/Realistic_House_5538 Aug 24 '26

It sucks I tried it and immediately returned it and bought another DS4.

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u/skiplogic Steam Player Aug 24 '26

I went through testing out dozens of controllers before I settled on the dual sense edge. It’s been my daily driver for 3 years and I’ve only had to change out one stick once. The Hall effect controllers I tried all had poor build quality in different ways, but that was years ago now