Can *Tarantula Pro* fix joystick drift?

I’ve been gaming from the era of The Legend of Sword and Fairy all the way to today, and I’ve used quite a few keyboard-and-mouse setups and controllers. In the early days, domestic single-player games were made under tough conditions, and peripherals were more like old swords from the jianghu—if they worked at all, that already felt like a blessing. Later on, PC players gradually came to treat the Xbox controller as the default choice. That sense of solidity when you pick it up and can jump straight into a game really does feel like an orthodox martial arts sect from old-school wuxia stories.

Back to the controller itself: GameSir recently launched the Tarantula Pro, a third-party Xbox controller, and pre-orders are already open, with shipping expected in June. Its main selling point is very straightforward—it’s aimed squarely at the long-standing problem of stick drift. The original text mentions that GameSir is positioning the Tarantula Pro around anti-drift performance, using a “1000Hz anti-drift TMR stick.” In today’s player discourse, that’s no small claim.

Why is everyone so fixated on drift? Because while this generation of Xbox controllers still enjoys a strong reputation for design, many users have complained about stick drift and other failure issues. Some people replaced one after another, only to end up with the same problem—like being hit with a weakening poison, their character wandering off on its own and the camera going wild by itself. For action games, racing games, and even the dodge timing in domestic wuxia titles that emphasize nimble movement, that kind of experience is genuinely disheartening.

Beyond nostalgia, the Tarantula Pro doesn’t follow the traditional Xbox route entirely. It comes in a white-and-gray color scheme that looks fairly clean, but its stick layout is closer to a PS5 controller rather than the classic asymmetrical Xbox layout. That’s an interesting choice—like wielding hidden weapons from the Tang Clan while practicing Shaolin footwork. Whether it feels natural or not will depend on the player’s own muscle memory.

But looking at it calmly, there’s one unavoidable point: this is a wired controller. Players who prefer a stable connection and low-latency experience may actually find a wired setup reassuring; but those used to playing on the couch, on a TV, with the freedom of wireless, may not be willing to be tethered by a cable again. Console players in particular often have to deal with more demanding living-room distances than desktop setups, so this is something you really need to think through before buying.

My advice is simple: if you’ve already been tormented by stick drift, or if you mainly play at a PC desk, the Tarantula Pro is worth putting on your watchlist. The original Xbox controller still has a solid foundation in terms of feel, but the fact that third-party manufacturers are stepping in shows that player frustration is no longer just a minor ripple. If the official solution really won’t come until the next generation of consoles, then during this gap, domestic peripheral makers like GameSir have a chance to draw their swords.

As someone who supports domestic games and domestic hardware, I naturally hope it can make a name for itself. But support doesn’t mean blind praise—the real reputation will depend on how it actually performs after shipping in June: whether the sticks are truly stable, whether the buttons are durable, and whether long-term use reveals any weaknesses. If it really can keep the nuisance of drift under control, then for players, it would be an unflashy but genuinely meaningful rescue from the jianghu.