Press - Reviews
What People Are Saying
"The company I work for, Automattic, is at the forefront of distributed work. As every employee is remote, we all have to set up a work area in our home or find a co-working spot. Each employee is also allowed to purchase a desk, chair and other necessary items to set up the work space. I decided I wanted a nice comfortable office chair and researched a number of them online. Finally, I decided on a chair that would be comfortable as well as offer a few side benefits to my music and enjoyment. The GT Throne is an amazing blend between a premium leather office chair, and an incredible audio machine.
The chair arrived within just a few days of ordering and I began with the unboxing. The packaging was very nice, neat and professional. I was actually impressed to see individual boxes inside with labeling, instructions and everything needed to do the job. I did not have to grab a toolbox or anything extra to put the chair together. There was even a nice set of gloves with the pump so I could avoid getting chair grease all over.
The finished product is an incredible chair, with amazing sound feedback that you can feel. My only complaint about the chair is that it requires a cord when you want the sound. It takes some power to run the amplifiers so I suppose the cord is not optional, however, they do include a nice breakaway option in case someone trips up on the cord. This allows it to easily detach from the chair and prevent tripping and breaking equipment.
Listening to music or playing games in this chair brings a whole new dimension to the experience. The way this works is hard to describe, its not just a bass shaker, it is a device that changes frequency and force along with the sound input.
Would I buy it again? ABSOLUTELY, just based on the comfort of the chair alone, this is worth it. I love the lumbar support and nice neck pillow. You can actually lay all the way down in the chair for a nap, its super comfy. The sound option is also really something I enjoy using. I would recommend it for music, movies, PC and console gaming.
If you like a DX Racer or other chair, this is a major upgrade in quality and comfort, as well as the incredible experience of feeling the sound."
James Grierson"A gamer chair that offers all the support of long hours of gaming in addition to doubling as a rumble pack? That's a tall order for a gaming chair from a company that's fairly unheard of, but doubters who think this product isn't worth the money will be sold on this product once they try it for themselves.
I know that because I was one of them. Prior to trying, I thought any chair that did more than offer back support for long hours of gaming was a waste, and a vibrating chair only feels like a distraction. By the end of my Overwatch round though, I was sold on this product and truly believe GT Throne is on a path that will be emulated by competitors down the road, and lead to great success for this company.
The difference is all in the dynamic rumble. For those familiar with the HD Rumble of the Nintendo Switch (which responds with varying levels of rumble depending on the situation) it feels like GT Throne is working towards and achieving a very similar feel. Playing as Junkrat I was blowing things up non-stop and the rumble response always felt appropriate in the proximity of where I was detonating. Essentially what I'm saying is if something blows up and you're down a long hallway you'll feel a slight shake, and if you narrowly miss a grenade right over your shoulder you're going to get the full power of the rumble which is surprisingly powerful!
Surprisingly, even in the most extreme cases, it's not at all distracting. In fact, feeling the rumble of a nearby explosion gave me that heads up feeling of "you need to get to safety" that typically is only something a console controller will provide.
Dynamic rumble aside, this is also just a comfortable chair. the cushioning is where it needs to be and the rigidness is where it counts which will provide all the lumbar support one needs when sitting in front of the computer for long hours each day. Without a question, this is a chair I would put in front of my computer, and wouldn't imagine replacing for a very long time.
Bottom line, GT Throne is a new kid on the block with a limited product, but what they did works very, VERY well. They made me a believer, and for those skeptical, it'll just take one round of gaming to convince you as well."
Mick Joest
"For those who are going to invest in themselves sitting in front of their computer, it's going to be essential to have something comfortable under their butts. Gaming chairs were plentiful at TwitchCon, but one in particular grabbed my attention the most. That's the GT Throne.
The GT Throne feels like a comfortable faux-leather, fitting firm along the seat and the back. But where it separates itself is with its main feature. I asked the GT representative to explain what "immersive gaming chair" meant, since it looked like a mere buzz phrase. He answered that the GT Throne utilizes a patented technology that takes high-intensity moments in gaming into account, creating a vibration to go along with whatever action is going down.
"Oh, it's a rumble chair!" I chimed in.
Yes, it's indeed a rumble chair. The chair hooks up to a 3.5mm audio jack and comes with an AC/DC power adapter. It also has its own connectors for the user's analog headphones, USB headset, and microphone. There were several chairs hooked up to PC stations, but the representative did note that the chair would also work with mobile devices and could even work with the Nintendo Switch's handheld mode. It's already been used at several esports events, most notably the recent Game Tyrant Expo.
The GT Throne is a premium chair and it's definitely going for a premium price. It'll set streamers back a whopping $475."
Ozzie Mejia
"Most gaming chairs are just overbuilt office chairs, often available in bright colors, with additional adjustments and the ability to recline, but without any features that directly tie in with video games. The GT Throne is an exception, thanks to a force feedback system of vibrating motors that respond to the sounds of whatever you're playing on your PC or game system. The chair shakes and rumbles with every gunshot and explosion, providing an immersive experience usually only seen in very expensive simulator-focused racing chair systems or with aftermarket modifications to a non-vibrating chair. At $475, the GT Throne is competitively priced with similar chairs that don't have motors, and its build quality and comfort make it a very appealing choice if you're looking for a gaming chair with a kick.
The GT Throne is built similarly to nearly every other gaming chair we've reviewed. It's a large, high-backed, faux leather-covered chair with adjustable armrests and a swiveling wheeled base. It's almost completely black, with the option of gold thread or black thread for the large GT logo on the headrest. The seat and back feature quilted stitching, which gives the chair a somewhat classier look than more colorful and streamlined gaming chairs. The faux leather and padding is fairly plush and comfortable, comparable with AKRacer and DXRacing's gaming chairs but not quite as nice as the SecretLab Titan's supple upholstery and dense foam. The chair can support users up to 350 pounds, with a steel frame and aluminum base. Like most gaming chairs, faux leather-covered head and lumbar cushions are included and can be strapped to the back of the chair. Most of the usual gaming chair adjustments are present on the GT Throne, including height and tilt, and up to 140 degrees of recline for the backrest. The armrests can be raised and lowered, but can't shift in any horizontal direction, or pivot.
The GT Throne's big claim to fame isn't how it works as a gaming chair, but how it works as a force feedback device. Vibrating drivers in the back and seat work with your computer or game console to turn gunshots, explosions, and soundtracks with deep bass into rumble under you. To do this, the chair uses a transmitter and receiver. The receiver mounts on the underside of the chair, while the transmitter can be placed near your PC or game system.
The receiver and transmitter are small, flat, black plastic boxes each with a prominent knob and several ports. The transmitter has a mini USB connector for power and 3.5mm inputs and outputs for both speaker and microphone. It connects to your PC through the 3.5mm headphone and microphone jacks or to your game console through optical or coaxial audio outputs with the included adapter. The receiver has a series of wire sockets for connecting the different actuators through wires that extend from the back of the chair and the bottom of the seat, along with a power connector for plugging in the included wall adapter.
The headset passthrough on the receiver sends audio to your connected headset or headphones, but it adds a soft high-frequency whine to the signal. You won't notice it if you keep your headphone's volume levels around half, but it creeps in if you try to push any higher than that. This is mostly noticeable when you aren't listening to anything specific; the whine is apparent with total silence, but any game audio or music quickly drowns it out. When the transmitter and receiver are both powered on and the transmitter is connected to your computer or game system, the actuators in the chair rumble in response to whatever audio is coming through. The chair itself doesn't have any speakers for producing sound (though the rumble motors can make a loud buzzing when they go off); they turn the audio signal into force feedback. One thing to keep in mind: The transmitter/receiver system requires running a power cable to the chair, which can potentially become tangled in the castors.
I played Overwatch with the GT Throne, and the rumble worked as promised. The seat and back produced strong, rhythmic vibrations in response to Lucio's footsteps and weapon shots. In dense combat, the actuators jump and vibrate in time with all of the explosions, and provide a low, steady rumble when the soundtrack swells at the end of a match. It's an interesting sensation, similar to the vibration you get with a force feedback gamepad, but spread out behind and under you. Doom (2016) is very fun in the GT Throne, because it's so full of powerful explosions and gunshots, and Mick Gordon's industrial soundtrack simply feeds the actuators at exactly the frequencies they need to get the chair rumbling. Just the menu music kept the seat shaking, and I felt every shotgun blast I fired when playing. It doesn't need to be a video game. The GT Throne rumbled with the music that played before Apple's latest live stream, making the chair shake and vibrate along with Imagine Dragons. You can use any audio coming from your computer or game system.
Whatever you listen to, the GT Throne provides solid vibration from the thighs to the lower back. There are no actuators in the top half of the back of the chair, but you'll feel all of the different motors buzzing against the parts of your body that are in direct contact with it when you're using your computer. It isn't the all-consuming, ridiculously powerful feeling you get from an amusement park or theater system with a force feedback chair, but it's a strong showing for a consumer product that functions as office furniture. At $475, the GT Throne isn't much more expensive than midrange non-vibrating gaming chairs like the AKRacing Core Series EX and the RapidX Carbon. We still prefer the SecretLabs Titan for its superior materials and build quality, but the GT Throne is a very strong contender for its solid, attractive design, whether you're interested in the rumble or not. And if it's the rumble you're after, the GT Throne is the only prefab office-style gaming chair that offers the experience in the first place."
Will Greenwald