Which flight sim grips fit which bases? A cross-brand compatibility map.
The cross-brand compatibility map for flight sim grips and bases: the three layers of compatibility, who works with whom, the adapters that bridge the gaps, and what is still unverified.
If you fly with a Thrustmaster, Virpil, WinWing, VKB, or MOZA grip, you will eventually ask whether it works on a base from another brand. The answer is rarely on the vendor's product page, and community threads contradict each other. One thread insists MOZA grips use a pogo-pin plate that cannot physically attach to anything else. Another has one working on a Virpil base, every button live.
The confusion is structural: grip-to-base compatibility is three separate layers that most answers collapse into one. This map is built from what each vendor actually publishes — product pages, support documentation, manuals — plus Magenta's own hands-on reviews and documented community fixes. Every claim traces to a source linked inline. Verified 5 Sep 2026.
Compatibility is three layers, not one
A grip and a base have to agree at three points before the grip's controls do anything:
- The mechanical mount — the post, locking collar, or screws that seat the grip. This is the layer 3D-printed adapters solve.
- The electrical interface — the connector and pinout between grip and base.
- The protocol — the base's firmware has to decode the grip's button matrix and expose it as USB HID.
The axes always come from the base. The buttons, hats, and triggers live in the grip, and they only exist to the PC if the base decodes them. That is why "it screwed on" is not "it works": a grip can seat perfectly and every button stays dead when the firmware doesn't speak its language.
The cleanest example is a MOZA MA3X on a Virpil WarBRD-D. The connector matches, the grip mounts, and the axes work — but buttons stay dead until you select the Thrustmaster Warthog stick profile in Virpil's software, which is the fix Magenta's own review verified and an MSFS forum thread arrived at independently, a year after the original poster gave up. MOZA support had no answer. The community did.
One de facto standard, two islands
The industry has no licensed connector standard. It has Thrustmaster's grip interface — a 5-pin connector carrying a CD4021 shift-register button bus, the protocol inside the A-10C Warthog grip from 2010 — adopted so widely it became the standard by default:
- Virpil bases decode Thrustmaster grips natively and say so on both current base pages
- MOZA's flight grips (MH16, MHG, MA3X) use the same 5-pin aviation connector
- VPforce's Rhino base is built on a "Thrustmaster-compatible 5-pin grip interface"
Two makers stayed outside it. WinWing, now rebranded WinCTRL, runs a proprietary grip protocol bridged only by adapters, and VKB uses its own socket family. Neither is hostile to cross-brand use by design — each sells or supports the adapter that makes it possible — but nothing swaps cleanly without one.
The compatibility matrix
Cells mean: native (buttons work out of the box), via adapter (official or documented path), partial (works with a configuration step or caveat), no (no documented path).
| Base family | Thrustmaster grips | Virpil grips | WinWing/WinCTRL grips | VKB grips | MOZA grips |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thrustmaster (AVA, Warthog MKII, Sol-R; legacy Warthog) | Native | No | No | No | No |
| Virpil (WarBRD-D, MongoosT-50CM3) | Native* | Native | No | No | Partial+ |
| MOZA (AB9, AB6) | Via adapter | No | Partial (community, unofficial) | No | Native |
| WinCTRL (Orion 2, CyberTaurus FFB) | Partial (adapter discontinued) | No | Native | No | No |
| VKB (Gunfighter IV; Mk.II/III) | Via adapter | No | No | Native | No |
| VPforce Rhino (FFB) | Native | Native | Via adapter | Via adapter | No |
\* Thrustmaster Warthog, F/A-18C, and Cougar grips only. Virpil's product pages instruct owners to remove the two bolts holding the female grip connector before attaching TM grips, to avoid damaging the connectors.
+ The MOZA MA3X works fully on Virpil bases with the Thrustmaster Warthog profile selected in Virpil's software. MOZA's MH16 and MHG are "structurally compatible with most mainstream bases" per MOZA, but button support on Virpil bases is untested as of writing.
Virpil is the practical hub
The matrix's most useful cell is Virpil's: one base, three grip brands. Both current bases — the WarBRD-D and the MongoosT-50CM3 — list Thrustmaster Warthog, F/A-18C, and Cougar grips alongside the full Virpil range, and the MA3X trick adds MOZA to that list in practice. A WarBRD owner can fly a TM Warthog in the A-10C, a Virpil Constellation in the F-16, and a US$79 MA3X as a left-hand GA stick, all on the same base. That hub role is why the MA3X story works at all: it is a MOZA grip riding a protocol that Virpil already decodes.
MOZA opened its bases. Thrustmaster kept its closed
MOZA entered flight sim in 2024 with the racing playbook, but its flight bases are the most open in the market. The AB9 and AB6 use what MOZA calls a standard flight sim grip interface, MOZA Cockpit includes manual stick configuration for third-party grips, and the AB9 support documentation says Warthog-compatible grips work via optional adapters. Glider pilots have confirmed the combination: a metal TM Warthog grip on an AB9, flying Condor with native force feedback.
Thrustmaster is the mirror image. No third-party grip support appears anywhere in its documentation, and community testing says Virpil grips do not decode on TM bases. Its openness runs one direction: backward. The AVA base is "designed for existing and future joysticks," which is how a 2010-era A-10C grip and a 2026 Airbus Add-On Grip end up on the same ecosystem, and a Warthog Converter exists for running newer TM grips on the legacy 2010 magnetic base.
The adapter market is thin, and mostly official
| Adapter | Grip side | Base side | Price | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VKB Warthog Adapter (RevC) | TM Cougar/Warthog/F-16/F-18 | Gunfighter IV | US$40 | Official, requires disassembly |
| VKB Thrustmaster adapter (RevB) | TM Cougar/Warthog/F-16/F-18 | Gunfighter Mk.II/III | €39 | Official, requires disassembly |
| VPforce WinWing adapter | WinWing F-16EX, F/A-18 | Rhino | Not published | Official, tested |
| VPforce VKB adapter + Black Box | VKB grips (RevB/RevC) | Rhino | Not published | Official |
| MOZA optional adapter | Warthog-compatible grips | AB9/AB6 | Not published | Documented in support; no store SKU found |
| WinWing TM-grip adapter | TM Warthog | Orion | — | Last seen 2021; presumed discontinued |
| 3D-printed WinWing-to-TM adapter | TM grips | Orion 2 | Free STL | DIY, community |
Two notes on the table. First, most adapters are official products — VKB sells the Warthog Adapter for Gunfighter IV, VPforce sells protocol-converting adapters for WinWing and VKB grips. The gaps are where the market gets weird: WinWing's own TM adapter worked but its software could not program the buttons, and MOZA's support documentation references adapters the store does not list. Second, the thinness is an opportunity the vendors left open. SimWorkShop sells one 1:1 Airbus sidestick, in left- and right-hand versions, that mounts on MOZA AB9, Thrustmaster AVA, and A-10C bases — a third party building across the ecosystem no single vendor serves.
Force feedback does not change the math
An FFB base still has to solve the same three layers. VPforce Rhino solved the most of any base: Thrustmaster grips native up to 24 buttons, Virpil grips native including analog axes and LED control, WinWing via its adapter, VKB via its adapter plus the grip's own controller. MOZA's AB9 and AB6 cover MOZA grips natively and Warthog-compatible grips via adapter. The two FFB bases still on their way — Virpil's ATLAS (pre-orders shipping late 2026) and WinCTRL's CyberTaurus line — had not published grip compatibility lists as of writing. That is the first thing to check before you pre-order.
What's still unverified
Honesty about the map's edges is the point of publishing it:
- Whether MOZA's MH16 and MHG buttons decode on Virpil bases the way the MA3X does (untested as of writing)
- Which grips Virpil's ATLAS and WinCTRL's CyberTaurus FFB bases will accept
- The exact MOZA adapter SKU for Warthog-compatible grips (documented, not listed)
- Whether Thrustmaster's 2026 Airbus grip decodes on Virpil bases, which officially list only the Warthog-generation grips
If you have tested a combination that is not on this map — or found one marked here that behaves differently — the comments are open. A reference like this only earns the name with the community's results in it.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use a Thrustmaster grip on a Virpil base?
Yes. Virpil's WarBRD-D and MongoosT-50CM3 bases officially support the Thrustmaster Warthog, F/A-18C, and Cougar grips. Virpil instructs owners to remove the two bolts holding the female grip connector first to avoid damaging the connectors.
Can I use a MOZA grip on a Virpil base?
The MOZA MA3X works fully when you select the Thrustmaster Warthog stick profile in Virpil's configuration software — Magenta verified this in its MA3X review, and an MSFS forum user reached the same fix independently. MOZA's MH16 and MHG grips are structurally compatible with most mainstream bases, but their buttons on Virpil bases are untested as of Sep 2026.
Can I use a Virpil grip on a Thrustmaster base?
No documented path exists. Community testing consistently reports that Thrustmaster bases do not decode Virpil grips.
Which flight sim bases accept third-party grips?
Virpil bases (Thrustmaster grips natively, MOZA MA3X via profile), MOZA AB9/AB6 (third-party grips via manual configuration, Warthog-compatible via adapters), and VPforce Rhino (Thrustmaster and Virpil native, WinWing and VKB via adapters). Thrustmaster, WinCTRL, and VKB bases accept only their own grips, with VKB selling an official adapter for Thrustmaster grips.
Can I use a Thrustmaster grip on a VKB base?
Yes, with VKB’s official Warthog Adapter — US$40 for the Gunfighter IV (RevC version) and €39 for the Gunfighter Mk.II/III (RevB version). It takes TM Cougar, Warthog, F-16, and F-18 grips, and the conversion requires disassembling and reassembling the grip.
Can I use a WinWing grip on a Virpil base?
No documented path exists. WinWing — now WinCTRL — grips use a proprietary protocol, and Virpil bases decode Virpil and Thrustmaster-pattern grips only.
Can I use a Virpil grip on a MOZA base?
No documented path exists. MOZA bases officially support MOZA’s own grips and Warthog-compatible third-party grips via adapters; Virpil grips are not listed.
Which grips work with the VPforce Rhino force-feedback base?
Thrustmaster and Virpil grips connect natively — Virpil grips including analog axes and LED control. WinWing grips work through VPforce’s protocol-converting adapter (tested with the F-16EX and F/A-18), and VKB grips through the VKB adapter plus the grip’s own controller. MOZA grips are not listed.
