Short answer
Rebuild your custom profile. On a Hotas 4, or a Hotas 5 in Blue mode, start from the new default profile. On a Hotas 5 in Red mode there is no default, so you must make one. If controls are dead or wrong, delete custom bindings and reset controllers on the Controls screen first.
What Thrustmaster says changed
Thrustmaster article 1900, dated August 20, 2026, says:
- The default PS4 profiles, used by the Hotas 5 in Blue mode and by the Hotas 4, now use the Thrustmaster SDK.
- The Hotas 5 in Blue mode is no longer detected as a Hotas 4.
- Custom profiles made before the update are no longer available on PS5.
- Hotas 4 and Hotas 5 in Blue mode get new default profiles, and you can make a custom one.
- Hotas 5 in Red mode: you must create a custom profile.
Check the mode first
The Hotas 5 manual gives the steps:
- Hold the MODE button for 3 seconds, until the LED above it flashes.
- Press MODE to pick a mode: Red is PS5, Blue is PS4, Green is PC.
- Wait five seconds until the LED stops flashing.
- Press the PS button on the stick to connect it to your profile.
In MSFS, open the Controls screen and switch the device from the gamepad to the stick.
Fixes owners report
These come from Reddit threads after the update, not from Thrustmaster or Microsoft.
- Phantom toe-brake inputs and dead controls. In an r/MSFlightSimulatorPS5 thread, one reply says to put the Hotas 5 in Blue mode, delete custom bindings, then reset all controllers from the Controls screen (Square, tick the box, confirm). It then behaves as a Hotas 4, and you can bind again. The reply says to do both steps.
- Rebind everything, axes included. A reply in the same thread says the Hotas 5 now has its own bindings, and the two extra black throttle buttons become usable.
- Hat plus modifier does both things. Another reply says a modifier plus hat binding triggers the hat’s POV action as well. The workaround is to edit that action: use the sense option and press only the modifier button, then add the direction from the function list.
- Red mode now works without Blue mode. In an r/MicrosoftFlightSim post from August 28, the poster says the update supports the Hotas 5 in PS5 mode. A commenter had to reset all controls in MSFS before everything was assigned.
Still broken
One owner in that second thread reports the Hotas 5 in Red mode going unresponsive in flight until reconnected, and says Blue mode works apart from the camera occasionally switching to third person. Nobody replied with a fix. If you hit this, Blue mode is the workaround on offer.
If you are choosing a stick
See Hotas 4 vs Hotas 5 MSFS Edition and the PS5 hub.
Sources checked October 13, 2026: Thrustmaster’s article 1900 and Hotas 5 manual, and the two Reddit threads linked above.