Corsair T3 Rush Gaming Chair

Written by Rob Larkin on 1/6/2020 for

I've always told my wife I am willing to spend whatever is required to have a comfortable bed. It's not just because sleep is so important, but also because when you think for a second about how much that eight hours you might spend laying on that thing adds up to in a 24-hour day, one-third of your entire life is spent in a bed. It's the single biggest investment in your comfort you can make. For some odd reason, however, I never did apply that logic to my gaming life. I've invested in controllers, mice and keyboards, HOTAS setups, monitors and off course all of the components of my PC, but never gave a thought to the comfort of my bottom or the chair underneath me. That all changed when Corsair sent me the T3 Rush for my first furniture review.

The T3 Rush, or "Corchair" as I have nicknamed it (get it? Corsair + chair = Corchair), replaced what was very literally one of the extra chairs from my dining room table set dragged out to my computer desk and plopped in front of the screen. It was functional enough—it kept me at a height where I could see my monitor and I didn't fall off. What more does a chair need to be? Well, a lot more it turns out. Because after an easy assembly with clear instructions, I plopped down on the T3 Rush and knew the dining room chair was never getting pulled under the monitor again. Actually I think I may have known that before assembly was even completed, the first time I felt the charcoal matte fabric smoothly rub across my fingers I was convinced I was in for a better way of life. The only real tough part was wedging the chair back into the arm frames that was a bit on the snug side, but once wedged they held nicely in place to affix the few hex screws with all the hardware including hex key provided. 

The T3 Rush is the classic racing seat design. This is the same design as the rest of Corsair's lineup, as well as most of what you will find from Anda Seat or Maingear or any of the in-house brands at Micro Center, Newegg, etc. It's pretty much the default style of gaming chairs in the late 2010s aside from the mostly floor-based rocking chairs. When shopping for a gaming chair, as far as I can tell, you have three design options: racing, rocker, or a proper office chair. But the racing chairs look the coolest and the chair backs sit high enough to paint a logo at the top, and that's why most of the streamers you'll find today all have the style under their rumps as they grind out the views.

What sets the T3 Rush apart, and what makes it the most modest output in the Corsair lineup, is that this one is not wrapping leather around the frame, opting instead for a less costly "soft fabric." What exactly this fabric is is not immediately apparent from the marketing, but it feels like a nice comfy polyester/cotton blend. Whatever it is, I love it. It's soft and velvety smooth. I've never actually used a leather gaming chair to any great length, so I can't accurately make that direct comparison, but I do know that for all its durability, leather can get sticky and stuffy and is not what you want across the small of your back on a hot day, as my previous experience with my leather couch can attest to. Now I loved that daggum couch, and there weren't many hot, sticky days where I had it. But all the same, the T3 Rush promises never to present that combo. Now sure, if I spill a drink on the T3 Rush it might soak into the fabric in a way leather would have laughed at and brushed off. But you know what else? I've never had a problem with spilling drinks on my chairs, and the rare occasion where I have my lap usually soaks up the entirety of my accident. So if anyone out there can make the case for leather, I'd love to hear it. As it stands, I am actually really pleased with the fabric. It allows for much more airflow and cooling than leather—less so than office chair mesh, but has much better padding than office mesh. This is definitely the chair for all you shirtless gamers out there, and probably the chair for most others as it sticks the landing with a great balance of comfort and breathability between the alternatives.

So it's a racing style chair with fabric. Not dissimilar from all the others on the market, save for that choice of backing material. Also aligning with the popular design, it has these little gunwales that hoist up from the seat itself. I think the thought is they are meant to straddle around the thighs of the user ever so slightly and hold the driver in place. But I'm assuming race car drivers are either a lithe bunch or use bigger seats because the one true noticeable drawback to the entire racing form are these little hitches. They're all well and good at first, but for longer sessions, for taking alternate seating postures, or especially for those more endowed in the thighs than I am, they become real annoyances. This isn't something I'm trying to attribute as much to the T3 Rush as much of the racing chair genre as a whole. They nearly all seem to have those little seat rises on the outer edges and they all present that same little annoyance over time. You won't find those rises on proper office equipment, you won't find them anywhere else in the seating world, but for some reason racing chairs have to include these poorly placed spoilers that, instead of reducing drag, make certain scenarios in the seat a drag. I would give the same criticism to any other chair copping the design. I like to often sit cross legged, always have; but in a racing chair my crossed legs now pitch ever so higher than they comfortably should. Over longer sessions that snug little grip across my outer thigh becomes more of a painful reminder that I should go stretch my legs and do something else. It's not unlike the experience of wearing in-ear earbuds for too long. What once was nice and snug becomes an annoyance. 

My other criticisms specific to the T3 Rush are also somewhat shared within the genre, but deserve mention. Firstly, the armrests are really quite basic. They are fully functional. They adjust to the height and angle you desire and do their job, but they are also just hard plastic. For all the spaces to place that nice velvety fabric I fell in love with, the arm rest would likely have been the most beneficial, and yet it is entirely absent from. It's disappointing but not a deal breaker. But again, over the longer sessions the lack of padding and comfort across them end up needling the same annoyances the seat gunwales do: snug turns into a snag. I know this is still pretty standard for desk and gaming chairs alike, but still, as a reviewer, I would like to see just a little bit more cushion in that armrest. That and I would like a seatback that rocks. While it is fully adjustable to any reasonable degree of lean (and even unreasonable degrees with a full range of 90°-180° available), it affixes at that angle and remains rigid. Again this could be a "feature" of racing chairs, but coming from an office chair background in my 9 to 5, I really appreciate a bit of rock back when I want to take a stretch or even when I want to sit back and forget about whatever is on screen. The T3 Rush provides every support you need to engage in your game, but doesn't pick up the torch when you want to pause for that moment to disengage. 

Now for the Technical Specifications from the manufacturer's website:

Maximum Seat Height	54cm | 21 in	Seat Foam Type	Polyurethane foam (cold foam)
Minimum Seat Height	44cm | 17.5 in	Seat Foam Density	55kg/m³ | 3.43lbs/ft³
Maximum Arm Height	36.5cm | 14.38 in	Seat Frame Color	Black
Minimum Arm Height	28.5cm | 11.22 in	Seat Frame Construction	Metal
Backrest Height	85cm | 33.46 in	Seating Surface Material	Soft Fabric
Backrest Shoulder Width	54cm | 21.26 in	Seat Back Material	Soft Fabric
Package Size	88.5cm x 69cm x 37.5cm 34.8 in x 27.2 in x 14.8 in	Armrest Pad Size	26cm x 10cm x 2.65cm 10.2 in x 3.9 in x 1 in
Net Weight	22.5kg | 49.60 lbs	Adjustable Armrests	Yes
Gross Weight	25.5kg | 56.2lbs	Armrest Type	4D (Up/Down, Left/Right, Front/Back, Swivel)
Warranty	2 Years	Tilt	Yes
Weight Capacity	120kgs | 264.5lbs	Tilt Mechanism Type	Basic type (up/down, Tilted)
Adjustable Lumbar Pillow	Yes	Adjustable Tilt Angle	0-10°
Adjustable Neck Pillow	Yes	Tilt Lock	Yes
Chair Base Material	Nylon	Tilt Angle Lock	No
Wheel Size	65mm | 2.55 in	Gas Lift Specification	100mm stroking height
Wheel Material	Nylon	Gas Lift Class	Class 4 grade
Seat Size	56cm x 58cm | 22 in x 22.8 in	Recline	Yes
		Adjustable Back Angle	90-180°
		Height Adjustability	Yes
		Size	Regular
		Color	Charcoal