New racing "Global VR" type games using windows.... steering input?

[pinballwizard79]

So pretty much every new game out in the arcades now runs on windows right?

Well how does the steering wheel of those fancy PC based racing games communicate with the PC? Is it like a mouse (which I hope) or some random pot jedi unhackable ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---? I would imagine operators buy these newfangled devices with the intention to later on update & convert the driving cabs into other newer games to increase their ROI. Now that games are running windows & looking ahead to upgrade the controls had to be thought of by the developers. So yeah I wonder how it recognizes the steering devices?

So my question....

Is there some standard USB or mouse like controller or connection or etc on these machine & really can I play a PC or MAME game on one of these cabinets if I play my cards right?

Word

[BadMouth]

http://service.globalvr.com/NASCAR.asp

I have no personal experience with them, but according to the manual, the steering is handled by the force feedback pcb which connects to the computer via usb.  The pedals are connected to another small I/O board that also connects via USB.
Sounds promising, but I guess it would be a case of having drivers.  

In troubleshooting the steering it says "Test by connecting to a motherboard USB port. You may
need to reboot twice for Windows to find the device."

So it is running some form of Windows.

Buy one and try it.  

[pinballwizard79]

Actually dude thats what I am thinking  

$3500.00 = http://cgi.ebay.com/Nascar-Racing-Video-Game-Arcade-Machine-Coin-Op-/220789970582?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item33681b9696#ht_1030wt_1139

Patience & time will result in the same game fetching less I'm sure. Then if you think about the price of a LCD, PC, wheel, seat, art & etc + time = its not a bad price.

Thanks for the links & insight BadMouth. I did a little more research based on the GlobalVR's link you posted & saw mention of "immersion inc" & then found this http://www.immersion.com/docs/FF-devkit-gaming_may10v2.pdf

I think it would be cool to play PC racing sims on this cabinet. Folks spend a ton of money & time building those things & this might be a not only a short cut but a more polished product with bad ass commercial quality FFB. Then again that one cats hack of a logitech to an amp to a Cruisn wheel is insane cool & probably stronger FFB from what I saw.

Hmmmm

[pinballwizard79]

but I guess it would be a case of having drivers.  

Aww ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- I just absorbed that, even if windows recognizes this thing the new PC game prob wont eh?

[BadMouth]

Still, I'd love to know what happens when you connect it to a standard pc.  Wouldn't it be wild if windows automatically downloaded the driver for it.  
As far as it working with games.  I think with directx, controllers are fairly standardized now (but I'm no expert).
Still, for $3500 I would rather build my own setup with a more comfortable seat.

Then again that one cats hack of a logitech to an amp to a Cruisn wheel is insane cool & probably stronger FFB from what I saw.

If using an older pc wheel that has a potentiometer for the steering, all you'd have to buy is a servo amplifier (around $40 used on fleabay) and a few 10k potentiometers.
The machine would already have the 24v power supply for the ffb motor.  Swapping the potentiometers out isn't that big of a job and the servo amp wiring is pretty basic (little pc ffb motor leads to the input, PWR&GND in, PWR&GND out to big ffb motor).  The biggest hassle would be the buttons if you had to solder leads to the pc wheel boards like thesharkfactor did.

I have a happ ffb setup out of a SF Rush 2049.
I plan to do the same thing he did, but with a few twists.  (360° option & paddle shifters)

I'm using a newer pc wheel that uses an optical encoder for the steering, so that's taking some time to work out.
UPS misdirected my parts and now it's going to be over a week before I can get back to work on it.

Once I make sure it's actually going to work (It might not ), I will do a tutorial with "what wire goes where".

[Paladin]

I'd love to see what you come up with.  I recently picked up a dedicated Cart Fury, and when I get tired of it I'd like to turn it into a console or PC driving cab.