Any way to connect Daytona USA wheels and pedals to a PC for a driving setup?

[GCS]

I have a chance to pick up a Daytona USA Twin setup that has been gutted.

It would come with the wheels, pedals, shifter, FF motor and of course the cabinet with seat.  I would need to add a PC(or 2) and monitors of course.

Any way to "relatively easily" interface this with a PC for emulation for multiple racing games (Daytona, Outrun, Cruisin', Cal Speed, etc etc)??

I saw mention in some old posts on another forum about using an APAC but I know very little about them (or wiring up anything like this).  I know Ultimarc makes good products and I have read the product page but I am still unsure if its possible or how to do it.

Thanks for any input you care to share.

Greg

[BadMouth]

If you're not worried about having force feedback, the U-HID from Ultimarc would be the easiest.
Basically, just cut the wires from the potentiometers on the controls and run them to the U-HID.
http://www.u-hid.com/home/index.php

The APAC shows up at TWO separate controllers, each with only two axis.
So it's not possible to get all the controls to show up as one controller.
This isn't a problem with MAME, but is with a lot of PC games and other emulators.

Most other methods will require you to swap out the potentiometers in the cab.

Lotsa info in my sig if you haven't read it yet.

In the Model 2 emulator section, there's a link to instructions on how to link cabs on a network 

[GCS]

Well maintaining FF would be the preference but if its not doable easily (again I am no wiring expert) then I need to rethink things.

I am reviewing your thread now.

Ultimately what I would like to see is each cab be able to play its own game (i.e. someone is playing outrun on one cab and some is playing say cruisin' on the other one) but then be able to link play games that support it of course.

Guessing I would need 2 complete PC setups for that to work.

I would love to for this idea to work as the twin set up is a steal even w/o the monitors and boards.  I would probably just try to go with LCDs for weight, interface with the PC, and ease of mounting vs finding the monitors or a crappy TV for them.



EDIT - I guess the other option would be to yank the pedals, wheels, shifters etc and just drop in 2 G27s.  I would need to redo the dash of course and then reverse mount the pedals in the cabinets.  This would probably be the easiest route.

Will the G27 work for emulated versions of Daytona, Cal Speed, etc?

[bkenobi]

My guess is that you will be happiest with a pair of computers networked and playing PC driving games.  You might be able to get some emulators working, but I'm not sure how many have easily accessed network connectivity without having a keyboard/mouse hiding somewhere.  If you don't mind pulling out a keyboard/mouse, then you should be good to go.

If you want games like San Fransisco Rush, California Speed, Daytona, etc...you are going to need a pair of beefy systems.  IIRC, MAME currently only accesses up to 2 processors, so the fastest dual core would be the best current setup without wasting computing power.  The maximum performance CPU is probably at a quad+ level at this point, though.  As such, you'll spend a bit more if you want the absolute maximum horsepower.

[BadMouth]

EDIT - I guess the other option would be to yank the pedals, wheels, shifters etc and just drop in 2 G27s.  I would need to redo the dash of course and then reverse mount the pedals in the cabinets.  This would probably be the easiest route.

Will the G27 work for emulated versions of Daytona, Cal Speed, etc?

It could be argued that leaving all that stuff in place and hooking it up to a U-HID is easier.
But for FFB and out of the box compatibility with nearly all games, a logitech is the way to go.

The G27 works fine with all the games you mentioned as well as all the other emulators mentioned in the driving cab info thread.
The only thing it isn't so good for is some of the old 360 degree wheel games.

Check out how Gbeef incorporated a G27:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=111231.0

Newegg.com has had the G27 on sale for $205 a couple times recently.
I guess they're coming out with it's successor sometime soon.

[GCS]

Trust me I would love to keep the original stuff in there but that would be to get the real arcade feel and FFB.

Reviewing some of the other threads it seems like FFB would be a bear to get going with the arcade gear already in the cab.


UHID --

Totally confused on this one.  I see it comes with several harness choices and I am guessing I would need the 32 wire one?  Then those wires attach to the pots on the wheel, shifter, and pedals as well as the buttons on the dashboard.  Then those buttons would need to be mapped in the UHID config utility and then in each emulator's settings to get the games working?

I would assume the wires from the harness just solder onto the pots directly


G27 - yes it would be nice to play things like Pole Position, Turbo etc but I think we could make do w/o them in order to get games like Daytona, Cruisin', Outrun, etc


While PC games would be nice or even PS3/XBOX games this needs to be simple and easy for others to use hence the arcade games.  Arcade drivers you can walk up sit down and play (just pick your auto/manual, your course etc and off you go) whereas PC/PS3/360 games will require you to level up, configure the car etc etc etc and guests don't want to bother with that like I would.

Thus it won't be as user friendly and thus not get used for parties (which we have a fair bit of)

Thanks

Greg

[BadMouth]

UHID --

Totally confused on this one.  I see it comes with several harness choices and I am guessing I would need the 32 wire one?  Then those wires attach to the pots on the wheel, shifter, and pedals as well as the buttons on the dashboard.  Then those buttons would need to be mapped in the UHID config utility and then in each emulator's settings to get the games working?

I would assume the wires from the harness just solder onto the pots directly

I didn't even realize he was selling harnesses.  
Yeah, pretty much everything gets wired straight to the U-HID and it will report it as whatever you want, but it needs to be configured.  (gamepad button, gamepad exis, keyboard button, mouse, whatever.....)  You also assume correct that the wires just go directly to the pots.  Nothing extra is needed.

G27 - yes it would be nice to play things like Pole Position, Turbo etc but I think we could make do w/o them in order to get games like Daytona, Cruisin', Outrun, etc

While PC games would be nice or even PS3/XBOX games this needs to be simple and easy for others to use hence the arcade games.  Arcade drivers you can walk up sit down and play (just pick your auto/manual, your course etc and off you go) whereas PC/PS3/360 games will require you to level up, configure the car etc etc etc and guests don't want to bother with that like I would.

Thus it won't be as user friendly and thus not get used for parties (which we have a fair bit of)

The G27 is probably overkill if you're just going to use it for arcade games.
There aren't any arcade games working in emulators that used a 6 speed manual except for ridge racer and it supports paddle shifting.
I also can't think of any 100% working games that require a clutch either, except for SF Rush, but it takes an extremely high end computer to run.
Ridge Racer had a clutch (only a switch, not analogue), but the emulator works properly without it.

My advice would be to buy a much cheaper wheel that only has 2 pedals and mount it behind the original dash like Gbeef did with his G27.
Hacking the arcade pedals to it is easy.  Just swap out the pots with ones that match the value of the ones in the PC pedals,
then move the wires from the pots in the PC pedals over to the ones in the arcade machine.
Then hook the arcade buttons and shifter up to a keyboard encoder and you're done.

That way people aren't confused by the 6 speed or extra buttons.
The easiest controls to understand are the original arcade ones, preferably with labels.  
Check out how I did my buttons.  They're pretty self explanatory, except for people not knowing V.R. is for View Change (sega's wording, not mine)

If you want plug 'n play though, the G27 will have you covered.

[GCS]

Well if I went with G27s it would be to play PC games as well (or drop in a PS3).

That would primarily be for me to play as visitors would just want the arcade games for fun factor and ease of play.


The arcade wish list for the cab would be:

California Speed
Outrun
Outrun 2
Chase HQ
Cruisin' USA
Cruisin' World
Cruisin' Exotica
Daytona USA
Daytona 2
Hydrothunder
Crazy Taxi


San Fran series but that doesn't seem likely

Basically things like that.

Still mulling this whole thing over.

Greg

[BadMouth]

California Speed -I'm running at on a 3.2Ghz Athlon X2 with xp64, Still has some sound issues and it took a lot of tweaking to get it this far
Outrun -MAME (uses the shifter toggle hack).
Outrun 2006 -PC game, loads of fun but no FFB
Chase HQ - MAME, driver imperfect but playable...shifter hack was just added last week
Cruisin' USA - MAME, needs around 3Ghz dual core to run
Cruisin' World - same as cruisin' usa
Cruisin' Exotica - Not yet emulated
Daytona USA - Model 2 Emulator, runs perfect & has FFB
Daytona 2 - Supermodel Emulator, new version should be out soon and should have support for analogue controls.  
                                  Will take some horsepower
Hydrothunder - Arcade version isn't emulated, dreamcast version is ok, but controls don't feel the same
Crazy Taxi - Demul emulator, music craps out after a couple songs, PC version is better although  FFB is odd & doesn't feel right

 

[GCS]

Well I just bought 2 San Francisco Rush the Rock setups for $150.

One is complete just missing a hard drive (which I will do myself - I hope)

The other needs a cap kit, mainboard and hard drive.

Otherwise they are complete and working.

So for now I guess I'll just have a Rush the Rock twin setup vs. an emulated cab.

Hopefully by the time I am tired of RTR the games will be better emulated and perhaps I can make a conversion then.

Greg