Vigolix racing machine for 360 degree games?

[maxnew40]

I am in the process of planning my next build and I am thinking I would really like to play Pole Position and few of the 360 degree wheel games.

So maybe a Vigolix style for 360 degree racing games ( don't want to use a 270 degree game wheel).

Right now I am thinking a MAME emulator, one of the spinner controllers with the mini wheel, and some sort of pedal setup.

Still in the planning stages as I need to figure out what to do for the pedals and shifter.

Any suggestions?

-Max

[harveybirdman]

Pretty sure the Scourge himself did a racer...

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,120992.msg1283705.html#msg1283705

[BadMouth]

Any suggestions?

Attach it to the wall so you don't knock it over. 

Use analog pedals if at all possible.  It makes a difference on some games, especially pole position where you lose time if your tires spin during acceleration.
Use original ones or repurpose some from a PC driving setup if you can find them cheap.  You'd probably use an A-PAC or U-HID to interface them although a lot of the newer ones use 10k pots which theoretically might work with a hacked gamepad.  You could also just build your own with cheap radioshack potentiometers if you have the skills.
If it's an old PC with a gameport, you can wire 100k pots straight to it with no other interface.

Since it's a small cab, you might want to have them separate and on cables so you can straddle the cab while playing.

By default MAME uses a toggle button for shifting.  I'd much rather have an actual Hi/Low shifter.  See the MAME section of the driving cab info thread stickied in the driving cab suforum for how to make MAME play better with one.  All they are is a lever that presses a switch when it's in one of the positions.  They only had one switch in them.  The game assumes you're in the other gear if the switch isn't closed.

You shouldn't really need much else for those games.  Maybe a turbo boost button for Ivan Stewart's Off Road.

[maxnew40]

Am I correct in assuming that I wouldn't need a high power computer for MAME if I going to be using it for Pole Position and Sprint?

-Max

[BadMouth]

Am I correct in assuming that I wouldn't need a high power computer for MAME if I going to be using it for Pole Position and Sprint?

-Max

yup.  If it's ancient, you're better off using an older version of mame though. v.106 or older.
I ran Outrun on a 600mhz Pentium 3 using mame v.082 or thereabouts.

Racermame is based on v.106, but I'm not sure how well it works for 360 degree setups.

The older 2D and sprite scaling games don't take much to run.
They start getting demanding around Cruisn' USA and newer.

[maxnew40]

Now all I have to do is finish up the two projects I am working on now   

-Max

[maxnew40]

OK, My plans are starting to come together for a small vigolix driving cab. Due to the small size I will probably go with one of the spin encoders with the optional driving wheel. I will need analog pedals which don't seem to be very cheap, a computer, an interface, and a couple of buttons.

-Max

[maxnew40]

I think I have run into a problem with the plan for this build. The Vigolix driving cab I saw made me realize that there would be no room for a full size computer. That means the cost goes up even more.

I am going the put this idea on the shelf for now and maybe just build another vigolix for Horizontal games.

-Max