What game did this steering control panel come from?

[Landstander]

I've just received (via ebay) a very strange steering wheel control panel of unknown origin. Here's a quick pic:

It's a 360 degree force feedback wheel with dual encoder wheels. There is no shifter assembly. There is a start key on the right. The buttons on the left side read FAN, TOW TRUCK and HORN. The button on the right side reads N2O BOOST. My search through KLOV of the driving games found no obvious match. Any ideas?
Bigger pic of the front -
http://www.aracnet.com/~stigmata/mame/driving4.jpg
Pics of the encoder wheels and force feedback assembly -
http://www.aracnet.com/~stigmata/mame/driving1.jpg
http://www.aracnet.com/~stigmata/mame/driving2.jpg

[pitfaller]

You know, it may be a CP from a driving simulator - ala driver's ed classes.  

Just a thought (albeit a scary one...)

There is a Happs Control sticker on it - either it has been serviced by them or they may know more about it...

[Landstander]

Thanks for the suggestion Pitfaller. That would be a cool simulator - use the N2O button too many times and eventually you have to use the Tow Truck button.

You know, it may be a CP from a driving simulator - ala driver's ed classes.  

Just a thought (albeit a scary one...)

There is a Happs Control sticker on it - either it has been serviced by them or they may know more about it...

[danny_galaga]

im probably stating the obvious, but the wheel itself is a happ. i dont know if that would help. i dont know much about the controls and who makes what for whom...

[pitfaller]

One other distinnt possibility is that it is a cobbled together CP for the NASCAR series, or other similar,  PC games  -  would explain the tow truck button I think - not sure on the N2O button (other games)

Horn seems kinda lame - as would the key...

You do seem to have an odd bird on your hand...

[Landstander]

The connectors are all molex - so I doubt it came from a PC application. I checked through the Happ catalog and the force feedback wheels I see are either 270 degree single encoder types - or full replacement setups for the midway games. They don't have exploded views for the midway replacement wheels so I can't see if that's what it truly is. Who builds a driving control without a gear shifter? Truly an odd bird (as pitfaller said).

Regardless, I'm happy to have the parts. The dual encoder wheel seems perfectly suited for use as a 720 controller - just remove the force feedback motor and replace the steering wheel with an offset handle.

[NoOne=NBA=]

My guess would be that it was installed in a sitdown cab that had the shifter in the console, rather than on the CP/dash part of it.

[anoon]

I know exactly what that panel is from.

Driver's Edge
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=D&game_id=7656

I was employed by Incredible Technologies/Strata back then and I believe I was working on either Hard Yardage or Bloodstorm roughly the same time that DE development was wrapping up.

It was only sold as a dedicated sitdown cabinet, all wood, all painted red (and not very pretty.) There is no shifter on the panel because it was mounted in the 'arm' of the chair portion of the unit.

'Fan' turned on and off a fan that was mounted in the marquee area, pointed down at the player. It blew on the driver to simulate the breeze you'd feel whilst driving a car. (I found it dried out my contacts more than imparted a sense of speed.)
'Tow Truck' was for if you got too far off track, if I recall correctly.
'Horn' blew the horn. I don't recall any discernable gameplay advantage to this feature.
'The Key' started the car at the beginning of the race.
N20 gave you a burst of speed.

I was at the show (AMOA? AMAA?) in Chicago when DE was first up for sale. It didn't get too much attention from the distributors as I recall. I think Hard Yardage was also first up for sale that show, and we did a WIP preview of Bloodstorm too. While DE obviously wasn't a success, the project lead went on to deliver the most successful coin op of recent history shortly after: Peter Jacobsen's Golden Tee 3D Golf.

Funny enough, the only time I've ever seen a DE out in the wild was when I travelled all the way to Australia to work on Street Fighter the Movie. I went to one of the local arcades one night and saw a DE sitting there. Odd how I had to go half way around the world to find one.

Anyway, I hope that helped. Thanks for the trip down memory lane!

[Landstander]

Thanks anoon for all the great info. At least I know I won't be
destroying a sought-after classic if I use the parts out of this control.

I know exactly what that panel is from.

Driver's Edge
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=D&game_id=7656

...

Anyway, I hope that helped. Thanks for the trip down memory lane!

[anoon]

One final bit of DE trivia I just remembered:

This was Strata's first actual 3D game, and developed very early on during the 3D boom. The 3D tools back then weren't what they are now, for sure! To model the car, the lead artist had to assemble an actual balsa and foamcore model, then plot its points usuing a massive 'Space Arm' (The forerunner of the modern Microscribe)

Pretty hilarious stuff* to think about seeing the equivalent of a 60 poly model model built out of craft materials sitting on the desk, then using a $20,000 piece of harware to plot that handful of points. Creating those models today would probably take 10 minutes.




*...well, hilarious to me t least.

[pitfaller]

Wow - who'd a thunk it - you might want to send that pic of the CP to the KLOV folks so at least something visual is up on that site about this game - no wonder why we couldn't find it there - lol...

[danny_galaga]

and to think that was only ten years ago! yeah, i reckon you should send a pic to klov before you pull it apart. maybe a better posed one than this though  

[Landstander]

I will make sure to send KLOV a (better) pic of the control panel. They might like to hear anoon's info, too.

Wow - who'd a thunk it - you might want to send that pic of the CP to the KLOV folks so at least something visual is up on that site about this game - no wonder why we couldn't find it there - lol...

and to think that was only ten years ago! yeah, i reckon you should send a pic to klov before you pull it apart. maybe a better posed one than this though