Dedicated Driving Cabinet?

[ratabase1]

 ???Has anybody created a dedicated cabinet to play the driving games only?  I have a pole position steering wheel, shifter, etc, I am planning on using on a cabinet I'm building.  I wasn't going to have any joysticks on this cabinet.  I want to be able to play different driving games, and be able to select them from a frontend.  My dilemna is, how can I select the game I want to play without the joysticks?  Is there a frontend maybe that would allow me to use the steering wheel to scroll through the games, and maybe the gas pedal to select it?  Any thoughts or ideas?

[menace]

here is a very nice example of one--one of my new favourites

http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=10;action=display;threadid=21077

[Onji]

I have no expierence with steering wheels, but if their optical, and they work kinda like a mouse, then all we need is for Minwah to release his latest version of Mamewah with the ability to scroll thru the gameslist with a trackball, mouse etc *hint hint  nudge nudge*

[NoOne=NBA=]

I just picked up an Ivan Stewart's Off-Road CP (amongst the pile of other stuff I've bought in the past couple months), and am planning a 3-P driving/2-P shooting cab.

The center wheel and shifter will be modular, so that I can swap out the 360 wheel with the 270 wheel I just won, and can have different shifters based on specific games.

Your best bet for navigation with no joystick, at this point, is probably to use two of the dash buttons.
(Nitro/weapons/etc...)

[MrBond]

Some front ends that have mouse support that I have personally used:

3-D arcade/Emulaxian   http://3darcade.mameworld.net/index2.htm
Dragon King                  http://www.oscarcontrols.com/lazarus/#
Game Launcher             http://www.dribin.org/dave/game_launcher/

You can define which axis to use (for a steering wheel, you probably are going x-axis) with Dragon King and Game Launcher...as far as I can tell, 3D Arcade uses the y-axis for 'normal' speed selection of games and the x-axis for 'fast' speed selection (like page up/down)...of course, the author, )p(, would gladly add the option to switch axes if it is doable.  (or you could just set up your wheel input to use the y-axis)

If the gas pedal acts as a keypress or even a joystick/gamepad input, I'd see no problems with any of these front ends selecting the game with it.

[Silver]

You can't really mention Driving-only cabs without bringing up this mama (literally):

http://unclet.arcadecontrols.com/MomsArcade/MomsArcadeMain.html

not sure how he chooses games, as i don't think it has a joystick...?

[Gamecab]

I'm in the process of making one.  It's based close to the design of the SF Rush 2049 Cab.  This picture is Just the shell and it still needs a lot of work.  It's my summer project.  Check out the link because I'm bad at posting pics on this site.
http://www.gamecab.com/driver.htm

[ferrarimanf355]

I'm in the process of making one.  It's based close to the design of the SF Rush 2049 Cab.  This picture is Just the shell and it still needs a lot of work.  It's my summer project.  Check out the link because I'm bad at posting pics on this site.
http://www.gamecab.com/driver.htm

That looks great. Are you considering sharing your plans once you're done?  
I'm thinking about basing my dream driving cab off of either that or a Daytona USA 2 cab.

[Gamecab]

I'm in the process of making one.  It's based close to the design of the SF Rush 2049 Cab.  This picture is Just the shell and it still needs a lot of work.  It's my summer project.  Check out the link because I'm bad at posting pics on this site.
http://www.gamecab.com/driver.htm

That looks great. Are you considering sharing your plans once you're done?  
I'm thinking about basing my dream driving cab off of either that or a Daytona USA 2 cab.

I'm still working on the plans.  As of now I am not sure when they will be posted on the GameCab website.  I hope really soon.  I still have a lot more work to do on this cabinet before I can really show it off.  The nice part about this is that it has a very small footprint if space is the issue.  I'm going to post more pics in the coming weeks.

[derek1800]

Thats what I am in the process of too. But I am going to use the cab for pc racing games nfs, sega rally, daytona, etc etc. As for fe I wish mamewah had steering wheel support. Also in the nfs titles I only had one game(high stakes I believe) that let me go through the menu with the pc steering wheel. Is there a way to turn this on for other nfs games(IIse, IIIhotpersuit, Porsche unleashed, Hot persuit 2)?

[ferrarimanf355]

I'm in the process of making one.  It's based close to the design of the SF Rush 2049 Cab.  This picture is Just the shell and it still needs a lot of work.  It's my summer project.  Check out the link because I'm bad at posting pics on this site.
http://www.gamecab.com/driver.htm

That looks great. Are you considering sharing your plans once you're done?  
I'm thinking about basing my dream driving cab off of either that or a Daytona USA 2 cab.

I'm still working on the plans.  As of now I am not sure when they will be posted on the GameCab website.  I hope really soon.  I still have a lot more work to do on this cabinet before I can really show it off.  The nice part about this is that it has a very small footprint if space is the issue.  I'm going to post more pics in the coming weeks.

OK, I'm just wondering, but are you going to charge for the plans? What kind of monitor are you planning to use? How are you going to mount the speakers? And what controls are you going to use?
If it turns out really great, then the wait for Daytona USA 2, Scud Race and all of the other great Sega racers to be MAMEd becomes that much more painful... although you could put a resonably fast computer in there to play NASCAR sims or Grand Prix Legends.

[bdsjake]

I'm in the process of making one.  It's based close to the design of the SF Rush 2049 Cab.  This picture is Just the shell and it still needs a lot of work.  It's my summer project.  Check out the link because I'm bad at posting pics on this site.
http://www.gamecab.com/driver.htm

Gamecab. very nice start!  please keep us posted.

[AlanS17]

I just aquired a working Dirt Fox arcade machine that I will likely convert to a MAME driver. It's in good cosmetic condition but someone must have removed the gas pedal and twisted the wires together cuz it's on perma-go. It has a working steering wheel and shifter, but I'll have to reinstall a gas pedal and brake pedal.

Are most driving games verticle or horizontal? I'm inclined to say horizontal, but this one is verticle...

[NoOne=NBA=]

MOST of the good ones are horizontal.

[AlanS17]

That's what I thought...

I just recently aquired a working Off-Road, but it's in such good condition that I'm gonna restore it. Seller thought it was busted, but it was just the power cord that was shredded. Picked it up for $100!!

[ferrarimanf355]

You know what, now that I'm thinking about this, I started wondering: could the compact Final Lap 3 cabinet be perfect for MAME?

The way I'm thinking, the Pocketz cab would be a great starting point. Take that design, remove the angle at which the monitor is mounted and bolt in a platform for a seat. Not the plank used in the Final Lap 3 cab, a real seat.   Then, I would increase the width to accomidate a 33'' Wells Gardner D9200 or equivilant, use real arcade controls, and use a Betson Daytona 2 replacement shifter and Daytona 2-style wheel, and it's perfect.
If nothing else, the side artwork on the Final Lap 3 cab is perfect.