Making a MAME racing cabinet with Opti-PAC

[Bugfinder]

First, I have no clue about what racing games in MAME have analog or digital controls. I'm only interested on games that use wheels (there are some racing games using joysticks, I don't care about those). So my concern basically is, will an Opti-PAC handle whatever kind of input a given game needs? I see a picture of the Opti-PAC linked to 3 trackballs, which is nice but how about a racing wheel? Will I need another encoder for accelerator, brake and other controls like start, coin, change gears, change camera views (when these 3D games are added) etc?

Another thing that worries me is I have seen in the past some games using a type of wheel that won't stop at a given position, instead you can keep continuously turning clockwise, when you turn it anticlockwise the car will immmediately turns to the left (Pole Position). Other games seem more sensitive to how much you turn the wheel to a direction. Is it possible to have an universal setup?

Thanks for any ideas!

[SirPoonga]

Ok, two type of racing games.

Ones where the steering wheels are just large optical spinner and the gas and brake are just buttons

then there is the ones that the steering wheel is analog input (generally only turn 270 degrees) and/or analog gas and brake.
urebelscum.speedhost.com has a good list of analog racing games that it affects.

Since I made removable control panels for my cabinet, I plan on having a racing panel.  There are going to be two spinner type wheels, then I will use a logitech analog steering wheel that will clamp on.

now, you want to use the optipac.  Someone else correct me if I am wrong, but you will only be able to use two spinners (ie mice) in dos.  You will need to get a gameport analog wheel for analog racing games then.

[Bugfinder]

Ok, two type of racing games.

Ones where the steering wheels are just large optical spinner and the gas and brake are just buttons

then there is the ones that the steering wheel is analog input (generally only turn 270 degrees) and/or analog gas and brake.
urebelscum.speedhost.com has a good list of analog racing games that it affects.

Since I made removable control panels for my cabinet, I plan on having a racing panel.  There are going to be two spinner type wheels, then I will use a logitech analog steering wheel that will clamp on.

now, you want to use the optipac.  Someone else correct me if I am wrong, but you will only be able to use two spinners (ie mice) in dos.  You will need to get a gameport analog wheel for analog racing games then.

What I have in mind is to get an actual used Pole Position sitdown cabinet and convert it. Will I need more than one spinner for this one? In the case I cannot mix the games using the same setup, then I will see what games use a spinner and what games use analog input. Then I will weight the games I like most and then decide :-)

[SirPoonga]

I put two on for multiplayer games, like danny sulivan's indy heat and ironman stewart's super offroad.