Using real car steering wheel and pedal in arcade machine

[arcadepcnut]

Hello. i am the builder of breaktime racing cabinet. I have started working on the project again and wanted to upgrade the weakest link....that being the steering wheel and pedals. The pedals are still working fine but do not feel as good as real pedals and the steering wheel over time and use has gotten wobbley and loose and worn. I want to take the existing electronics and adapt to real car steering wheel and pedals. That way the xbox interface stays intact but more realist and robust parts are used. Anyone know of anyone who has already dont this or references I can look at. I dont want to have to reinvent the wheel. <pun intended>/

http://www.nnmodels.com/breaktime

Thanks in advance for your tips and help.

Note: I did a quick search and have been out of the scene for over a year..so I apologize if this topic has been discussed. I just missed it and would appreciate a link instead of a flame. thanks!

[trcroyle]

For pedals, I have a set like these: http://cgi.ebay.com/DUAL-GAS-AND-BRAKE-PEDAL-ASSEMBLY-TESTED-WORKING_W0QQitemZ6289230198QQihZ010QQcategoryZ13718QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem that feel pretty nice to me. Then again, I'm used to driving an old VW bus, so my idea of "normal driving feel" might not match up to yours.

When you say you want a real car steering wheel are you just looking for the hand feel of an actual wheel, or do you want the resistance when turning? 

[arcadepcnut]

For steering wheel definatley resistence. That can be easily accomplished with the right springs. just like the right springs for the gas and brake can make them feel similar.

I was going to get the gas and brake pedals off a real car but was wondering if it would be easier to convert the ebay ones over.

[NoOne=NBA=]

Real ARCADE controls should solve your problem.

I don't know what's in the guts of the Xbox wheels because I've never disassembled one.
I'd assume they are pot based, just like the PC versions though.

If that's the case, you should be able to hack the above mentioned pedals, and a Happ 270 wheel to them, and get much better durability/feel, without resorting to trying to retrofit arcade sensors to a real car wheel.

I've got a Happ 270 wheel, and Happ analog pedals.
I used an AKI to interface them because they are used only on my PC though.

[Kremmit]

Guys who play hardcore online racing sim games have been doing stuff like this for a long time now.  The kind of nuts that actually race a full 500-mile race, online, peeing into a coffee can so they don't have to get up.  There also are, or were, vendors who make specialty controllers for that market, for people who don't want to hack their own.  I don't have any links for you, but Google probably does.

[arcadepcnut]

So everyone...will this work?
http://cgi.ebay.com/Happ-Atari-Force-Feed-Back-Steering-Assembly_W0QQitemZ6288959840QQihZ010QQcategoryZ13718QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Is it what you are talking about minus the wheel? if so is that a good price?

thanks for your help in turning this into a more robust machine!

[arcadepcnut]

I won the pedals. Hopefully it wont be hard to convert them. I'll keep you posted.

[escher]

Personally, I'm in love with my Logitech Driving Force Pro.  The force-feedback is great, as is the 900 degrees of rotation.  It's only good for the PS2, and only flat-out amazing with Gran Turismo 4. 

Of course, what other console racing game is there? 

[arcadepcnut]

forza. Forza slaughters GT4. 

[mark shaker]

So everyone...will this work?
http://cgi.ebay.com/Happ-Atari-Force-Feed-Back-Steering-Assembly_W0QQitemZ6288959840QQihZ010QQcategoryZ13718QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Is it what you are talking about minus the wheel? if so is that a good price?

thanks for your help in turning this into a more robust machine!

It is a good price considering Happ sells them for $270. (BTW: I just bought this one, but the seller has 2 more.)

The tech page at the bottom of my site haws instructions on hooking this to both a PC and PS2 by using the circuit board from a Logitech Driving Force and an amplifier: www.marksarcade.com.

   - Mark

[mark shaker]

So everyone...will this work?
http://cgi.ebay.com/Happ-Atari-Force-Feed-Back-Steering-Assembly_W0QQitemZ6288959840QQihZ010QQcategoryZ13718QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Is it what you are talking about minus the wheel? if so is that a good price?

thanks for your help in turning this into a more robust machine!

It is a good price considering Happ sells them for $270. (BTW: I just bought this one, but the seller has 2 more.)

The tech page at the bottom of my site has instructions on hooking this to both a PC and PS2 by using the circuit board from a Logitech Driving Force and an amplifier: www.marksarcade.com.

   - Mark

[arcadepcnut]

okay back to the subject at hand. I got my pedals today. Can anyone with a real arcade racing machine measure for me how far from the center of the cabinet is the brake pedal located. Also how far from the floor is the bottom of the brake pedal and gas pedal. any measurements to help me locate this new arcade pedals would be great. I want to be as accurate as possible on the placement. thank you!

[arcadepcnut]

Im answering my own posts. apparently arcade sit down conversions are not very popular.

I still would like to know the answer to the question to my above on pedal location. but I have another new one.

I got the pedals working using diodes and the xbox gas and brake pots and some (alot) or tinkering with the min/max of the pedal travel and the placement of the gears on the pots and the gears on the pedals.... this is going to be a sweet conversion and Im going to do a writeup on my webpage shortly on this so others can do it without "guessing". However....

I was told a happ 270 wheel would work for the steering wheel conversion. I assume thats because it uses a pot control. Now my question is... would a happ force feedback wheel work??....minus of course the force feedback...which there would be no way to get working. The wheel still uses a pot control and should be able to be adapted since my xbox steering wheel uses pot controls..right?!
I just want to confirm 100% or at least 90% someone please reply that knows a bit about pots and wheels. thanks.

[Kremmit]

Ought to work.  You may have to swap out the pot in the Happ wheel for one with the same value as the one in the Xbox wheel.  Or just use the actual pot from the X-box Wheel, if you're gutting it for the electronics anyway. 

[arcadepcnut]

great thanks!