Dedicted driving cab - need ideas or lessons learned

[RickDIII]

Hey all,

Getting ready to start on my second machine.  This one will be dedicated for driving games.

Just picked up this non-working Big Run machine in the hopes of modifying it to do the job.


Just wanted to hear everyone's thoughts.  
This machine has:
270 wheel (I think) with button in the center
Gas pedal
shifter (hi/low only)
2 buttons

So, I'm trying to figure out what will be needed for most driving games.  If anyone has already compiled a list of these let me know.

But I'm thinking I need the to add a couple of buttons for coin-ups and P1 and P2.  What about a brake pedal?  How many games actually require one?  What about shifters?  Should I plan on switching this one out for another?

All thougts appreciated!  

Rick

[ratabase1]

I converted a pole position to a dedicated driving cabinet.   

I added two buttons on top the cabinet for ESC and Pause.  I added two buttons above the coin door, a player 1 start button and a credit button.  I added two buttons to the my control panel, one for a Turbo button and one for Fire.  One recommendation is you may want to replace your HI/LO shifter with a 4-way shifter.  I replaced mine with a 4-way.  You can still use one side of the 4 way to act as a HI/LO shifter.  As far as the brake pedal goes, I didn't add one.  I can't say that I'd actually use one in a game.  If you want to slow down, just let off the gas.   

I'm using 3darcade as the frontend, using the steering wheel for scroll through the list and using the gear shift to select the game. 

[leapinlew]

my driving rig has a up/down return to center turbo button shifter, I added a fire button to the CP. Mine has a 360 wheel and switch on/off pedals. It plays a handful of games accurately:

Offroad
Championship Sprint

and a small handful of other games. It plays a few games well like Special Crime Investigation, but it's not truly faithful. I think in total it plays about 40 games total (including games like tempest, puzz loop and other spinner games).

I wouldn't build one again. Even for the few games it plays great, there aren't enough players. Offroad is fun, but it's best when you have 3 players playing. Mine was called Prepare to Qualify and you can find it in the Project Announcements section

[leapinlew]

I'll add...

If I did do it again - I'd go with an xbox solution and a sit down cab. Check out TheCoders cab in the project announcements section

[Angry_Radish]

How many games can you play on that?
I'm heading down the same road, only with a 270 wheel, and haven't added the 4speed yet..
Have you had issues not havinig a brake pedal?

I converted a pole position to a dedicated driving cabinet.   

I added two buttons on top the cabinet for ESC and Pause.  I added two buttons above the coin door, a player 1 start button and a credit button.  I added two buttons to the my control panel, one for a Turbo button and one for Fire.  One recommendation is you may want to replace your HI/LO shifter with a 4-way shifter.  I replaced mine with a 4-way.  You can still use one side of the 4 way to act as a HI/LO shifter.  As far as the brake pedal goes, I didn't add one.  I can't say that I'd actually use one in a game.  If you want to slow down, just let off the gas.   

I'm using 3darcade as the frontend, using the steering wheel for scroll through the list and using the gear shift to select the game. 

[shess]

Sorry to hijack the thread momentarily, but I've got a 4-speed shifter and a 360 wheel in the forsale section if anyone's interested in adding one to their cab.  Now back to your regularly scheduled topic.

Thanks,
Scott

[RickDIII]

I added two buttons on top the cabinet for ESC and Pause.  I added two buttons above the coin door, a player 1 start button and a credit button.  I added two buttons to the my control panel, one for a Turbo button and one for Fire.  One recommendation is you may want to replace your HI/LO shifter with a 4-way shifter.  I replaced mine with a 4-way.  You can still use one side of the 4 way to act as a HI/LO shifter.  As far as the brake pedal goes, I didn't add one.  I can't say that I'd actually use one in a game.  If you want to slow down, just let off the gas.   
 

This is very similar to the way I intended to head.  I didn't think the hi/low would cut it...and I don't think I have ever actually used the brake in any driving games.

If I did do it again - I'd go with an xbox solution and a sit down cab. Check out TheCoders cab in the project announcements section

I initially headed down the sit down cab path...then I realized how difficult it was going to be just to convince my wife we "have room" for another standup.  I could consider an xbox option though... something to think about.

Anybody have opinions on the pros/cons of keeping a 270 vs going to a 360 wheel?   

[shess]

All racing games can use a 360 wheel but 360 games can't use a 270 wheel.  Plus I believe a 270 wheel needs a little bit more fanagling to get working via the Dual Strike hack or something else.  A 360 wheel can use a mouse hack pretty easily in dos/windows/anything that supports a mouse.

Scott

[divemaster127]

im in the process of putting together a set down racing cab, with 3 cps, 1 mame w/360 wheel, 1 xbox & 1 space cp, im still trying to decide between a star wars yok & a happ flight stick...im going to go all out, racing seat from happ etc
dm

[RickDIII]

All racing games can use a 360 wheel but 360 games can't use a 270 wheel.  Plus I believe a 270 wheel needs a little bit more fanagling to get working via the Dual Strike hack or something else.  A 360 wheel can use a mouse hack pretty easily in dos/windows/anything that supports a mouse.

Scott

Thanks - exactly what I needed to know.

As I think about the xbox idea, I start to like it more and more.  I don't have any more "extra" pc's and with the cost of a used xbox in the gutter since the 360s came out it might be cheaper to put one of those in.

DM - Do you have your sit down in the project section?  I want to see pics when finished!

[divemaster127]

I will right now i have parts laying everywhere so im getting ready to start building in the next 30 days, just still trying to decide between a mameroom design or I just posted a new topic about a really cool happ driving assembly that I could build a frontend around pretty easy of course once I get the price from happ that may kill that idea...
dm

[leapinlew]

If you go the Xbox route... you'll want the 270 steering wheel. In fact, you'd probably just buy and mount an xbox controller setup. The thing with xbox games... they are long. You could be standing there a while (hence the reason for a sit down)

[ratabase1]

How many games can you play on that?
I'm heading down the same road, only with a 270 wheel, and haven't added the 4speed yet..
Have you had issues not havinig a brake pedal?

I converted a pole position to a dedicated driving cabinet.   

I added two buttons on top the cabinet for ESC and Pause.  I added two buttons above the coin door, a player 1 start button and a credit button.  I added two buttons to the my control panel, one for a Turbo button and one for Fire.  One recommendation is you may want to replace your HI/LO shifter with a 4-way shifter.  I replaced mine with a 4-way.  You can still use one side of the 4 way to act as a HI/LO shifter.  As far as the brake pedal goes, I didn't add one.  I can't say that I'd actually use one in a game.  If you want to slow down, just let off the gas.   

I'm using 3darcade as the frontend, using the steering wheel for scroll through the list and using the gear shift to select the game. 

To be honest I haven't played it a whole lot.  Each game in Mame needs to have the sensitivity settings for the controls set, which is very time consuming. 

Of course, I have the various Mame racing games on it.  I also have the N64 emulator loaded with driving games such as Cruis'n USA, etc., along with several different PC games (Need for Speeds, etc).

A brake pedal would be nice for the N64 games and PC games, but I'm not sure how many games overall I would use it on. 

[Kremmit]

All racing games can use a 360 wheel but 360 games can't use a 270 wheel.  Plus I believe a 270 wheel needs a little bit more fanagling to get working via the Dual Strike hack or something else.  A 360 wheel can use a mouse hack pretty easily in dos/windows/anything that supports a mouse.

Scott

A 270 wheel can be interfaced with the Ultimarc A-Pac or the AKI interface if you don't want to do a dual-strike hack.