Cab idea, Mini Driver...thoughts

[twitami]

So, I have this idea for a Bartop Driving Cabinet. A regular Bartop (similar to the model MAMEROOM sells the kit for), but have two of the Groovy Game Gear Mini Steering wheels on it. Then , for brake and gas, maybe use two of those clear, rectangular shaped buttons that are used as EXIT buttons on Ultracade cabs. Mount them on the CP vertical (facing up and down) instead of left to right as they are normally installed. Then, put a picture or printout of the top of a brake and gas pedal in them. Put a bunch of old-school driving games in it like Atari Fire Truck and Night Driver, all the way up to Out-Run.

I could even put small connections on the front under the control panel for add-on gas and brake pedals to sit on the floor! Anyone know if there are any old-school type pedals (non analog I would assume) that might work for something like this?

Brian

[Kremmit]

Minnie Driver?

[hbm*rais]

He said MINI driver:

[hbm*rais]

Well, on the original subject...

I don't know if there are many driving games take advantage of two 360 wheels. There is the Sprint series, of course, but I don't know many more.

Besides, two adults playing with small steering wheels on a bartop doesn't look very comfortable.

Maybe you'd be better off with a single player driving bartop equipped with a 360 and a 270 steering wheel.

[Kremmit]

Off the top of my head:

Ivan Stewart's Super Off Road
Ivan Stewart's Super Off Road - Track Pack
Sprint 2
Sprint 4
Sprint 8
Super Sprint
Championship Spring
Badlands
Death Race

I don't believe all of those are emulated, but there are probably some others I haven't thought of.  Still, definitely a specialty machine.  Me, I love Super Sprint and Off Road, so it seems worth it.  If you never cared about those, then probably not.

[twitami]

Plus, it could be used with regular driving games as well couldn't it? Like Out Run, Night Driver, Enduro Racer, etc? I know they used a different wheel (270 vs 360 I think), but they WILL work with a spinner, I have played them with one. Is there a problem using one for them?

[Xiaou2]

 Yes, you can play 270 degree well with a 360 spinner.

 You can also play 2 player spinner games with such as  Warlords.
 

 I think it would be a cool addition to add analog pedals that can plug into
the machine  Via  a connector jack.

 Or maybe you could even make a mini-analog stick hacks  for  micro 'finger pedals'
on the actual control panel.

[hbm*rais]

You CAN play 270 games with 360 wheel/spinner. Then again, you could play it with a keyboard, a mouse or a 8-way joystick. I couldn't tell you if the experience would be pleasant, as I never tried it. I can tell you for sure I wouldn't be able to play modern games (think Outrun C2C ou Crazy Taxi) with this kind of controller, even if they'd allowed for it.

As Kermmit said, its an specialty machine. If you know and love enough 360 games (driving or spinner), by all means, go for it.

If it was my cab I would try to cover my bases and have a 270 wheel around anyway. That way I would be able to play modern arcade based PC games and the fantastic games emulated by the Nebula M2.

How about this: A single centered 270 controller, sided by two 360 spinners/wheels. You don't need a wheel mounted on the center controller, just use the same kind of shaft used on the GGG spinner.  That way you can go from single player 270 to dual player 360 in just a minute.

Plus, it could be used with regular driving games as well couldn't it? Like Out Run, Night Driver, Enduro Racer, etc? I know they used a different wheel (270 vs 360 I think), but they WILL work with a spinner, I have played them with one. Is there a problem using one for them?

[Xiaou2]

"couldn't tell you if the experience would be pleasant"

 It works and plays just fine.    A spinner has high resolution, and therefore,
will preform just the same as a Pot based controller.

 Trying to play a 360 game with a pot however, will not work well,  or not at
all.

"I can tell you for sure I wouldn't be able to play modern games"

 Wrong Again.    Most all modern driving games allow for mouse steering.  Ive never
seen a modern driving game that didnt allow Mouse steering.

[hbm*rais]

Xiaou,

There is a big difference between "working" and being a pleasant experience. Never mind the resolution of a spinner, it doesn't "perform just the same" as a pot based controller. It performs differently, not better, not worse, differently.

The infinite spin and lack of self centering of a spinner would ruin any modern game to me. Note that I said "to me". That's a personal taste and not an indisputable truth.

Out of curiosity, what modern driving games allow mouse steering? Are you referring to MAME? If yes, then of course, it's part of the emulator infrastructure, it makes lots of kinds controllers work interchangeably (you can use 8-way joystick to play a trackball game, why not a spinner for a 270 wheel game).

If you're talking about modern PC games, then I'm a bit lost... the only ones that I know that allow mouse steering are some hardcore simulation games.

@OP: If you're a hardcore fan of the Super Sprint series, maybe you want to check a PC game called GeneRally (http://generally.rscsites.org/screenshots.shtml). Same style of game, lots of different cars and tracks. But... it doesn't seem to allow mouse steering. Also, I'm not sure if it's cab friendly.

"couldn't tell you if the experience would be pleasant"

 It works and plays just fine.    A spinner has high resolution, and therefore,
will preform just the same as a Pot based controller.

 Trying to play a 360 game with a pot however, will not work well,  or not at
all.

"I can tell you for sure I wouldn't be able to play modern games"

 Wrong Again.    Most all modern driving games allow for mouse steering.  Ive never
seen a modern driving game that didnt allow Mouse steering.