After the last episode you dive deeper into the world Volkswagen semi-automatic transmission, I know youthis week it might be fun to do some old video-driving stuff and maybe have something to do. But there is none and involved, something that if one likes the idea, they can repeat it while killing the time before it goes out or something. A quick and dirty thing. And it's pretty much what I found, with this DIY driver's advanced driving controller.
I've been thinking about old video game driving controls, too, and especially the old Atari drive controller:
Now, there are a few things that are noteworthy about this driver's control: first, it doesn't look like the actual steering wheel of any part of the car, except maybe in radio volume control, and B is used for just one game, Indy 500
It was a good controller, what it was, but it looked like a standard paddle controller again, without having to completely change the 360 ° and have a different internal machine (rotary encoder vs. potentiometer) not much different from driving.
Real steering wheels have been in arcade machines since the 1970s, and at least one home console, Colecovision, offered a real steering-wheel-and-pedal add-on as a control-in controller in the game Turbo.
For most consoles and computers of the 1980s, however, the controllers that were expected in almost all games, including driving games, were small digital gadgets – just a set of five on / off items, one for each direction and action button.
This can be used for driving games, but it has never been more realistic and never has been they felt it's like driving, because we don't drive with sticks.
So, I wanted to come up with a way to get that real (ish) driving experience while using the basic digital joystick input.
I've done this before, in the past Lancia I transformed into a life size driver museum installation. In that case I used a zebury shift centered in the steering wheel, but because of this, I wanted to find a way to do it with crap or anyone who might be lying around all the time.
So, with that in mind, I picked up a plastic steering wheel that resembled something, and tied a setup such as an indirect pendulum that allowed you to tread a wheel to turn it.
It's never been simpler than this: I connected the weighted "bob" with a GRound phone to the Atari control computer (the same connector was used by most 1980s home computers, so this would work on Commodore or MSX or Sega or a bunch of other stuff) and then I connect the other two wires to LEFT and the RIGHT pins.
So, when you step on the steering wheel, the hanging bob will lean to the side, interact with the LEFT or RIGHT wire / contact, send that signal to the console, and, hopefully, convert your tiny pixelated car.
Now, I got it together pretty quickly, and my connection wasn't good, so the connection between the GRound bob and the result contacts is pretty messed up.
But I think if you take the time to make this right, you can have at least a fake digital driver controller. feel it of the analog wheel.
Maybe one of you will want to try this? If you do, please post photos or video for my enjoyment! Because, as you know, I love that shit.
