rec.autos.simulators

All thoughts/ideas greatly appreciated and I think this group's followers
may find discussion on this interesting.

Thanks.

--

-- Because you never get a third chance to make a second impression.

Go Bears!

                               T---

Yep.  I use a 50K pot for steering and two 1 Meg pots for gas and brake.
I only use about 1/10 of the travel on the gas and brake pots, so it works
out to about 100k each.  The joystick calibration takes care of a lot of
your potential (nyuk, nyuk) problems.

Jeff
 --

The value you use generally only affects the sensitivity of the steering.

A low resistance pot produces a range of 0 to 60 in F1GP and a higher one
around 0 to 180.

Its a piece of cake to make your own controls/pedal/shifter.

We built a 1:1 scale Williams F1***pit and fitted it with a wheel,pedals
and paddle shift for our A-Level design project.

Its a piece of cake.

Jed

I've been tinkering with wheel/pedals that I built.  I'm using a 100K
pot and it's gear driven at about a 2:1 ratio (1/4 turn of the wheel
gives a 1/2 turn on the pot).  I'm not sure about direct wiring it.
I used the PC board out of an old Suncom joystick.  I'm also using 100K
pots for throttle and brake.  Two push buttons on the wheel handle
up and down shifts.  I use it with F1GP/WC, but it's a rough
"development" model.  Someday I'll build a better one.  Incidentally,
my fastest race lap at Montreal is with this unit.

BTW, I've found that you don't need very much throw in the wheel.  
Mine is about 1/3 turn lock-to-lock and I may decrease that.  I'm still
working on the best way of giving it some "feel".  Ditto for the pedals.

I'd be interested in anyone else's "experiments" too.

--Brian Ferguson      |  "When I'm racing, I'm alive.   |   LFRS '95-96
--Newmarket, ON, CAN  |    Everything else is just      |  Uranus-Nissan

--

Please post along with any other wiring info you think might be useful for us.

It seems to me that the next step is to convince Papyrus to write some tire
slip angle information out to the ports so we can hook up a servo motor to the
steering wheel and get road feel!

I bet the people at Thrustmaster hate this newsgroup!

Iowa Center for Emerging Manufacturing Technology
Iowa State University
Ames, Iowa 50011

      Female Plug                Male Plug
    Game card or MIDI        Joystick/Wheel/etc.

If you look close at the plug on the game card
there should be small numbers by the holes.

PIN        DESCRIPTION
 1     +5V DC
 2     Joystick 1, Button 1
 3     Joystick 1, X-Axis
 4     Ground
 5     Ground
 6     Joystick 1, Y-Axis
 7     Joystick 1, Button 2
 8     +5V DC (*)
 9     +5V DC
10     Joystick 2, Button 1
11     Joystick 2, X-Axis
12     Ground (*)
13     Joystick 2, Y-Axis
14     Joystick 2, Button 2
15     +5V DC (*)

(*)Note pins 8,12,&15 Have different designations on
   a MIDI port so I would try to avoid using them.

The center lead of the potentiometer gets connected to
the pin indicated and an axis(i.e. pin 3,7,11, or 13).
The other end of the pot gets connected to one of the
pins at +5V.  Buttons are inserted between a Button pin
and one of the grounds(Ex. a button could be placed between
pins 2 and 4)

                        That should be a start!
                           T---

I would be very interested in the plans to making one's own wheel.  I have a
couple of broken joysticks that I can ***ize for wiring so all I need to
know is how to build the thing!

Thanks a million!

--
Proud owner of the best modem in the world:
USRobotics 33.6k v.everything modem.
--
*****The WINGMAN*****

: I've been tinkering with wheel/pedals that I built.  I'm using a 100K
: pot and it's gear driven at about a 2:1 ratio (1/4 turn of the wheel
: gives a 1/2 turn on the pot).  I'm not sure about direct wiring it.
: I used the PC board out of an old Suncom joystick.  I'm also using 100K
: pots for throttle and brake.  Two push buttons on the wheel handle
: up and down shifts.  I use it with F1GP/WC, but it's a rough
: "development" model.  Someday I'll build a better one.  Incidentally,
: my fastest race lap at Montreal is with this unit.

: BTW, I've found that you don't need very much throw in the wheel.  
: Mine is about 1/3 turn lock-to-lock and I may decrease that.  I'm still
: working on the best way of giving it some "feel".  Ditto for the pedals.

: I'd be interested in anyone else's "experiments" too.

: --Brian Ferguson      |  "When I'm racing, I'm alive.   |   LFRS '95-96
: --Newmarket, ON, CAN  |    Everything else is just      |  Uranus-Nissan

You wheelers, one question. Are you using steering help in the game ?

--
/*=------------------------------------------------------------------------=*
            'All those moments, lost in time, like tears in rain.'
                            Roy Batty, Bladerunner

: You wheelers, one question. Are you using steering help in the game ?

I am.  I haven't tried without it.  I should also add that for serious
racing I still use my joystick.  The wheel/pedals are fun but I don't
think they're the fastest way to go.  Most of the "record holders" in
fact use the keyboard in F1GP.

--Brian Ferguson      |  "When I'm racing, I'm alive.   |   LFRS '95-96
--Newmarket, ON, CAN  |    Everything else is just      |  Uranus-Nissan

--

: : You wheelers, one question. Are you using steering help in the game ?

: I am.  I haven't tried without it.  I should also add that for serious
: racing I still use my joystick.  The wheel/pedals are fun but I don't
: think they're the fastest way to go.

In fact, using a keyboard forces you to use steering help. Because with
a digital switch (such as a key on the keyboard) it is impossible for
the game to know how much you want to turn right when you press the
button for a right turn. The steering help does all the steering. You
just tell it when to turn right, and the steering help adjusts the
level of right steering.

Now if you are using a analogue joystick or home built steering wheel,
what's the point on using steering help?
Then u could just as well have used a digital joystick or switches
on the steering wheel instead of pots.

: Most of the "record holders" in
: fact use the keyboard in F1GP.

Of course they do, since it's much easier to control the game with
steering help and the best control to use with steering help are
simple switches (key the keyboard).

It's much harder (and much more realistic) to drive with an analogue
steering control. (And hopefully much more fun as well ;)

: --Brian Ferguson      |  "When I'm racing, I'm alive.   |   LFRS '95-96
: --Newmarket, ON, CAN  |    Everything else is just      |  Uranus-Nissan

: --

/Linus Girdland

Sebastian

: Sebastian

It's a default option in F1GP.  It "pulls" the car in the direction of
the turns.  You can turn it off if you're a fan of "twitchy" cars.

--Brian Ferguson      |  "When I'm racing, I'm alive.   |   LFRS '95-96
--Newmarket, ON, CAN  |    Everything else is just      |  Uranus-Nissan

--