Slashdot Mirror
Driver's-Seat Driving Game Controller
RichardX writes "The folks at Real Virtual Car have taken an old car, hooked up a projector to the windscreen, USB on the steering and pedals, connected it all up to a PC and ended up with what may be the single greatest homemade games controller ever." Even a force-feedback steering wheel!
Screw that, drive a REAL car. There's nothing like a cool, crisp day, with the wind blowing in your hair, as you shift to 5th gear, going over 70 MPH.
They probably could've purchased any arcade racing game for cheaper...
One man's Funny is another man's Offtopic.
"Look, a cyclist! 30 points!"
"No, over there! On crutches! 100 points!"
A windshield might be more realistic, and safer to boot!
Windshield sounds so much better, like it is some kind of protective device that makes you invincible, allowing you to run over pedestrians with gleeful abandon. Windscreen on the other hand sounds like something that could barely keep flies out of your automobile.
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
Seems like they took the idea from the Namco idea in London, UK. Where a few years ago they had a real mazda MX5 hooked up to a Ridge Racer game.
The concept seems fun, but it's kind of taking realism half way. Also seems like the images are down on that website already
Business Voyeur
Pictures are already Slashdotted and gone. ;-)
-jls
Techno-pagan
This'd be GREAT for playing...say, Carmageddon? Turn on the windshield wipers and smear the blood!
already?
http://realvirtualcar.blogspot.com/
Have a nice day =)
Back in university, we had a similar project except for aircraft simulation and they needed computer engineers to co-ordinate the output of MS flight sim to the various controls/acelerometers and actuators but a significant problem that was encountered was the delay of the actuators and controls to the output on the screen. When you're in such an immersive environment, even slight delays will make you crazily sick after a very short amount of time. Hopefully they have some sort of system to ensure the delay isn't excessive.
For a mere $750, I've got a Mercury Mystique that is suitable for this type of modification. I take paypal, money order, and gold bullion.
Support NYCountryLawyer RIAA vs People
I wonder if this technology is going to replace staring out from a real windscreen sometime in the distant future.
-SJ53
Here's the networkmirror of it.
With an entire chassis, why did they opt for just one speaker behind the driver?
There are small, decent sounding, and (relative to the cost of the car shell) inexpensive 5.1 setups. And you'd be able to mount most of the speakers in the existing speaker mounts.
-Pope Peter Porker, S.O.W., K.M.K.R., U.G.O.A., F.S.G.S.D.
If that "5V/12V variable pulse speed gauge" doesn't cut it, I don't know what will.
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
If my kids hear about this, I'm screwed!
I'm not a troll, but I play one on Slashdot.
They're getting closer and closer to the real thing...maybe some day they'll have an idea to simply use normal card, start the engine and drive...
One that hath name thou can not otter
If you live near one of these
http://www.smsonline.com/centers/index.html
you can ride a close to life size Nascar car that moves a little. About 10 are networked together and you race against each other. The race is projected onto a screen in front of you.
Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
...the surest sign of shoddy engineering is wrinkles in the duct tape, uh, I mean, windscreen projector blanket screen.
This has been done SEVERAL times where I live for promotional purposes (Subaru Impreza + some rally game). I'd guess in other places too. Why bother reporting?
One that hath name thou can not otter
...until they capture the *real* essence of driving.
Sucking exhaust fumes from a sight-blocking SUV. *That* is what I'm talking about.
---anactofgod---
"Equal opportunity swindling - *that* is the true test of a sustainable democracy."
Gentlemen, you may now start the jokes about crashing a car that doesn't even run.
"Ad infinitem et ultra!" - Buzz Lightyear
Personally, I think this is an awesome idea and can be expanded to have huge potential in our automotive society today.
Just think, now student drivers can get into a virtual car for the first time and learn the basics of driving without actually putting anyone or anything at risk. Of course more features would have to be added such as pressure controll and methods to allow the car to move up and down as it would on a real road when it encounters pot holes and such. Eventually the student would have to practice on a real car, but by that point they should be a good driver, sufficient enough to avoid accidents.
In addition, you would be able to change the view so that you could see what a drunk or someone what is high would see when they drive. Granted this wouldnt solve all drunken driving, but it might help veer some people away from it, thus potentially saving lives.
The applications besides this go on and on, I would like to see some more work done in this area.
http://www.force-dynamics.com/video/force-dynamics _301-rbr-rallyschool.wmv
Long signatures suck.
I saw this in a Nissan lab 10 years ago.
Took an SGI to run it, back then...
Commendable DIY effort, but I've used a system like this at my local "Holiday Hypermarket" before, based on some model of Cadillac. I have no idea what it was doing in a travel agents in East Kilbride, UK, but it was running a funky driver training program and token-operated.
BSM (UK group of driving schools) brought a mobile version based on a Vauxhall (Opel/GM) Corsa to my school a few months back as well.
Nice weather for penguins...
Why not use VR Goggles?
I saw Disney movie when I was a kid where there was a kid from the day he was born had nothing on his mind but cars. They had this one scene where he's behind the wheel of a vehicle desk in a classroom learning how to drive while watching a driving movie (the kid managed to crash his vehicle desk -- don't ask me how). I thought that was the coolest thing ever (this was long before computers became available for the home).
So when I got to high school, I was expecting the same thing. Instead, they handed me a booklet to study and told me that my parents would teach me how to drive. WTF! My Dad had a one-ton truck and he would not teach how to drive that. So I never did learn how to drive as a teenager. I was so bitter...
its awesome that they took the time to do it themselves.. but yeah. this has been done. arcade games? driving simulators? etc? still cool they did it... but yeah. its been done.
Force Dynamicshttp://www.force-dynamics.com/
but this has more then force feedback
The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to the site owner reaching his/her bandwidth limit. Please try again later.
Apache/1.3.33 Server at www.tallal.org Port 80
I think some of it did...
Its interesting to see a hobbyist doing it but most universities have similar setups, usually in Elec/Mech Engineering and sometimes in Psych. Guess its news to the CS types round here, so fair enough.
Phew what a good job the BBC have just announced that Cars safe from computer viruses, meaning this is now a safe project! As for a sec I was scared about the idea of "forced feedback".
is it up on blocks in his front yard?
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
... But PACMAN is really, really hard to play.
All cars have game controllers -- they're called steering wheels, brakes, and accelerators. With the appropriate combination of l33t combo moves, you can pretty much win the following games on your morning commute (in Atlanta):
- Gran Turismo: I-285 Edition
- Need For Speed: GA400 Gridlock
- Project Middle Finger Racing
- Grand Theft Auto: Midtown Street Parking Edition
In Ohio, you have a car game unavailable in most parts of the country (although LA just introduced it, from what I hear):
- Freeway Sniper Spy Hunter
IronChefMorimoto
I've never liked force feedback stering wheels. Tried playing Gran Tourismo 2 with one and it was a pile of shite. Video games have other problems. No peripheral vision is my biggest problem with them. Add to that the lack of motion, the lack of FEEL, and I'd rather hop into my real car and race the unsuspecting dickweed in the Porsche downtown.
What is your penile percentile?
... sounds almost as much as an oxymoron to me as "Microsoft Works" does.
:%s/Open Source/Free Software/g
YTARY!
Comes with an toy uzi for drive bys.
And an inflatable doll for parking.
It's the land of the brave, and the home of the free
Where the less you know, the better off you'll be.
Wouldn't your Driver's Ed teacher (aka the basketball coach) be much happier if he could verify your skills in one of these, rather than from the passenger seat with nothing but a second brake pedal between him and being pwnx0rd by a bridge abutment?
... so we crashed the gate doing ninety-eight, I says let them truckers roll, 10-4, 'cause we got a mighty Convoy rockin' through the night...
It's not such a crazy idea... check out the Truck Driver Simulation Mobile Classroom. It's a full-sized full-motion multi-screen 18-wheeler simulator, designed to help train professional truck drivers. The unit -- which itself is housed in an 18-wheeler trailer -- claims to be "unlike any in the world," although the folks in the UK are trying to catch up.
Myself, I'd like to see what it's really like to climb in the cab and say
Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
Obligatory what? Obligatory Microsoft reference?
Nothing like stoping and going 40 then stopping then going 40 mph then stoping (for no apparent reason), then coughing up 30$ to fill up. Then breithing diesel.
Sounds like fun but.. I'd rather walk.
And how about those beautiful babes that shower you with champagne and pose with you for pictures in the winners circle? Have they figured out how to emulate them?
-- If god wanted me to have a sig, he'd have given me a sense of humor.
Funny you should mention that... I just noticed not one but two of these things offered a week or two back at one of the classified ad sites for that sort of thing. They are both in the UK.
this college that had hosted a real Pacman game with 4 guys running around the block in colored ghost capes trying to catch a guy wearing a yellow Pacman face. I saw it on a gaming TV show, so I can't share any link to back me up on this one.
But inspite of the *real life* experience, I doubt if anyone would really want to *buy* this car game (probably not their intention in the first place). It probably could become a big hit in arcades and malls.
I'll be impressed when they can make a virtual rock jump up and crack the windshield.
p.s. SUV bashing is old and busted. (Sight-blocking, exhaust-pumping vehicles used to be called "vans").
...is using actual car to surround you. I used to have a ColecoVision game system (early '80s) which had a steering wheel attachment and accelerator pedal. You would snap the joystick into a slot on the steering wheel console to use as a gearshift.
True, the steering wheel didn't have force-feedback, but there are a number of real cars that don't give adequate feedback through the steering wheel, to my taste.
Anakin Simpson: If you're not with me, then you're my enemy--ooh, donuts!
FRRRREEST PEEEST BEOTCH
Once he fires GTA3 on there, he'll be able to pull up next to virtual hookers and have some virtual good times... and then probably run 'em over from not being satisfied.
So, why is a car the greatest ever controller for a a flight simulator? Sheesh.
I drive and she plays with my joystick.
All this, and it still can't simulate the feeling of accelerative forces which is the best part of driving.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Seriously, I have only seen 2 or 3 driving games that actually did force-feedback correctly. Too often force feedback only means that the controller shakes when you hit something.
Now, on flight-sims its another matter, almost every flight sim out there gets it right, whys it so hard for driving games to do correctly?
My guess is that the driving-game market is geared heavily towards the console-world these days, where the "shakes when you hit something" is the only type of force-feedback available, theres no real reason to implement real force-feedback when you port to the PC, people will buy the game anyway, & most wont notice that there isnt really any force-feedback.
NADS = National Advanced Driving Simulator
www.nads-sc.uiowa.edu
The vauxhall team in the british touring cars hooked one of their cars up so you could sit in it and use the wheel, peddals, and shift paddels to control a touring car game that was on a very large plasma screen suspended just above the front window screen. Don't think it was force feedback, but they have had it quite a while I think.
Some of those converted cars come from interactiveracing.com i think that was correct spelling.
:) Even that level is an absolute blast!
:(
I was dreaming of them when i bought a controller from them. Hehe i have $1500 stearing wheel/pedals/ racing seat for my computer
I imagine a full-blown do-it-yourself version would be a vast savings, i actually thought about using one of my old Opels in the garage. Commercial conversions run $10's of thousands
i've never been drunk or high (and its not due to youth ;) but i've spent a reasonable amount of time on race tracks in the triple digit club.
My 'vision' is effected by being tired or upset. Yeah, my eyes still see the same "stuff" but my "vision" is definitely a lot worse.
Driving safely requires looking ahead and "through" the objects ahead of you.. as you continue to go faster your gaze must continue to go further ahead of you, and your mind and body instinctively know how to interpret data in your foreground without you spending any processing power on them.
However, when i am tired i have a lot of trouble focusing down the road and instead am looking 40 feet infront of me. Same thing for being upset or on a phone - my concentration is not down the road where it should be.
I'd suspect that being drunk or high affect you at least as badly as being tired, with respect to your ability to focus and "parse" information sufficiently ahead of the car for proper safety.
What are your thoughts ?
My opinions are my own, and do not necessarily represent those of my employer.
Back when I was seven, my dad used to let me drive mom's old MG around our 42 acre tree farm in PA.
... um, apartment/house ... this is probably a cool thing.
He never did teach me to shift out of first, though, and most of our roads had 6 inch to 18 inch high ruts, so it wasn't that risky.
But, for those stuck inside a box
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
I've wanted to put a Austin MINI in my basement for years- just for this. Alas, I'm poor and American.
;)
Did anyone catch how many cupholders they have?
So, why is a car the greatest ever controller for a a flight simulator? Sheesh.
C'mon, haven't you ever watch Flubber, Son of Flubber, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, or any of the tons of other movies (and cartoons) about flying cars?
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
And how about those beautiful babes that shower you with champagne and pose with you for pictures in the winners circle? Have they figured out how to emulate them?
...
Emulate them? You want to be like those babes? Um, ok, kind of kinky, but just go buy a skimpy swimsuit and a banner and carry a large magnum of champagne.
I think you might have meant simulate. Simulations are way more fun than Emulations. Although hero worship is something one can aspire to
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
I've thought about attempting something like this in the past. My biggest gripe is that I'm not aware of any simulator that would allow multiple screens with multiple points of view. If I did something like this I would want to put a screen on each window so it felt like it surrounded me. To me just doing the front windshield with a display is no better than an arcade machine. I understand its just really neat to build this on your own, but I'd want a little more out of it than what I could get by playing in an arcade.
This seems to be better. You can put it in your living room :0)
http://www.force-dynamics.com/video.shtml
This is a lot cooler though.
rm -fr
Many people tell this joke, but unfortuantely most people have no idea where it came from.
Death Race 2000 (1975) was a movie where killing people with your car was a national sport. You got different points for the different ages, races, etc.
Most metropolitan areas have the DVD in one of the multiple video stores, and it's an interesting movie... especially with Sly Stallone getting second billing to David Carradine. Learn your history, the fun way. Next week: Q-Tips!
"The more pity, that fools may not speak wisely what wise men do foolishly" - Touchstone,Shakespeare's "As You Like It"
Nascar inspired amusements have been around for ages, they're called merry-go-rounds....
I broke out the old Sun KB and hit the props button for ya.
Although the joke is probably lost on most folks. Hell even people old enough to remember don't, probably for a reason.
-ft
We just started this project few weeks ago We're surprised it got this exposure. We are having lot's of FUN (and bleeding cuts) working on this project and we hope you'll enjoy checking it out. Come back again to our blog in the future - we hope we can find a better place to host the videos (so you can HEAR it also) Zvika
Incidentally, one car was there first, so when I realized it was going to be a while before I fix it, I bought a second car (used). After driving that for some 25,000 miles, it broke, too. When I finished dismantling it and realized that it would be a while, I bought a third car. This is getting ridiculous.
The point of the above is this: Instead of reassembling these cars, maybe what I ought to do is sell the motor, trans, and anything else that will fetch some dough, and then convert them into a video game! That would be so freaking down!
In fact, I could set it up like a race, so you've got two people in two separate cars playing against each other!
Elftor:No, what's that?
Cheesetor: The best game in the world! You get to run over civilians, cops, and prostitutes!
Elftor: Wow, that sounds awesome!
(Elftor begins to run over civilians, cops, and prostitutes in his car)
Elftor: You were right Cheesetor, this game is awesome!
Cheestor: What game? You just killed like 15 people!
Elftor: No silly Cheesetor, I was playing Grand Theft Auto.
Cheesetor: Elftor, GTA is a video game. You play it on a playstation.
Elftor: Really?
(Elftor runs over some more people) Elftor: Well my way's better.
elftor.com
A guy walks into a bar... well, I forgot the joke, but the punchline is that he's an alcoholic.
Because they aren't finished yet... the point they're up to now is just 'Hey, it works!'... there's a lot more to do before they finish.
...anyone has ever had in a Renault. :-P
As cool as it is, it's been done before, with a retired NASCAR and Dayton USA arcade game: force feedback in the steering wheel and seat, but with an arcade monitor mounted where the windshield would be.
But there are a lot MORE SUVs than there were vans. And what, did you think people's complaints about SUVs would only be temporary? They're as valid as they ever were and will continue.
Nicotine free Amish .sig.
I might be confusing Hard Drivin' with Race Drivin' - which may have had the cow and oncoming cars...
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
Stupid troll, it's troll tuesday, not troll thursday. Go back to your troll pack and leave the rest of us alone.
I don't get this "may be the single greatest games controller ever" hype. People have been doing this stuff for *years* with flight simulators. http://users.senet.com.au/~dunkleyj/flight.htm is a page I first saw 5 years ago; it shows a 747 simulator made out of an old car. Last year I was lucky enough to 'fly' a 767, complete with full console, 2 actual 767 pilot seats, and all the rest. What's the big deal about this car simulator?
I've just read your last few posts and...
Are you a joke?
Either way, behave yourself!
nuff said.
PHP