hi guys, i wanted to show you my GT5 ready (PS3 compatible) SEGA driving cabinet! its taken a good long while, but it's 99% complete.. i'll try summarise to keep it short, with a few pics, but im happy to answer any questions if anyone else is mad enough to put this together.... i got this cab lovely minty fresh restored Initial D cab from an arcade related forum a couple of months back... infact, this is the same cab that features in this very forum, it used to belong to a member here. it was originally one half of a SEGA Touring Car, which was beautifully restored/converted from the bare metal up, to a single Initial D. however, when i took ownership of the machine it was an unfinished project, it was almost complete and was running, it had all the naomi 2 hardware and game but with a few cables missing making some components inoperable. Lovely condition, majority of the parts used in the conversion were new old stock or near mint. Upon learning the news that the SEGA model2 emulator now fully supports force feedback (and GT5 is coming!), i bought the machine with the intention of converting it to a multi platform driving cabinet. I collected the machine in 20 odd bits, in 2 vehicles, took it home and re-assembled in position at home. it didn't take long to sell all the internal hardware on an auction site.. and luckily, i managed to recoup more than the initial cost of the machine by selling the parts i didn't need. next i had to decide which steering wheel i was going to use. the steering wheel force feedback motors in sega cabinets cannot be interfaced with a pc without some serious wizardry (they have a clutch), however, HAPP controls do a belt driven active FFB steering wheel with a simple DC motor, as used in many arcade driving machines, this wheel can be interfaced with a pc, by hacking it onto the pcb of a cheapo logitech ffb steering wheel. the other option would to use an expensive logitech G25 or fanatec porsche steering wheel, but i decided that the best of the best ffb steering wheels are found in arcade machines- built to take some serious abuse and last for years. no home/end user flimsy steering wheel ive ever bought has been able to match the quality of the experience an arcade wheel provides.. i have used the belt driven HAPP controls active ffb steering wheel.. http://www.happcontrols.com/driving/50010200.htm I hunted the web for an old atari or namco cabinet with a HAPP ffb wheel, i got the one i used from a crusin' world cab. to make this work, i used a logitech driving force EX ffb steering wheel for ps2 ps3. basically, theory is to connect the pot on the logitech wheel to the happ wheel, connect the pots from the logitech pedals to the pedals on the arcade cab, hook the wires going to the logitech motor to the HAPP motor.. donor logitech wheel.. sounds easy, but not so simple.. the pots are different sizes for a start, (you need 2x 50k pots for the pedals and a 100k pot for the wheel), and the power going to the tiny ffb motor in the logitech wheel is insufficient to power the large HAPP motor. Pots were easy to sort (maplins, RS componets). to boost the power output from the logitech pcb to the HAPP motor, ive used a servo amplifier for brushless motors, and a 24v dc psu to power the amp. the servo amp i used.. for the buttons, gear shift and dpad, i hacked the pads of the logitech wheel and installed them into the dashboard from a SEGA touring car (which came spare with the cabinet) along with 4 VR (view change) buttons from daytona. mapped as follows- start-start, select-credit/insert coin, 4 action buttons- 4 VR buttons d-pad- 4 way shifter L+R- sequential shifter buttons mounted on the wheel every button taken care of for both pc and console use. thankfully, after many weeks of hard work.. IT WORKS! work in progress pics.. before.. (note the tiny ffb motor lol!) after.. (note the HUGE ffb motor and amplifier!) closer look.. the HAPP wheel and amp.. how its wired.. as the HAPP wheel assembly was never meant to fit in a SEGA dashboard, i had to make a mount from MDF board that i could affix to both the mounts on the rear of the dashboard and the mounts on the HAPP.. you can see here.. the pad hacks for the buttons.. very tricky work! started off like this when removed from the logitech.. each button got a wire soldered on and hot glued fast in position.. testing the buttons on the pc using the logitech software.. hooked them all up to the buttons on the dashboard.. originally a sequential shifter in the dashboard, i drilled it out for a 4 speed, wired up a happ 4 speed shifter and fitted a minty fresh NOS sega shifter cover... the sequential shifter buttons will be installed in the steering wheel using small red fire buttons, all bases covered- hi/lo shifer, sequential shift, 4 way shift... good for almost any driving game. pedal pots wired up, then sound was wired up using a 5.1 pc sound system hacked onto the original sega speakers in the seat, the sub in the seat base, the ones either side of the monitor i installed myself as this cabinet only had speakers in the seat- needless to say, it sounds great. the pc was simple enough to set up with emu- ive been using mame etc for years, ive used the same monitor that was in the cabinet when i got it. a video of the 1st test of the components.. all working, ffb strength is very powerful! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24H1q1SCSdA [TUBE]24H1q1SCSdA[/TUBE] and a video it it working, mrs sharkfactor playing daytona..!! [TUBE]1eBnwNK5vfM[/TUBE] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eBnwNK5vfM im very impressed with the ffb, its emulated very well in daytona, sega rally and sega touring car.. very powerful, ive had to turn it down to 50% in the settings to get it to feel right. very smooth, elastic like feedback in each game, and it sure tears the wheel from your hand if you bump a wall or another car. real arcade quality force feedback.. cant wait to get the ps3 hooked up with some GT5, outrun, gti club, sega rally3 and every other racer with ffb ive been missing out on playing properly! better videos to follow..! cheers
If you were actually read what I've posted, you'll see it never was an Initial D, (it just looks like ID) and the design and fabric of the cabinet remains unchanged. No sega parts were harmed during this install. It could be converted into any Sega driving machine again, just by putting the right hardware in it.. Given that it used to be a shabby old Touring car- I think it looks great! Poor old touring car?
and you think that gt5 with this crappy logitech chinese wheel will give you better experience than sega force feedback ... shame ...
Looks like this was Parris' old project cab. Shame you didn't finish it as an ID cab man, Initial D is awesome.
I think it was a worthy cab for the project, and looks like it will be setup very tastefully. Inspiring me for a model 2 emu cab project.
given that the best tools you can buy over the counter to play gt5 would be a logitech g27 or similar.. i reckon a proper arcade belt driven force feedback wheel is a million times better! :Rock: what is your point caller? jealous?:drool: let me help you out with some salt for that open wound.. :lol:
