Motion or gesture controlled gaming is cool no doubt – … until you start playing racing games.
Let’s face it, waving your arms around in front of your Xbox360 Kinect or wiggling that Wii Mote and tilting the crap out of your iPhone might be fun for the first ten minutes. But seriously you can’t play a descent race car or motocycle simulation racing game that way. It just does not give you enough control and is often not accurate enough.
I am not a big handheld gamer – actually I am not much of a gamer lately at all. I am still waiting for the nerve feedback system or the Equilibrium attachment that you stick in your ear so you can experience true motion in games. What’s really missing in racing games though is that kick in the guts, that “oh my god” my head is falling off during cornering and that rare sensation when shifting gears becomes a work out during extreme acceleration. The little rumble of the force feedback controller has a long ways to go…
Anyway, back to the problem on hand. Racing games are fun and motion controls suck.
Solution: Build a Continue Reading »
Here is the video showing the iPhone and iPod Steering Wheel and attachments (Wheel, Motorbike Skate/Surf/Snowboard) in action.
Aside from being a lot more fun it actually makes racing games such as Moto GP, GT Racing etc a lot easier to play.
The platform is build on just a few lego technic pieces. I was not going for prettiness or fanciness – I was just going for function.
What does a remote controlled and motorized Lego Technic Crane have to do with rally racing? Nothing – but it was a cool project so I thought I’ll post it.
Here is the Video:
For Christmas I received the LEGO 8053 Technic Mobile Crane which right out of the box is already awesome. It got all-wheel steering (8 wheels) and a really cool gear selection setup to control the crane arm to go up and down and extract, in addition to powering the hook winch.
During the building period between Christmas and NewYear (yes I actually took my sweet time rather than rushing through it) it became clear to me that this Lego model just beckons to be remotely controlled in some shape or form.
Of course it is easy to just go online and order a bunch of motors – Lego has some really awesome motors these days for their MIndstorm and Technic Models. But spending money felt like cheating. So I decided I will make due with whatever parts I have…
Continue Reading »
Idea:
Build a Race Start Light System instead of saying “Ready, Set, Go”
Concept:
2 IR Detector’s connected to an Arduino Microcontroller listen for 10 pulses from a TV remote coming at 38khz to avoid sun light interference.
If 10 pulses are counted then the Arduino will blink the LED’s 3 times. This tells the racer that the TV remote signal has been received.
A short delay gives time to store the TV remote and to focus on the actual Race start.
The start sequence works similar to an F1 or German Touring Car start. The LED’s come on one at a time with a short delay and go all out at the same time which is the start of the race.
The Arduino resets after the start sequence and waits for 10 pulses again to start the next starting sequence.
Due to the fact that the IR LED’s are pulsed they can be “over driven” as far as current goes – which is the reason why a TV remote works from easily 20-30 feet away.
Video:
Items List: Continue Reading »
Here is a my RC backyard track re-created in Torcs to be enjoyed on a PC or Linux machine near you :-)
Simply download Torcs, install it, unpack the backyard3.zip file and move the folder into your torcs dirt track folder.
Watch the Video of my Torcs RC Car Track here or read the blog post here.
Here are some Torcs RC car track screenshots:
It seemed like a fun idea to build a drive-able computer car racing game based on our R/C backyard track and our Subaru Tamiya Rally car. Needless to say that it does not come even close to any of today’s Xbox360 or PS3 games, but that wasn’t the point in the first place. Driving my own track on the computer while looking at the “real thing” out of the window still makes me happy :-)
With the initial experience and all the measurements taken I am really tempted to build the whole thing on XNA Express to make it playable on the 360. I am afraid they will have released 3 new models of the 360 until I figure it all out though…
Did anyone notice how back in the day a lot of racing video games used to come with a track editor?
I own a good amount of newer Xbox360 and Playstation3 racing games, yet none of them has a track editor. Before I receive email from PS3 fanboys - I don’t consider “Modnation Racer” a racing game in the sense of simulation racer. It is a lot of fun though. Gran Turismo 5 may of course change all this but we’ll have to wait until it is released to find out how useful the track editor is to create a virtual replica of a backyard RC track.
For the time being I downloaded one of the longest running, most established and best of all “FREE” PC racing simulators available. The racing simulator is called ” Torcs” which stands for “The Open Racing Car Simulator”. As the name implies the game is Open Source and available for Continue Reading »
This page will have all my Theme files, Source codes and Programs available for free download soon. This website uses also programs and software made available by the following individuals.
I will make more files available for free download as it comes available.
RC Car Website Theme, Icons and Files:
- This site is powered by WordPress
- The Theme is called Rocas and was created by Lorelei
- I customized the WordPress theme a little bit to be used as my R/C Car homepage. Get it here. Also includes header as PSD (Photoshop) Layers File.
- If you like the original by Lorelei, but want to replace the Porsche with another car, then here is the header Photoshop file
- Many Icons found on the site come from mysitemyway.com
RC Car Lap Counter and Timing
- Lap Timer Software is created by Gregory Braun at hoslotcarracing.com
- Direct download of hoslotcarracing Lap Timer for Windows – Download here.
- Webcam based Laptimer – Easy Lap Counter
Tamiya DF-03RA Product and Spec Sheets
- Tamiya Stock Motor Specs Official Mabuchi 540 Motor Spec PDF.
- Tamiya DF-03RA Building Instructions and Product Manual .
Torcs Computer Game Files
- Torcs Open Source Racing Simulator for Windows Linux and Mac
- My RC backyard Track as drive-able Torcs track
...based on a WP Theme by Lorelei and best viewed using Firefox