i’ve done this before, i have a theoretical solution for the misalignment of the wheel, instead of using an optical mouse you could use a trackball mouse because it makes physical contact with the pipe. Or you could go a more expensive and complicated route and get a rotary encoder or potentiometer and connect it to an arduino board. For the Caster return u can connect a spring to the pipe. so when u turn it either way it’s gonna recenter, the stiffer the spring the faster it returns. keep it up
@Tako_Balls if you want to use a arduino, use a leonardo or pro micro because they have native hid support (hid is the way mouses keyboards and controllers) but if youre going to use a arduino you can also make it use analog controls (like a wheel)
@@Tako_Balls for the rotary encoder and track ball idea, what if you used the mouse's scroll wheel? logitech m325 has a pretty loose scroll wheel, and can be got from walmart for dirt cheap
Aa a fellow bootlegger, I approve. I have actual equipment lol. But, I use my wheel as a throttle in flightsim, and I bought a 5$ broken stick back in 2019 and cut the spring, replaced the sensor with an idential one I found in another broken flightsim thing I had (it literally just plugged in), and to this day, I just use rubber bands for the return to center action. For the longest time too, I had been using a bottlecap and a hair tie to keep the wire in my PS4 controller. Over the years I can remember tinkering around with all sorts of crap for gaming, but I can't even remember half of what I did. Being poor, actually gives you a surprising amount to do, as it turns out.
Back when I started sim racing, I used to try and build my own steering wheel and it worked for a while until I got fed up with the wheel not recalibrating to the centre. What you did with the programming honestly would've made me happy back then. The pedals were quite cool to see since you added springs while I just placed my keyboard on the floor and just the keys with my bare foot. I tried making a shifter but I couldn't find a way to implement it smoothly and abandoned the idea. After a while, I finally got myself a T300RS and the quality is definitely better and it was definitely worth it. Low budget sim racing builds will always have a place in my heart
Bro I just have to say that you have finally found the words none of us have been able to put together. The age old question all of us get "why do you do this? why don't you do it for real?" Your answer was fucking mint xD
The funny thing is, with about this much effort and about 400 bucks you could buy a used wheel, pedal, and shifter setup off eBay, buy a car seat from a junkyard, and you build a wood frame for it, you have a really good budget setup for fairly cheap.
Great video! A while back I made my own handbrake from a micro switch from an old microwave and a pcb board from an old keyboard. I soldered it together and mapped the button to a key on the keyboard and assembled it on a handbrake i bought from online for 15. It worked great for a few months but proved un reliable as i had to re-solder it multiple times. I recently bought a used usb handbrake. Im planning on making a sequential shifter with the same switches and my old handbrake. Im using an arcade usb encoder this time instead of a pcb board and its proving to be much better. If you plan on making a 3rd DIY sim setup I would highly recommend doing this way. If anyone wants to get into sim racing I would really recommend used. I bought my sim setup which included a Thrusmaster T300RS, T8HA shifter, T3PA pedals and a sim cockpit for 350. Also I got a triple monitor setup for free just because someone was going to throw it out anyways. So you can get some good deals if you look. Loved the video Asian Micheal Reeves. I would post the links i used to build the handbrake and shifter but youtube isn't letting me post the link or title.
When your part moves, use plugs on PCBs instead of soldering wires to them. Wire wears out VERY quickly at solder joints. Also flux paste. Lots of flux.
no way its the funny roblox racing game by the devs of the gem!!111!!! (seriously great video, keep it up. im sure youll pop off in the future with your unique editing style)
I love this, I would’ve built exactly this about 10 years ago. Nowadays I know how to solder, so instead of keyboards and mice I would pull apart a usb controller and run wires for the buttons and stick.
Honestly this is a really neat project. It may not look the best but the engineering there is still pretty fucking awesome! Instead of the keyboard for the pedals I would use a controller tough, so the pedals would be analog thanks to the triggers
Honestly, like no shit. I think these DIY racing setups are much much more impressive than those 1000$+ setups. It requires more skill to do something like that than building a 1000$ setup.
Just imagine someone in a r 32 that hasn’t played the game in a year and chased you down and up the mountain right until the end turns and the 32 starts to pull away
Dude, I'm not joking, but my first sim racing rig was actually from an old xbox controller and lego technic pieces, and I used a gear rack piece to connect to the joystick and connected it to a shaft and gear to make the steering wheel shaft, and it actually worked really well, and it had pedals by connecting string from the buttons on the controller
"You tell me where we start, where we going, where we going afterwards, i'll give you five minutes when we get there. Anything happens in that five minutes and i'm yours no matter what, anything happens a minute either side of that and you're on your own. I don't sit in while you're running it down, I don't carry a gun, i drive!"
This is impressive and I’m not trying to discredit you but you can get a really good used entry level for like 70 bucks. That’s definitely worth it in my opinion
Have you thought about buying a used ffb wheel? Logitech wheels are already pretty cheap used one's can probably go even lower. If you're broke a diy shifter and handbrake are fine, but pedals and wheel are honestly going to be a lot, lot, lot worse. Like not worth the effort worse. Also a new set of a wheel and pedals can probably last as long or longer than a new PC build. If you're really struggling technically making pedals that link to a dual joystick controller can also work to give you more control, try to get the pedals full range of motion first before figuring out how to link the motion to the controller. You can also try using more springs, maybe even a combination of different lengths to engage more resistance the deeper you press.
Good project and video! Only I will change the wheel, don't make it with mouse, instead, use your phone as steering wheel. Aplication "Touch Racer", install it on phone and on your computer and connect via bluetooth or wifi, and when you rotate your phone, it will detect and make a move on pc. Just put ur mask on your wheel, and put your phone in that mask, connect with that aplication, set up in game, and it will be soo better.
maybe try messing with a controller so u can get some type of variability on the pedals and a spring effect from the joystick to bring the steering wheel back to place for that tiny amount forcefeedback
