Hacker Remix

Virtual Vette – Racing Simulator Built from Wrecked Corvette

95 points by starkparker 7 days ago | 11 comments

z303 4 days ago

Related, Ridge Racer Full Size based on an MX-5/Eunos/Miata

https://arcadeblogger.com/2022/11/20/the-last-ridge-racer/

nevster 4 days ago

I remember seeing one of these in Chatswood, Sydney, Australia

p1necone 4 days ago

I'm surprised they built something this involved and went with a belt drive wheel. Direct drive options are very affordable these days and the difference is night and day.

bri3d 4 days ago

Generally, this is a really cool project but an extremely poor racing simulator. I think the focus was clearly much more on "let's build something cool" rather than the sim-racing aspect, and they succeeded at that (I love the choice of donor car - it's very charming shrunken down).

The display setup, choice of wheel/pedals, and general ergonomics of the final product are all kind of questionable, and regardless, I'm sure it's still a ton of fun.

I'm sure a v.2 could make a lot of improvements.

ok_dad 4 days ago

Yea this was made for a younger kid, so in a few years he’ll grow out of it and probably want real nice gear on a regular metal rig. No need to overdo it! DD is nice but it’s still way more expensive than an entry level offering.

starkparker 4 days ago

Yeah, this was my thinking in sharing it. The most interesting parts to me were how they carved up and refinished the junkyard parts for this purpose, not the hardcore sim stuff (of which there aren't any). They could upgrade to hardcore sim components if they wanted to at some point, it just wasn't a priority.

If it helps those whose eyes are twitching, imagine that they'd titled this "making a casual arcade racing sim cab out of junked Corvettes".

and0 4 days ago

The placement of the monitor is also odd, doubly so because it is curved. Most sims will let you render offset from the driver seat (iRacing has keyboard shortcuts to make all these adjustments easily) but the image is being rendered from a "first person" projection a foot to your side. The monitor being tilted isn't ideal either.

If using an actual chassis the best way to go would be with a projector mounted as low as it can be to clear the top of the car, ideally onto a screen that is curved out from the driver's perspective.

nicholassmith 4 days ago

I actually see quite a lot of elaborate rigs that go for the trusty Logitech/Thrustmaster belt drive wheels, I guess if you've got it and it's working fine for you then build around what you've got. I on the other hand am terrible for gear acquisition syndrome so I'll skip the impressive car-in-house rig to chase the next upgrade.

ChuckMcM 4 days ago

Heh, and I thought Roger Arrick using a BMW driver seat as a programmer's chair was cool :-). That looks like a great project and I'm jealous my Dad (or my Mom!) were not that kind of motivated to do a project like that with me.

garaetjjte 4 days ago

Cool, but I'm disappointed they didn't use the parts that would be actually most interesting to reuse from real car, like steering wheel, pedals, gear shift knob, gauge cluster, etc.