The people at Two Bit Circus are at it again; this time with a futuristic racing simulator where the user controls the experience. It was developed by [Brent Bushnell] and [Eric Gradman] along with a handful of engineers and designers in Los Angeles, California. The immersive gaming chair utilized an actual racing seat in the design, and foot petals were added to give the driver more of a feeling like they were actually in a real race. Cooling fans were placed on top for haptic feedback and a Microsoft Kinect was integrated into the system as well to detect hand gestures that would control what was placed on the various screens.
The team completed the project within in thirty days during a challenge from Best Buy who wanted to see if they could create the future of viewing experiences. Problems surfaced throughout the time frame though creating obstacles surrounding the video cards, monitors, and shipping dates. They got it done and are looking towards integrating their work into restaurants like Dave & Buster’s and other facilities like arcades and bars (at least that’s the rumor going around town). The 5 part mini-series that was produced around this device can be seen after the break:
[vimeo http://vimeo.com/61396603%5D
[vimeo http://vimeo.com/61396604%5D
[vimeo http://vimeo.com/61396606%5D
[vimeo http://vimeo.com/61396607%5D
[vimeo http://vimeo.com/61396608%5D
Two Bit Circus also developed this ‘Human Asteroids‘ game with the help of a laser projector and a Microsoft Kinect.
Really nice looking build and probably a good show for TBC and BB but it seems a little forced for some frivolous features (uploading contacts so you can video chat while driving? controlling “every” aspect of the chair such as the lights?).
Some nice ideas that look as though they should be good although there was little reviewing on how successful it was in practice: such as the Dyson air-blades for feedback (which you wouldn’t get in a car anyway unless it was an aero-screen) and allowing the screen rig to move up and down to ease getting in. Not sure about the Kinect for controlling the screen, I’d think you’d want something easier to control in the heat of the moment.
Oh, and I couldn’t see anything flowery on the chair, foot *petals* or otherwise ;-)
For racing that whole build is not very good. No foot pedals at all means you are not racing cars. No physical shifter…. so does that mean that NASCAR drivers are so lame now that they drive automatics?
Theses guys missed the mark so bad it’s not funny. This is a generic videogame chair not a racing simulator, and it has a lot of things that they wasted a ton of time on that have no real use.
http://hackaday.com/2012/04/20/real-bmw-dash-cluster-for-your-racing-games/
This is also something I would call a requirement in a racing simulator.
Honestly for the time and money they spent, they could have made a more immserive system with 40″ displays a real dashboard with gauges, etc..
This looks like a Emperor chair (Emperor 1510) clone with some customization. Probably costs as much…
Oh, it is…
Great another “reality” show where a group has to beat the clock and suspenseful music. I like the build an all but the showmanship sucks
this
What a tired format. 70% BS 20% build. I could give a crap about there problems. Just show me the tech.
It was genuinely painful to watch this, especially the end where the guy “hacked” the microcontroller to get the thing working, and how many times they messed up with super simple computer issues. Not knowing a bigger gfx card requires more power? What? They didn’t even do their research on the part they were buying, hence why they ended up with monitors without VESA mounts…it was so bad…
seems like a whole lot of wasted potential, no pedal, no gauges, no shifter and most importantly, why would any serious racing gamer use that steering wheel? There is no force feedback and it isn’t stationary…
This is a media center, not a racing chair because last time i checked, Mario Kart Wii wasn’t a racing simulator.
Also, the series and whole campaign was clearly made with the end consumer in mind, not the hacker, fixing a short that causes microcontroller frying by soldering the same wire twice? If they would have taken a “ben heck” styled approach to the series then it would have been lots more entertaining.
It might have been a good idea to skip this one
This is the worst racing sim build ever. mainly because they spent so much resources on unnecessary parts while excluding the basic essentials. They don’t even have a FFB wheel or a shifter.
See this line here, this does something. Yeah, bestbuy are showing up in 2hrs and you’re starting to write code? You must be 1337.
I gathered that the chair can move it’s pitch, why not tie that to acceleration, kick forward on gear changes and deceleration, much more fun than swipey kinect move.
I don’t think anyone is fooled by the kinect steering wheel and the lack of pedals.
Also 110 minutes fixing a short, then 10 pulling a mystery fix outta your ass just in time for the truck? Who is this video for?
I’m pretty sure these guys are well out of my league as far as hacking goes, but lets not bullshit people who might be interested and have at least half a clue!
“once i found the short with the multimeter, i had to get in there with my soldering iron” – can i get that on a snarky t-shirt with a picture of the mohawk guy?
Incredibly lame video production with manufactured crisis results in a boring product.
We’ve got just about every cliché imaginable, circus clowns with mohawks, fedoras, geeksquad guy with thick glasses, lofty job titles, time constraint dramas, overcoming disasters – the lot!
I didn’t realise race cars came without windscreens and full face helmets. These guys have spent too long riding around on their fixies to think this was realistic.
Well this is a shitty version of ‘Prototype This’