Years ago, I wanted to build some sort of wheel stand for my Logitech Driving Force wheel that I used to play GT3 on the PS2. I never got around to it, then life happened and I went away from racing games for a while. I purchased Burnout Paradise a while back and it piqued my interest in racing games again. I then received a copy of GT5 as a Christmas gift and it gave me the itch to want to build a stand again. I then searched the web for do-it-yourself wheel stands and came across the gtplanet forums. You guys inspired me to go all out and build an actual pod. I gathered different design and construction techniques from a few of you (I hope you don't mind), and I was able to get a car seat from an '02 Mustang GT. I then made a few sketches and decided to design the pod with a Mustang-like style. For the project's materials, I used: MDF, lumber, plywood, 6 locking-heavy duty caster wheels, and carpet. Tools used were: compound miter saw, circular saw, jig saw, router, drills, and a sander. Unfortunately all of these pics were taken with an iPhone 3G, which obviously does not have a good camera. I'll post more quality pics when I find my Canon. **Update** New pics posted.
The project wound up costing a bit more than I had originally planned but I'm so glad I went the extra mile to build a full pod. It adds a since of realism to racing games. I hope that my pics can inspire someone as much as some of you in this forum have absolutely inspired me.
All good things start with a strong foundation. 60"x24" You can't see the reinforcing cross beams, but there are 4 of them with 2 extra horizontal braces below where the seat will be.
I got this seat from a co-worker. The frame was slightly bent, but I was able to adjust it.
I decided to add a side-mounting console box for storage and a place to put my coffee. I made it removable to enable the pod to fit through a standard door opening.
I'm unsure of the degree of the angle. I had my daughter hold the pedals of the DFGT at an angle while I sat on the seat until a desired angle was reached. I solved many ergonomic problems in this sort of fashion.
A technique of gluing and screwing the MDF into wood strips was obtained from this forum. It worked quite well.
I put the carpet in before I added the trim around the base. This helped to secure the carpet along with carpet-tape and industrial staples.
Black primer and gloss black paint.
White primer and gloss white where the striping is.
Gloss candy apple red.
I shot the white first and masked the stripes before the red was shot. I'm not sure if this is how the pros do it, but it worked quite well.
My son can hardly see over the wheel but he will grow into it. He was excited to play nonetheless.
The great thing about using a car seat is that it is fully adjustable, so family and friends of different sizes can use it.
The opening in the front gives it a bit of a Mustang-look, it just needs round headlights.
The project wound up costing a bit more than I had originally planned but I'm so glad I went the extra mile to build a full pod. It adds a since of realism to racing games. I hope that my pics can inspire someone as much as some of you in this forum have absolutely inspired me.
All good things start with a strong foundation. 60"x24" You can't see the reinforcing cross beams, but there are 4 of them with 2 extra horizontal braces below where the seat will be.
I got this seat from a co-worker. The frame was slightly bent, but I was able to adjust it.
I decided to add a side-mounting console box for storage and a place to put my coffee. I made it removable to enable the pod to fit through a standard door opening.
I'm unsure of the degree of the angle. I had my daughter hold the pedals of the DFGT at an angle while I sat on the seat until a desired angle was reached. I solved many ergonomic problems in this sort of fashion.
A technique of gluing and screwing the MDF into wood strips was obtained from this forum. It worked quite well.
I put the carpet in before I added the trim around the base. This helped to secure the carpet along with carpet-tape and industrial staples.
Black primer and gloss black paint.
White primer and gloss white where the striping is.
Gloss candy apple red.
I shot the white first and masked the stripes before the red was shot. I'm not sure if this is how the pros do it, but it worked quite well.
My son can hardly see over the wheel but he will grow into it. He was excited to play nonetheless.
The great thing about using a car seat is that it is fully adjustable, so family and friends of different sizes can use it.
The opening in the front gives it a bit of a Mustang-look, it just needs round headlights.
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