Garnet Hertz has created probably the coolest arcade machine hack I have ever seen. What did he do? He took a classic old school video arcade machine (game of choice was Outrun), stuck some wheels on the bottom of it, and the hacked the hell out of it so he could drive it whilst he was driving it (see what we did there?).
Straight from the Garnet Hertz’s Outrun Project page:
Cabinet-Car: A car-shaped sit-down arcade cabinet from Sega’s OutRun is converted into a small car that can actually drive. This is done by modifying an existing fiberglass and wood cabinet to include motors, wheels and drivetrain components from an electric golf cart. This customized cabinet-car uses the existing videogame controls (steering wheel, acceleration pedal, brake pedal) to control the vehicle to a maximum speed of 20 kilometers (13 miles) per hour. See Figure 1 for a mockup diagram of the completed cabinet-car.
Custom Augmented Reality Software: The screen, which is positioned in front of the driver, renders the real world in the style of the 1986 video game OutRun by Sega. This is done through custom-built software to display a street-level view rendered in the style of the vintage video game. In other words, the driver only sees an 8-bit-style game rendered in their “windshield,” which appears as if they are playing the 1986 videogame. Accelerating or turning the car-cabinet in the real world will proportionally change the display. Although the screen will mimic the real world around it, it is expected that the augmented display and the real world will not match perfectly.
Garnet Hertz's Outrun Cabinet Car Project
So definitely go check out the website and watch the video – this is just way too cool!
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