Make Your Own Gaming Steering Wheel Using Android

How To Make Your Own Gaming Steering Wheel Using An Android Device

There are lots of PC racing games out there. The best known sims are Grid series, Dirt series, F1 series ,NFS Shift & Shift 2 unleashed,Test Drive Unlimited 1&2 ,etc.

But soon as you play these games, you will come to relaise that such games were not meant to be played on a keyboard. Even using a controller wont give you the satisfaction.

The best way to enjoy such games will be to use a Gaming steering wheel. Which will give the exact simulated feeling. But the main issue with such wheels is that they don't come cheap. Logitech wheels will cost you around 10-27k INR.

So i decided to make my own wheel so that i could play those simulation games. It wont be as good as such market wheels. But will be fun to toy with.

The basic working principle is to use the android device's built in accelerometer to sense the degree of tilt and convert that to PC input (just like the analog buttons on controller).

Lets see how its done.

Video Link With Gameplay :

 

 

Important Items Required to start:

• Android Device with working accelerometer and Wi-Fi feature
• Laptop/PC with a wireless network connectivity (Wi-Fi).
• Connectify ( PC ) / Mobile hotspot feature ( Android ) to establish connection between
• Vjoy x86/x64 application for PC
• JD SimWheel app for android
• JD SimWheel server for PC

Download Links:

Vjoy x86/x64 application               JD SimWheel Server v2.4 JD SimWheel Android Apk 2.6

Making The Wheel:

Items required:

• Bendable PVC pipe 50inch (127cm) long
• Two rigid PVC pipes of different diameters. (eg: shorter 1 inch and longer 3/4 inch)
• Wooden/Plastic board of 50"+ length
• Cardboard Box for holding the full steering system.
• Keyboard/gamepad for accelerator+brake.(optional-You can also use JD Simwheel buttons on android as accelerator and brake.)
• Sealant eg: M-seal, Araldite

Finished Steering wheel:-

Procedure:

1. Bend the PVC pipe of 50" length filled with sand to form a circle.
2. Join the two ends securely. to form a rigid circular ring.
3. Fix the bend pipe on to the wooden board using screws.
4. Take the large 1" diameter PVC pipe and cut a hole on the center of wooden board ,then fix it properly using any sealant.
5. Using a cardboard piece create a container for holding the android device, securely fix it on the center of the wooden board using glue.
6. Fix the longer 3/4" PVC pipe on the Cardboard box for the assembly.
7. Use a smaller cardboard box for making the accelerator and brake pads as in the figure below.

 

Now Let's Set up the wheel - JD Simwheel:

1. Install Vjoy x86/x64 application on PC.
2. Install JD SimWheel Server on PC.
3. Install JD Simwheel App on android device.
4. Using Connectify on PC/ mobile hotspot on android to interconnect android device and PC/laptop.
5. Check above video for viewing all steps for connection process.
6. Run JD simwheel server on PC and then run JD SimWheel app on android.
7. Select "Play" .On first run it will ask you to copy the IP address shown on server. Enter the address as it is.
8. Now Run the game you want to play. Change the controls as required.

For advanced configurations you can use x360ace to emulate the device as an xbox controller or wheel.

All the games I tested have been working properly with the wheel. 

Feel free to comment...