Video of Prototype in action...

I forgot to mention in the video force feedback has been retained, a proper video will follow with a race where fuel and tyre options are used. Enjoy!!

The prototype

Whilst the electronics bit took place, I got on with making a prototype. It was a nightmare I needed a material easy to work with that could be sanded, molded but at least have a srong base.

I tried thick cardboard but no good, wood was too thick. So i ended up with hardboard. i then used wall filler on the top to make the required shapes. This meant I now had a good idea how my wheel was going to look. Here's a picture prior to the final sanding and filling (you can see at the bottom I didnt have the legs lined u at this point. Also you'll notice the two silver bits have been moved from the bottom to the top this is to allow the incorporation of the vibration motors.

You get a good idea of the shape and it will fit perfectly over the current wheel.

What I wanted the wheel to do.... the benefits

Once I knew my wheel design, I had to decide on the layout and how I wanted it to work.I had seen some button relocation blogs before for the X,B,Y,A buttons but not for the D-pad. So what did I want to gain from this wheel;

* Easy ability to press DRS & KERS at same time
* Easy ability to use the buttons - full stop
* Easy ability to switch tyres without pressing the D-pad alot & now with fuel mapping this yr the D-pad would be used more then ever.

So the Kers / DRS buttons were easy, thye would be relocated to the top of each grip - Simple. The other buttons were not as critical so could be moved around.

I then came up with the idea that down the bottom of the wheel i would have 4 buttons.....Prime, Option,Intermediate,Wet. When pressed they would send the required sequence (Left > Left > Up) to the wheel so rather then fiddling with the D-pad i could just push a button.

Time to talk to my Electronics Guy.....