Just some info since folks have asked for what I call “Atari Polygon” hardware, which is Hard Drivin, Race Drivin, and STUN Runner.
First, I have boards to loan if anyone wants to dig in and take this core up. I am also willing to do some funding, but only for someone who is really serious and capable of getting stuff done.
Some info I think is interesting to keep in mind. Mainly it’s worth noting that the hardware across all those games is very similar. There are three drivers, Hard Drivin, Race Drivin, and Race Drivin Panorama. There were two cabinet styles, upright (aka “compact”) and cockpit (and Panorama had sort of a cockpit that had two extra screens added). There are *major* differences between the two cabinet styles, the most interesting is that the compact cabinet is CGA (as is STUN Runner) and the cockpits are EGA. They used totally different motherboards with different video hardware and thus these can’t be swapped across cabinet types.
Also worth noting is that the racers have serial ports on them and when the boards have Race Drivin software installed (it’s a ROM/Slapstic swap) you can link two machines with a null modem cable for some pseudo head to head racing. This does NOT include Panorama, however, and there’s a good reason….Panorama (which can also be played with a ROM/slapstic swap) uses the serial ports for communication to the “side pods.” So what a Panorama *really* is is a RD cockpit hardware for the center screen (yes, cockpit, because the center screen is EGA) and then *basically* (I say basically because an actual STUN Runner motherboard doesn’t have the serial port hardware populated since it didn’t need it and thus can’t be used for a Panorama side pod unless you solder all the parts into place) STUN Runner hardware for *each* side screen (which means those are actually CGA). Then the single serial port of the center is run in parallel to the two side pod hardware boards (which seems wrong but works fine because the side pods only listen for data, they do not broadcast anything). Those have Panorama side pod software loaded and simply show the proper angle of video for how they are configured, which is done by going into test on each side pod.
What’s more interesting is that the “side pod” system isn’t really just for side pods. You can configure any of like 18 or so different viewing angles including behind, above, under, etc. So technically if you wanted you could surround yourself with monitors and side pod hardware and just parallel that same serial connection and get MANY views in many directions all at the same time.
It’s also worth noting that cockpit and compact cabinet styles had some different controls. I’m not 100% sure but I think there are steering differences. I know that the brake pedal on the compact is a strain gauge whereas on the cockpit it’s a potentiometer. And on the compact the shifter is really an analog joystick (x-y potentiometers) whereas on the compact it’s switches. And the compact video is flipped because a compact has the monitor overhead and you view it via a mirror.
If you only implemented CGA hardware, you would cover being able to play Hard Drivin, Race Drivin, and STUN Runner and that would including linking two Race Drivin’s, but you would NOT be able to play Panorama because there are no Panorama ROMs that will run on CGA like there are with Race Drivin. But I doubt adding the EGA hardware support would be all that hard if you got as far as CGA working.
This is another case that in my ideal world not only would a core get done that could play the game, but I’d love to see it complete enough that a harness could be made to support the cabinet controls and feedback so a MiSTer could be used to replace the PCBs in a real cabinet. I have both cabinet styles and the ability to do the wiring and testing needed to make this happen if anyone wanted to take on the bigger project. Being able to play these games with home controls is better than nothing, but IMHO it was the amazing feedback available in the steering of these real cabinets that made these special. Current stuff you can buy for racing simulators on PCs is very good, but still nowhere near as good as Atari’s first stab at it. It’s still the gold standard, IMHO. I guess when you see the washing machine motor that controls it you know why.
—Donnie
