Best controller (analog) setup for steering games

RumblinBuffalo

Hello,

I've been tinkering with a couple of steering titles (MAME 2003 - Pole Position and Paperboy) and the possibility of using analog controls. I just started using a PS2 controller with a USB adapter and so far it's great.

For those who have set this up, just wondering what the preferred method would be to best control these types of steering games (outside of a steering wheel/spinner of course).

I'm running Retropie version 4.1 and so far have tried these only on MAME 2003. Steering using the left analog, and speed/pedal using the right analog (setup the tab menu) seems to be workable.

Would anyone recommend anything different? Has anyone had relative success running these games this way?

Thanks!

mediamogul

@RumblinBuffalo

I may be wrong, but I believe simply mapping the thumbsticks will still react as digital input. The method I use is to first map mouse movement to the thumbstick and then MAME can read the degrees of mouse movement as analog input. The result works very well. I even have some driving games like 'Spy Hunter' set to steer digitally on the x-axis and use gas as analog input on the y-axis. The result plays very close to what you would find in a Midway compilation on modern consoles.

RumblinBuffalo

@mediamogul

Thank you for the insight and suggestion. That's what I noticed in testing (my right analog stick mapping in MAME to the A-B-X-Y buttons was obviously digital).

I'll do some more homework and see how it works. What you're describing with Spy Hunter is exactly what I am trying to achieve.

So I understand correctly, are you doing everything with just one (left) analog stick?

mediamogul

@RumblinBuffalo

That's right. I use xboxdrv to map the mouse to the thumbstick, but just about any external key-mapping software will do the job.

OhOhOne

This post is deleted!

OhOhOne

@mediamogul

Incidentally, what emulator are you using to run Spy Hunter? I can't get it to work in lr-mame2003, and while it runs in lr-mame4all the controls are messed up (the throttle and machine gun are mapped to the same button) and the Tab menu doesn't work to remap them. It's one of my all-time favorites and it's really bugging me that I can't get it working.

Much appreciated,

mediamogul

@OhOhOne

I use AdvanceMAME, although I believe the game will work in any of the RetroArch cores from 2010 on.