> > I envisioned it as this: picture three spinners on their sides, one pointing
> straight
> > upwards, and the other two pointing at 45 degree angles to the left and right,
> > respectively. All three spinners rest against the underside of the trackball. This
> > way, the game could calculate the Armadillo's direction and "velocity" by the
> amount
> > of spin the player gives one spinner over another by virtue of the direction and
> > force applied to the trackball. This could not be possible with a trackball alone,
> > which is more suited for position calculations.
>
> You used to be able to get three-axis trackball-like input devices for SGI and Sun
> workstations. I think they were called "speedballs". They were expensive,
> temperamental and unreliable. However, to the best of my knowledge Armadillo Racing
> uses regular two-axis optomechanical pickups, with the axes at 45 degree angles. It's
> just a trackball at an angle, albeit a big, heavy, two-handed one on nice, smooth
> bearings.
Thanks, that's interesting. Clearly some real thought went into the control design and if the YT videos are any indication, it seems to work really well.
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