Front-mounted button box suggestions for WRC wheel to use in VR?

I have been using my trusty OMP WRC wheel in Dirt Rally for a while:

lrgscale1979NWHY-9.jpg


Having recently moved to a VR setup and just started with Dirt Rally 2, I now need to be able to navigate menus (and reset my car back to the road after minor excursions!) without the use of a keyboard and without removing my VR headset. The OMP is a deep-dish wheel, so mounting a button box behind it will push it too far forwards, so I was wondering if there were any good front-mounted button boxes that I could use with it? I have seen such things used in real cars:

VolkswagenMotorsport-VWGolfTCR.jpg


Ideally it would have a joystick on it for menu navigation and a few buttons that I could assign to other tasks (enter, escape, VR view reset, etc), but doesn't need paddle shifters or rotary encoders on it.

Thanks for any suggestions!
 
Thanks @Elaphe, it's a great steering wheel for rallying but I need some navigation buttons that I can find easily with a VR headset on.

DR2's menu system is awful and having wrestled with trying to use a keyboard with the headset on, I decided I needed a simple button box with a direction pad and a few buttons. The Simcore one looks nice, but is a bit more fully featured (and larger) than is ideal. Maybe I could look at separate button boxes, but I thought that the easiest place to find the buttons in VR would be on the wheel.
 
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Thanks @Elaphe, it's a great steering wheel for rallying but I need some navigation buttons that I can find easily with a VR headset on.

DR2's menu system is awful and having wrestled with trying to use a keyboard with the headset on, I decided I needed a simple button box with a direction pad and a few buttons. The Simcore one looks nice, but is a bit more fully featured (and larger) than is ideal. Maybe I could look at separate button boxes, but I thought that the easiest place to find the buttons in VR would be on the wheel.
Sounds odd, but I actually find it harder to get the right button on the wheel than on my button box in VR. Not sure why! Might be that it's static so the buttons/dials are always in exactly the same place, or maybe I just have too many different wheel rims and can't remember what all the buttons do on each of them :D
 
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stigs2cousin

Premium
I also think a separate button box ( maybe positioned where the center console would be in a real car)
would give a better experience.

I don´t recall many ready made button boxes with a joystick, but DIY is not that complicated.
Heck, even I ( I identify as " mechanically gifted, electronically dumb") managed to fabricate a cockpit fitting to me rig and get it to work.


Here you can get an overview what is avalaible.
Leo Bodnar has USB boards which can control the button box, even a joystick can be easyly added.
if you don´t want to solder ( which is easy to learn) there is always the possibilty to use ready made cables with plugs.
Have a look at RCHeliguys build thread.

When everything is connected windows recognizes the board, map your inputs und go ralliing.

Another advantage to keeping your wheel clean is better FFB.
The weight of the wheel DOES matter !

MFG Carsten
 
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Sounds odd, but I actually find it harder to get the right button on the wheel than on my button box in VR. Not sure why! Might be that it's static so the buttons/dials are always in exactly the same place, or maybe I just have too many different wheel rims and can't remember what all the buttons do on each of them :D

I'm the same, I find that using a separate button box in VR is easier than using complicated button layout on a wheel.

You don't need that many buttons for Dirt Rally. I actually found that the shifter moves the selector, so then I only need back and forward buttons to navigate.
 
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I once designed and 3d-printed a compact front-mounted WRC-style button box for a flat rally rim. Register at Tinkercad and look for: people and "Elaphe". All my designs are public and the 3D files can be downloaded if you need them. If looked good for a modern rally car. However, now I prefer a more classic style and the freedom of not having a coiled cable as well as the simplicity of having my controls in a separate button box.

Pics:
 
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