Not long after the first iteration was shared on Reddit and on Boiling Steam, Ethan from Sol Designs has made progress with their second iteration of the Sol Wheel, an accessory that can turn your Steam Deck into a Steering Wheel. Now there are massive improvements in usability. The previous iteration could only make the Steam Deck turn very slightly left and right, but this new one makes it possible to do much more drastic wheel turns, along with rubber bands to give some pull back from the more extreme positions on the side. Very clever.
There seems to be very little lag between the wheel on screen in-game and the Steam Deck’s position using its gyroscope, which is actually very impressive. See how close the points 1 and 2 look on the below screenshot.
The Steam Deck could be used this way as a cheap alternatives for more expensive steering wheels, to play Dirt Rally and the like. Now it just needs to have a set of pedals on the floor (which can be added via USB through the Steam Deck’s dock for example) and you are mostly done.
Apparently Ethan is working on a new iteration (v3) of the design, we are looking forward to seeing more of their work.
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