Garnet Hertz has made an augmented reality game based off of OutRun and is installing it inside a Sega arcade cabinet and grafted onto a EVT America electric “trike” capable of speeds of about 20mph (32 km/h).

The project attempts to combine the real world and OutRun, an arcade driving game released by Sega in 1986.

This project features the following components:

Cabinet-Car: The car-shaped sit-down arcade cabinet of OutRun is converted into a small car that can actually drive. This is done by modifying an existing fiberglass and wood cabinet with motors, wheels and components from an electric scooter. The original arcade cabinet is modeled after a 1984 Ferrari Testarossa. This customized cabinet-car will use the existing videogame controls (steering wheel, acceleration pedal, brake) to control the vehicle. It is expected that the maximum speed of the car will be no more than 20 miles (32 kilometers) per hour.

OutRun GPS Rendering: The screen, which is in front of the driver, renders the real world as the 1986 video game OutRun. This is done through custom-built software and GPS sensors that calculate the location of the experimental vehicle and display a map rendered in the style of the video game. In other words, the driver only sees GPS map data in their “windshield,” appearing as if they are playing the 1986 videogame. Accelerating or turning the car-cabinet in the real world will proportionally change the display. Although the screen will mimic the real world around it, it is expected that the GPS map data and the real world will not match perfectly.

iPhone 3G Application: This software for this project will be primarily developed as an iPhone application, with an iPhone 3G inside of the cabinet-car system displaying video on the large 26″ monitor. Development of the OutRun GPS rendering application on iPhone 3G hardware will also enable the application to be released to the general public to use the software on their iPhones while driving or walking.

This project is motivated by the following concepts:

Un-Simulation of Driving - This project un-simulates the driving component of a videogame. Driving game simulations strive to be increasingly realistic, but this realism is usually focused on graphical representations. Instead, this system pursues “real” driving through a videogame as its primary goal.

GPS Navigation Parallax & Mixed Reality - Driving with a GPS navigation system can be game-like. This project explores the consequences of only using GPS map data as a navigation tool for driving. The windshield of this project’s vehicle only shows GPS data, and as a result, driving it in the real world is often difficult or dangerous. As a result, this project explores and investigates how GPS data differs from the physical world, and what happens when an augmentation of reality envelops and obfuscates reality.

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