Going Old School Racing Sony Playstation2 in HD. Carbon Fiber Paddle Shifters. Retrotink too!

August 16, 2019

#321

Gentle reader,

I never intended to get into simulation racing. Oddly, it never crossed my mind. Even though after our young kids went to bed, Nancy and I "raced" each other on the primitive video game console we had way back then. Being a car guy all my life and loving sports car racing, I should have though of it.

NOTE: If you are viewing this on a computer, clicking on any picture will open a second window over this one. You click through or use your right and left arrow keys to look at the photos. They will be larger than seen here. If you are viewing it on a device such as a phone or tablet, I do not know if that works the same way. 

A coworker gave me a PC racing game around 2000 called Test Drive Le Mans. Since the 24 Hours of Le Mans is my all-time favorite race, I was intrigued. 

Later, my daughter bought me a SONY Playstation2 Slim and my son, Gran Turismo 3: SONY's "Real Driving Simulator". And I began the transition from PC to console. 

Soon after, I bought GT4 and the Logitech wheel set made specifically for it and the old PC one was donated.

I built two frames of structural aluminum with 1x12" wood to support the wheel and pedals. They were collapsible for storage. Below is one equipped with Microsoft's fine wheel and pedal set for the XBox 360.

My son and I started racing each other as well as individually racing the computer's AI cars.

My ever supportive wife bought me a nice gaming chair with pedestal and built-in 2.1 amplifier with speakers in the headrest and a "sub" beneath the seat.

I had to modify it with the thigh extension you can see here. I'm 6'3" with long legs and these were mostly made for kids.  

My son transitioned to an XBox 360 and Forza 3, then 4, while I stuck with my trusty PS2. I tried other racing titles with mixed results.

Eventually he moved out and I also switched to to a 360 and Forza 4 as well. The HD graphics were SO much better.

Forza 4 verses Gran Turismo 5  Is an  article I wrote some years ago, no photos except of game covers. I had my son-in-law's Playstation3 for a year while he was stationed in Okinawa and bought GT5 for it.

Eventually, the old PS2 would not recognize any disc except GT4 and the TV picture was crappy. So, I put it all away and forgot about it.

OK, enough background. Looking into the closet one day, I spied my PS2 Slim's box and for nostalgic sake, got it out. 
Well, it had completely died. No sounds, no image on the TV. Nothing. Sigh.

I started looking online (Amazon and eBay) for good working PS2 slim replacement consoles and bought one. 
Since I'd sold all of my PS2 wheels, I needed another one and bought the one you will see below that was actually made for GT5 on the PS3.

Well, the first console arrived and had issues, so I returned it. I forgot to remove my GT4 disc however and when I realized it, I just went ahead and bought another one for $5.00 via eBay.

And it's a good thing too. As that first console stated that my GT4 data on my memory card was corrupted (all those cars and credits!) and I had to erase it and start from the beginning. Crap.

WELL, the replacement game disc arrived and inside was the previous owner's MEMORY CARD!

He was GOOD! He had a large garage with some great cars, many with CRAZY horsepower figures.  And 2,600,000 in credits in his bank.

Below are photos of the screen showing his garage and cars. Starting with the MOST powerful and descending.

Page two:

Page three:

Page four:

Page five:

And page six:

Here is the new steering wheel I bought. One complaint I have (and others, too) about Logitech wheels is small shift "paddles" on the back of the wheel's spokes which can be hard to reach.

Above shows the "carbon fiber" paddle shifters I installed on it. Below shows the small lever one must press to shift up (right side of wheel) or down, (left side of wheel). 

Here is Microsoft's steering wheel with much more user friendly shift paddles, below:

Below, is the "paddle" that Logitech puts on their older wheels, between the screw holes. Their newer ones are much better and way more expensive.

Dynamic Paddle Shifters is a company that makes superbly engineered and constructed paddle shifters and other things to improve racing wheel/pedal sets. I HIGHLY recommend checking out what they sell. The prices are amazing as is the quality. I chose simulated carbon fiber finished paddles.

Here is one paddle installed. They even supply "wear strips" to adhere on the factory paddles. The screws are nylon so they should not cause physical wear on the wheel's shifters.

If you look closely above, the paddles are leaning way back from the wheel.

More evident in these photos.

Above shows them prior to my adjusting the screws/nuts supplied installed but loose. Note the smooth curves and lightening holes the drilled in them. Just like the real things.

Above shows after I adjusted them. There is still room for my fingers and the are exactly where I need them.

Much better placement now, as you can see.  

Logitech includes a shifter on the right side of the "dash" pulling back shifts up, pushing forward shifts down. Simulating a sequential racing transmission.

With the paddles being so long, one can still reach and operate them even while rotating the wheel. Much better than the original shift levers.

So, now I have a working Playstation2. But the picture is still crappy. First thing I tried was a "component" video cable. The PS2 puts out 480P video. The factory cable only has the red/white stereo audio plugs and yellow "composite" single video plug. So the component cable with red/green/blue plugs improved it, but not much.

Research steered me away from the simple and cheap Chinese ADC (Analog to Digital Converter) device and suggested: RetroTINK

RetroTINK goes beyond the mass produced Chinese ADCs by adding a "jitter" filter circuit and other things that smooth out the 480P signal when seen on an HD screen.

My XBox 360 is positioned console behind the TV. How it receives and sends signals to and from the steering wheel and the console, I do not know.

So there is no room to fit the PS2 setup back there, I placed it next to me on top of the shelf I built.

The PS2 Slim's name is obvious as it's much smaller than the original PS2. To do that, they removed the hard drive from the circuits and equation.   

The aftermarket component video cable is seen here (above and below), thicker than the original and grey/black web covered.

I wire-tied the yellow cable even though I could have just plugged it into the RetroTINK.

Component video cables above and the stereo audio cable on the right side.
A Micro USB cable power supply is needed for RetroTINK and the Type C mini HDMI cable to supply the digital signals to the HDTV.

Above, we are looking over the top of the TV and down at the inputs of the HDTV and other inputs.

Does the RetroTINK work as promised? It does, it is not HD quality, no but the picture is much better.

When I transitioned originally from PS2 to XBox 360, the learning curve was steep. Both companies use physics to have each car handle as lifelike as possible. Microsoft's physics are much harder to battle.

Going back to 2005 or so as I have, I find that it is somewhat easier to avoid sliding off the courses while racing on the PS2 with Gran Turismo 4. Plus, unlike Forza 4, if one wanders off track, in GT4 your car does not slow down like you drove into a lake. You simply bounce along the grass trying to get back on track like in real life.

The engine sounds have never been as realistic in any of SONY's Gran Turismo versions I have tried as they are in Forza. But one gets used to it.

I re-bought Enthusia and TOCA Race Driver 3 for the PS2. Both are more demanding that GT4. I have not tried either since RetroTINK has been installed. But am looking forward to it.

I hope you have enjoyed my trip down memory lane. I am. It's refreshing and although I spent more than I should have, it's worth it to me.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read my humble words and view my images. It is your kind words and comments that keep me writing and shooting.

Scott
August 16, 2019
#321