wheel-db

A community database of steering wheel metadata for racing/driving games across arcade emulators and PC platforms. Helps users configure their USB racing wheels with correct rotation degrees, identify games with native wheel support, and check force feedback compatibility.

Why This Exists

Modern USB racing wheels support 270-1080 degrees of rotation, but original arcade cabinets varied widely -- 270 degrees was common for arcade racers, some used 360 degrees, early games used infinite-rotation optical encoders, and motorcycle games used as little as 45 degrees. PC racing games also have widely varying recommended rotation settings. Without this data, players must guess or manually research each game.

Database

The primary database is data/wheel-db.json -- a unified, game-centric JSON file where each entry represents a unique game. Platform-specific identifiers (MAME ROM names, TeknoParrot profiles, Steam app IDs, etc.) are stored in a platforms map so a game's data is never duplicated across platforms.

Current Stats (v2.27.0)

Metric	Count
Total game entries	726
With MAME mapping	294
With TeknoParrot mapping	81
With Steam mapping	279
With Supermodel mapping	9
With Flycast mapping	9
With Model 2 Emulator mapping	6
With Dolphin mapping	4
With PCSX2 mapping	61
With RPCS3 mapping	61
With known rotation value	670
Rotation N/A	25
Infinite rotation (encoders)	31

Confidence: verified (60), high (663), medium (3), low (0)

Rotation values: 270 (336 games), 540 (107), 360 (61), 900 (69), 45 (19), 200 (16), 180 (16), 60 (14), 56 (10), 1080 (4), 450 (4), 240 (3), 390 (3), 150 (2), 90 (2), 300 (1), 480 (1), 720 (1), 800 (1)

PC wheel support: native (195 games), partial (96), none (84)

PC force feedback: native (157), partial (77), none (141)

Special Values

• -1 = Infinite rotation (optical encoder / spinner, no physical stops)
• null = Not applicable (anti-gravity racers, drag racing, motorcycle games where wheels aren't the intended input)

Platform Coverage

The database covers games across multiple platforms in a single entry:

Platform	Key	ID Field	Coverage
MAME	mame	romname/romnames	Arcade games emulated by MAME
TeknoParrot	teknoparrot	profile/profiles	Modern arcade games
Steam	steam	appid	PC games on Steam
Supermodel	supermodel	romname	Sega Model 3
Model 2 Emulator	m2emulator	romname	Sega Model 2
Flycast	flycast	romname	Naomi/Atomiswave
Dolphin	dolphin	game_id	Triforce/GameCube
PCSX2	pcsx2	serial	PS2 games via emulation
RPCS3	rpcs3	serial	PS3 games via emulation

Games that exist on multiple platforms (e.g., Crazy Taxi on both MAME and Steam) have a single entry with all platform mappings.

Scripts

All scripts are PowerShell 7+ and located in scripts/.

Script	Description
Setup-Dependencies.ps1	Downloads catver.ini, controls.xml, nplayers.ini; generates MAME listxml
Get-MameGames.ps1	Parses MAME data sources to inventory all racing/driving games with wheel controls
Get-TeknoparrotGames.ps1	Scans local TeknoParrot installation for wheel-equipped games
Get-SteamRacingGames.ps1	Fetches top racing/driving games from SteamSpy and Steam Store APIs
Export-Formats.ps1	Generates CSV and XML exports from JSON master into dist/
Validate-Database.ps1	Validates database structure, enums, ranges, and uniqueness constraints
Audit-Database.ps1	Comprehensive data quality report (rotation_type gaps, consistency, completeness)

Repository Structure

wheel-db/
  data/
    wheel-db.json                # Primary database (726 games)
    schema/
      wheel-db.schema.json       # JSON Schema for validation
  scripts/
    Setup-Dependencies.ps1       # Download/copy data dependencies
    Get-MameGames.ps1            # MAME wheel game inventory
    Get-TeknoparrotGames.ps1     # TeknoParrot wheel game inventory
    Get-SteamRacingGames.ps1     # Steam racing game discovery
    Export-Formats.ps1           # Generate CSV/XML exports into dist/
    Validate-Database.ps1        # Schema validation and data checks
    Audit-Database.ps1           # Data quality audit and consistency report
    archive/                     # One-time migration scripts
  docs/
    INTEGRATION.md               # How to consume this data in frontends/emulators
  .github/
    workflows/
      release.yml                # Auto-release on database version change
  sources/
    downloads/                   # catver.ini, controls.xml, etc. (gitignored)
    cache/                       # Generated inventories (gitignored)
  dist/                          # Build artifacts (gitignored, attached to releases)

Consuming the Data

Each GitHub Release includes these artifacts:

File	Format	Description
wheel-db.json	JSON	Full unified database with all metadata and multi-platform mappings
mame-wheel-rotation.csv	CSV	Flat MAME ROM-to-rotation lookup (known values only)
mame-wheel-rotation.xml	XML	Same MAME data in XML format
steam-wheel-support.csv	CSV	Steam games with wheel support, FFB, and rotation info
wheel-db.csv	CSV	Unified flat CSV of all 726 games across all platforms

For detailed parsing instructions and code examples, see docs/INTEGRATION.md.

Contributing

If you have verified information about a game's wheel rotation or support:

1. Fork the repository
2. Edit data/wheel-db.json
3. Add your entry following the schema (see data/schema/wheel-db.schema.json)
4. Include at least one source documenting where the data came from
5. Submit a pull request

License

MIT