Here is a zip with the scripts that combine to produce the required effect:
Basically I have F9 mapped to a dedicated button F10 to another and so on.
Then I have left and right and left x 10 and right x 10 dedicated to buttons.

Also If I go into F12 the up and down are enabled, otherwise they are set to chat text...

btw, those scripts are a bit of a work in progress, they may not all be perfectly setup... but the general idea works...

That is by far the most interesting thing I've seen done with prototyping board BitB, well done!

If you don't mind going into it, what HW interface are you using between the PC and the master PIC; rs232 port?

Don't mind at all...

Actually, I'm using PICAXE chips, so the interface I use is a 3 pin rs232 port on the board with a Serial to USB converter plug. This has a driver that allows the PC to see it as a com port.



The way I set it up there is a 6 x 2 rotary switch (you can see it on the top left corner of the 3rd image in the OP. That switch will connect the serial interface to any chip, to make it easier to develop and program...

Otherwise it's really simple, it's mainly just resistors, and wiring... Actually the most difficult thing was getting the internal gear button mounts to line up the the momo paddle levers. Obviously the original uses moulded plastic, but I had to do it will pcb and screws and glue...

Next time I do something like this I'll probably try making it native USB, I wouldn't mind giving making a usb based device a try, although I looks pretty tricky... I would have to switch to a chip like ATMega and program it in assembly (PICAXE has its own bootstrap language called basic)

Ahh yes the good old FTDI USB to serial converter, useful chip that one. If you go native USB next time, also have a look at the PIC18 series, some of their low end models with high speed USB inbuilt.

What about software on the PC side? Did you have to create some sort of insim application that spits the info out your virtual serial port? How do you report the button presses to LFS?

Yeah thanks for the suggestion I'll have a look.
Yep. Here's the source code if you want to see it. (it's still a bit of a work in progress, but it does the job so far. I haven't fleshed out the rmp.txt file yet, which will have the low and high rmp for each car.Well actually I cheated... The way I set it up I used the 6 front panel buttons on the momo, then I used the guts of a $5 USB paddle controller for the other buttons. So I didn't actually have to deal with button reporting. I think using two way insim interaction would probably be a little laggy for that kind of thing.

Good idea, that would've avoided a whole lot of hassle!

Very impressive project, and thanks for taking the time to explain things.

Damn. We need a propeller head smilie.