'80s Desktop Driving Game Converted to Play Out Run

If you grew up in the 80s, you likely remember a game called Out Run, where you cruse through the countryside in a Ferari Testarossa Spider. A classic game in its own right, hacker Matt Brailsford, aka “Circuitbeard,” decided to take things several steps further, and integrated it into a 1980s desktop game called the Tomy Turnin’ Turbo Dashboard using a Raspberry Pi.

While ripping the guts out of a vintage toy and inserting a few retro games has been done before, what sets this build apart is just how much effort he put into preserving the Tomy Turnin’ game’s original look. In order to do this, he actually used Cannonball, a C++ port of Out Run that can be played on a Raspberry Pi. This allowed him to modify the code in order to output dash-mounted LEDs corresponding to in-game statistics, such as speed, revs, and even a turbo button that goes on when in high gear.

The controls are left as original as possible as well. A game start button replaces the original reset button, the shifter is made to double as the throttle and brake pedals, and the ignition switch is even wired to properly power up and shut down the Raspberry Pi running the game. Perhaps most impressively, the steering wheel features actual analog control, via a slide potentiometer adapted to this purpose.

Finally, a 3.5-inch TFT screen shows the actual gameplay, nicely plugged in where the original display used to sit. It’s a truly epic build, and if you’d like to know more details, be sure to check out Brailsford’s detailed write-up!