Hey everyone!
I've been working on a little passion project to bring one of my all-time favorite racing games into VR, and I figured this would be the perfect place to share it. :)
Need for Speed Underground 2 is now playable in VR with full 6DoF head tracking and stereoscopic 3D!
And since I wanted to take things a little further, I also worked on proper steering wheel and pedal support, force feedback, and SimHub integration to make the game feel more at home in a racing simulator setup.
Here's what the mod currently offers:
🥽 VR support
- Full 6DoF head tracking – look around, lean forward, and move your head naturally inside the car
- Stereoscopic 3D with two different rendering modes
- Driver's seat camera with adjustable seating position
- Custom 3D dashboard gauges for RPM, speed, gear, and minimap
- SteamVR support, with optional DXVK for GPU-based frame transfer
🏎️ Sim racing features
- DirectInput steering wheel and pedal support
- Custom force feedback, including steering forces, road bumps, and collision effects
- SimHub telemetry integration for dashboards, bass shakers, motion rigs, rev lights, etc.
- Configurable controls and force feedback settings
⚙️ Other stuff
- A Windows settings application, so you don't have to manually edit configuration files
- The VR and SimHub mods work independently, so you can use either or both
- Open-source project!
A few things worth mentioning:
The original NFSU2 cars don't have actual modeled interiors, so while you're sitting in the driver's position, you won't see a proper cockpit or steering wheel yet.
Also, the game engine itself is quite old and mostly single-threaded, so performance is still somewhat limited. There are also some trade-offs between the two stereo rendering methods.
It's definitely not perfect, but actually driving through Bayview in VR feels pretty surreal after all these years!
My test setup: Pico 4 + Virtual Desktop + SteamVR, RX 6800 XT, Fanatec CSL DD and SIMSONN pedals.
The mod currently requires the PC version of NFSU2 with the v1.2 executable. Installation instructions and technical details are on GitHub.
🔗 GitHub (source code + installation instructions):
https://github.com/DevCrashDay/speed2vr
I'd love to hear what you guys think!
If anyone here has a VR headset or a sim racing setup and wants to give it a try, I'd really appreciate some feedback, especially from people using different hardware.
And if there are any modders out there interested in helping improve the experience, contributions are more than welcome!
Never thought I'd be revisiting this old ass game like this over 20 years later.