Steering Wheel Aesthetic and Alternatives

For my main project I plan on building an Xbox controller steering wheel adapter. The aesthetic I have chosen for this project is the street racing aesthetic. This aesthetic has a sleek almost futuristic look. Since underground street racing usually takes place at night this aesthetic often has a dark background. At the same time, it also contains bold eye-catching lights and colors that contrast against this dark background.

Image by Pavarita J [1]

Image by CHER CHER SAN📼 [2]

A big part of street racing is making modifications to your car, so unique modifications would fit into this aesthetic. Some characteristics of the street racing aesthetic can be found below along with some more pictures.

• Urban surroundings
• Neon underglow lighting
• Bright colors and graphics
• Sleek
• Dark backgrounds

Image titled “Happiness” by the Kilowatt [3]

Image by h3ro [4]

Underglow kit by rgb halo kits [5]

One inspiration for the look of my steering wheel is the image below. I think having the outer part of the wheel be black leather and having the inner portion be shiny and metallic will give it the street racing look I am going for. I would definitely like to incorporate some type of backlighting either on the steering wheel or the base it is mounted to. 

Steering wheel by MOMO Motorsport [6]

Other Aesthetics:

While the street racing aesthetic is my first choice, there are other aesthetics I could design my steering wheel to fit into. One aesthetic I thought of in the beginning was the minimalist aesthetic. I talked about this aesthetic in an earlier post. To fit the minimalist aesthetic I would keep the base of my design very similar, but I would make it very boxy and paint it beige. For the steering wheel, I would make a flat white circular disk that doesn’t overhang the surface it is mounted to. I created this design in CAD which is shown below. 

As is common with this aesthetic I feel like this design is more boring than it is appealing. Another aesthetic I could base my design around is the Diner aesthetic. The diner aesthetic was popular in the 1950s and is very similar to the retro aesthetic. Some key features of this aesthetic are described below.

• Checkered patterns
• Neon lights
• Stainless steel 
• Jukeboxes
• Plastic food baskets
• Vibrant colors

Image by Deluxe Diner [7]

A design that fits this aesthetic would have a base with more rounded corners made of stainless steel. I would paint the base with a checkered pattern which would fit both the diner aesthetic and the racing aesthetic. The top surfaces of the base would be made of cushiony material similar to the booths at a diner. For the steering wheel, I think it would be fun to use one of the red baskets you commonly find at diners. I could also add some neon lighting around the bottom of the base.

 

Citations:

[1] Pavarita J, pinterest post titled “Boom”

     Website: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/775604367088101801/

[2] Pin by CHER CHER SAN📼 on СΔɌƩ: Street racing cars, Purple car, Jdm

     Website: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/754353006324172339/

[3] Happiness by the Kilowatt: Street racing cars, Best jdm cars, Street racing

     Website: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/18788523436581511/

[4] Pin by h3ro on Ваши пины: Drifting cars, Street racing cars, Classy cars

     Website: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/1080301029347989406/

[5] LED Underglow Lighting Kit 2.0: Flexible

     Website: https://rgbhalokits.com/products/led-underglow-lighting-kit-2-0-flexible

[6] Amazon.com: MOMO Motorsport MOD Drift Steering Wheel Black Suede          

     Website: https://www.amazon.com/R1907-33S-Steering-Wheel-Drift/dp/B0792R7B36

[7] Pin by Deluxe Diner titled “1950s Diner”

     Website: https://www.pinterest.jp/pin/497929302535782243/?send=true