mDrive 0.5.18 Preview — Android steering update

mDrive 0.5.18 Preview — Android steering update

This release updates Android only. Keep using the Windows 0.5.17 installer. Existing PC installations do not need an update or restart.

Install

Download mDrive-0.5.18.apk on your Android 13+ phone and open it to update mDrive. Pause the game first; installation restarts the app. Use Android's install permission for your chosen browser/file manager if prompted, and review system security warnings. Do not uninstall the existing app or clear its data.

The APK is non-debuggable and uses the same permanent release signing key as 0.5.17, including the existing signing-key rotation proof for earlier official builds. A data-preserving update and cold launch were verified on the connected test phone.

Steering changes

Phone rotation maps to virtual Xbox Left Stick X, not the car's steering-wheel angle:

Phone rotation	Xbox LX
0°	0%
±45°	±50%
±90°	±100%
±120°	±100%
±180°	±100%

Quaternion tracking continues independently through ±180° and beyond. Only controller output saturates. The first launch applies the linear F1 preset once: full stick at 90°, response curve 1, deadzone 0, smoothing 0. Other settings remain unchanged, and later steering customizations are retained.

The driving display shows accumulated Phone angle and normalized LX (-1.00 to +1.00). There is no speed/telemetry steering correction. F1's own gamepad assistance still determines cockpit-wheel animation and vehicle steering.

Controller packets, Wi-Fi, safety/recovery, and PC ViGEm output are unchanged.

Verification and limits

• Android release tests: 61 passed.
• PC regression: 49/49 groups passed.
• Release build and certificate verification passed; lint: 0 errors, 81 warnings.
• ±190° round-trip, hemisphere flips, threshold jitter, saturation and packet preservation tested synthetically.
• APK update installation and cold launch verified. Physical steering accuracy and live F1 driving for this build are not yet verified.

See detailed validation. This remains a preview.

Integrity

APK SHA-256: f1d7527b8f789c0c0aad06e7d87d9d224f3d0a4603e8d782c4efc86dcf2a7c82

Release certificate SHA-256: 802297e5be0a38fa84db19cea49f664c9be8895efb1b879f69d72ac447e7dcd5

Download SHA256SUMS.txt. Source is licensed GPL-3.0-only.

mDrive 0.5.17 Preview

mDrive 0.5.17 Preview

Release signing and open-source license

• Android uses a permanent RSA-4096 release key and a non-debuggable release build, not the development key.
• A public Android v3 proof-of-rotation links the earlier official debug certificate to the release certificate. Future updates retain the same release identity and lineage; the old private key is not required to build them.
• Release packaging verifies the expected signer and rejects debug/unsigned fallbacks. Gradle's Windows launcher now propagates build failures correctly.
• mDrive original code and documentation are licensed GPL-3.0-only. LICENSE/COPYRIGHT are included in the APK and Windows installation; upstream components keep their own licenses.
• No controller timing, safety gate, recovery algorithm, Wendy intent behavior, or game output was changed.

Downloads

• mDrive-0.5.17.apk: Android 13+, permanent release signature.
• mDrive-0.5.17-Setup-x64.exe: Windows receiver, Vosk model and official driver prerequisite. Windows Authenticode signing is still unavailable; the installer remains unsigned.
• SHA256SUMS.txt: asset integrity hashes.
• Matching source/build scripts: the v0.5.17 tag and GitHub-generated source archives on this release.

Update the APK over the existing official app; do not uninstall or clear data.
Unrelated debug certificates cannot use this migration. See the signing guide and validation report.

Verified on the connected SM-S942N: update from 0.5.16 succeeded without uninstalling; both saved settings and button-layout file hashes were unchanged. The installed APK's permanent signer and non-debuggable flag were verified. Android 57 release tests/build/lint and Windows 49 regression groups passed. Other devices and new F1 driving sessions were not retested.

Migration retains the old certificate's signature-permission compatibility with the maintainer's explicit approval; old-key rollback remains disabled. This is not a remedy for an exposed old key. Private signing material is never included in release assets.

The app remains a preview. A release signature does not prove dropout-free races, game compatibility, or speech accuracy. Windows security/anti-cheat protections should not be disabled.

mDrive 0.5.16 Preview

Superseded by 0.5.17. New installations should use the permanent release-signed APK there. Existing official 0.5.16 installations can update without uninstalling using Android signing-key rotation; settings preservation was verified on the development device. This older APK remains debug-signed.

mDrive 0.5.16 preview

Downloads / 설치

• mDrive-0.5.16-Setup-x64.exe: Windows x64 receiver, offline English Vosk recognition model, and official ViGEmBus prerequisite installer.
• mDrive-0.5.16.apk: Android 13+ application, development/debug signed.
• SHA256SUMS.txt: checksums for both downloads.

Update both PC and phone. Exit the game and receiver before installing. Connect both devices to the same Wi-Fi, launch mDrive on PC, then scan its QR from the Android menu. USB is not used for game control. See the repository README for game mapping, firewall, English TTS, and F1 UDP configuration.

This is an unsigned Windows / debug-signed Android preview, not a production-signed distribution. Do not disable security or anti-cheat protections. ViGEmBus is end-of-life; clean-PC and game compatibility still need verification.

Included changes

• Standard Xbox rumble forwarded over Wi-Fi, independently of Wendy/F1 telemetry. Corrected premature expiry of sustained vibration and missed short pulses; added receiver rumble diagnostics.
• Wi-Fi recovery uses fresh authenticated inputs without replaying old throttle/steering. Existing 150 ms input expiry and 100 ms authentication limits remain; sensor/focus/output faults still require safe recovery.
• Wendy PC microphone/output defaults, bundled offline English recognition, output volume and installed English voice selection; limited conversational intents and telemetry-based race assistance.
• Wi-Fi-only controller, updated layout and default linear steering range of +/-120 degrees. LB reserves the game's own radio input and temporarily pauses Wendy.

Wendy is for F1 2025 / 2026 Season Pack telemetry. It is not an unrestricted chat LLM. Automatic Box/tyre/wing actions, BB/Diff keyboard automation, and OCR are not supported in normal operation; use the game's radio commands.

Verification and limits

• Windows: 49 regression groups passed.
• Android: 57 unit tests, APK build and lint passed.
• Actual Xbox -> PC -> Wi-Fi -> Android rumble: all three levels felt and confirmed by the user. Repeat test: 119 accepted haptic packets, zero rejected, max control send gap 13 ms, zero controller releases/output errors.
• Installer and APK installed successfully on the development devices.

These results do not establish that every game's rumble works or that long F1 races are dropout-free. See artifacts/validation/XINPUT_RUMBLE_0516.md and the recovery validation reports for measured results and remaining limitations.