silverhawk_184 your project sounds exciting, I am a big fan of simulators. I'm still working with the driving research group at Clemson, right now we're not really doing any sim-based studies though so I haven't been messing with the sim much. In fact a new sim from
Drive Safety was installed in the lab not long ago. Before this one, there was a home-brew simulator made by a professor from a car and some other things he built. It did not move but had all the real equipment from the car (a 1989 Mitsubishi Galant) and most of it worked.
You mentioned removing the menus, if you need to simply change them instead, the documentation on this is
here. Read through that and play with the menu files and let us know if there is something else you need to know.
On display distortion I think your projector(s) should be able to compensate for this for you, no need to do it in software.
For multiple camera views & camera positioning, this is one big thing that any simulator will need, the ability to output to multiple screens with cameras at viewpionts that look in different directions to create a bigger scene. So maybe these are two things we should work on adding in the next version to make it possible for people wanting to use VDrift in simulators, or really on any multiple monitor setup.
For getting data from the teacher's server, I'm afraid you'll have to do some sort of filesystem hacks with mounted network shares or something else like that to get shared data to multiple machines running VDrift. Right now, VDrift's networked game function is not working very well, so this may present a drawback. Another one of the things that needs to be done is set up a way for VDrift users to get game data remotely, from the web or some other source, through a data management application. This could possibly also facilitate what you're trying to do. Unfortunately this one was sort of my idea and I'm supposed to be the one working on it...and I have very little free time now.
On force feedback, there is a thread in the Development forum about this, explaining how to get it working under Linux (it is NOT working on Win/Mac yet - Win is just not done and Mac lacks a FF API afaik). Under Linux, I tested it with my Logitech Momo Force wheel, and have a Logitech Driving Force Pro wheel that I haven't had a chance to test yet. It worked but stopped working after a minute of use; however this could have been due to drivers.
My suggestion for a lab full of Linux simulator boxes is Ubuntu. It is thoroughly tested, totally free, easy to set up, has a huge community, easy updates, provides stripped down versions, and the ability to make your own install media too. I use it for my gaming, development, server and general desktop.
By the way, I get behind on the forums these days, but I'm always on
IRC. Ping me anytime and I'll get back to you as soon as I see your message.