You can. That's what traditional modchips do, and there's the Rhea/Phoebe which completely emulates that drive via that interface.

Of course, if you sit at that point in the system you have a different set of problems and capabilities. Much easier to build hardware for, but no data output, and of course you need to disassemble the console to get there in the first place.

I was thinking about controlling an outside door unlock button by MITMing the electrical cables going out of it, but realized I have no idea how to go about it. I just need to generate the same signal... I thought maybe someone reading this could have some pointers.

you can, but the drives are starting to fail now.

I meant mitm on CD rom side, as the protection track unique, could be simpler approach (which later you can remove optic drive with SD or usb)