Physics [split from network thread]

[reece146]

We currently have a simple suspension system that does up-down movement on a curve defined by setting a "hinge" point. I have some issues with this system, mostly that it's not very easy to figure out how to make cars using that system act like cars in real life. With the current system, even if the suspension "feels right", the handling is still qutie unpredictable when one attempts difficult maneuvers like drifting. Tuning the suspesion can be a nightmare of moving hinge points around, and testing repeatedly. I have yet to find a very good way to set the hinge points on a given car and know it will work well.

The only way to make the VAMOS code emulate real life roll centers and such would be to have a dynamic hinge point. Even then it would be a PITA to develop a suspension for and it wouldn't be 100% accurate. It would be a kludge.

So what I'm interested in trying is setting VDrift up to use a hybrid Vamos/ODE system for physics. The other option is to just write optimized versions of the things we need ODE to do ourselves, which would probably be better in the long run...what do you think? Would a hybrid system perform fairly well, or should we forget it and just write it all ourselves?

I have a copy of Milliken and Milliken. I can forward the pertinent geometry related chapters to anyone that is interested in doing the coding. IIRC there are about 6 unique/different suspension models that would need to be coded.

What will the affects be on performance?