Steering Angle

[KingJanic]

One thing that really annoys me is driving games where you can't customize how much steering angle you have. While this might just be needless feature adding in Automation, I think being able to designate how much you can get in cars would be nice. Like maybe being able to turn the wheels a long ways in a sports car to make it turn sharper and increase sportiness, or lowering it to increase comfort (something like that). But if you add to much in a car that goes really fast, you might rip the front wheels off

Just an idea, don't think its been discussed before. Sorry if this makes no sense.

[xABSOLUTIONx]

look at Mercedes Benz, on RWD models the wheels have massive angles, which is sort of nice and useful if you need to make a U turn

[KingJanic]

My point exactly. Also handy if you're building a car for Formula D use, but that won't be in the game Maybe part of a Race DLC?

[Daffyflyer]

The thing is I don't think there is any huge disadvantage in having more available steering angle. It doesn't seem like an interesting gameplay mechanic to me.

[KingJanic]

I'm not sure either. Maybe having it reduce comfort? Or if you have to much, reduce safety?

[Der Bayer]

I don't think that can be done properly. Every car manufacturer makes the steering angle as big as possible with the space they can use. This mostly depends on the suspension geometry. In Automation, all that could be done would be a fixed steering angle per suspension type. But which suspension type is best? Every type can be designed to allow for a big steering angle, but this results in different compromises (really depends on the application).

[nialloftara]

What about adding a turning radius stat based on your suspension type and settings?

[Der Bayer]

The turning radius is only based on wheelbase, trackwidth and mostly the maximum steering angle (and front overhang). As I said, the maximum steering angle is not definitely set by the suspension type but the actual suspension geometry (how the suspension joints are aligned) which is hell^3 to work out properly, even with proper engineering tools (actually that*s what I want to do in the future for a living if I can ). The suspension settings which are currently in the game have nothing to do with it, it's all about how the suspension joints are aligned.

If we could tune the suspension joints, then that would also have to affect handling in general, too (because it would be pathetic if it would only affect turning radius). That means all the cornering simulations would have to be redone and only the simplest bump simulations would take several seconds. -> Overall car testing probably would take more than a minute. Excellent for a tycoon game if you ask me.

Just kidding, I just wanted to show where feature creep can lead. If we assume a constant maximum steering angle for all suspension types then only wheelbase and trackwidth come into consideration. So smaller cars are more easy to drive (more tame). That's already in the car ratings.

[KingJanic]

That's what I meant in the first post that it probably wouldn't work in Automation (although it would be cool) but it really ticks me off when you can't do it in games like Forza or Gran Turismo.

[OCAdam]

IIRC, Gran Turismo allowed it only when doing drift events.

[KingJanic]

Well that would be handy. Anyone know where I can pick up a cheap PS3?