Fri Mar 11, 2011 9:18 am
Aerodynamics
Aerodynamics
Aerodynamics are an important aspect of car design and as such, probably also of importance in your game.
As using the search function has revealed only a tiny bit of information on how you want to tackle this
aspect [1] of the game, I would like to pose the question: how are you going to implement it?
This post is written out of sheer curiosity, but also to get you thinking about this topic a bit now that you
are almost done with the soon-to-be-awesome engine designer part (yey!
). And maybe, even give some
new pointers towards some things that could be considered in a perfect world with infinite amounts of time
for development.
In the discussion around engines and fuel consumption the following was mentioned/stated:
"... This will then get used with the weight and rough aerodynamics of a car ..."
It seems to me from the little I have read here, that the aerodynamics will be an integral part of the car body
designer. So here comes a heap of questions to stimulate discussion:
Questions / Considerations
a) What parameters do you offer for direct and indirect tweaking by the user?
b) How is the car's total drag coefficient [2][3] approximated? Is its frontal area calculated from
the size of the parts? Is the drag coefficient the sum over the partial coefficients of the different body parts?
c) Is there any synergy between parts in regards to aerodynamics (negative or positive)?
d) Is the under-works/chassis (umm, don't know the correct term, the bottom surface of the car closest
to the road) considered part of the aerodynamics package of a car? It is very important for faster cars, able to
create enormous amounts of down-force, and with it, cornering capabilities.
e) Are you going to consider turbulence created by rugged features of a car? The rear end of a car for
example, creating under-pressure right behind the car, which in turn creates a force opposite to its direction
of movement. Mirrors are another example where the formalism in [2] can be misleading because their front
is nice and round... which is a misconception in general: the back-side is often more important than the front,
example: the shape of falling water drops forming an equipotential surface.
f) Will there be some kind of "wind tunnel" feature where the effects of different designs/parts can be
established? Of course I understand that writing a wind-tunnel simulation probably would be a matter of a few
years in itself.
I think this is it for now.
Keep up the excellent work, not only with the game, but also the much appreciated
openness towards the community!
/Killrob
[1] Aerodynamics in your game will be over-proportionally important as compared to real-life car
manufacturing because gamers will be inclined towards building sports-cars or faster cars just because of
their inherent coolness factor. This makes it an aspect even more worth considering in at least some detail.
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drag_equation
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerodynamic_drag
Aerodynamics are an important aspect of car design and as such, probably also of importance in your game.
As using the search function has revealed only a tiny bit of information on how you want to tackle this
aspect [1] of the game, I would like to pose the question: how are you going to implement it?
This post is written out of sheer curiosity, but also to get you thinking about this topic a bit now that you
are almost done with the soon-to-be-awesome engine designer part (yey!
). And maybe, even give some new pointers towards some things that could be considered in a perfect world with infinite amounts of time
for development.
In the discussion around engines and fuel consumption the following was mentioned/stated:
"... This will then get used with the weight and rough aerodynamics of a car ..."
It seems to me from the little I have read here, that the aerodynamics will be an integral part of the car body
designer. So here comes a heap of questions to stimulate discussion:
Questions / Considerations
a) What parameters do you offer for direct and indirect tweaking by the user?
b) How is the car's total drag coefficient [2][3] approximated? Is its frontal area calculated from
the size of the parts? Is the drag coefficient the sum over the partial coefficients of the different body parts?
c) Is there any synergy between parts in regards to aerodynamics (negative or positive)?
d) Is the under-works/chassis (umm, don't know the correct term, the bottom surface of the car closest
to the road) considered part of the aerodynamics package of a car? It is very important for faster cars, able to
create enormous amounts of down-force, and with it, cornering capabilities.
e) Are you going to consider turbulence created by rugged features of a car? The rear end of a car for
example, creating under-pressure right behind the car, which in turn creates a force opposite to its direction
of movement. Mirrors are another example where the formalism in [2] can be misleading because their front
is nice and round... which is a misconception in general: the back-side is often more important than the front,
example: the shape of falling water drops forming an equipotential surface.
f) Will there be some kind of "wind tunnel" feature where the effects of different designs/parts can be
established? Of course I understand that writing a wind-tunnel simulation probably would be a matter of a few
years in itself.
I think this is it for now.
Keep up the excellent work, not only with the game, but also the much appreciated openness towards the community!
/Killrob
[1] Aerodynamics in your game will be over-proportionally important as compared to real-life car
manufacturing because gamers will be inclined towards building sports-cars or faster cars just because of
their inherent coolness factor. This makes it an aspect even more worth considering in at least some detail.
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drag_equation
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerodynamic_drag
For not considering 
) so I'll need to check my books and uni notes to be 100% sure. I'll go to fetch my books from my parents' place this weekend so I can be more accurate.
