[ODE] Car Sim Steering Causing Instability

[Nate W]

On Thu, 2 Oct 2003, smythst wrote:

> So the later works for my sim. What I don't understand is why? What's
> wrong with adding a torque to the rear wheels? It's what an engine
> does in real life [...]

When the engine applies a torque to the rear wheels, as a side-effect it
also applies the opposite torque to the car chassis.  By applying the
force directly to the wheel itself, you would not get the same nose-lift
and tail-squat that you see in the real world (though you might get some
of that, depending on where the car's center of mass is).

-- 

Nate Waddoups
Redmond WA USA
http://www.natew.com