[ODE] Car Suspension

[Tom De Muer]

: Hi,
:
: just one little question :) ..
:
: It seems, a good suspension is a lot more important than I thought.

Well, Live for speed only uses McPherson struts, just like Racer IIRC, so a
basic suspension should do the trick largely :)

:
: At the moment I have a box chassis, 4 hinge2's and 4 spheres ...
:
: But the car is sliding to much .. I tuned every parameter for days,
: without proper results ..

What kind of friction are you using with the track/ground?  As the very
least you should have a friction dependent on the speed.  Better have a
proper slip-angle curve, just like racer.  I'm far from expert here but my
feeling is that the tire or friction model will determine most of the feel.

:
:
: So I checked the racer-code .. the suspension there is working another way
..
:
: I think I understand the basic principle about the dampers + stuff ..
:
: But what about collision-detection? .. I mean .. the car isn't
: driving always on a y0-Plane ... so how to check the wheels
: against the environment?
:
: Let me make a guess:
: - the wheels are spheres .. but only for collision-purpose
: (underground, environment etc..) ..
: - in the physics-step .. the joint-anchors are checked to update the
: springs + dampers of the suspension ..
: - wheel-forces + susp-forces are calculated + applied to the
: wheels + chassis ..
:
: (- but I can't find any sphere-definitions in the racer-code ..)

Dunno the racer code, but it might be rays as well, the only problem then is
that the sidewalls of the wheels don't collide.

:
: It's only a guess ... I'm not sure if this 'algorithm' will prevent
: the car from falling through the ground (f.e.) ..
:
: Maybe someone can help?
:
: Thanks in advance,
: Bodo
:

Cheers,
Tom