[ODE] Smooth driving.

[cledwith at d-a-s.com]

> I"m making the usual car arcade game with sphere goms for wheels. I'm
> creating my race tracks in 3D studio max and have made them about as
> smooth as they're going to get. However, I continue to struggle with
> my ODE car bumping and stopping when it gets to bends in the road or
> hills, due to the very, very slight polygon rise. So I was wondering
> if any can suggest some ODE physics settings that might make my car
> take corners and hills smoothly. I'm not really interested in realism
> -- I just want a simple arcade feel with a bit of skidding, and most
> importantly I want my vehicle to drive smoothly. -- That's the
> absolute priority.
>

It's very important to have a properly tuned suspension. You also want
enough mass in the chassis above the suspension ("sprung mass") so that
when a bump is encountered the wheels and suspension go through motion but
the chassis is less affected. The suspension has to be loose enough to do
that as well. Think of a car with an incredibly stiff suspension and a
light chassis. It might as well be a skateboard because there will not be
any suspension travel when a vehicle hits a bump, so the whole car will
take to the air.

Here's a link to an old thread that helped me out a great deal when tuning
vehicle behavior:
<a
href="http://q12.org/pipermail/ode/2003-November/010338.html">http://q12.org/pipermail/ode/2003-November/010338.html</a>

Good luck,
Chris