Why is KSP So bad when it comes to cars?

[Franklin]

The biggest problem with the stock rover wheels (and this has been an issue since they were added) is that their code is just a bit of a mess. When you switch to a new polygon in the terrain, the suspension spontaneously switches to stiff-as-a-board for a few seconds, and the vehicle will start shaking over the ground like it has no shocks at all. As well, handling on hills is inverted: super-steep slopes propel you upwards at absurd speed with perfect lateral handling (once you get out of stiff-as-a-board mode), while slopes with almost no inclination will slow your progress severely and cut your lateral handling to "turn and you flip" even when stiff-as-a-board mode ends. Fixing the handling on the rover wheels has been something of a long-time request, at least as far back as 0.20.

Yeah, exactly. The friction physics in KSP is a big mess right now. All terrain is basically a big sheet of ice, or glue, depending on the incline. I hope one day we see more realistic friction physics.

[Apollo91]

I remapped to the arrow keys, that way I can still use the translational controls if I need to. haven't had to yet, but its KSP so you never know.

[Gam3r HD]

You could always strap a rocket to the back of a box on wheels and see how that goes. Just make sure you don't have FAR installed.

[RockoDyne]

Yeah, the m/s thing is a big one. People complain about their rovers flipping out if they go above 20 m/s. There are no roads in KSP. Doing 45mph over rough ground is actually quite a risky endeavour!

That's definitely half of the issue. The other half is people don't know how to build proper rovers. It's basically the same issue as planes. If a plane can only fly once, it's probably that the CoM is behind the CoL. If a rover constantly tips over, it's probably because it is an obelisk built on a dime size wheel base.

It's complaining that their rover isn't an F1 car when it's built and weighs about as much as the massive earth movers uses for mining.

Yeah, exactly. The friction physics in KSP is a big mess right now. All terrain is basically a big sheet of ice, or glue, depending on the incline. I hope one day we see more realistic friction physics.

I'm not positive that the issue is in friction, specifically in the PhysX sense. If it was, that wouldn't be a hard mod to make since all that would have to be done is tweek the wheel rigidbody or the planet's physics material.

[magnemoe]

If you want a fast rover, build it light, not only speed but crash tolerance increases far more. I driven on mun Jeb style: two rules, 1 full throttle 2 crater rims are fun.

Just one damage to rover and that was then traveling slovenly: kerbal falling out and landing a kilometer away and poped tires don't count.

It should perhaps be possible to select tires for body, low gravity tires has extreme grip but pops very easy with lots of pressure, either heavy load or jumps. Heavy rovers should also have better grip balancing this out.

[jwenting]

and build it to have a low center of mass/center of gravity.

That way it's far less likely to flip over.

[RuBisCO]

Try SQUIDED wheels.

Would you say... It's Carmageddon?

I see what you did there... and I think it "reincarnated" my nostalgia gland.

[m1sz]

my latest car is not that bad actually

[KierBear44]

It's because I happily bought Kerbal Space Program, not Kerbal Ship or Car Simulator.

[cantab]

When your wheels are capable of operating anywhere from the freezing vacuum of Eeloo to the dusts of Duna to the 150 °C heat of Eve, and all the while sipping power from a few solar panels or the gentle warmth of decaying blutonium, I think a bit of iffy handling is a reasonable trade-off.

[Alfondoo]

Design smart for a low center of gravity, a wide/long wheel base that will help you out by reducing your turning circle, which is good for speed runs. Also setting it up for safety (front wheel drive and steer) can help but it doesn't give you much grip.

The only thing I normally fall foul of in all of my worst best designs is the vibration caused by having too many cubic octagonal struts clipping together. Leads to strange antics like this:

The cubes would start to orbit each other faster and faster until it shot out in every direction, exploding into a million tiny pieces! It's only ever my ground vehicles that do it

[ddavis425]

Aside from the control rebinding, the game's friction system (or lack thereof) is pretty bad. Unless you're on a relatively high-gravity planet you might as well be driving around on ice.

[Robotengineer]

If you add Vernor engines plus infinite fuel, and a Vagani craft file, cars aren't so bad.

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Craft is not mine, check out Vagani's cars on his thread. I did however add the RCS.

[Pixel of Life]

I mean if it isn't a rocket or an airplane, good luck breaking or turning with it.

I'm serious, i love this game, But why the heck is it armageddon for cars lol?

There's a reason it's called "Kerbal SPACE Program"

[r_rolo1]

Hum, that doesn't explain why every surface in the game is slippery as ice and gravity pulling sideways ( or even upwards ) in some areas

[JDCollie]

Hum, that doesn't explain why every surface in the game is slippery as ice and gravity pulling sideways ( or even upwards ) in some areas

. . . what areas? (and how do I reach them? )

[r_rolo1]

Some areas in the mountains of Kerbin have localized mismatches of the direction gravity pulls, especially in highly jagged areas ( such as some peaks in the mountains west of KSC ). It is normally not enough to overpower "real" gravity ( sometimes is, though ), but there is a clear phantom force when you are near the junction of two surface polygons that have widely diferent inclinations ( like if the game was using the relative direction where gravity is pulling in one polygon in the other ). Depending of the junction in question, that force pulls sideways or even upwards ...

Like I say above, for experience that, you only need to build a rover and go treking the mountains west of KSC to see that, but you can see it in any place with highly jagged terrain. I definitely seen it in my Mun rover circumnavigation more than once ...

Edited July 25, 2014 by r_rolo1

[Vagani]

Never had a problem with cars, as you can see in my thread, also great to see people sharing my cars around

[Renegrade]

Cars? I'd much prefer they fix... TRAINS!

Wonky things do happen when trying to drive a train like that.. it strangely resists steering...

[Mister Kerman]

Because Kerbals obviously don't drive on Kerbin.

Yeah they do! They aren't the best drivers, but they drive those tanker trucks all over the space center while you're building stuff.

Edited July 26, 2014 by Mister Kerman