basic yet mysterious physics engines

[BuzzKillington]

xr4, tell that to the race teams dropping millions of dollars on research and testing into their dragsters. lol

[xr4man]

why? they already know that the settings for one driver may not work well for another driver.

yes there are "basic" adjustments that work better than others, but once you get the basics down, you still have to fine tune for the driver himself.

i'm not trying to say that you can go out and find someone that can race a car that has the adjustments totally out of whack, i'm saying that each driver will prefer to have their car handle differently, so therefore you can't just have a specific set of adjustments that works perfectly for everyone.

[NightrainSrt4]

No, but you can calculate theoretical maximums when you take the driver out of the equation.

[xr4man]

no car can do anything without the driver though. even with an AI you would have to fine tune the car for the "driver."

[Diamon]

@xr4
This isn't about the driver or any preferences he/she/it might have. It's the theoretically most efficient way of driving the car. Your're of course right in that you need to find a driver or computer that can get as close as possible to that when its time to drive it.

[dr.walrus]

The physics engine takes basic figures and plugs them into known equations to simulate gravity, impacts, explosions, and in this case various forces on a car. How much is accurate and how much is fudged depends on what the game developer felt was best for the game.

This, this, a billion times this.

Want to simulate physics? Get all your equations for Newtonian physics and simulate the in a computer environment. Want to make the game easier? Then add real world impossible values...

..For example, set the centre of gravity two metres under your car. Physically impossible, but in your simulation, your car can barely ever turtle unless its wedged.

[Twigsoffury]

always remember.


A good driver in a Ford fiesta will beat a poor driver in a porsche around the track.


Anyone with a fat wallet can go fast in a straight line, but it takes talent to turn.

[BuzzKillington]

The train is derailing! lol

[mDust]

The train is derailing! lol

No, no. It's just going through a tunnel. Be patient, it'll come out the other end.

[Konrad]

I've asked similar questions about flightsims. Is the software in your simulated F16 flight computer as advanced as the software in the real F16? More advanced? Simpler? How much overlap is there between the two?