Whilst i know your here Ian, is there anything you can give away in regards to the new physics, everyone is talking mostly in this regard. I really hope you nail it bucause i juat want a great sim. There are flaws in every product and to ask for perfection is obviously daft but do you personally feel that its now on par at least with Assetto? (my personal favourite handling) if that is the case then i can imagine it being the best racing game to come out for a long time. Sorry to be a pain but also have you stopped the cars sticking together on contact yet?
Absolutely. So we created a new tyre model called seta for pCARS1. It was the first and only (still) real time node based dynamic model in the industry but to be fair, we ran out of time to polish it properly for pCARS1.
We've since added new modules to that model and written new from scratch drivetrain, throttle and differential models for pCARS2.
The consensus from the thousands of WMD2 members is that we've surpassed RF2 and AC with this one. I'm copying and pasting this but this is what we're doing for pCARS2 purely on the tyre model (which is about 95% of what you feel when you play):
It's the first fully dynamic node based tyre model in a commercial game. Nothing is baked. It simulates things like surface rubber being removed from the tyre based on the temperature, both external (surface) and internal (fed via the thickness of the rubber, the abrasive properties of the surface, the heat generated from that, the heat dissipated from the brake discs based on their proximity to the tyre, the amount of heat generated from a softer tyre pressure and compound compared to a harder tyre pressure) and that's just tyre wear...
For the tyre carcass we measure and simulate how the elastic behaviour of the compound changes with speed, temperature, and pressure. How rolling resistance changes with speed, temperature and pressure. We measure sidewall buckling at low pressure and how that varies among Bias Ply, Radial, or Hybrid constructions. We include Gyroscopic Effects and Dynamic responses such as vibration, telescoping, and twisting live and all at 600 times per second as per the tread simulation.
For the tread simulation itself we utilise our finite difference simulation of the contact patch, with the tire tread “flowing” through the contact patch. The whole tread itself is discretized into elements much like the carcass, but the contact patch itself is a finite difference grid bringing:
Flash Heating, which is the change of temperature in the outermost rubber layer through the contact patch.
A Componentized grip model. Each component is affected differently by road surface conditions, wetness, and temperature;
Deformation – the rubber deforms in and around asperities, resisting sliding motion;
Adhesion – the rubber bonds to surface rubber and materials in a realistic manner;
Tack – the sticky tacky grip you can feel on your shoes when walking a rubbered in track, related to adhesion;
Tearing – the ripping of rubber from the tire;
Cut – grip from the geometry, edges, grooves, and siping of the tread, with particular effect in dirt and gravel;
Tread channel depth and water handling;
Discretized and temperature sensitive wear; Curing and; Temperature sensitive elastic properties.
The carcass and tread simulations are coupled such that there is no roughness or “stepping”, while still preserving the detail of both simulations. The contact patch size, shape, and pressure distribution is determined by the carcass simulation and is used by the tread simulation. The forces on the tire from the road surface are simulated in the tread simulation and transferred as external forces to the carcass simulation.
And then we have the heat transfer simulation which handles heat flow between brakes, wheel well, rim, carcass, and tread layers. How the heat transfers amongst tread elements, from tread elements to the road surface, and from the tread elements to the air are handled directly by the tread simulation (including advection and evaporation). The pressure of the tire is maintained by the carcass simulation via the ideal gas law.
I think a lot of people are in for a pleasant surprise
