Quote from shadow2kx :

If you want a compromise between cpu and memory why not using culing method? While driving part of the track data will be loaded (like it's done now) as well as deformation data. So even if you need a huge file containing the data, it wouldn't take a lot of space in memory.

Err, you'd obviously cull irrelevant geometry when rendering or doing physics, but the data needs to be persistent. You can't just drop it once you've driven past. The next lap the damage you did to the track needs to still be there.

Quote from shadow2kx :

Another approach would be to have only spaced points of deformation with a radius of action

Well, that's what the vertices would be if you went the way of Sega Rally. But you can't spread them out very far because then you wouldn't get defined tyre tracks and other high frequency detail. Having a bump every other meter isn't good enough.

another problem we havent even touched upon is keeping data consistent and how far away cars running in low res physics would deform the track realisticly and consistantly when racing online

Yeah, I did consider that briefly. Especially syncing across multiplayer could lead to a pretty big bandwidth overhead if you want any kind of accuracy in the tracks left by other cars. The current position packets would not be enough to ensure the same track surface for all players, so you'd probably have to settle for something less accurate for multi-player.

I'm also pretty sure low res physics would be out the window as you need cars at the opposite end of the track to leave their mark, but LFS already runs full physics for all cars in single player with AI so that's not necessarily a huge problem. It will elevate the system requirements of course, but that's pretty much going to happen no matter how clever you get at this level.

But yeah, there are a ton of "little" issues like this when you get down into the details, which is why high level hand waving is so much fun.

If you're running LFS on really low settings there's no reason you'd complain about not seeing more detail on the track anyway, so I'd just make it so they were invisible on that setting.

But I do agree that updating the surface shape on-the-fly could be a nightmare to track across 30 clients at once. Sega Rally only had like 4 clients to do it across and multiple CPU cores to work with, but of course LFS can't count on that

I will be happy with variable tarmac condition, but this is also cool.

But I think this suggestion needs big processing power to be done properly, so I guess we will only see this some years in the future.

Quote from batteryy :

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can we launch rocks into people's windshields too?

Quote from wien :

Yeah, I did consider that briefly. Especially syncing across multiplayer could lead to a pretty big bandwidth overhead if you want any kind of accuracy in the tracks left by other cars. The current position packets would not be enough to ensure the same track surface for all players, so you'd probably have to settle for something less accurate for multi-player.

+1

It's the same for drafting and hitting objects, but surface would be a much bigger problem.

Maybe it'll get a little better with a MP spring system ?

.... at least with the rally tracks... Track Deformation is just as important as tire deformation

Id like to know how car deformation works in this game?

Anyway, the tracks would need to be a bit higher in detail for the Sega Rally deformation to work properly. The trails just wouldnt look (nor work) right otherwise.

Although I personally think the rallycross portion of the game isnt quite up to par with the general level of LFS yet anyway. Something about the surface and handling just doesnt feel right.

Quote from bunder9999 :

can we launch rocks into people's windshields too?

yes we can actually, that is possible with the right distance and right size/weight rock

Quote from Bob Smith :

I'm only aware of one game that uses more than a simple line collision for wheel collision detection and positioning. I had the exact same bug when pulling wheelies on the bikes in the game I'm working on but this was easily fixed by changing the maths that position the wheel after the line collision position has been obtained. I just needed to rethink the correct vector and it looks like LFS is doing the exact same mistake we used to.

If you have simple correction dont hesitate to send an email to Scawen!