When mentioning foundational 2d driving models one simply can't omit Marco Monster (2003) [1].

Also Physics for Game Developers (2001) had a hilarious chapter dedicated to car racing simulation. Most of the chapter is dedicated building the scene in a minute detail - for instance pointing out that the center of gravity of the car will change during the course due to fuel consumption - only to simplify and cancel out most things at the end to leave the reader with just a handful of variables.

[1] https://www.asawicki.info/Mirror/Car%20Physics%20for%20Games...

I'm sorry, I really want to like and understand this, but the diagrams are worthless and mostly incomprehensible.

I would've liked to understand more about why it works the way it does, how it achieved the correct feel etc, not just regurgitate whatever the code does.

I would've liked to know more about how the author achieved what they did, not a blog post anyone with an llm could've written.

GTA I and II had really fun car physics. Just driving around and evading police was fun, in a way the later 3d games in the series didn't quite capture for me

It still feels great to play! I love the history too, it's actually a great example of why prototyping "toys" is so important in product development. It allows you to play with isolated concepts without baggage or the expectation to make things production grade. Just getting straight to the point.

Great story, programming and mechanics.

no dynamics model (uses bicycle model) but i built a solver for parking

http://truckslop.joshu.dev/

This is what taught me how to do handbrake turns.

And shortly after I learned how expensive tyres were, I stopped doing handbrake turns.

Interesting that he namechecks Thrust from 1986, an absolutely amazing game for the BBC Model B, and I guess the first 'physics' game I ever encountered. The 'towing' physics were amazing.

https://youtu.be/Dt44PEIWBRg?is=CbVTRyDfo8Nt56fH

Thrust was by Jeremy C. Smith who went on to work on Exile with Peter Irvin

To the creator, thank you. I spent many years almost 2 decades alter playing multiplayer gta2 with my good friend during late night sessions.

Thank you for a great little physics engine

This is really cool. A few months back I wanted to re-create the gta feeling in 2d myself with claude - I have no idea how to write games.. After about a few weeks it ended up in 3d, and completely different, and nowhere near as fun.

https://2e7b8cb5.city-driver.pages.dev - remember to do ignition, and start the car

I have been trying on and off to achieve this for years and what really bothered me was at slow speeds (reversing into a parking space), my vehicle would move laterally to the wheel direction. I could never solve that issue without hacking it which really annoyed me. Last time I tried was during covid. I picked up "The Multibody Systems Approach to Vehicle Dynamics - 2004" for 99p in a local charity shop. Far, far too advanced for me but I did manage to simplify it with google and some questions on stack to get nice handling. Alas that slow speed lateral motion, just knowing it was there made me shelf it again.

I am determined not to use a LLM or even this article to solve it at some point in my life.

Thanks for sharing.

Hello. I am the Pat Kerr in question.

https://games.zabaca.com/games/roadkill/ just created this and added a zomebie survival mode on top

I wrote a 2D car physics engine, using Verlet integration. Unfortunately, I wrote it in ActionScript instead of something sensible.

It did work great though.

Yes, it feels like the memory I have of driving and sliding in GTA 1 and 2. Cool that you have posted this. I like the way you have modelled the physics as simply as possible while still giving a realistic feel.

Can you please add a "parking simulator" mode? Iam not joking, my SO wants a simple way to train parking and I think that could work very well. Or maybe just let one draw obstacles.

Nostalgic!

It'd be amazing to hook is up with the engine sound simulator: https://github.com/ange-yaghi/engine-sim

I just learned that when you are going 300mph,if you turn, you'll come to a smooth near sudden stop

I built a 2d iOS game using this concept a while ago. It was built using SpriteKit: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/drift-mania-infinite-car-racer...

This feels incredible to play, even with the simple graphics. Wow. Top class

Oh how I loved driving around in GTA 2!

Thank you for your great work there and for sharing how you did it. I felt nostalgic playing with the model.

Why I like it and always have:

1. Hold accelerate for three seconds

2. Press handbrake and right for half second

3. Hold decelerate for three seconds

4. Press left for half second.

5. Goto 1.

If you accelerate the Car, then switch the configuration from Car to Brick, the brick won't slow down. Not sure whether is it intended but it feels wrong.

Going backwards while holding handbrake makes perfect circle :)

It's an interesting project, although not a physics expert I am so curious what the original version looked like!

I speak for an entire generation of people when I say thanks, nice job with this

This is painfully awful Claudeslop. They didn't even bother changing the default style.

Even that little simulation is really fun. I’d like to play a little 2D game with this mechanic.

Can we implement this inside an original GTA / GTA2 port?

the classic ship feels great to control. It reminds me of flying FAO in Elite Dangerous. Thank you!

Likely to be widely used

Really nice. GTA 1 & 2 were really amazing. I had a lot of good times with them.

d doesn't turn right for me, but shift+d does. Arrow keys do work though.

I think this is just Autodesk Vehicle Tracking

Feels like the original, just need some thing to run over.

GFA Basic !… So many memories are coming back to me.

I liked your idea. It was really cool.

AI content.

Really nice game

no understeer? fronts are too grippy

> It began as a little wireframe demo written in GFA BASIC on my Atari ST home computer (and was later ported to C for use in the actual game).

The Atari ST is in the news today on HN! (there was a TFA about the Atari Falcon, which was a really big Atari ST).

StopTheMadness Pro users on iOS: exempt website, so you won’t keep selecting the text on the controls. May still highlight the “Speed Zoom on” line though.

no clutch = no clutch kick drifting

[flagged]

[flagged]

>One weekend in late August 1996, I wrote a 2D physics simulation which later became the basis of the vehicle system in the eventually popular game "Grand Theft Auto" aka "GTA".

I don't mean to be... judgemental, but if you had the talent to go something like this, why devolve on the remake? One could think that a person with your level of skill would be one of the main vanguard for hand coding. Again, I don't want to be too judgemental, as I am not a great programmer and use assisted tools when planning and designing personal apps, but I am just curious.