Thanks for all the feedback.
You guys are using the brakes are you? I can get around the course just fine, sideways all the way, but you need to use the brakes, slow down in advance for corners, position the car correctly and start it sliding early. You can't just steam into the corner and turn.
In answer to a few points -
1st - ODE - there's no ODE used at all, it's all my own physics system.
2nd - the viewpoint - I deliberately went for a top down view because I like the old school feel. I might make the viewpoint position customisable though as it can get a bit too close to the car, but I've tried 1st and 3rd-person view and I don't like it much. The direction arrow certainly needs some work as it's very confusing when you're going the wrong way - it'll be changed to a rotating arrow linked to the orientation of the car.
3rd - the graphics - just what i had laying around at the moment, so the trees will look crap as they're meant for a 1st person viewpoint. The shadow isn't aligned to the floor yet, but it will be.
4th - the road width - it's narrow on this track, but that's the way it's meant to be - real rally tracks have very narrow lanes. However I may expand the collision area a bit so the car can slide a little way into the foliage. I uderstand that people like more room to slide the car so I might make the track wider on the corners.
5th - the glitches and poor frame rates - no idea. I have a P4 2.4 with a Radeon9800 Pro, but it runs at 60fps on my Athlon 1.4 also, which only has a Geforce3.
6th - the steering response - I'll have a play around with the physics parameters and see if I can make it more 'flicky', but I quite like the heavy feel as it forces a more technical driving style, and it means you have to use your brakes and anticipate turns in advance.
Finally - QAOP - did no one else ever have a Spectrum??? Bah. I'm NOT using the arrow keys!! However, I will add joypad/joystick support :)
You guys are using the brakes are you? I can get around the course just fine, sideways all the way, but you need to use the brakes, slow down in advance for corners, position the car correctly and start it sliding early. You can't just steam into the corner and turn.
In answer to a few points -
1st - ODE - there's no ODE used at all, it's all my own physics system.
2nd - the viewpoint - I deliberately went for a top down view because I like the old school feel. I might make the viewpoint position customisable though as it can get a bit too close to the car, but I've tried 1st and 3rd-person view and I don't like it much. The direction arrow certainly needs some work as it's very confusing when you're going the wrong way - it'll be changed to a rotating arrow linked to the orientation of the car.
3rd - the graphics - just what i had laying around at the moment, so the trees will look crap as they're meant for a 1st person viewpoint. The shadow isn't aligned to the floor yet, but it will be.
4th - the road width - it's narrow on this track, but that's the way it's meant to be - real rally tracks have very narrow lanes. However I may expand the collision area a bit so the car can slide a little way into the foliage. I uderstand that people like more room to slide the car so I might make the track wider on the corners.
5th - the glitches and poor frame rates - no idea. I have a P4 2.4 with a Radeon9800 Pro, but it runs at 60fps on my Athlon 1.4 also, which only has a Geforce3.
6th - the steering response - I'll have a play around with the physics parameters and see if I can make it more 'flicky', but I quite like the heavy feel as it forces a more technical driving style, and it means you have to use your brakes and anticipate turns in advance.
Finally - QAOP - did no one else ever have a Spectrum??? Bah. I'm NOT using the arrow keys!! However, I will add joypad/joystick support :)