Mini Auto Club Andelysien

Beta test footage of VRC's new 1:8 nitro bugg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWjwk_m43jM#t=29

http://www.vrcworld.com/

VRC Pro posted the above video showing us two of the 1/8 offroad tracks that will feature once the Beta testing of the 1/8 buggys is finished, first up a very realistic looking Speed Paradise track in Buenos Aires, Argentina – famously the host of the 2012 Worlds in December, the VRC Pro boys have been a busy bunch though as they also have the 2012 layout for the Pyscho Nitro Blast track. To be honest, we can’t wait to get our hands on a copy!

Press Release: After the initial test with the new 1:8 nitro buggy early August of this year, it was obvious that Todd ‘Doc’ Wasson, the VRC Pro physics specialist, had to go back to the research lab. The buggy drove, but nothing close enough to the real car so beta testing was halted for 2 months. In these 2 months a lot has happened. A lot of research was done in understanding the dynamics of the buggy better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2Bq1I9YLkA#t=70

It has been a long wait but they are here: 1:8 scale nitro buggies. It has taken our development team over a year to come up with a nitro buggy that is as close to the real thing as can be. With the help of world class buggy racers David Ronnefalk, David Joor and Ricardo Rabitti plus our valued beta testing team, our physics specialist Todd “Doc” Wasson has been able to develop the buggy from scratch to a responsive and realistic behaving nitro buggy.

To support the animated suspension and steering, new technology had to be developed to render all these parts in real time without killing the frame rate. Tony West has come up with a photo-realistic modeled chassis, the NX-8, and a host of generic and branded components from Proline, BittyDesign, Avid and AKA. More chassis and components will follow in the future upon request of manufacturers.

4 Brand new tracks are released today as well, Psycho Nitro Blast 2012, Speed Paradise Buenos Aires, IBR Padova Italy and the IFMAR WC version of Silver Dollar in California. All are masterpieces of realism by Tony West, made possible by the reference material provided by track owners and collaborates. A big thanks to them for allowing us to present their tracks in VRC Pro for you to enjoy. World renowned tracks which most of you would normally not be able to race on in real life!



IMPORTANT NOTE
The nitro buggy is not available as a free spec car. If you don't have one of the all-inclusive memberships you can purchase the chassis and the components in the e-shop using your vEuros, or get the buggy expansion pack from the e-shop, this pack includes also 3 new tracks!

Ce post est piraté!! Tout est écrit en anglais

NEW INTERCEPT RX8 BUGGY CHASSIS AND UPDATED PHYSICS
http://www.vrcworld.com/news.aspx?type=none&id=888


The RX8 is a complete new buggy chassis featuring the very latest suspension geometry and narrow chassis layout. As both the RX8 and the NX8 chassis use 3D suspension geometries and animated suspension, our physics expert Todd ‘Doc’ Wasson was faced with a new challenge of making both chassis work well, maintaining their own character and keeping both of them competitive when raced together. We obviously did not want to end up with 2 classes. Below is a short explanation to give you some insight in the level of complexity Todd was facing to make both chassis work within the same class, also sharing the same tires!

The RX8 chassis not only has a completely different suspension geometry, the chassis also has a much narrower lay-out which means that the engine is in a different location, so the engine, exhaust and body components are not interchangeable with the NX8 chassis, or at least they are not an exact fit. So make sure to select engine, exhaust, body and transponder components which are for the R-series chassis. The different chassis lay-out has affected the center of gravity and the roll, pitch and yaw moments of inertia which, besides the different suspension geometry, make the RX8 chassis handle very different from the NX8 chassis.

With the release of the RX8 chassis the physics engine is also updated. This update affects all the off-road chassis which use 3D suspension geometry, so also the short course trucks. The handling of all the off-road cars has changed significantly, and for the better, although this always remains a personal thing.

Get your RX8 expansion pack now: http://www.vrcworld.com/eshop/product.aspx?121

http://www.vrcworld.com/static/events/b ... %20580.jpg

ONE CLASS – TWO CHOICES
So how different are these 2 chassis and is the RX8 the faster one? In potential the RX8 is probably the faster chassis as it uses the latest suspension specs and chassis lay-out which are now common in today's buggies, but this depends very much on the skill level of the racer and the personal preference of how sharp and responsive he wants his car to be. We expect the NX8 to be the choice of many racers because it will be a little less ‘edgy’ and more forgiving. The RX8 is sharper and more responsive. It may also depend on the track which car you prefer. You should try both, work with setup and see which one fits your driving style best. And don’t forget, it’s not about the ultimate lap time you can squeeze out of the chassis, but how many laps you have completed after 5 minutes or 20 minutes… David Ronnefalk stated in one of our forums that he prefers an easy car over a fast car!

SETUPS
Your old set-ups for the the NX8 chassis and for the short course trucks will no longer work, so we strongly advise to start off with one of the default chassis or build a new chassis from scratch.

LAP TIMES
The aim of improving the physics is not to make the cars faster but to make them more realistic. This could actually mean that the lap times are slightly slower than before. If this turns out to be the case we will reset the lap records for the off-road classes so you can attack the lap records again from scratch. In case you didn’t know, lap records can only be set using Time Trials.

SHORT COURSE TRUCKS
It has already been mentioned, the short course trucks also benefit of the improved physics, you will definitely feel the difference and will enjoy the SC truck ride even more. The short course truck were already using the 3DS suspension, but now they also feature animated suspension even though this can only bee seen from close by and in replays. Another important step towards more realism, both in handling and in looks!

PHYSICS ISSUES EXPLAINED
To try to understand the difficulties this has presented to Todd you have to understand the difference between the real and the virtual world. In the real world everything complies with ‘natural’ physics which are simply there. In the virtual world the physics need to be described by an immense set of formulas, algorithms and logic based on physics laws. So virtual physics are always an approximation of real physics and will never be 100% accurate in all areas. It is a never ending process to make the ‘virtual’ physics more accurate. The chassis model is very accurate, we have all the data like geometry dimensions, masses, moments of inertia etc. The big unknown in the equation are the tires. With over 50 parameters the tire physics model is extremely complicated, and with no exact real tire testing data available (and believe me, we have a lot more tire data than any of the tire manufacturers…) we had no other option than to fine tune the tires towards the chassis. The tires control a lot of the car behavior and especially the ‘feel’. Now imagine optimized tires for the NX8 chassis also to work on the RX8 chassis which has a completely different suspension geometry, center of gravity and weight distribution. It speaks for the physics engine quality and depth that Todd has managed to make both chassis work with the same set of tires!

In the process several refinements and optimizations of the physics engine were implemented, among them how the suspension jacking forces are being computed, improved algorithms for the differentials and some modifications to the camber effect of the tires. Now also keep in mind that every little change in the physics engine also affects how the short course truck behaves! With all the off-road cars clearly benefiting of the physics update it’s no less than a miracle what Todd has been able to achieve!